Chapter 9: The Truth About Carter
702 Words
Diana Cross drove them across the city to a warehouse on the industrial east side. It looked abandoned, but Jaxon had been a cop long enough to know that appearances lied.
Inside, the warehouse was anything but empty. Computer screens covered one wall. Filing cabinets lined another. And in the center of it all was a conspiracy board that would make any detective weep with envy.
Photos. Names. Red strings connecting crimes and victims and perpetrators in a web of murder and corruption.
【Holy s**t. She wasn't kidding. This is serious.】
"Sit down," Cross said, pouring them both whiskey from a bottle that looked like it cost more than Jaxon's car. "We need to talk."
"Talk about what?" Jaxon accepted the glass but didn't drink. "About how you set me up? About how you knew Carter was coming for me?"
Cross shook her head. "I didn't set you up. But I knew Carter would move against you eventually. I underestimated how fast."
"You used me as bait."
"I used the situation." Her gray eyes were steady. Unapologetic. "You're the only one who can do what needs to be done, Jaxon. Carter knows about your system. He knows what you can do. That's why he wants you dead."
Jaxon set down his glass. "Tell me about Victoria Hale."
Cross went still. "Who told you that name?"
"Marcus. In my vision." Jaxon's voice cracked. "He's alive, isn't he? Carter didn't kill him. He... took him."
For the first time, something like respect crossed Cross's face. "The system showed you that? All of it?"
"Every second."
Cross walked to the conspiracy board, her fingers tracing the red strings until they reached a photo at the center. A woman. Ageless. Beautiful. With eyes that looked like they could see through time itself.
"Victoria Hale," Cross said. "She's the one behind everything. Carter. The murders. The systems. All of it."
【I've heard this name before. In places I shouldn't remember. In times that haven't happened yet.】
"What is she?" Jaxon asked. "What's a woman like that doing involved with a dirty cop and a bunch of dead girls?"
Cross turned to face him. "Victoria Hale isn't human. Not entirely. She's something else. Something that's been alive for a very, very long time. And she's collecting things."
"Things?"
"Systems. Your system is one of twelve original systems—pieces of something that fell from the sky, or was buried, or was created. No one knows for sure. But Victoria's been collecting them for centuries."
Jaxon felt like the ground was shifting beneath him. "That's insane."
"Is it?" Cross pulled out a tablet, swiping through images. "Look at this. Ancient texts. Cave paintings. Records from civilizations that shouldn't have existed. They all describe the same thing: visitors who could see death. Who could replay the final moments of the dead."
【She's not wrong. I remember. More than I should. More than I want to.】
"And Carter?" Jaxon asked.
"Carter is one of her hunters. He finds the systems for her. Extracts them from their hosts when necessary." Cross's jaw tightened. "Marcus was a host. That's why Carter couldn't just kill him. Marcus had the Tracker System—something that could find any system anywhere in the world."
Jaxon's blood ran cold. "So Carter took Marcus. To use him."
"To use him until Marcus was depleted. Then Carter would extract the system and deliver it to Victoria." Cross paused. "But something went wrong. Marcus escaped. He's been hiding for three years, leading Carter on a chase while Victoria searches for him."
【Wait. Marcus escaped? But the vision showed...】 The system went silent.
"Where is he now?" Jaxon demanded.
Cross smiled grimly. "That's the question, isn't it? We've been tracking him. Getting close. But every time we think we've found him, he vanishes."
"Then how do we find him?"
Cross pulled out a file from the conspiracy board. Inside was a single photograph—an abandoned church on the outskirts of the city.
"Because he wants to be found," she said. "He's been leaving breadcrumbs. For you, Jaxon. He's been waiting for you."
【Well. This just got a lot more complicated.】
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