Page 48 of Stolen Salvation

“Okay, send those details through and we’ll get on it today.”

“Sure.”

“Oh, Watchdog, have we heard back from Bein or Snow about the other sites?”

“Nothing of note which is what we’re seeing here. My guess is they keep anything illegal far away from the clinics so nobody gets suspicious.”

“Okay.” Duchess hit end on the call to disconnect it, her leg bouncing with energy. “Reaper, Titan, go get the good doctor. Hurricane and I will take the first building and Bish and Charlie can wait for you here.”

Reaper was out the door with a final look toward him, which still held guilt and regret. Bishop was happy to let him stew on that a little longer. He may have forgiven him, but he’d remember.

Two hours later, he was walking into the storage shed at the back of the old rectory with Charlie beside him. Dr Nkosi or Dr Joseph as they knew him, was zip tied to the chair, a black cloth bag over his head. His head turned toward the sound of the door opening and he flanked the left side as Reaper took the right. Now that they had his prints, Lotus was running them through a database they had access to, to see if anything else came up linked to him.

He nodded for Charlie to get started. She’d earned the right to lead this as far as he was concerned. Her voice lower, a slight European accent to hide her identity, she began the interrogation.

“Dr Nkosi, we have some questions for you.”

The man’s head cocked like a weird, nervous sparrow waiting for the cat to come out and play. “I… I don’t know who that is.”

“Stop the bullshit. We know who you are and what kind of people you work for. Now tell us about the missing girls.”

Charlie slid the clip into her firearm and Dr Nkosi flinched, the sound one he clearly recognised.

“I don’t know about any missing girls. I’m a fertility doctor. Please don’t hurt me.”

“Wrong answer.”

“I’m a good man.”

“A good man who gives terminations to young girls without their parents’ consent?”

“No, you don’t understand. They begged me. The soldiers. They’d do horrific things to them, and a lot of the girls were barely in their teens. They didn’t want to carry babies for these monsters to continue their abuse.”

Charlie glanced at him and then at Reaper who shrugged, but his jaw had gone hard. Bishop knew the memories of what his so-called friends had done in the Hindu Kush was still raw.

“How did you get into the country?”

“A man. He paid me to come here. Offered me a second chance to do good.”

“What man?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never met him. He said I could have a fresh start here and help lots of people.”

“You expect us to believe that?”

The man’s head sagged low, and his shoulders slumped. “It’s the truth.”

“Then what happened?” Charlie stepped closer raising his chin with the tip of the gun. He jumped, almost knocking the chair over, but he and Reaper caught him in time, righting the cheap, wooden chair.

“I was asked to start informing him about certain clients.”

“What kind of clients?”

“Young women who were alone and seeking a termination. I was told they’d be given extra help to get back on their feet.”

“Did you believe him?”

“At first I did, but then I became suspicious that records were never found for those women. I checked and found several had been recorded as missing.”