Ghost City

54

"Carter, let me talk to you real quick," I requested, and Carter lowered his gun and stepped outside the room. I followed behind him and connected eyes with City for a moment before shifting my focus to the conversation I wanted to have with her dad.

"What?" Carter asked.

I sighed, "I know what Miles' family did was fucked up, but I understand why they did it. It's not fair to kill them."

"Dam-"

"If you can understand why I did the things I did, then you can understand why they did too and spare their lives," I shook my head.

Before Carter could give me an answer, the door to his office opened, and Titan informed, "Ryan came through."

Carter looked at me and gave me a nod to my request before the three of us entered Carter's office again.

Carter then went on his laptop and pulled up the file that Ryan sent. He then set the laptop at an angle that everyone could see before instructing, "Let me know if anyone sees a familiar face."

As the video played, all I could think about was that I was finally seeing my father again. My eyes were transfixed on him, taking in his features. He looked a bit different from how I remembered him. In my memories, he seemed less intense and more approachable. In the video, he looked like a man that was about his business. I wasn't used to seeing him so serious and focused, both of which he was during the video.

My eyes flickered from my dad and to the lady that approached him. He seemed happy to see her, and the two interacted like they were already familiar with each other. The conversation was short, and the lady handed my father something.

Catching on to the same detail as I did, Carter brought the video back a few seconds and paused it to identify what was given to my dad.

"Looks like a card," Rico noticed. "Try zooming in."

Carter took Rico's suggestion, and we were able to identify a glimpse of a logo.

"I've seen that logo before," Sierra announced. "My dad had some orange card with the same flower petal on it."

"Maybe try sending a screenshot of the logo to Ryan and see if he can find the name of-" Junior got out before Sierra cut him off.

"Lantana," she said, causing everyone to frown. "I asked about it before. That's what he called it."

Carter sighed, "I know someone I can call for answers."

Junior frowned, "You don't seem to happy about it..."

Carter agreed, "I'm not. My wife isn't gonna like this one." Carter then took out his phone and dialed a number. "We need to talk."

Carter's POV

"Hey, stranger," Evita flirtatiously greeted me.

"We need to talk," I replied, getting straight to the point.

Evita chuckled, "We can skip the talking, if you want Carter."

"Evita, that isn't what this is about. It'll never be like that. I just have some questions I think you can answer."

Damien frowned, "Who's Evita?" and I placed my finger to my lips, telling him to hush.

"What do I get in return?" she asked.

"Your life," I coldly replied.

In a more serious tone, she replied, "What do you wanna know?"

"Lantana," I answered. "Ain't that the name of your little group?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked.

"I'm asking the questions," I said before informing, "Your group is involved in a case of mine. I need info. I'll text you a photo of a face."

I took a picture of the lady in the video and sent it to Evita's phone.

She sighed, "Her name's Josephine Rodriguez. She was one of my best."

"Was?" I frowned.

"She left the group about two years ago," Evita informed. "I'm surprised you don't know about her. Rumors have it, she dated one of your guys."

"Which one?" I asked.

"I don't know. One of your overseas men," Evita answered.

I sighed, "Alright. That's all."

"No thank you?" Evita teased.

"Thanks," I said before hanging up. I then texted Ryan the name of the lady in the video before asking everyone in the room, "Anyone ever heard of a Josephine Rodriguez?"

A/N: Changing posting days to Sunday due to some ongoing time conflicts.