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Back The Utopia Experiment Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Title Page
  2. Welcome
  3. Prologue
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. 52
  56. 53
  57. 54
  58. 55
  59. 56
  60. 57
  61. 58
  62. 59
  63. 60
  64. 61
  65. 62
  66. 63
  67. 64
  68. 65
  69. 66
  70. 67
  71. 68
  72. 69
  73. 70
  74. 71
  75. 72
  76. 73
  77. 74
  78. 75
  79. 76
  80. Epilogue
  81. About the Authors
  82. The Covert-One Novels
  83. Newsletters
  84. Copyright

“But you’re a better scientist than that, aren’t you?” Smith said, snatching a stack of papers off the table and holding them up. “If you’re going to do that, you’d also need to take the children from wealthy people in industrialized countries and ship them off to third-world orphanages. You’d want to see if the effects on behavior and intelligence go both ways—you’d want to do brain scans to see what effects things like starvation and abuse have…”

“No,” the man said, but then he didn’t seem to know how to continue. “I—”

“Just like the old days in East Germany, right, Doctor? How do you build a perfect athlete? You test the limits of pain. You experiment with dangerous drugs. You see how hard someone can train before they drop dead. No point in letting morality and human decency get in the way of science.”

“Enough!” Randi interjected. “Can’t we just shoot him in the knee and make him give us the password to his computer? If I wanted to hear about the thousandth study on why Johnny can’t read, I’d watch the Discovery Channel.”

Smith ignored Eichmann’s terrified reaction. “You’re right, Randi. There are a lot of studies. But most aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Most researchers wouldn’t be willing to do what it would take to control all the variables. And even if they were, they wouldn’t have the resources. Which brings me to an interesting question. Who would be willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on a study that can never be published?”

Randi perked up at that. “Dresner.”

“Christian?” Eichmann said, a little too quickly. “That’s insane. Why would he—”

The old man fell silent and began to back away when Randi aimed her pistol at his leg. “Don’t insult our intelligence.”

Smith was taken by surprise when the old man made a break for the door. He was forced to dive, just missing the back of the German’s shirt before landing hard on the marble floor.

“Stop!” Randi shouted, her foot landing firmly in the small of Smith’s back as she started to chase. Just as she came even with the doorjamb, though, the crack of a shot from above echoed off the stone walls. Eichmann went down, sliding uncontrolled across the smooth tile as Randi started firing at the rooftop.

49

49

Alexandria, Virginia
USA

JAMES WHITFIELD SNATCHED the phone off his nightstand and silenced it before glancing at his wife in bed next to him. She’d never slept particularly well and it was something that had gotten worse as she aged. Bad luck that she’d spent the last thirty-five years married to a man whose job never ended.