Page 15 of Reclaiming Chaos
Chapter 7
Ridge Bennett
Igrabbed the gun from my holster and trained it on Carlee. Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail. She still hadn’t changed the color. Her black shirt matched the hoodie. She had on jeans and boots. A light pink blush colored on her face. The smile on her lips reached her eyes as she stared at me. It was as if she was genuinely intrigued.
Carlee lifted the single paper she’d been holding in the air. “I’m unarmed.”
“Stand up.”
She rose clutching the paper, placed her hands on her head, and turned around. “Hurry and pat me down. We’re almost out of time.”
I ran my hands along her body and her legs before I was satisfied, she no longer had the gun she’d pointed at me in the car. I pulled a book similar to the one with her predictions out of her jacket pocket. This one was different. Pasted inside were cut-out newspaper articles of events that had happened and been reported. I dropped it on the bed.
“Breaking and entering into a federal law enforcement officer’s hotel room wasn’t a bright idea.”
“I trust you,” she said and gestured to her seat. “May I sit?”
I gestured with my gun before shoving it back in the holster. I kept my body between her and the door. It was the only escape route. “Did you plan to come and switch out the books?”
“Of course not. That extra book is in case we don’t make it out of here in time.”
“Why did you run with the book of predictions when that was all they wanted? If you’d left it, Mr. Russell probably wouldn’t be going to the of trouble having you hunted down.”
“Yes he would have even if I’d left it. He’ll never stop looking for me because I know his secret.” Her words rang with conviction.
“And what secret is that?” I prompted.
She held out a sheet of cream paper, which looked identical to the pages in her book of predictions. On the page was Russell's name and the word Sin. Beneath that, at the bottom of the page, was the word Codex, and it was darker than the rest, as if traced repeatedly.
“What is this supposed to mean?” I asked.
“A codex of sins. Mr. Russell is controlling more than one influential person, and now that I know what’s going on, he’s going to want me either dead or locked up for safekeeping.” She glanced down at her watch. “It’s not safe for us to stay here. We need to leave.”
“What’s the codex?”
“When I was practicing the remote viewing, I picked Mr. Russell to focus on. I knew his face. I knew the building and his personality. I needed something familiar, or a trigger object, if you will, in order to tap in. And it was practice.”
“You were spying on him?” I asked, folding the paper and putting it into my pocket.
“It wasn’t like that. I mean yes, I was spying, I guess. But I never intended to see what I saw. Had I known what he was up to, I never would have looked.” She shivered.
“What did you see?”
“It’s no coincidence that Mr. Russell is using test subjects to do remote viewing and using psychics to keep him informed. The Sin Codex is a network, like a cult, and Mr. Russell is the Grand Master. He controls things and will do whatever is necessary to get what he wants.”
She rose from her seat and moved to the window. She twitched the drapes open a crack to peer outside. “We really must go. I can tell you the rest in the car.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you here,” I said, trying to placate her. Nervous energy pulsed off her in waves.
“Yes, it is. Death followed you,” she whispered. “The triggers they’ve been giving me allow me to make predictions for the codex—information on the members. My predictions help Russell’s bottom line. Sometimes in innocent ways and other times not. He’ll have me peek in on people to get dirt on them. Granted, I didn’t know he was using the data to blackmail my targets. To me, it was just practice to strengthen my ability.”
“But you figured it out?”
“Please. We really must go.” Carlee’s voice cracked as her gaze darted to the door. She looked on the verge of panic. “Please. I’ll tell you everything, just not here, and you might want to warn the other team members in the building. I didn’t see them, of course. My focus was on you, but…”
“What do you think is going to happen in this room?”
She sighed and moved to the bed, pulling the pillows out and forming them into the shape of a body beneath the covers. She grabbed the duplicate book she’d brought with the newspaper clippings and set it on the nightstand.
