Page 49 of Reclaiming Chaos
Chapter 25
Ridge
My breath caught as a car collision happened right before my eyes on a road I knew well. The mountain in the background was the only clue it was my hometown.
My gaze darted to the broken and busted car that had crashed when another pulled up.
“It was all caught on street cameras. This is what started Russell 's interest in you and your family,” Carlee said.
My stomach did summersaults as Dexter’s truck pulled up, and he hurried out with my sister-in-law by his side. They pulled the woman from the wreckage. Carlee’s face filled the camera. Dexter shouted to his wife, and she hurried back to the car, returning seconds later with his medical bag.
Carlee was unmoving. A gash was across her head and neck.
Dexter felt for a pulse.
“I died that day.” Carlee filled in the blanks.
Dexter rubbed his hands and cupped them over the wound on her head and rested a hand above her abdomen. A light grew bright from his palms before flashing bright, and the screen turned to fuzz.
“The energy he emitted blew out the camera,” she said. “This is all my fault. Had I not been searching for answers, he wouldn’t have ventured into threatening you and your family.”
“What else do these tapes have on them?” I asked as she pulled the CD out and broke it in half and tossed it to the ground.
“Other people’s secrets.” She gestured to the bookshelves. “Every one of these discs has a family secret like your own. People to exploit for their secrets.”
I glanced at the thumb drive in my hand. “And what’s on this?”
She smiled. “Russell’s secret.”
She pulled the fire alarm. Water splashed down in the hallway but not in the room they were in. “Gwen dismantled the fire system in this room. Apparently she’s a computer whiz.”
The loud claxons blared through the building. She pulled matches from her bra and struck one and rested it on the farthest bookshelf before lighting more and putting them on the rest. She took me by the hand and led me out the door, waiting and watching as the fire took hold and the smell of burning plastic filled the area.
Water rained down on our heads, soaking us through as we stood outside the window looking in. It didn’t matter. Neither of us made a move until each bookshelf was ablaze. Secrets of countless people were destroyed.
“What we just did is illegal. We have to go,” I whispered, slipping my hand into hers.
She nodded, and we jogged toward the fire escape stairs. I used the card key, and we took to the stairs.
“What about the mainframes?”
“Destroying them isn’t necessary. Russell will do that himself.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked, pulling her to a stop.
“Because, for once, he didn’t see the entire picture.” She smiled and yanked open the door to the lobby.
We’d just stepped out when Russell appeared behind us. He grabbed Carlee with both hands. He had a knife held at her neck and a gun at her waist.
“Whoa.” I held up my hands. “You don’t want to do this, Russell. I’m a federal agent.”
The building was empty. Sirens sounded in the distance. Russell’s hold on Carlee tightened as he pulled her out of the open and into a secluded hallway.
“She didn’t think I knew her plans.” Russell eyes flashed with anger. “She was wrong. Just like she was wrong that you’d save her.”
I dropped my gaze to Carlee. “You knew this was going to happen?”
“Tell me where the thumb drive is, Carlee, and I’ll think about letting your boyfriend live.”
