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A listener note, this episode contains references to extreme violence.

It may not be suitable for all audiences. It's the night of April 24th, 1915 in the harbor near Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire.

A small steamship labors through the dark and choppy waters.

Sitting on deck, 39-year-old priest Grigoriz-Bolaki and grimaces as the deck pitches and another wave crashes into the boat.

A bookish young man beside him has a queasy look and suddenly doubles up, leaning forward to

vomit.

Grigorice lays a gentle hand on the man's back.

He knows it's not sea sickness that made the other man ill.

It's fear.

Griegorice is one of nine men under guard on the deck of the steamship.

All of them were taken from their beds by police in the middle of the night and dragged through

the streets to this boat.

Why they've been taken and where they are going is a mystery but they're all terrified of

what lays ahead. The wave breaks over the ship's vows and drenches the prisoners in

the filthy water of the harbor. The priest's robes are soaked in his thick beard plastered against his face.

Grigory wipes his eyes blinking away the saltwater.

Over the sound of the waves and the steamship sputtering engine, he can hear snickering.

At the back of the boat, under a small covered area of deck,

a group of armed police officers mocked the drenched

...