the facilities here were far superior to anything she’d ever seen in North Korea.
Filotov added, “But then I heard about you. I am hoping you will have some technology, some insight, some knowledge that goes beyond what I’ve been hearing from my own countrymen for the past several weeks. North Korea, from what I’ve been told, has been pursuing bioweapons aggressively.”
Won said, “We have. All different types and strains. My specialty, however, is weaponized plague.”
The Russian reached into his jacket. “May I smoke?”
“It’s your country.”
He lit a cigarette; he still didn’t seem terribly interested in this encounter, and Won was already looking forward to getting back to work, hoping he wouldn’t shake her hand again on the way out.
Filotov said, “I know next to nothing about plague, I’m afraid.”
Won began a short primer. “In the history of mankind, plague has been the second-largest killer of all epidemic diseases, behind only smallpox.
“The Black Death of the fourteenth century that killed between seventy-five and two hundred million people in four years was bubonic plague, which targets the lymph nodes. Pneumonic plague, in contrast, targets the lungs.
“The bacteria that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, is relatively easy to acquire around the world. It is something an expert can grow in a laboratory, and is easily disseminated by aerosol delivery or other means. Further, there is a very high lethality rate when using pneumonic plague as opposed to the more easily treated bubonic plague, and secondary spread—infected hosts infecting others before they die—is not only possible; it’s all but assured.”
Filotov took another drag on his cigarette. “It’s a weapon.”
“A magnificent weapon, when carefully produced, maintained, and distributed by an expert. As opposed to toxins, most biological weapons, plague included, consist of living organisms, and this means they can reproduce once dispersed.” Won was in her element now; her social anxiety and general insecurity were forgotten, because she was speaking about the only subject she had really focused on since her early twenties.
Filotov said, “What are the effects?”
“Would you like me to show you?”
He thought she was kidding. When her deadpan expression revealed she was not, he asked, “What do you mean?”
She motioned to her computer. “I am in possession of a video of a test we ran four years ago in my country. Would you like to see it?”
“A test on . . . on what?”
“On human beings.”
The Russian’s eyes went wide. “Very much so.”
She cued up a file on her screen. “This video has never been shown outside Pyongyang. It has never been shown outside my research laboratory, to the best of my knowledge.”
Filotov said, “I am honored.”
She looked back to him. “You might find it disturbing.”
Now the Russian smiled and took another drag. “I sincerely hope I do.”
She hit play on the device, and the screen displayed a group of men and women in white prison uniforms, standing in orderly rows in the center of a concrete prison yard. Walls and barbed wire were evident behind them, and armed guards ringed the group.
“Who are the test subjects?” Filotov asked.
She hit pause. “Political prisoners in the DPRK. We gave them Western-sized rations for six weeks to build their strength to approximate the enemy population. We also gave them more access to sunlight, more sleep, more water, more medicine. The majority of these subjects were quite healthy when the test began, although, frankly, they were not nearly so healthy as the average Westerner, so I suspect the test results ultimately were skewed in the direction of slight exaggeration of outcome.”
“How many prisoners were used?”
“We used one hundred for the primary test, which I thought to be excessive, but I was overruled. The demonstration could have been made just as easily and the results nearly as statistically significant with twenty men and women.”
Filotov said, “One hundred is a good even number. Please, continue.”
The screen showed the prisoners, still in the prison yard, in two lines walking through a small concrete building, not much larger than a potting shed.
Won said, “Here they are being administered the agent I personally designed. My strain of bacteria has been altered to allow increased pathogenicity, meaning a stronger effect from the spores, and a shorter incubation period, meaning less time before the effects become fatal. Furthermore, my strain allows more time before symptoms present, an average of four to six-and-a-half days. This will give the hosts time to infect others with secondary pneumonic plague before their own sickness even registers.”
“That is impressive, Doctor.”
The video showed the inside of the small building