Mother and father joined by instinct.

“No!” She screamed and fell to the ground. The crib were her baby should be was empty.

“No,no,no,no,” she repeated over and over.

“What are you doing here?” A nurse asked helping Elizabeth to her feet.

“Where is my baby?” Elizabeth asked between sobs.

“Oh no, that was your baby,” The nurse let go of Elizabeth and took a few steps back.

“What happened!?” Elizabeth yelled and grabbed the nurse by her uniform. The fabric wrinkling between her fingers.

“I don’t know someone took him,” the nurse responded. Security personnel ran over to them and pulled Elizabeth’s hands off the nurse.

“Please calm down. We have the cctv of the person who took your baby. They won’t get far. We promise,” the security guard said but the only thing Elizabeth could do was cry. Her baby was taken and she didn’t know where he was.

A few hours earlier

Nursery

“She doesn’t know what’s good for you. Besides someone has paid me a lot of money for a little mix baby just like you,” the social worker said scooping Yoshio into her arms. She help him close and walked out of the nursery and the hospital. No one asked anything. She smiled she was home free.

“Now all we have to do is wait,” she smiled at Yoshio who began to cry when he looked at the woman. Her smile was big and menacing; he cried and screamed.

“Be quite!” She yelled at him and putting him down in the crib she had in her living room.

“You little noisy thing! Be quite!” She yelled in his face. Yoshio sobbed and stopped crying. He took quick short breaths and keep his eyes on the woman.

“25,000 is what you are worth to me. I don’t see what’s so special about your dark skin. It’s ugly if you ask me.” She looked at Yoshio with disgust.

“But nobody asked you did they,” a half dressed man came out of the room. He was scratching his large belly as he walked over to the crib.

“Husband you’re awake,” the woman said resting her hand on his chest.

“Move!” He pushed her to the ground.

“I want to see our money,” he said smiling as he looked into the crib.

He looked at Yoshio closely. His little eyes were definitely Japanese and his little nose was Japanese but his lips, and his skin, and those ears were definitely from the dark skin person who help make him. He just kept on looking at Yoshio, he was mesmerized by the kid. He couldn’t look away.

“Hubby What’s wring?” She asked him resting her hand on his shoulder.

“Nothing,” he pushed her hand away and reached into the crib and picked Yoshio up in his arms. Yoshio smiled and made cute baby noises and blew little spit bubbles.

“You’re really cute, aren’t you?” The man said laughing at what Yoshio was doing.

“Gross put him down. They’ll be here to pick him up tomorrow night. “ his wife said pushing her husband on the shoulder.

“What are they going to do to him?” He husband asked. In all the years they have been taking and selling children he has never asked or cared about what would happen to the children they sold. She looked at him for a moment, he almost looked human holding Yoshio in his arms like that. She wished he had been that gentle with their baby but he wasn’t. Looking at him holding Yoshio like that almost made her forget that he killed their baby.

“They’re going to harvest him for organs,” she told him and walked into the kitchen. The man just rocked Yoshio in his arms and looked at him. Someone was going to unceremoniously cut open this little body and remove his organs as they please.

Yamada Group

“Did you see the news. How terrible. A baby was taken from the hospital yesterday. “ one of the secretaries said as they stood around the copy machine.

“I heard it was a dark skinned baby,” another one said.

“I’ve never seen a dark baby before. What do you think it looks like?” Another one asked.

“Same as any other baby. But you can have plenty of time in the unemployment office. I need these files in an hour,” Yoshio said standing at the door of the copy room.

“Sorry Mr. Yamada,” all four of the women apologized and bowed. He didn’t say anything else he just went back to his office.

He paced back and forth not being able to forget what he heard. He sat at his desk and looked for the news article on his computer. When he found it he read it diligently. He heart was pounding fast for some reason he was emotionally invested in this story. The article mentioned that a social worker was the main suspect but that was all. There was nothing else about what was being done.

“Assistant Li,” Yoshio called the woman into his office. She had been working for him since he started working with his father when he turned 20. She was capable and reliable.

“Yes, Mr. Yamada,” she bowed as she entered the room.

“Call the police station and tell them that we will pay 100,000 for the missing babies safe return. Tell them they can collect the money no questions asked as long as the baby is unharmed.” Yoshio said never once looking away from the computer.

“Yes sir,” Assistant Li bowed and left the room. She never questioned anything Yoshio did. This was a bit unusual. Last of things happened in the news daily and unless it happened in the financial sector Yoshio showed very little interest. However, he was going to give 100,000 for a random missing baby. Babies went missing all the time it was actually fairly common.

“Hello this is Assistant Li, with the Yamada group. Our CEO would like to offer a 100,000 dollars for the safe return of the missing baby from City A hospital. The child must be unharmed. He would like you announce immediately to the media. “ Assistant Li finished.

“Why is your CEO interested in the safe return of a poor woman’s baby?” The commander asked.

“I don’t question my CEO and your wasting time. Make the announcement we’ll be watching.” Assistant Li hung up the phone.

“Come in,” Yoshio

“I spoke the commander. He’ll make the announcement. He was just interested in you reason for getting involved.” Assistant Li mention, she was also curious as to his reason.

“I don’t have a reason. I just feel compelled to do it. That might not be good enough for the commander,” Yoshio ran his fingers through his hair and sat back in the chair. He didn’t know why he cared so much about this story of a baby he didn’t know or have a connection to.

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