Brodie said, “We understand that you worked with the Stasi around that same time.”
Dorn adjusted his thick glasses. “I worked for the National People’s Army.”
“That’s right,” said Brodie. “At the facility in Storkow, correct?”
Dorn stared at him, expressionless. “For some of the time, yes.”
Taylor asked, “Did you develop biological weapons at Storkow?”
Dorn hesitated, then replied, “Yes. As did the Soviets. As did your government. The existence of these programs is part of the historical record.”
Taylor asked, “Was Stefan Richter a colleague of yours in this endeavor?”
Dorn looked at her and asked, “Where did you hear this name?”
“I read an interview with him in an old journal,” replied Taylor. “He discussed Operation Black Harvest.”
Dorn nodded. “I know this interview.”
Brodie asked, “And do you know the man?”
“Not well.”
Taylor asked, “Did you work alongside Stefan Richter at the Storkow facility?”
“You seem fixated on this particular place and this particular Stasi agent. Why?”
Taylor replied, “It is pertinent to our investigation.”
Dorn paused, then said, “Herr Richter was present at the Storkow facility at the same time I was, though our interactions were very limited. I was a military scientist. He was a Stasi officer primarily concerned with the applications of our research.”
Taylor asked, “Was Operation Black Harvest one of those applications?”
“It was.”
“And Day X?” she pressed.
“That was a conventional military operation. Out of my area of responsibility. Our work with Black Harvest was designed to augment the conventional capabilities of the army. What the military calls a ‘force multiplier.’?”
“Were these plans hypothetical, or close to being operational and realized?”
Dorn thought a moment, then said, “We thought many things were real that turned out to be illusions. Including our own strength and longevity.”
The doctor said this last bit as if part of him still mourned his former East Germany. More surprisingly, the man had just verified the existence of Operation Black Harvest, heretofore just a rumor. That was breaking news to an interested journalist or historian, though maybe not relevant to their homicide case. Although Harry Vance had believed it was material to finding Odin. Time to brings things back to the present. Brodie asked, “Does Titan Genetics currently work with plague?”
Dorn did not respond. For a moment he seemed to be lost in thought, then eyed a bowl of apples on his desk. He picked one up and turned it in his hand. “These are wild apples from Kazakhstan. This variety is a direct descendant of the very first apples ever to grow on earth. They are dying from rising temperatures, deforestation. We are trying to save them. To modify their genetic code to make them thrive in a warming world, andto foster genetic diversity that is being decimated by a loss of habitat due to our species’ rampant spread and ravenous consumption of resources.” He set the apple down and looked at Brodie. “We humans are the pestilence, and yet we are also the cure. And the same might be said of some pathogens. Their destructive power might be harnessed to our benefit. So, yes, we do some experimental work. Anthrax. Ebola.” He paused. “And plague.”
Kim asked, “What possible benefit could those pathogens provide?”
Dorn looked at him. “Where are you from?”
“Los Angeles.”
Dorn smiled. “I mean, originally. Your ancestry.”
Kim looked like he’d had to entertain this question his whole life and was tired of it. “I was born in South Korea.”
Dorn nodded. “So, you know of divided nations.”
