Case:Black - 4. Chapter 4

SHAFE: Supreme Headquarters Allied Forces Europe

Secret Arms Reduction Talks

June 10, 1990

Andrew North waited for his Russian counterpart in a lush conference room. Things were going exceptionally well between NATO and the new Commonwealth of Independent States. In fact the United States and the new Commonwealth were cooperating very closely.

It had come as a rude surprise to discover the true size and scope of the former Soviet Union’s chemical and biological weapons programs. Over the course of the Cold War there had been a few indications that the Soviets were cheating on the CBWC (Chemical and Biological Weapons Convention). In 1979 there was a large anthrax outbreak at Sverdlovsk that the Soviets tried to pass off as being caused by bad meat. It was ridiculous on its face of course.

So were the stories told by the occasional defector: tons of anthrax, ICBM warheads full of smallpox and designer viruses using spliced RNA. There was no proof of any of the claims. Except for the buildings being exactly where the defectors said they would be on satellite photos.

Most US analysts dismissed those tales as defectors trying to get a sweet deal. It didn’t seem possible. Such a program would employ thousands of scientists in hundreds of facilities. Unless they were a lot more careful than the average Ruskie, there would be all sorts of accidents.

Western Intelligence Agencies discovered that they had made a huge intelligence failure when they discovered the true dimensions of the old Soviet Union’s Chem-bio programs. In fact they had so much of the ghastly stuff, they were asking for help to dispose of it all.

North thought that such technical assistance would be the subject of today’s talks. It wasn’t.

His counterpart, Yuri Barinov entered the room and promptly told his assistants and aids to come back after lunch.

Barinov turned to North and said, “This morning’s business is very confidential, daa? It is to be held at the ministerial level.”

North considered the request and gave his staff the morning off. Once the conference room was cleared, he asked, “OK Yuri, what’s on your mind this morning?”

Barinov slid a thick file across the table and said, “Six years ago a researcher in our labs at the Vector Institute made a breakthrough. I am not a scientist but they say that if this discovery had been made in the open, he would have been a contender for the Nobel Prize. They called the discovery synthetic RNA and used it to re-engineer a known virus.”

North flipped through the file and stopped at the photo of a chimpanzee ripping a restraint harness to shreds.

“Once the scientists made the discovery, we found that it was a horror. It was viewed as entirely too dangerous to ever use.”

North asked incredulously, “More dangerous than Smallpox or drug resistant Plague?”

Barinov said, “Daa. The original virus was Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis. If it were to begin spreading by common vectors like mosquitoes, there would be no stopping it. We have our own contingency plan should it ever escape the lab.”

North asked, “What is that plan Yuri?”

Barinov sighed and said, “Were this virus to ever get out, Strategic Rocket Forces were to drop a 20 megaton bomb on the region.”

North whistled and said, “It’s that bad?”

“Yes, Comrade Ambassador. It is that bad. There is a specific reason that we are telling you this. Just before the Declaration, we had two defectors from the GRU that may have taken the virus outside the Commonwealth.”

North hissed, “Are you telling me that this thing is out of the bag?”

Barinov said, “We aren’t sure. The officers in question took a helicopter and were last seen refueling at an outpost in Uzbekistan. None of our agents have spotted them and we’ve been looking for months. I have been told by my President to warn you that it may be out there and to ask for your help to find the renegades.”