Chapter Four
The Honeypot

Scandal was about twenty minutes away from clocking off for the night and, as far as the young woman was concerned, shift's end couldn't come quickly enough. It was supposed to be her night off and she'd made plans for the evening but Joanie had called in sick and the boss had asked her to handle Joanie's shift. Scandal had been most displeased and the leers and crude comments she'd endured as she performed dances and served drinks only deepened her disgust with the human race in general and men in particular.

If her parents could see her now, they'd be horrified. Scandal smiled, a little sadly. Father still believed she was studying medicine and she was, kinda but the dancing gig she'd taken up to cover her tuition and keep a roof over her head had spiralled a little out of her control. The girl whose birth certificate named as Jennifer had found that she rather enjoyed the power she had over men simply by wearing revealing attire and dancing. Of course, the better she was at dancing the worse the men's behaviour became. But that's what bouncers were for.

Scandal had been dancing at Chora's a little more than a month when the man for whom she was performing attempted to pull her into his lap. As though from the shadows appeared the krogan door guard. That had been the first time Scandal had ever seen one of the krogan from such close proximity, as he ejected the unruly patron, the sheer grace and power of his movements, the rippling of muscles beneath the thick hide excited her in a way no human man had ever done before.

The feeling of excitement grew as the night went on and, by the time Chora's doors closed, Scandal had been in the grip of a barely restrained sexual energy she'd never felt before. And all from watching a krogan flex his muscles. God...who'd have thought she of all people, such a nice girl, really, could be turned on to such an extent? Certainly Scandal herself hadn't known.

Scandal was rather enjoying the pleasant sensations the memories were arousing in her when she saw the Man enter the club. She'd committed the pencil drawing of the Man to memory and remembered what the older woman had told her. What he'd done to her. "Son of a whore..." she muttered and quickly made for the bar.

She poured a large measure of liquor into a glass and leaned across the bar towards the barkeep, giving him a good long look at her cleavage. "Hey, there, honey," she crooned.
"What is it, Scandal?" he replied, voice brusque but his gaze didn't pull away from her chest.

"Got any of those little red pills?" she asked, lowering her voice.

Now the bartender's eyes snapped up to meet hers. "Jesus Christ, woman! You trying to get me fired?"

"Come on, darlin' I know you're holding out on me...just one pill. I know somebody who'd like to take a trip," and Scandal giggled at the thought of the Man wide eyed and gazing raptly at his surroundings while Bethany interrogated him.

"Just this once, Scandal? OK? I'm serious. Look at me, girl."

Scandal thought it was hugely ironical that a man who until then had been staring down her top was telling her to look at him. She only nodded soberly and looked him in the eyes. "If anything bad happens, if somebody has a bad trip, I don't know you, alright?" he insisted.

"No problem, honey," she said and pat him gently on the cheek. He quickly removed a tiny plastic bag with a single red tablet within and handed it to her. Scandal winked at him and secreted the bag inside her top.

Making sure she wasn't being observed, she removed the tablet, crushed it against the bar under the heel of her hand and swept the dust into the glass of liquor. A few stirs with a swizzle stick dissolved the drug into the alcohol. Scanning the crowd, Scandal found the Man chatting to a couple of young women and quickly pushed herself between them.

"Hey! Outta my way, bitch!" one of them yelled.

Scandal ignored them and instead turned the full force of her not inconsiderable charms on the Man. "Hey there, handsome. Want to have a drink with me and...get acquainted?"

The Man looked from Scandal to the pair of women who had melted back into the crowd and smiled. Tonight was his lucky night and maybe he could have a little fun before he delivered this little gift to Simons. Offering the girl his hand he spoke using his most debonair voice, "My name is Charles Sinclair and what name does such a delightful young lady such as yourself go by?"

Smiling triumphantly, Scandal took Sinclair by the hand and tugged him towards a darkened booth. "Honey, you can call me whatever you like. I'm going to give you a night you won't ever forget. I promise."

