Page 543 of Lodestar

“The Brotherhood fed Bear’s investigation.”

“How do you know?”

“Steganography. Bear stored a lot of info on some random pictures. The code led me to thePauks.I was sure that I told you.”

“I’ve slept since then. Not a lot, but some,” was my sheepish retort.

She hummed. “If thePauksknew anything, it’d have been in Bear’s motel room. Ergo, Anton and hisPauksknow dick.”

When she stared blankly ahead, I questioned gently, “Hey, where’s your head at?”

“There’s a massive market for this,” she rasped. “As far as I can tell, it’s mostly the Mexican cartels who are peddling this particular ware…”

“But?”

“Why would you run such an extensive trafficking system without having that as a sideline? There had to be pregnancies that resulted from their brothels and, I mean, I hate to go there, but kids…”

“They could be harvested for organs too,” I said with a grimace.

“Girls die all the time, right?” At my disgust, she continued, “Might as well not let the meat go to waste. Those fucking asswipes.

“What corrupt millionaire wouldn’t pay a small fortune to arrange an illegal organ donation for their sick child?” That made my grimace deepen but she forged ahead. “This just doesn’t make any sense. They’ve been doing this for decades.” She sucked in a breath. “It’s a circle that feeds itself.”

Why did that bring back the image of Jorgmundgander?

“Do you know what else doesn’t make sense?” I asked as a thought occurred to me. “Something that you should ask your grandfather.”

“What?”

“How hisPauksand Bear got on the same team.”

“Huh. You’re right. Thatisweird. What put him on their radar and vice versa—” Her cell rang and when she saw the Caller ID, a frown flashed across her brow as she put the call on speaker. “Maverick?”

“Dost Mohamet Khan.”

When Star blanched—her features immediately turning pinched and pale—I settled a hand on her shoulder and curved my arm around her to support her.

“How do you know that name?” she rasped.

“You’ve heard of it?”

“How do you know it, Maverick?” she barked.

He heaved a tired sigh. “I had a flashback.”

“To when?”

I didn’t know much about Maverick’s condition, but I knew that his PTSD and CTE had him flashing back to periods of his life that were doused in trauma.

“That day in Kembesh.” His swallow was audible. “But Nic told me to ask Eagle Eyes about Dost Mohamet Khan. I don’t remember that conversation. I genuinely don’t. But it was so fucking real, Star. Nic was there—right goddamn there.”

“Who’s Nic?” I asked her softly.

“Maverick’s CO, also his partner at the time. He died in Kembesh. It was a minor battle but a disaster all round. The US covered up what happened to the battalion that defended an outpost there.

“They had to deal with an ambush on their own and had no militaryormedical support.”

“Jesus.”

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