Body Parts

1 Business Success

Reston stood in front of the almost live sized human poster of a man with his hands out to its sides. He was surrounded by similar posters of both genders. He was learning the details of the new human body parts business he had been instructed to establish by his bosses in Italy. The poster graphics were detailed and captioned for both the exterior and internal body parts. He felt like a medical student. He was not going to do any memorization, but he knew he would be referring to the posters as the body parts orders came in.

He was use to trafficking in a wide variety of drugs and had never imagined that he would be getting into the business of trafficking in human body parts.

The posters had what each body part was worth. The arrow pointing to the skin indicated that it was worth thirty thousand dollars. The scalp was worth one thousand dollars.

He walked around the room, and it became clear that one body was worth more than a half a million dollars if all the parts could be sold.

He wondered about the people that were willing to pay for the body parts. He knew that he would be making more than the half a million per body. The black market would be many times more.

He had been informed that the legitimate body parts market was a billion-dollar industry. He figured that the black market would be worth to one hundred times more if properly managed

Adding the body parts business to the distribution of drugs had been a path that Reston had not envisioned getting into. He was surprised to find that the company had selected Cincinnati to be the central point of both production, acquisition, and distribution. Many of the body parts were stolen from various legal body parts distributors. The rest would be collected from the appropriate local people.

The posters covered eyes, liver, heart, pancreas, stomach, a large and small intestines, penises, the list went on to cover almost every organ in the body.

He had spent a great deal of time in setting up his own body part production operation. He knew that many of the bodies that he would be asked for would need to be harvested from individuals that he would need to identify that had the right match to some person willing to put up the money to obtain the body part they needed. He knew that speed and maintaining a supply of the most desired parts would be important.

He had spent a fair amount of time designing the layout of his parts production, inventory holding room, and distribution supply chain.

His “factory” was located in a warehouse that had all the legal licensing and had passed the required warehouse inspections so that he had a five-year window before the next inspection. He of course had set it up as a regular warehouse and later added the special features that turned it into a human parts production center.

The interior construction had been done by a special group out of the New York area that were all partners of the mafia. They had come in and used the drawings he and a new York architect had made. The work was quickly done in a quiet low-key way.

His few permanent employees were trusted mafia members who had been recruited, trained, and then sent to him.

Recruiting the right person to do the dissecting of the bodies was not as difficult as he had expected. He had forged papers that he presented to the surgeon that he recruited. This surgeon had been on a list of a dozen potentials that had been identified from their participation in a conference on human body parts. The surgeon was a resident at one of the local hospitals and deep in debt.

He activated his various connections in all the major cities along the East Coast and soon he had a list asking for almost every human body part.

The body parts business was significantly more lucrative than the drug business and distribution was relatively easy since the drug business had an established distribution network.

He kept an eye on the books and soon realized that the money being taken in warranted an expansion.

He was always short of some organ or another. He looked at the back orders and knew that he would need to enlist another surgeon to harvest more parts.

He would also need to be more aggressive in getting the right “donors’ on the dissection table.

He had his acquisition leader get more referring doctors enlisted. He was ready to throw the net more broadly so that he could fulfill the surging parts requests.

He spent many an hour watching the harvesting process through an observation window. He had designed a business office that had a window that allowed him to see the dissection table.

He also participated in the inventory inspections of the parts stored in the cold room. Many of the body parts could be held for days and still be used by someone needing it and willing to pay to get around the various waiting lists that prevented them from getting the parts legally.

Those parts that aged beyond their viable period were processed and disposed of in a furnace that operated only at night.

He was making a small fortune running the business.

His surgeon was making one as well.

Reston had set up an offshore account for this surgeon but kept himself on record as a co-account owner. This ensured that the doctor could be kept in check if the working relationship went south. He also tracked much of the doctor’s personal life and contacts. He did not want the good doctor to stray from the agreement that had him spending about two hours a day harvesting body parts.

He was currently watching one of the harvesting sessions being performed on specifically ordered body. The good doctor had already removed the eyes. This was an organ that was always in demand somewhere in the country. He was currently carefully sawing the rib cage open so that the heart, liver, and other organs could be carefully removed.