---

Bethany, Garrus, Shepard and Williams sat in a circle around the table in the small kitchenette of Bethany's Ward Three apartment to discuss their findings. Bethany's pet rottweiler, Mister Darcy, excited by so many new people and scents went from chair to chair sniffing the the newcomers and attempting to jump into their laps. Idly scratching the dog between his ears, Bethany asked, "So what have we got so far?"

"Precious little, I'm afraid," her brother replied. "Besides the room booking and the video footage which could be of anybody carrying anyone, there's not much to go on."

Garrus leaned forward in his seat. "I've had little success following the back trail of the funds used to pay for the hotel room."

"What about privately owned med centres? The surgery had to be carried out somewhere with the proper equipment," Williams suggested.

Bethany was about to answer when her comm unit bleeped. "Excuse me," she said as she accepted the call.

"Shepard." In the background she heard the familiar beat of Chora's dance music.

"Is this Beth the Mercenary?" a young woman's voice replied, speaking loudly to be heard over the music.

"It is indeed Beth the Mercenary. Who's this?" Bethany enquired though she had a fairly good idea.

"It's Scandal. From Chora's? You asked me to call if that guy showed up. You know, the guy?"

The fingers of Bethany's left hand paused in their scratching between Mister Darcy's ears. "He's there? Right now?" The edge in her voice caused her companions, human, turian and canine to look up at her.

"Yeah," Scandal confirmed.

"Great! Scandal, listen to me, don't go near him just keep an eye on him and-"

"Too late," the younger woman said cheerfully. "I already gave him a spiked drink, ironic, isn't it? By the time I finished my first dance for him, he was already drugged to the eyeballs. Stupid bastard's trying to hit on one of the pole dancing poles."

A small smile curved Bethany's lips and she laughed throatily. "Atta girl. We'll be there in ten. And Scandal?"

"Yeah?"

"I owe you one."

Bethany ended the call and nodded to Garrus. "We're up. Bring your interrogation kit."

Garrus' mandibles twitched momentarily in confusion before he answered, "I don't have an interrogation kit."

Bethany seemed to deflate slightly. "No electrodes to attach to his genitals?"

"No." Garrus confirmed. Williams and Shepard traded glances.

"Beth," Shepard began and rose from the table. Williams also stood. "Let us come with you. I'm worried for you, sis. You're so full of anger..."

Bethany smirked. "Is this the part where you tell me to let go of my anger before it consumes me? Because I've already seen that film and I'm not turning into Darth Vader."

Again Shepard and Williams exchanged glances. "Darth who?"

Embracing her brother tightly, Bethany spoke softly into his ear, "I'll be fine. I appreciate your concern but this is something I have to do for myself and by myself."

As she released him and stepped away, Shepard frowned then nodded. "OK but I'll be on standby in case you need me."

Bethany and Garrus headed for the apartment's exit; Williams said, "Give 'em hell, Beth."

"Don't encourage her," Shepard replied.

---

"Wow, if ever I needed an object lesson on why you don't mix party drugs with hard liquor, this guy is it," Bethany murmured as she, Garrus and Scandal, now wearing jeans and a pink cashmere sweater stood around Charles Sinclair. The man of the moment was slumped in a chair in the back office area of Chora's. Garrus recognised the place as where Fist had made his last stand. That wall there had been the final resting place of most of Fist's intestines after Wrex had shot the gangster point-blank with a shotgun. Garrus hadn't imagined that pureed human vital organs could emit such a foul odour.

"What'd you give him, anyway?" Bethany asked as she leaned over the man and peeled back his right eyelid, revealing an eye that was mostly bloodshot.

"Hell if I know what's in it," Scandal shrugged. "I got this red pill off...this guy."

"Whatever it was, we'll have to wait for him to sober up before we can question him," Garrus put in.

"Oh, I can sober him up right quick," Bethany assured the others before backhanding Sinclair with all the force she could muster. The man's head whipped to the right; the force of the impact sending him half out of the seat. He didn't so much as a bat an eyelid, however.

"Huh," she replied, flexing her hand. "He's really out of it."

Scandal bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, "Ohh, can I hit him? Huh, can I?" Bethany smiled at the younger woman; she sounded like a child asking to ride the rollercoaster at the fair. "Garrus?" she asked the turian.

