‘Who’s he?’
David took a closer look. ‘A rather nasty character by the name of Charles Moore. Hired gun we reckon, although we’ve got nothing to prove it at the moment – why?’
‘He’s the one who destroyed Peter’s house. We saw him outside Sarah’s house before we went to Australia. My bet is he was responsible for the deaths of Peter and Hayley too.’
David unpinned the photograph and handed it to Philippa. ‘Organise a few copies of that would you?’
She nodded and left the room.
David turned back to Dan. ‘Anything else?’
‘I reckon Delaney’s hired him – he’s a contract killer. Very clever. Seems to have a knack of making his hits look like accidents most of the time. When Sarah’s friend Hayley was killed last month, it was meant to look like a car accident while we were in Brisbane. She’d been helping us find out more about Delaney and he obviously didn’t like us poking around.’
‘What do you think Delaney’s up to?’ asked David.
Dan rubbed his chin. ‘Looking through Peter’s research notes, I reckon it’s something to do with that white gold powder he was lecturing about. It appears to have the capability of being the future of energy. More environmentally friendly than nuclear or any fossil fuel and pushes out four times the power.’
David studied him carefully before continuing. ‘Delaney has been getting more and more obsessed with protecting his coal business against any environmental legislation. We know he’s been lobbying politicians here in the UK and using his contacts to do the same in Australia. Let’s face it, he’s not the only one.’
Dan nodded. ‘He’s just more extremist about it.’
‘To put it mildly,’ David agreed. ‘He seems to have become fanatical with the thought that white gold powder is going to wreck his empire – it’s already being used for fuel cell technology because it uses a lot less power than oil-based fuels. When the UK Defence Department started putting out feelers for how that power could be harnessed to drive military aircraft at supersonic speed, the Government also began to look at how white gold powder could fuel power stations instead of coal.’
Dan grinned. ‘Bet your lot are kicking themselves for selling off the UK’s gold bullion in the nineties then.’
David ignored the remark and continued. ‘The last couple of winters have proved our existing gas supplies can’t cope without us buying in more. Oil supplies are a lot lower than we’re telling the public. Of course, that information has somehow leaked out to Delaney and he appears to be doing all he can to protect himself.’
Dan picked up his coffee and took a sip. ‘So – what do you think he’s up to? Are you going to tell me?’
David sat back down at his desk. ‘We’ve got reason to believe Delaney’s been buying up gold mines over the past five years specifically to refine the method of producing this white gold powder so he can defeat the science we’ve been investigating. If we’re right, he’s managed to find a way to create radioactive material when turning the white powder back into metallic gold.’
Dan looked at David. ‘Are you saying he’s managed to create a weapon with this stuff?’
David nodded. ‘We think he’s been successful too. If he can prove to the world that white gold powder is too dangerous to consider as an alternative fuel source, he’s going to buy himself a good number of years to exploit the coal and oil markets. No-one will go near the white gold powder. Look at hydrogen – no-one’s designed an aircraft using that fuel since the Hindenberg disaster – you’d never get enough passengers to make it a viable project.’
He paused. ‘In the meantime, he’s using profits from his coal mining ventures to buy up gold mines. In twenty years’ time, he’ll probably begin to sell the idea of white gold powder as an alternative energy source and start reaping the rewards himself.’
Dan frowned. ‘How does he expect to get away with it?’
David shrugged. ‘Come on. It won’t take much for the media and public to assume any attack on the Western world would be made by the usual extremists. Why not just pin it on them? Unless you and I can track down this weapon and prove it’s Delaney behind it before it goes off,’ he said, ‘we haven’t got a hope in hell.’
Chapter 41
Brisbane, Australia
Morris Delaney threw the whiteboard pen onto the desk and grinned at his guests. He took a long swallow of the twenty-year-old single malt in his glass and savoured the warm burn in his throat.
‘You’re absolutely sure this is going to work? We won’t have a second chance,’ asked Petrov.
Delaney nodded. ‘We built a smaller one and detonated that down one of the mine shafts to test it.’
Uli smiled. ‘I like your thinking. I presume it was remote?’
‘Yeah – middle of nowhere.’
Pallisder looked at the photograph in his hand and quickly put it down on the desk, realising his hands were beginning to shake. ‘How did you design the chamber?’
‘It’s easier if I show you rather than describe it,’ Delaney explained and gestured to Pallisder to sit down. Taking a marker pen, he drew the rough shape of the canister on a pad, and then added a smaller box shape with a series of dots around the frame.
‘The superconducted precious metal – white gold powder in this case – is currently housed in a borosilicate glass cylinder. The glass cylinder sits in one side of this panelled housing. On the other side sits the timing device.’ He drew in a rough circuit system and connecting wires. ‘Once the timer begins its countdown, you’ve got about nine minutes to get clear of the area – otherwise you’re toast. The cylinder itself is just there for protection. The more we package the glass cylinder, the better protected it is and we can control the explosion with the timer.’
‘Why the glass cylinder?’