“It worked. And it was perfectly harmless.” McCord was almost aggressive in his defensiveness. “We had extensive field trials in the south. The research team lived on the stuff for a year before we ever went public with it. The returns were terrific and it tasted great.” It was his turn to be sarcastic. “And no one died of cholera toxin or mosaic virus.” He lit another cigarette. “So we launched it three years ago. All over China. The results were phenomenal, Dr. Campbell. Phenomenal. Yields increased by up to a hundred per cent. Goodbye hunger.”

“And hello profit.”

“And why the hell not!” McCord turned on her. “You put up the money, you take the risk, you reap the rewards.”

“Why do I get the feeling there’s a ‘but’ somewhere in our future?” Margaret asked.

He gave her a sour look and took a couple of long pulls on his cigarette before he spoke again. “They never told me about Chao getting ill. Nearly a year ago. At first they thought it was AIDS. He liked boys, you know.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “They were treating him for AIDS, but it wasn’t that, and they started getting worried, and Pang had him admitted to Military Hospital Number 301.” He stood staring at the ground, breathing stertorously, as if he had been running. “It was some new fucking virus no one had seen before. A retrovirus. Lies dormant in the brain for five years or more. You don’t even know it’s there. Then for no reason it decides it’s going to screw you. Starts attacking the white blood cells and ends up completely fucking your immune system. Bit like AIDS, only worse. And harder to pin down, ’cos it mutates faster than you can say ‘Gotcha.’” He dragged his eyes up to meet hers and held them for a long moment before the truth suddenly dawned on her.

“Oh my God,” she said. “It’s in the rice.” And the hair rose upon the back of her neck and along her arms and on her thighs.

His eyes filled up again and he flicked his cigarette vindictively at the night. “Somehow,” he said, “somewhere along the line, our innocent little cauliflower mosaic virus recombined with another virus, probably something equally innocuous somewhere out there in the test environment.” He paused to catch his breath, coming now in increasingly short bursts. “And we got a mutation. A third and, this time, lethal virus. RiceX Virus they’re calling it. RXV. Inherent in the genetic make-up of the rice. We never even knew it was there.”