Blowback

“If what Emir was dealing with was some ancient bioweapon, it was becoming painfully clear why he had reached out to Jillian Alcott for help.

“How these poisons survived is really not what’s important,” she continued. “The point is that for some reason historians all too often choose to overlook the ancients’ skillful manipulation of nature. They’d rather believe that soldiers of old adhered to the highest moral codes in battle, but this just isn’t the case. The ancient world was filled with terrifying precursors to today’s sophisticated chem-bio weapons: from flamethrowers and incendiary devices, all the way to poison gases and dirty bombs. And they did it all without the help of modern science.”

“I’m willing to concede,” replied Harvath, “they had a handle on chemical and biological warfare, but what does this have to do with what Emir was working on?”

“How familiar are you with Islamic science?” asked Jillian.

“If you mean the state of science in the Islamic world, I know a little.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. In the context of what Emir Tokay was doing, the term Islamic science refers to a rather bizarre hybrid of modern science and Islamic mysticism practiced by Muslim fundamentalists.”

At the mention of Muslim fundamentalists, Harvath leaned forward even further and began listening even more intently. She was speaking his language now, and a connection was finally starting to form.

“Many of the people involved with Emir at the institute are Islamic scientists,” continued Alcott. “They believe that things like Ebola, smallpox, and atomic energy all contain powerful, unseen spirits called djinns-from which we take the English word genie. The scientists think that these djinns can be commanded via secret knowledge contained within the Koran. They’re fascinated with things such as Pandora’s box and the plague demons King Solomon supposedly harnessed to build the great temple at Jerusalem and then sealed up within its foundations.”

“This all sounds pretty strange,” said Harvath.

“It is,” replied Alcott, “especially to the Western mind, but it bears scrutiny. There are many fundamentalists, particularly in the Arab world, who are absolutely obsessed with harnessing the power of ancient biological weapons. The older the weapon is, the more powerful they believe the djinn inside it to be. The scary fact is that they are fixated on possessing these ancient weapons and have been on a mad, Indiana Jones-style quest to do so for decades.”

“The David effect,” said Harvath.

“Exactly,” replied Alcott. “A scenario by which a significantly smaller player, with access to the right technology, is able to severely damage a much larger foe, which in this case appears to be the enemies of radical Islam.”

“If this isn’t something that Emir and his group bioengineered themselves, how is it possible that it only targets non-Muslims? Muslims weren’t even around over two thousand years ago.”

“I don’t know,” said Jillian. “Unfortunately, I never got far enough with Emir to figure it out.”

“You said that over two thousand years ago there were accounts of a bioweapon similar to the one we’re seeing today. Where were those accounts from?”

“In a book called the Arthashastra. It was written in India in the fourth century B.C. It urged kings to set aside their conscience and liberally employ diabolical methods to ensure victory against their enemies. It also contained hundreds of recipes for toxic weapons, as well as countless instructions for waging ruthless, unconventional warfare.”

“And this is how you were helping Emir?”

“Yes, I was using my background in paleopathology, the study of disease in antiquity, to help him ascertain what it was he was working with.”

“That’s what Emir thought he was working on? A disease from antiquity?”

“He had his suspicions. He’d heard enough rumors that certain people affiliated with the institute had been searching for ancient diseases and ancient bioweapons to know it was a possibility.”

“What about you?” asked Harvath. “What did you think?”

“Did I think it was possible? I thought it was very possible. In fact, I think that in this case, where the brain of the victim liquefied to a black sludge and ran out the nasal passages, we have a spot-on match for accounts within the Arthashastra.”

Harvath was fascinated, yet underneath it all he sensed a but. “But?”

“But the rest of the symptoms seen in Asalaam-the aversion to light, water, and strong odors, as well as the patient’s aversion to his own reflection and so on, don’t fit.”

“Could Emir’s group have orchestrated that-added it in somehow?”

Jillian shook her head. “From what I gathered, this mystery weapon had been discovered, and Emir’s team was responsible for putting it back into circulation, not improving or modifying it.”

This time it was Harvath who shook his head.

“What?” asked Jillian.

“It’s hard for me to believe that Emir didn’t know what he was working on.”