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.

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 back up.’ Sal liked

realize the dangers until later, did they?” I asked.

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 to ki ll their customer

same one that came 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 calm. I wanted to go to him, but I also didn’t think Andy would keep talking if I

although I can’t be sure. I know Sal still pays him,” he said, watching Adrik pace

you know how to find him?” I asked.

one of his houses just outside the city. He used to be a doctor at one of the hospitals in the city, but he had his license revoked after too many medical misconduct cases. When he was still working at the hospital, Sal would pay him under the table only when he needed him. Once

know where that house is,” I

or not, but he never has security with him. Sal always offered, but he said he 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 the faintest hint of recognition there, but they could never place him. He liked to mess with their heads.” Andy said.

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 well. We all just stared at Andy

looked at the guys and turned to look at Adrik, saying in Russian, “we 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

his fingers dialing a number on his phone as he walked out. Andy had a renewed sense of worry on his face, since he couldn’t

a moment as we waited for Ivan to come back into the office. If the police had already released his picture, we would have