A series of containers were ready to receive each of the organs as they were removed. The process was handled very efficiently, and a body could be harvested in the allotted two hours unless some unique part had been requested.

He always stopped watching when it came time to skin the remains and harvest the skin tissue, the scalp, and any miscellaneous organ. It was the only time he got grossed out.

The young man that was on the table had been identified, tracked, and then brought to the warehouse and kept in a cell. He had been killed just prior to the harvesting session. This was one step that the doctor did know about.

He wondered if the good doctor recognized how fresh most of the bodies he dissected happened to be.

A few weeks later Reston received word that a second surgeon had been recruited. He informed the good doctor that he would be training the second surgeon on the harvesting procedures.

That was when he first got the word that the good doctor wanted to quit. Reston reminded the good doctor that he had made a small fortune, and that quitting was not an option.

The good doctor made the mistake of arguing with the position he was taking and threatened to expose the operation if necessary.

Reston knew immediately that he needed to take drastic and dramatic action to put the doctor back into his place.

Reston had his bodyguard do a little checking and learned that the good doctor had entered into a relationship with a surgical nurse at the hospital where he practiced. He figured that the relationship between the good doctor and the nurse was the reason for the good doctors change of heart. He came to an immediate solution.

The fact that the good doctor had more than ten million in the offshore account was probably an additional incentive to quit.

The nurse was very attractive. Reston obtained records and made note of the key DNA, blood type and other key attributes.

He waited until the right parts request came in. He was going to snuff out the superior attitude of the good doctor. He was going to emotionally destroy him.

A few weeks later after a couple more discussions about the desire to quit, Reston took the action he knew would totally change the good doctors attitude and ensure he had control of the situation.

He had the nurse, that the good doctor was having an affair with, snatched, and brought to the warehouse.

He waited until the good doctor was ready for the next body and walked in and handed him the extensive list of parts to be harvested. The list had every organ, a knee joint, an entire right leg, eyes, and the breast nipples on it.

He wanted to be in the room when the good doctor realized who his next harvest victim happened to be.

He stepped to the far end of the room with a direct view of the operating table. He had Dennis his bodyguard standing next to him in case he needed protection.

Sara was scared as she sat in the cage and watched the two men who had snatched her from the parking lot the day before as she got ready to go home. They had not replied to any of her questions or explained why they had snatched her.

Zack and Brent had exchanged a few quiet comments about their next victim. They agreed she was too pretty to be processed but they had their orders.

Zack got the call to prepare her for the next harvest. He opened the door to the cage and let her know that she could leave the cage.

As she stepped out of the cage, Brent hit her with the knuckles of his thumb on her two temples. She went out like a light when the switch was flipped.

They lifted her and put her face down on the processing table. Brent then slit each of her arteries in her neck. He then focused on undressing her as her blood pumped out and ran down into the collection bag. The blood would be filtered and sold to a blood bank.

He admired her beautiful body and was sorry that she had been selected but that was the bosses decision not his.

When the call came to wheel the body into the harvesting room they opened the door and pushed the table in.

James asked why Reston was in the room instead of behind the observation window. He was surprised to hear that Reston say that he had a surprise for him.

James watched as the table with the harvest body was pushed into the room and put next to the dissection table. He walked over to help in rolling the body over onto the table.

There was something familiar about the body, but he could not quite place the feeling.

As the body was turned over, his brain exploded, his life was shattered. It was Sara, the woman that he had fallen in love with.

He heard Reston call out, “surprise” as he picked up his scalpel.

He took the only action that flashed into his mind.

2 The Nurse

The large panoramic screen in the living room zoomed out to the mountains, then slowly panned along the river and finally on the campsite where her father was putting up the large tent that they had all shared. Her mother had just transferred all her family videos to the cloud and wanted to view a few. The family had traveled extensively around the country and had camped in many of the national or state parks. The clip that was on the screen had been taken in a campground near the Tetons. She remembered the cold stream water where she swam briefly in a clear pool where she could see the fish swimming below her. She also remembered catching some of those fish and watching her father clean and fry them over the open campfire. At that time, she was probably fourteen. It had been one of many bright memories of growing up.

