A bright examination light.
People wearing masks.
Someone asking whether she had ever been pregnant before.
Then waking in her cell the following morning feeling ill.
She had initially convinced herself it had been a nightmare.
Until her body began changing.
The other women eventually described similar experiences.
The investigators immediately ordered independent medical examinations.
What emerged changed the entire case.
The pregnancies had not resulted from secret encounters inside the prison.
Evidence indicated that unauthorized reproductive medical procedures had been performed on the women while they were incapacitated.
The question became horrifyingly simple:
Why?
The answer was hidden in paperwork.
Investigators searched the offices of the prison’s medical contractor and found patient files identified only by numbers.
No names.
No photographs.
Just ages, medical histories, laboratory results, and coded notes.
Oksana’s prison identification number appeared in one of them.
Beside it were two words:
“Candidate successful.”
Another file contained the second prisoner’s number.