"Oh let her have a go. She's already committed a felony by being in possession of an illegal narcotic, not that I'll arrest her over it."

Grinning hugely, face lit with the glow of a child up to no good and confident of getting away with it, Scandal slapped their captive across the face, relishing the sharp smacking sound of palm on face. Sinclair's head rocked in the opposite direction and spit flew from his lips. He uttered a low moan. A red handprint burned like a brand in the side of his face.

Garrus and Bethany settled in to wait for Sinclair to wake up. Scandal frowned at her watch. "I wish I could hang around but I have to go home and feed the cats. They'll be going ape by now." Bethany nodded her thanks and as Scandal left, Garrus locked down the office door.

As the turian turned back to face Bethany, he saw a faraway look in her green eyes and saw for the first time, the dark circles beneath them and the pallor of her skin. Though she'd never admit it, the events of the last week had taken a toll. She'd undergone major surgery and by rights should still be recovering. Instead she'd chosen to commit herself to this course of action no matter what. It was an ethic similar to that seen in the turian military, Garrus reflected. Bethany would have made a good turian, he decided.

"What are you planning to do to him?" the turian quietly asked of the human. She looked up at him, startled out of whatever reverie she'd been in. Garrus was sure that when she rubbed a hand across the armour over her lower back, she wasn't aware of doing it.

Bethany smiled sadly. "Part of me want's to open him up and see how long he can go before he bleeds to death. But that would be counter-productive." She paused to survey the room, "And messy." To herself she muttered, "I'm getting too old for this. You know, most of the girls I went to school with are in stable careers with husbands, kids, the whole thing. Me? I live day to day not knowing what's around the corner...with a dog. True, I chose this but if I had known it would turn out like this," she gestured at drugged man slumped in the seat, "I might have thought twice, you know?"

Garrus considered this for a moment, "I used to feel the same about leaving C-Sec to join Commander Shepard but I see now that I made the right decision at the right time. In time perhaps you'll see that as well."

Bethany smiled a happier smile and Garrus was glad of it, "Anybody ever tell you that you're a very wise man...turian?"

"Not until now. Thank you."

Before either of them could say anything more, their guest uttered a pained moan and leaned forward, almost falling out of the chair and onto the carpet.

"Well well, Sleeping Beauty's finally awake!" Bethany crowed and clapped her hands together. "How you doing, sport?"

Sinclair groaned again and straightened up, eyes going wide as he looked from human to turian. Then his gaze flickered to the closed door. Garrus saw the movement and said, "Forget about it, human. Door's locked. We have some questions to ask you."

"You...I know you," Sinclair's voice was a harsh whisper.

"Didn't think you'd see me again, did you? Especially not in these circumstances," Bethany said and leaned forward, hands gripping the sides of Sinclair's face, forcing him to look up at her. "I'm very upset with you. Start talking: who do you work for and where are they?"

Sinclair attempted to shake his head. "I can't...I'll be killed. They'll cut me open and sell my organs on the black market!"

Bethany released him with a sigh. Whatever measure of relief Sinclair felt at this development was short lived. Bethany took the man's right hand in both of hers and with a vicious jerk, snapped the index finger at the second knuckle. Sinclair shrieked. Bethany looked over at Garrus. "This room sound-proofed, I wonder?"

"I doubt the patrons will be able to hear anything over the dance music in any case."

"Good enough for me," Bethany said and turned back to Sinclair. White-faced with pain and fear, he'd retreated back into himself, cradling the broken hand to his chest. Bethany tapped him in the forehead, hard and he looked up at her, eyes wide. "There are two hundred and six bones in the human body," Bethany began, channelling Sarah Connor. "That was one."

"I advise you to start talking," Garrus put in from his place near the door.

"Please! I don't wanna die!"

"Yeah? Well I didn't want to lose a kidney! So I guess neither of us got what we wanted." Ignoring his cries of protest, Bethany grabbed Sinclair's other hand, lightly running a fingertip along the back of it.

"OK! OK! I'll talk!" Sinclair shrieked.

"Pity, I was looking forward to torturing you some more," Bethany sighed. "Oh well. Who do you work for?"

