Jessie gets on the internet, which fortunately is also open twenty-four/seven.

The statistics for organ prices on the black market are stunning, as are the number of organs in the human body subject to transplant. There are stories about people dying and legally helping fifty people with their donated body parts.

In addition to heart, kidneys, lungs, and livers, the ones I thought obvious, we discover that things like eyes, tissue, stem cells, bone marrow, and much more are also valuable and in demand.

The black market is apparently worldwide, operating in the shadows and fueled by enormous amounts of money. It would seem, based on what she finds, that one person’s intact organs could be worth well over a million dollars.

It’s a world I knew very little about, and when this case is over, it will go on the short list of things I wish my amnesia would let me forget.

I have to assume that William Simmons’ driver’s license is a fake, though we have no opportunity to assess that right now. We don’t even have the original, just a copy, and while it looks legitimate, I don’t see how it can be.

Simmons would not have sought a license, and he would not have been given one if he did. I assume that the licenses were forged after the fact to cover the hospital’s actions.

At this point, we can’t know the extent of the criminality. Was Simmons murdered simply to get his organs, or did the conspirators merely take advantage of a situation they did not create?

And if he was murdered for his organs, how many other similar victims were there? How many people were killed so that their body parts could be harvested?

I’m assuming there were also others, not necessarily murder victims, who had their organs taken, probably without the family’s knowledge. Would every family member even know whether their deceased loved one meant to donate their organs? Would they think to question it?

And is this all doubled, meaning it is going on in Las Vegas as well? Are people at Harriman Hospital complicit, as they obviously are at Bergen?

Is that why this was a combination Tartaro/Silva operation? Is it because they’re operating worldwide, and Tartaro was responsible for the western half of the country and Asia, while Silva covered the east and Europe?

Most importantly, and most horrifyingly, is the terrorist event possibly scheduled for today designed to accumulate victims so that their organs can be taken? Is it literally meant to be one last, huge killing?

These are all questions we need to answer, and answer as soon as possible. But one thing is very clear; we’re going to need to act before we have all those answers.

Now.

“We need to get Bradley in here,” I say.