'Our adversary is faceless,' the President was saving. 'Some of you are of the opinion that we should turn our attention to those parts of the world that could be the source of the threat. Others, I know, think there's nothing more to this business than a tragic build-up of natural disasters. For my part, I'm not interested in hearing any lectures. I want a consensus that will allow us to act. I want to see plans. I want to know how much it's going to cost and how long it's going to take.' His eyes narrowed. As always, the shrinking distance between his eyelids signalled growing fury and determination. 'Personally, I don't believe all that hooey about nature gone crazy. This is a war we're fighting. America is at war. So, what are we going to do?'

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff remarked that wars weren't won on the defensive and that it was time to go on the attack. He sounded resolute. The defense secretary frowned. 'Attack who?' she asked.

'All I'm saying is that we need to attack,' said the chairman, authoritatively. 'Find the culprit and attack them.'

The Vice-President made it clear that he didn't believe any terrorist organisation had the resources to carry out such a large-scale offensive. 'If anyone's attacking us,' he said, 'it has to be a state. Or an alliance of states. A political bloc or something. Jack Vanderbilt was the first to voice his suspicions, and he may well he right. We need to focus on those countries or regions capable of organising an attack of this kind.'

'There are a number of countries with that capability,' said the director of the CIA.

The President nodded. Ever since the CIA chief had given him a long lecture on the eve of his presidency about the CIA's list of the good, the bad and the ugly, he had been convinced that the world was peopled with godless criminals planning the downfall of the USA. He wasn't entirely wrong. 'But can we be sure that it's one of our traditional enemies?' he asked all the same. 'After all, the whole free world is under attack, not just America.'

'The free world?' The defense secretary snorted. 'We are the free world. Europe is part of the American free world. The freedom of Japan is the freedom of the USA. The same goes for Canada and Australia… An attack on America's freedom is an attack on freedom worldwide.' There was a piece of paper in front of him, and he banged his hand on it. It contained his notes for the day. He believed that nothing was so complicated that it couldn't be summarised on a single sheet of paper. Just to remind you all,' he added, 'we've got access to biological weapons, and so has Israel. We're the good guys. Then there's South Africa, China, Russia and India – they're ugly. Finally, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Sudan are bad. And this is a biological attack. This is bad.'

'I thought chemical components were also involved,' said his deputy. 'Isn't that right?'

'Let's slow down here.' The director of the CIA gestured for quiet. 'Let's start with the assumption that a campaign of this kind would require a vast amount of cash and considerable effort. Chemical weapons are cheap and easy to make, but all that biological stuff swallows a lot of resources. And remember, we're not blind. Pakistan and India are working with us. We've trained over a hundred Pakistani secret agents for covert operations. Dozens of agents are working for the CIA in Afghanistan and India, and some have excellent contacts. That's a whole region you can strike off your list. We've got paramilitary troops in Sudan, working with the opposition. In South Africa some of our friends are government ministers. The fact is, there's been no indication that anything big is under way. Our priority is to find out where money has been changing hands and where suspicious activities have been noticed. We don't need an itemised list of world villains – we need to narrow the field.'

'As far as money is concerned,' said the director of the FBI, 'there isn't any.'

'Meaning?'

'The new measures on monitoring terrorist assets have allowed us to take a pretty good look at suspicious transactions. You can bet that if a large sum of money changes hands, the Treasury will know. We would have heard by now.'

'And have you?' asked Vanderbilt.

'Nothing. Not a peep from Africa, Asia or the Middle East. There's nothing to indicate that any state might be involved.'

Vanderbilt cleared his throat. 'They're hardly going to tell us about it,' he said. 'It won't make the headlines of the Washington Post!

'Like I said, we've got no-'

'I'm sorry to disillusion you,' Vanderbilt cut in, 'but you can't seriously believe that someone who's capable of running riot in the North Sea and poisoning New York is going to show us his wallet?'

The President's eyes were slits. 'The world is changing,' he said. 'And that means we need to be able to see into everyone's wallet. Either those bastards are too smart or we're too stupid. But no matter how goddamn smart they are, it's our job to be smarter. Starting from now.' He turned towards the director of Counter-terrorism. 'So, how smart are we?'

The director shrugged. 'The latest warning came from India. It was about Pakistani jihadists trying to blow up the White House. The terrorists are known to us, and there isn't any danger. We were on to it before the Indians told us and we traced all of the financial transactions. The Global Response Center collects mounds of information on international terrorism every day. It's true, Mr. President. Nothing happens without us getting wind of it.'

'And it's all quiet at the moment?'

'It's never quiet, but there's no sign of any serious planning or financial activity. Which isn't conclusive, I guess.'

The President's gaze shifted to the deputy director for Operations. 'I expect your team to step up its efforts,' he snapped. 'I don't care where your agents are posted or what backwater they're operating in, I'm not going to stand by and see American citizens killed, simply because someone hasn't done their homework.'

'Of course not, sir.'

'And in case any of you have forgotten, we're being attacked. We're at war! I need to know who we're fighting.'

'Well, take a look at the Middle East, then,' Vanderbilt called impatiently.

'We're doing that already,' Li said.

The fat man sighed. He didn't bother to turn; he knew Li didn't buy his theory.

'You can always punch yourself in the face to make it look as though you've been beaten ' said Li, 'but let's be realistic. It's all very well claiming that this is about hostile countries taking a swipe at America because they're intent on protecting their interests; but why would they hurt themselves? Sure, if it's us they're after, and it would make sense to distract us by causing trouble elsewhere – but not on that scale.'

'That's not how we see it,' said the director of the CIA.

'I know. But I see it this way: we're not the main target. There's too much going on, and it's all too extreme. Just imagine the amount of effort it would involve – training thousands of animals, breeding millions of new organisms, triggering a tsunami in Europe, sabotaging the fish stocks, plaguing Australia and South America with jellyfish, and wrecking tankers… No one would stand to gain anything economically or politically. But there's no denying that it's happening – and whether Jack likes it or not, the Middle East isn't exempt. Those are the facts, and I'm not going to join in and pin the blame on the Arabs.'

'OK, so there've been a couple of minor shipping accidents in the Middle East,' growled Vanderbilt.

'They weren't exactly minor, Jack.'

'Maybe we're dealing with a megalomaniac,' suggested the secretary of state. 'A criminal mind.'

'That's more plausible,' said Li. 'An individual would be able to shift large amounts of money around and dabble in technology for ostensibly respectable purposes. If you ask me, though, we need to look at it this way – someone sends us a plague of worms, so we invent something to kill them, and so on.'