Chapter 380 - Scars (1/2)

Sasquatch was spying on some customs officers when he received a call from an encrypted number. He was a bit surprised at first; he knew it had to be his new captain. But, why was she calling him?

Sasquatch was 35-years-old and he had almost 10 years of experience with Interpol. When he was offered the opportunity to become one of the first BTAs in the world, he was actually very excited. He thought, after all his years serving Interpol, he was finally being recognized. He even thought he could try for the position of captain.

But, to his surprise, one week after his surgery, Trisha sent him straight to Beijing and told him his new captain would get in touch. He tried to understand Interpol's decision and convinced himself that they must have found someone with extensive experience to lead the team. However, when he heard Halia's voice the previous night, he was shocked to discover that she sounded really young. In fact, he was pretty certain that she was younger than him. He didn't want to be a close-minded person, but he couldn't help but have his doubts.

He turned on his earpiece and said without any particular emotion in his deep voice, ”Hello.”

Halia was a little taken aback by the man's emotionless tone. It almost sounded a little cold and unwelcoming. But, Halia brushed it off and assumed that he was simply serious when he was working.

”Sasquatch, I have a lead for you. I want you to search through immigration for a woman in her 30's-40's with multiple cuts on her hands,” Halia instructed. ”She may be in a position of power or someone that's been working there for a long time.”

”Multiple cuts?” Sasquatch questioned, ”As in 3-4 cuts?” This was such an odd thing to look for. Firstly, why was she being so specific about this particular detail, and secondly, it wasn't uncommon for people working in law enforcement to have cuts on their hands. He had quite a few himself. Was this a joke?

But, to his surprise, Halia replied, ”No. Multiple as in 20-30 cuts. Have you ever heard of scarification?”

Sasquatch furrowed his brows in surprise and replied, ”No, what is that?”

”It is a common practice among some small tribes around the world, especially in Africa, whereby scars are deliberately left on a person's body through cuts to create a pattern or a form of branding,” Halia replied. She had come across it on a doc.u.mentary she once watched.

”I suspect this woman has been branded. The cuts on her hands are thin and each cut is about the same length. They couldn't be accidental,” Halia explained.

Sasquatch listened with confusion. How did she know all this? But, he did not question her. ”OK, I'll see what I can find,” he replied before he looked up the immigration office and went to search for the woman that Halia described.

After she hung up with Sasquatch, Halia glanced at her own hands and frowned. She understood that scarification was a tradition in some tribes, and was even seen as a form of beauty and identity, like tattooing, but she couldn't imagine how a woman in China would end up with scars like the ones she saw in Boginya's memory. In her memory, even Boginya shuddered a little at the sight of it. Scarification was not common in China at all. In fact, it was practically unheard of. Who put those scars on her? Or did she do it to herself?

At that moment, she heard a voice in her mind, ”Damn, Amun. I can never understand his fetishes...”