King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Three

Sephie

“This is the guy that originally created brawn. He works for Sal.” I didn’t need to see him. I knew Adrik was about to explode behind me. I put my hand up, trying to at least buy me another minute to find out more. I heard him exhale, but his fist still made contact with his desk. Andy flinched.

“How much do you know about this doctor?” I asked. “In case you couldn’t tell, this is very important, so it’s worth your while to tell us everything.”

Andy took another deep breath, glancing around the room. He had the look of a cornered animal. One that knows it’s caught and is about to give in. He continued, “I’m not sure how Sal found this guy, but he’s been paying him for years. He does back- room abortions for Sal’s prostitutes mostly, but since Anthony got into human trafficking, he’s branched out into, um, other stuff.” He glanced at me, still nervous.

“Organ harvesting.” I said, flatly.

Andy’s eyes went wide. He nodded. “It’s huge on the black market, especially overseas.”

“And you said he’s the one that created brawn? How do you know that?” I asked.

dealers weren’t making him the kind of money he wanted. Sales had dropped off in his area and he didn’t like it. He was on the phone with Lorenzo when Dr. Moretti walked into his office. Sal kept talking, telling Lorenzo about the dip in sales. Dr. Moretti suggested they formulate a new drug. A designer drug, I think he called it. He said, ‘people like new things, right? Give them something new and sales go

until

his head no. “No, it took almost a year before they realized that continued use was killing people. The dealers are the ones that first noticed it. Other areas of the city had already stopped selling it. The dealers are the ones that stopped it, not the bosses. They said they weren’t going

up with this new formulation of it as well?” I glanced at the guys again, who were still visibly tense. Adrik had started pacing back and forth behind me, trying to remain

know Sal still pays him,” he said, watching Adrik

how to

he needed him. Once he had his license revoked, Sal put him on the payroll and he started roving clinics around the city. People would come to him for various things, pay cash, and he’d do whatever, no questions asked, as long as the

to know where that house is,” I said.

didn’t need it because no one could remember his face that he worked on. He said he would see people all the time that he worked on. He would purposely go and talk to them because there was always

had the wind knocked out of me listening to Andy speak. “What the actual fu ck,” I said, louder than I meant to. Adrik stopped his pacing, as

need to make sure the police don’t release his picture. He’s going to run if it gets out that we know what he looks like. Sal will get him out of

dialing a number on his phone as he walked out. Andy had a renewed sense of worry on his face, since he couldn’t understand what just happened. “Don’t worry, Andy. Your life is safe,” I

office. If the police had already released his picture, we would have to move quickly. If they hadn’t, we had a little more time. If Dr. Moretti believed he was