“Dr. Eichmann!” came a thickly accented voice behind him. Smith turned to see an older Korean man in an immaculate lab coat come through the glass doors. “I’m so pleased to see you again.”

Introductions between them and the facility’s director went fairly smoothly, with Eichmann’s queasy expression and weak voice easily written off to jet lag and turbulence on the way in.

Dr. Nang led them inside, where they found still more gaunt workmen using hand tools to tear out everything that had even a remote chance of being recycled: drywall, insulation, plumbing. Even the floor. In a country where labor was virtually free but materials were at a premium, they would undoubtedly strip everything right down to the ground.

“As you can see we’re on schedule with closing the facility,” Nang said, leading them down a long corridor lined with empty doorways labeled in Korean. Smith looked into each one, finding rooms of various sizes with little left in them beyond the odd IV pole and the marks left by beds long since scavenged.

“Most of the equipment is being sent to other government research facilities,” Nang continued. “And about eighty percent of the personnel have already been reassigned.”

They passed a large space that still had a few things in it. Oddly, playground equipment.

“What was here?” Randi said, breaking her promise to let him do the talking.

“It was part of our childhood behavior modification effort.”

“Where are they?” she said, ignoring an angry glance from Smith.

“Some were released back to their families but the most severely impaired had to be euthanized,” he said casually. “Between the drug therapies and surgeries, many wouldn’t have been productive in their villages. We had a great deal of success, though—it’s unfortunate we’re abandoning this area of research. The brain grafts between subjects created significant changes in intelligence and behavior. And our experiments using chimp tissue were fascinating.”

“Chimp tissue?” she said, the horror on her face now visible enough that it would be impossible for Nang to miss if he were to turn around. Smith fell back a bit and grabbed her arm in a grip calculated to be painful.

“We actually were able to generate some simian behavior in a few of the children. Of course, rejection happened very quickly, even with our strongest immunosuppressive drugs. A shame. Did you read the report?”

Eichmann had drifted so far from Randi that he was nearly sliding against the left wall as they walked.

“I did. Fascinating work,” Smith said. When he looked over at Randi, her face had become a death mask. It was an expression he’d seen before.

“We’ve gained a great deal of knowledge that could be useful to Mr. Dresner if I could continue the research. We’re on the verge of a number of breakthroughs.”