"His name's Simons! Nobody knows his first name...hell that could be his first name!"

"Ring any bells?" Bethany asked Garrus. The turian activated his omni-tool and, bathed in the device's amber glow, he linked into C-Sec's database utilising a backdoor program he'd devised. "There's an entry here for a Gerrard Simons...surgeon, struck off after he was caught removing organs from corpses and selling them on the black market."

"Charming fellow," Bethany replied. Turning to Sinclair, she asked, "Question two: where is Simons?"

His will to resist broken, Sinclair explained, "He maintains a clinic in the Wards, all the funds are paid through shell companies. It's a legitimate business by day, quite profitable as well....by night, well. You know how things are. For what it's worth...I'm sorry you went through that."

"No," Bethany answered, voice low and murderous. Leaning into Sinclair until they were nose to nose, she went on, "You're just sorry you got caught." Pulling away from the man, she asked, "Where do we find the clinic?"

Sinclair sighed and told them everything.

---

The following are excerpts from the journal of Karen O'Donohue

May 23

That creep Sinclair's missing. Things are unravelling, falling apart. I'm falling apart. I woke up screaming in the middle of the night...saw Toms' face floating before me, he was begging for me to find his lost organs and put them back in, said he felt hollowed out. Rihara yelled at me to shut the fuck up. That whore, she came back with two warm bodies last night. A guy and a girl. She giggled when she told us how she'd gotten them: said she was into threesomes and they practically fell over themselves when she offered them drinks. Idiots. What is it with us humans and asari anyway? It's like an asari looks in our direction and our brains turn to mush. Men, I can understand, they think with their penises all the time so it wouldn't be hard but women...I like to think us girls are above that kind of thing. Of course the kinds of girls who frequent Chora's are sluts to begin with, mostly so no big surprise, I guess.

Anyway, Rihara brings in these two idiots, kids, really, no older than eighteen and Simons looked about as happy as I've ever seen him. And seeing him happy is frightening. Needless to say, we operated on them both and sent them on their way...as far as I know, they're both still alive. I...need to take a break...talk more later.

May 25

Sinclair's still missing. Simons is convinced he's gone to C-Sec and turned state's evidence and now he, Simons, that is, is in the process of packing up our gear, getting ready to head off station. I'm glad. At least no more people will be hurt because of us. I just wish there was a way to warn the authorities....Hmmm. If they catch me, they'll kill me but it's the only chance I'll have.

---

Working the front desk at C-Sec HQ meant that Officer Joe Lonsdale saw a wide variety of people during his shift - humans, turians, asari even the occasional quarian. Despite their inherent differences, all shared a common similarity - they all claimed to be innocent. Yeah and Elvis is still alive and flipping burgers in the Wards Lonsdale thought as he struggled not to yawn. It had been a slow shift, so far. Aside from the screaming drunk woman hauled in for drunk and disorderly by a patrol in the Wards, there'd been nothing remarkable.

Making sure nobody in the vicinity was looking in his direction, Lonsdale logged onto that asari fetish site on the 'net he'd stumbled across the other day. Kinky, he thought to himself as he clicked through a gallery of youthful-looking nubile asari in a variety of provocative poses. And they like to think they're so high and mighty.

The communications console set into the front desk lit up with an incoming call and Lonsdale hurriedly killed the browser, purging the cache as he took the incoming call.

"Citadel Security, how may I direct your call?" he answered.

At first there was nothing from the other end but rapid breathing and Lonsdale had time to think, Another crank before a young woman's voice whispered into his ear. Lonsdale's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to hear the woman's voice over the background noise of the station.

"Listen," she began, "I have information regarding the....organ donations that've been happening."

"May I have your name, Ma'am?" Lonsdale asked, ready to input the details into his system.

The woman laughed softly in his ear, "Nuh-uh. I'm risking my own life just making this call. I want to speak to whoever's in charge of the investigation. And I want to be put into witness protection."

Lonsdale sighed, rubbed a hand along his jaw. Five o'clock shadow rasped beneath his skin. Word was that Chellick and Hardcastle were stumped for leads so maybe he should just put the call through?

