Irina explains: “The woman is saying, ‘This is stupid and crazy. If we get caught we will be dead, finished.’ Then the man says, ‘I am in charge here. You will do as I say.’ Then there is a moaning sound. I do not think it is the moaning of the woman.”

“No, it’s not,” I tell her. It is at this point that Orlov or Nina must have pushed me to the ground.

Irina continues: “The woman is saying now ‘I cannot be a part of this. The baby belongs to this woman.’”

Nik says, “Then the man says for her to ‘shut the hell up so we can get this baby and get out of here. Our customers need a baby right away. Now!’”

There is background noise. Children shouting. I think I hear the two kidnappers walking off. But who can tell in all the chaos, with all the people.

But what does it all mean? Not much, I think. We already know Orlov is the boss. I always suspected Nina has some maternal sympathy for the mothers she’s stealing from. And finally, the only interesting thing to emerge from this translation is this, the use of the word customers. “Our customers need a baby right away. Now!”

Chapter 60

Chapter 60

IT’S AN EASY GUESS and a good guess that Blumenthal is still at the precinct where Orlov is being held. Needless to say, that’s precisely where I want to be. But, as is usually the case, where I absolutely need to be is at Gramatan University Hospital to be available to my pregnant mothers.

GUH is a mess: Tracy Anne has not shown up as yet that morning, and no one knows where she is. Troy has worked for thirteen straight hours, through the night. So he’s having a catch-up nap in the sleep room. Two quite dependable trainees are working with two very young mothers who have gone into early labor. I look in on both. So far, so good. I’ll check in with them every fifteen minutes.

What about me? Well, my list shows that I have three women who could be delivering at any moment or, at the very least, in the next few hours.

Meanwhile, my waiting room is full, very full, eleven women full. Four are there for the prenatal diet and exercise class. We do it. There’s a lot of moaning and quite a few bathroom breaks, but eventually the one-hour class ends.