Read The Angel Maker - 2 for Free Online

dollars a kidney-that's the going rate. Fifteen thousand. it's so obvious that something like this would grow out of the lack of donor organs. Transplant technology has outraced supply. It's all in here," she said, again tapping her copies of the articles.
    "There are not enough far-sighted people out there who think to become donors prior to their deaths. Livers, kidneys, lungs, hearts, ovaries, testicles, eyes, bone marrow, you name it.
    There's a shortage in nearly every category. And what happens when there's a shortage? It's simple economics. Third World countries are hit the worst because they lack the technology for life-support: the dialysis machines, the respirators.
    Egypt, India, Argentina, Brazil-kidneys practically trade on the open market. If you're an Egyptian farmer who's had a bad crop, you go into the city and sell one of your kidneys. You come home a few weeks later with ten years' worth of income.
    And when those organs are in short supply? Maybe the doctors there turn to their colleagues overseas."
    "Fifteen grand a kidney?"
    "Lungs about the same. Livers and hearts go for ten to twenty times that."
    "But not here. Not in this country."
    "Not in my backyard? Come on! What would you pay to stay alive?
    What happens when you find yourself number one hundred and fifty on an organ donor list where they're averaging three transplants a month and your doctor has given you six months to live? You start making inquiries. You beg, borrow, or steal the money necessary, and you buy what no one will donate. You establish a market. Where there's demand, someone will supply.
    It never fails. If you're a doctor, can you imagine how frustrating it must be to see your patients die because so few people will take the time to fill out a couple of forms?"
    "You're right about it giving us a way to investigate it." "Us?
    You said 'us."' "What you do is identify their method of selection."
    "Meaning?"
    "If it is organized-if it is a business just as You've suggested-then this surgeon must have some way of identifying, of selecting his donors."
    "Meaning?" she asked, wanting to hear him think this through aloud. She could feel his enthusiasm. She almost had him.
    "Listen, either they're stealing them, in which case Chapman and these others are innocent victims, or they're buying them, contracting them from people either desperate for money or sympathetic to their cause or both. Like your Egyptian farmer, right? Unfortunately, we don't know which. We need to establish that first. We need to know their game plan. How do they identify their donors? That comes first."
    "These organs are perishable goods," she reminded. "There are time factors involved."
    "Do they kidnap the donor, steal some kid off the streets?
    That's a hell of a risk to take."
    "They're runaways. Who's going to notice?"
    "But why take that kind of risk if you can cut a deal instead?
    What if the donor comes into the plan willingly? That makes a lot more sense."
    "Cindy Chapman's a victim, Lou," Daphne said obstinately. "We don't know that. What if she offered to sell her kidney? What if it was voluntary? Runaway teenagers are not exactly long on cash."
    "I don't believe that.
    Why use electroshock if they're part of your conspiracy? She sure as hell didn't volunteer for that."
    "Don't get all high and mighty, damn it. Your point is well-taken, okay? I agree with you. The electroshock doesn't fit. Okay?"
    "You agree with me, but you won't help me."
    "I will help you.
    All I can."
    "But you won't take it to the lieutenant?"
    "I can't get that involved. Not yet, anyway." He looked down, wiped some drool from the baby's mouth. "Extenuating circumstances." He added quickly, "But I will help."
    "if Cindy Chapman dies, then will you take it to Shoswitz for me? Is that what you need, a fresh victim? She's in bad shape, you know." "You can really piss me off when you try."
    "Good. I'm trying real hard."
    "I noticed. Have you run Chapman's clothes through the lab?" he