Sighing again, Lonsdale keyed his comm.

"Chellick," the flanged voice answered.

"Detective, I have a woman on the line, claims to have information on the black market organ trade."

When Chellick replied, his voice was alive with excitement, "Lonsdale, put her through immediately!"

"Sir," Lonsdale said and transferred the call.

---

Karen sat at a public comm terminal just off the lower Wards markets. She was hiding in plain sight from Simons. All around her were people of all races, going about their business. Nobody so much as spared her a glance. The background noise, composed of many voices speaking at once soothed her jangled nerves. She was so close to lifting the lid on the whole thing. All she needed was to be safely within C-Sec protective custody and then...

"Karen, Karen, Karen," the voice spoke from directly behind her. Karen spun around in the chair, eyes widening in fear as she looked up at Simons' face. His eyes, cold, flat and lifeless seemed to bore into hers. Her lips quivered and a single tear slid from one eye. Behind her a voice issued from the speaker in the comm terminal. Without breaking eye contact, Simons reached around her and cut the connection.

"Simons...I..it's not what you think!" she babbled, eyes darting left and right, seeking an escape. There was none. Simons was a large man and he effectively blocked her exit with his sheer bulk. Worse, Karen now saw, was Rihara hovering over his shoulder, smiling maliciously. She raised her right hand and Karen saw with an utter lack of surprise the syringe held between her slender fingers. Rihara's thumb rested on the plunger and the stainless steel needle glittered in the overhead lights.

"Come along quietly, dear," Simons said, voice surprisingly gentle. "I promise you that you won't feel anything."

Instinctively, Karen recoiled from the needle and her mouth fell open to scream. Simons lunged forward, clamping a firm hand over her mouth, muffling her cries. Though she struggled, Karen couldn't escape from her seat. Rihara stepped up beside Simons and in one smooth movement, plunged the needle into the vein in the human's throat. An instant later she fell limp as the fluid within in the syringe did its job.

Simons and Rihara hauled the unconscious woman from the comm booth and into a nearby automated transit car.

Nobody saw anything.

---

Garrus observed as Bethany readied herself for combat. The human checked the action of each of her weapons before slamming a fresh block of ballistic compound into the receiver and cycling a round. Scrawled in hot pink highlighter across the breastplate of her armour was Ask not for whom the bell tolls for it tolls for thee.

Garrus' keen gaze took in the rest of the scrawlings on Bethany's armour, Guns don't kill people, I do and Can't we all just get along? among them.

The turian's mandibles clicked in amusement. This Bethany Amber-Louise was a complex woman, he decided. That or she was simply deranged. It was hard for him to tell. Garrus thought about the concern Shepard had for his sister and decided it would be prudent to at least attempt to curb the woman's zealousness.

"Bethany?" he began. She paused as she slot a concussion grenade into the under-barrel launcher of her rifle.

"Perhaps we should allow the Commander to accompany us when we investigate the clinic."

Bethany laughed sourly. "Investigate?" she spoke as though she were tasting the word. "I kinda had a recon in force dealie in mind. With emphasis on the force."

"We don't know what defences they have in place. And now that one of their men is missing, they have to know something is amiss," Garrus pointed out. "We'll stand a better chance if we bring Shepard and Williams along."

Bethany sighed as she slid the rifle home into the hardpoint on the back of her suit. "Fine...I suppose you'll be wanting to place them all under arrest as well?"

"Yes. I think I understand your concerns, Bethany," Garrus began. "When the Commander and I finally located Dr Saleon, I was more than ready to pull the trigger on him and finish things."

"I assume something happened to make you change your mind?" Bethany asked, eyebrow raised.

Garrus nodded. "Your brother told me something that resonates within me still, You can't control what people will do. You can only control how you'll react. He also pointed out that if we arrested Saleon, we could learn how he was doing what he was doing and stop it entirely."

"So what happened?"

"Saleon tried to run and we shot him," Garrus shrugged.

"So he died in the end anyway?" Bethany chuckled. "That must have made Augie's day. All right, fine. We'll bring him along and see about arresting these guys."