“That’s not how it works and you know it. When the Nazis were brought to trial at the end of World War Two, it was specifically decreed that countries cannot experiment on prisoners. There is no way they can be considered legitimate volunteers.”

“The U.S. government gave subjects syphilis after the end of the war . . .”

“Okay, but they’re not doing it now. And the experiments you are alluding to have been totally discredited.”

Berman was silent. This wasn’t going how he had hoped, but he wasn’t really surprised. Pia was unlikely to roll over at the first opportunity. If she was going to relent, it would take time, and Berman had thought she might be more receptive to the argument about sacrificing a few to save many than she seemed to be. He wasn’t going to give up.

“We lost maybe ten subjects in the whole project for which we can save millions.”

“How long has this respirocyte project been going on?”

“It’s been going on four years,” Berman said, encouraged that she was asking legitimate questions.

Pia let out a sigh and glanced up at Berman. He was looking down at her with an expression she couldn’t read. Did he really think he could talk her around? That he could persuade her into believing that his sick way of looking at the world was justified? It was the darkening realization that Berman did believe he could convert her that was making Pia feel so downcast. She wondered what she could do to give herself a chance at getting away. Was she really somewhere in the United Kingdom? Was she capable of a charade, knowing that he knew she’d already had pulled it off not once but twice? What was going to happen to her if she didn’t give in to the role he wanted her to play? Was he going to try to force her to have sex with him? Too many questions and no answers.

“I’ll never sleep with you,” said Pia.

“I’m not a monster, you might think that of me right now, but you should give some serious thought to what I have been saying. Think of the scientific opportunities there are for a woman like you when you have access to the best equipment and unlimited funds. Believe me, I would not have Mariel Spallek breathing down your neck if you came back for research. I know that’s what you want to do, and I’m offering you a chance that most scientists would jump at.”

“Not if they had to touch you, they wouldn’t. Is this how you get all your girlfriends to sleep with you, by blackmailing them?”