CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Listen, I was never in Cambodia. I'm a hired gun for DeWitt," said Bach.

"I don't give a fuck," said Hex. "You're as guilty as he is. You need to start telling me something useful, or we're done here."

"Fine. DeWitt has been trying to get rid of Marshall and Sor for two years now. You guys were in Cambodia two years ago helping with a tsunami or some shit," he mumbled.

"I remember that," frowned Sor. "We were moving children to camps because most of their parents had been out fishing the day the tsunami happened. We got them to camps further inland until someone could come for them."

"That's what you thought."

"What the fuck do you mean? That's what we did," said Sor.

"DeWitt was the one that took the kids to the camps, right?" Sor stared at him with a sudden realization. "He was the one who generously offered to take all the beautiful little children to safety while you all continued to help the others. You should have known he wasn't that good. There is nothing good about him."

"Or you, apparently," said Nell. The man stared at her, pissed at first, then grinding his teeth nodded.

"You might be right about that. I'm not the best man alive, but I'm not DeWitt."

"What about the kids? What was he doing?" asked Sor.

"That cave that the old man owned was rumored to have gold and rubies inside it. He found small amounts, tiny, nothing significant, but then figured out that the larger volumes were further back in the caves where you had to crawl through small spaces, dive underwater, climb narrow ledges."

"I'm well aware of what it looked like in there," said Sor.

"Well, you saw it after they'd chipped away at some of the entrances. When they first got there, only kids could get through."

"Oh my God," whispered Nell. "He's using the children to get to what's in that tunnel."

"Give the prize to the pretty lady. He's doing it there and in about ten other countries throughout Southeast Asia. Tunnels, sewers, caves, anything that you need tiny bodies or hands to get to."

"All those skulls, the bodies leaning on the wall, why keep those? Why do that?" asked Sor.

"It was a message to the other kids. Do your job, or you'll die like the others. He feeds them just enough that they don't starve. If they find gold or gemstones, they get a bigger meal, maybe clean clothing. Not sure why that matters. Those kids haven't seen daylight in a few years now."

"Are you fucking with me right now?" growled Eric, gripping his shirt. He slammed against the wall, his forearm braced against his throat. "You stood by and watched these kids die for his greed?"

"He, h-he was paying a lot of money. More than the fucking military!"

"You're going to die," said Leif.

"I know that," he coughed as Eric released him. "I know."

"Where are the other caves?" asked Sor.

"It's not all caves. Like I said, sometimes it's tunnels, sewers, mountainsides. Hell, he even had them break into a museum not long ago and steal some art."

"How many kids? How many kids have died?" asked Cam. He looked away, then felt the hard slap to his head by Eric.

"How fucking many?" he growled.

"I don't know. That's the truth. We didn't count them. Dozens. Hundreds. Hell, it might be thousands by now. They were just street urchins. Waifs. Most didn't even have homes."

"Oh, so you were doing a service, is that it?" spat Luke.

"No. I didn't mean it like that."

"Where is DeWitt?" asked Sor.

"I don't know. That's the truth. We're never in the same location. He's probably at one of the other sites. And I don't know all the locations. There are three in Cambodia, one in Thailand, one in Vietnam, and I think a few in northern China."

"You said Southeast Asia," said Nell. "That's not Southeast Asia. What else are you lying about?" The eyebrows of every man in the room rose, staring from Nell to the other man.

"Answer the lady," said Sor.

"I wasn't lying. I just didn't mention China. Not like you can get to them anyway."

"Wanna bet?" growled Eric.

"Were all the children male?" asked Sor. "From what it looked like, all the kids were male."

He paused for a long moment, then looked at the room, knowing these would be his last words.

"No. The females were taken for auction or for use."

"For use?" whispered Nell. Bach tilted his head, suddenly realizing the depths to which he'd sunk.

"Nell, honey, maybe you should step outside," said Sor. She looked up at him, nodded, and turned to walk away. As she reached the door, a wide-open path was behind her. Turning, she stared at Bach.

"I hope you burn in hell." They didn't even know she had a gun. She lifted it with ease and comfort, firing directly into his upper body. Once. Twice. Three times. Lowering the weapon, she let Cam take it from her hands.

"Nell," whispered Sor in shock.

"Let me know if I need to turn myself in. I'll be at the cafeteria."