Chapter 13 - THE FINAL RECORDING
We found Brooks thirty minutes later.
Not dead.
Barely conscious.
She was hidden inside an equipment room.
Someone had moved her there.
Someone had tried to make us think she was gone.
I knelt beside her.
“Who did this?”
Her eyes opened slowly.
“Voss.”
Kane looked at her.
“Why?”
Brooks laughed weakly.
“Because he knows.”
“Knows what?”
She looked at me.
“The real reason you’re here.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“I was sent to investigate Deck Four.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That was what you were told.”
The room became silent.
“Then why?”
Brooks reached into her pocket.
And pulled out a small memory card.
“Because NCIS suspected someone inside their own organization.”
I stared.
“What?”
“You weren’t investigating the ship.”
She looked directly at me.
“You were investigating NCIS.”
The words felt impossible.
But suddenly everything connected.
The warnings.
The changed orders.
The mission update.
The missing information.
Brooks continued.
“Your file was designed to look like an investigation.”
“But?”
“It was a test.”
“A test for what?”
“To see who would try to stop you.”
I looked at Kane.
He looked away.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
My voice became colder.
“You knew the whole time?”
Kane answered quietly.
“I knew someone was watching you.”
“But not who.”
“No.”
Brooks coughed.
“The person behind everything is not Voss.”
Kane turned.
“What?”
Brooks looked terrified.
“Voss is only protecting someone else.”
The memory card slipped into my hand.
“Who?”
Her lips barely moved.
Then she said one name.
“Marcus Hale.”
My supervisor.
My mentor.
The man who sent me here.
Before I could process it, every radio on the ship activated.
Marcus Hale’s voice filled the room.
“Hannah.”
Everyone froze.
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
I grabbed the radio.
“Where are you?”
A short laugh.
“Still trusting orders?”
My grip tightened.
“What did you do?”
The answer came calmly.
“I created the mission.”
May you like
A pause.
“And I created you.”