The other memory of that trip was the drive through Yellow Stone, seeing the buffalo and Old Faithful. She was sure her mother would have extensive footage of that drive as well.

She took a sip of her wine and had to admit that she had grown up in a loving family as a spoiled young girl.

Her early school years were a blur, and she had little recall about specific events.

She considered her high school years to be rather busy and exciting. She had been on the school paper, a cheer leader, and was a lettered field hockey player. Her senior year was especially fun because of all the parties she had attended. The only thing that she regretted about that time was that she had not been very serious about what she was going to do after high school.

As graduation loomed, she decided to go into nursing and was admitted to the University of Cincinnati. That made her parents happy because she would stay near home. She was excited because she felt that she had found her way into a field that felt right for her. She realized that she enjoyed helping people and thought that nursing would satisfy her desires. Her mother had suggested becoming a doctor, but Sara knew she did not have the desire nor the grade point average that would get her accepted in most US schools.

She graduated and was pleased when she was hired by the UC hospital as a practicing nurse. She was first assigned to be a floor nurse. She worked hard and received excellent feedback on her performance.

A year later she applied for and got a position as a surgical assistant. This assignment at first was a little overwhelming and watching surgery took getting used to. She at first had a quesy stomach but slowly got over it.

Then she had assisted Dr. Westin during one of his surgeries. He was fast, accurate, and seemed to have a good sense of humor.

He seemed to like her and requested her by name for several subsequent surgeries.

Their relationship seemed to take a natural turn toward intimacy.

Sara had dated James for more than a year when he asked if she would go on a vacation trip with him. She had accepted and he had asked her to pick the vacation trip that she wanted to go on. She had thought about going to Yellowstone but was not sure that camping out would be that romantic. She decided that an Alaskan cruise sponsored by one of the famous magazines on one of the smaller ships would be just the thing.

They had a main deck cabin that had an outside view. The cruise departed Seattle and for fourteen days they spent their time together. They dined each evening with a number of the guests. Sara noted that there were thirty couples on the cruise and another handful of single people for about sixty people in total. The small number of people was what had attracted her to this particular cruise.

She knew that it was rather expensive, but James had let her know that the cost was no issue.

They had enjoyed hiking, biking, kayaking at various moments, and strolling through Petersburg and learning about its fishing industry. She had followed in her mother’s footsteps and used her phone to capture most of what she saw. She of course took many selfies that she sent to her parents.

The tour ended in Sitka Alaska where they caught a flight back to Cincinnati.

Sara felt that it had turned out to be fourteen of the best days of her life.

On the way back to Cincinnati, James suggested that she move in with him. She accepted on the condition that they each had their own bedroom.

He had accepted and said that he currently rented a three-bedroom apartment a few blocks from the University hospital.

They agreed that she would move in as soon as her own apartment contract ended in two months.

Her mother asked her to come to dinner and share the highlights of the vacation. Sara knew that what her mother wanted was the inside scoop on the romance.

She was eager to share that news, but she also had a great video of the highlights of the vacation that she had purchased as part of the tour. It was professionally done, and she knew her mother and dad would love it.

Sara floated along in sort of a haze as she waited for her lease to end. She went to James apartment and was amazed at how spacious and comfortable it felt. She was ready to make the move.

After work, she was walking out to her car when suddenly she was grabbed and felt a cloth going over her mouth and nose. She identified the smell of chloroform before she passed out.

When she came to she was lying in a barred cell. She sat up and tried to get her bearings. She realized that she had been kidnapped and wondered what was happening. She spent the night awake and scared.

Then the next day a person that she did not know approached the cell and told her she was going to be just fine if she did as she was told.

She asked what was going on.

The reply that everything was going to be alright did not satisfy her.

Alright meant to not have been kidnapped.

A short time later, the first person returned with a second one. He said it was time for a surprise and opened the cell door and told her to come out.

She was warry but figured that getting out of the cell was better than resisting and staying in the cell. As she stepped beyond the door, suddenly she was hit on her two temples, and everything went dark.

Thank you for reading this far.