Faust dipped into a briefcase at his feet and removed a photocopy of a document from the Nuremberg Tribunal. “My father worked at Hockwerk. His name is fourth on this list.”

“Kazimierz Rymut?”

“You’ll note the asterisk, which refers to the footnote at the bottom. It might be hard to read so I’ll quote it for you: ‘This individual has been exculpated due to cooperation he provided regarding experiments conducted on human subjects.’”

“I’m not sure I know what that means.”

“It means that my father heard that some of the chemical agents he was working on—agents that he assumed would be used to kill rats and other rodents—were being used on human beings. On October 14, 1944, Doctor Josef Mengele removed approximately five thousands gypsies from Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Oranienberg and had them trucked into a wooded area near Rudna, Poland. There they were sprayed with Sarin gas. Within hours, every single man, woman and child died.”

“Isn’t that the same material that was used in the subway attack in Tokyo?”

“By the Aum Shinrikyo cult. Yes.”

Faust’s hand drifted toward his briefcase. “I have in my possession the official report, but will spare you the details. Suffice it to say, the results were ghastly. When rumors of this event reached my father, I’m sure he refused to believe them at first. He was a man, like many, who tried to insulate himself from the ugliness of the world around him. He listened to Vivaldi, tinkered with coo-coo clocks, baked pastries, wept at the faces of young children. He was not like us, Colonel. And yet when confronted with the horror of what was going on around him, he acted.”

Middleton said, “Sounds like your father was a hero.”

“He became a hero and a great example to me. I won’t go into all the details of what he did except to say that he found a way to pass details of the chemical weapon program at Hockwerk known as Projekt 93 to the Allies, which helped them target the plant before it could cause any more damage.”

“Thank God.”

The waiter arrived with the Bronzini, which gave off a faint scent of orange blossom under a delicate brown crust.

“Yes, thank God,” Faust said as he sampled the fish, deeming it delightful. “The maniacs were stopped. But evil men have a way of rediscovering the most horrifying things.”

Middleton nodded. “I do believe that evil is an active force in the world.”

Faust leaned closer and almost whispered, “And you and I are going to stop it.”

“How?” Middleton was confused. A part of him wanted to believe Faust; another part was hugely skeptical. “I still don’t understand how this relates to us, here, tonight.”