“The human brain is very different from a rat brain or even a chimp brain. I’d never given it a lot of thought until now but in order to get his system to integrate with the mind, there would have had to be a fair amount of direct experimentation.”

Klein nodded, obviously seeing where he was headed. “But where are all the early test subjects? I’ve never heard anyone talking about being involved in those kinds of trials.”

“And let’s not forget Craig Bailer,” Randi said. “It’s possible that his death was just a coincidence, but now I’m starting to doubt it.”

“Do we have any information on that?” Smith asked.

“Apparently his car missed a turn and rolled down an embankment. The bodies were badly burned, so information is shaky. Based on Bailer’s lungs, he was dead before the fire started, but there was no obvious trauma. Best bet is a heart attack. The passenger—a member of Dresner Industries’ board—appears to have been knocked unconscious and died in the fire. No obvious evidence of foul play.”

“Doesn’t mean there wasn’t any,” Randi pointed out.

“No it doesn’t,” Klein admitted. “Any thoughts on how to proceed?”

“Get our hands on Dresner?” Randi said.

“That’s not going to happen,” Klein said. “Beyond his obvious wealth and connections to more world leaders than I can count, he’s a German national who tends to move constantly between compounds set up all over the world. I’m not sure I could even find him, let alone get you access to him.”

“What about the psychologist he escaped East Germany with?” Randi said.

“Gerhard Eichmann?” Klein said. “You think he might be involved?”

“We Googled him on the way back from Germany,” Smith said. “He worked for a few years after making it to the West and then pretty much disappeared. A guy that brilliant should be at a top university or at least have a trail of publications in academic journals. Instead, there’s nothing.”

“And you think he was working on the Merge project?”

“He wouldn’t be a bad guy to have around if you wanted to integrate machine and mind.”

“Any idea where he is?” Klein said.

“Maybe Morocco, but we need Star to do some digging.”

Klein nodded. “We have to move fast on this. I’ve managed to postpone both your transfers but doing any more could generate tracks that I can’t cover. Talk to Eichmann and see what you can find out. But—and I want to be very clear on this—you’re not to take any direct action without my authorization. For now, we’re just gathering intel.”

“What about Whitfield?” Randi said.

“I’ll see what I can do to keep him off you, but I can’t promise anything. My advice is to watch your back.”