Macmillan, who was gathering up his papers, did not bother to look up to see who had asked the question. ‘Nothing,’ he replied. ‘Our files will not be made public... unless of course, any of us should take our own life in the woods.’

Macmillan, followed by Steven, Scott Jamieson and Lukas Neubauer left the meeting leaving a stunned silence behind them.

‘I’m glad you got your knighthood before you said all that,’ said Steven in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere as they walked back to the Home Office.

Macmillan managed a smile. ‘You’re not usually so sanguine at the end of an investigation.’

‘It’s an odd situation,’ said Steven. ‘Everyone thinks they did the right thing; everyone thinks they were acting in the best public interest and yet so many people ended up losing their lives.’

‘I suppose no one could have anticipated Khan appearing on the scene,’ said Scott Jamieson.

There was silent agreement but Steven wondered out loud when the CIA first realised that Khan had gone rogue.

‘Wasn’t it their man Andrews who told you?’ asked Macmillan.

‘I was holding a gun on him at the time,’ said Steven.

‘Surely you don’t think the CIA were complicit in all these deaths?’ said Scott Jamieson.

‘No, I don’t but I think it may have suited their purpose not to let on to Khan that they knew who he was really working for until he’d tidied things up for them. I think Andrews let him see my file in the hope that he would remove the problem of Sci-Med’s interest in what they’d been up to.’

After a few moments silence, Macmillan said, ‘The first one to say, oh what a tangled web we weave, pays for lunch.’

No one did.

‘All right, I’ll pay,’ said Macmillan. ‘Let’s collect Jean first.’

Steven’s mobile rang during the meal and he excused himself. It was Tally. ‘How did it go?’

‘John was brilliant. I’ll tell you all about it later.’

‘Then you’re coming up tonight?’

‘You bet.’

‘It’s something you won’t have to do for much longer,’ said Tally.

‘You mean?’ exclaimed Steven.

‘Yep, I got the job.’

Author’s note

Although THE SECRET is a work of fiction, the story was inspired by fact. The CIA did carry out a fake anti-polio vaccination programme in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region in their efforts to hunt down Osama Bin Laden. This of course, put many children at risk and damaged trust in genuine aid teams working in the area. At the time of writing, the region is still one of the few areas in the world where polio remains endemic.

In July 2011 the BBC reported a ‘Torrent of Abuse’ hindering ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome research. They reported harassment of scientists working on the problem including death threats, vilification on internet websites and complaints alleging personal and professional misconduct being made to authorities including the General Medical Council.

The BBC quoted Professor Simon Wessely of King’s College London saying, ‘It’s direct intimidation in the sense of letters, emails, occasional phone calls and threats.’ Professor Wessely went on to say, ‘Sadly some of the motivation seems to come from people who believe that any connection with psychiatry is tantamount to saying there is nothing wrong with you, go away, you’re not really ill.’

The ME Association’s Dr Charles Shepherd condemned the abuse of researchers but said sufferers had a justifiable complaint that almost no government-funded research was looking at the bio-medical aspects of the illness.

Professor Myra McClure of Imperial College London who was subjected to abuse after virologists failed to replicate findings of a reported link to the XMRV retrovirus, was quoted as saying, ‘It really was quite staggeringly shocking, and this was from patients who seemed to think I had some vested interest in not finding this virus. I couldn’t understand, and still can’t to this day, what the logic of that was. Any virologist wants to find a new virus.’

Professor McClure decided not to continue research on the subject.