“No, let’s stick with your little finger,” Margaret said, “since your penis probably isn’t any bigger.”

He grinned. “Bear with me. My little finger represents a penis, representing a virus I’m going to put into the rice. Okay? Now imagine I slip a rubber over my penis.” And he ran his forefinger and thumb down the length of his little finger. “And this represents the protein overcoat of the virus. Because, after all, what is a virus except a gene with a protein overcoat?”

Margaret nodded. “Okay.”

McCord said, “So, to this overcoat I attach the gene fragments I want to introduce to the rice—the stuff that’s going to make it disease and insect-resistant. We insert the virus into the rice, like the penis into the vagina. Only, once inside the rubber slips off and sends my gene fragments to all the right places, like sperm to the egg.” He sat back, pleased with himself, and drained his glass.

Margaret was incensed. “So, effectively, you’ve contaminated the entire rice crop of China with a virus.”

McCord nodded happily. “Sure. But it’s a harmless plant virus. Hell, we eat the damned things all the time. And a virus is the best carrier for the genes. ’Cos, you see, a virus only has one aim in life, and that’s to reproduce. So it carries the genes into every cell, and bingo! We just helped Mother Nature do a better job.”

Margaret shook her head. “I can’t believe you’ve actually gone into production with this stuff, that you actually think you’re somewhere up there with ‘Mother Nature.’ Jesus Christ, McCord, you’re tinkering at the edges of a billion years of evolution. You can’t possibly know what kind of monster you’re releasing into the environment.”

“Dr. McCord,” a friendly voice boomed out, and a big hand slapped down on his shoulder.

Margaret looked up, startled to see Bob with Li Yan and Li’s animated friend from the table downstairs. It was the friend who had greeted McCord with such bonhomie. McCord looked up at him, confused.

“What . . . Who the hell are you?”

“Ma Yongli. Chef at the Jingtan. Don’t you remember? Good friend of Lotus. She’s waiting for you back at the hotel.” He grinned and winked.

“Is she? I didn’t know that.”

“She says you made an arrangement.”

“Really? Jeez, I don’t remember.”

Yongli almost lifted him out of his chair. “Come on. We’ll get you a taxi. Don’t want keep Lotus waiting, huh?”

“Hell, no.”

And Yongli led him off towards the stairs. Bob shook Li’s hand. “Thanks, Li Yan. Appreciate it.”