Read Online Switched by Helenkay Dimon - Free Book Online

soundless steps, Royal and Aaron crept across the room. They shifted in tandem, sweeping their guns and using hand signals to coordinate their movements. Not that they needed to go in covert. From the grunting and clanking, the newest attacker wasn’t exactly trying to be quiet.
    They slipped around the corner one at a time. She had no idea how they kept from making noise, how the guy at the bathroom didn’t feel them coming. They weren’t exactly small.
    When they moved out of sight, her full-fledged panic returned. Knowing they were tough and in charge was one thing. Seeing them control the situation would be better.
    Just when she was about to race across the room, she heard a loud click.
    “Don’t move!” Aaron’s shout thundered through the building.
    She couldn’t stand there one more second. He’d yell, but she had to know what was happening.

Chapter Seven
    “We need to get out of here.”
    Even at his son’s outburst, Lowell didn’t look away from the information Palmer had spread out across the table. He stared at the set of floor plans and list of potential attack and rescue scenarios as he and the others sat around in chairs in relative quiet.
    All but his difficult son.
    Brandon walked around the room until he stood at the opposite end of the table, huffing and sighing and generally making sure everyone was watching him. The boy just did not know when to stop.
    When no one talked to him or asked for his opinion, Brandon started the whole procedure again. If this went on for a few hours, he’d wear a track in the carpet.
    “Not now, Brandon.”
    The order didn’t work. The kid slapped a hand against the table. “Listen, this is not that hard. We can walk out the front door and call the police.”
    Lowell was not impressed with the outburst. From the way Mark and Angie stared at Brandon, they weren’t, either. “We are cut off from everything and everyone.”
    “We don’t have to be. There’s a roomful of people just down the hall. This is a hotel. People work here. I’m sure the town has a police force. We are the ones causing the separation, and that is more dangerous than being in a group.”
    “You’re forgetting one very important piece of the puzzle. We also have missing security personnel. Until I know where they are and what, if anything, has happened to them, Palmer believes the company’s integral personnel should remain in here, in a contained environment.” Lowell leaned back in his chair.
    If Brandon wanted a semipublic scene, Lowell had no trouble giving him one. He needed an outlet for the fury burning through his gut at having been targeted at his office Christmas party. He’d taken the precautions, hired the personnel and still someone got through. Someone who was wasting his time with nonsense.
    “You see, Brandon, this is a grown-up situation. One where we have to weigh the pros and cons and not just rush in and do what feels right. There are consequences. That’s the lesson I cannot seem to get through to you. It’s not one of your video games.”
    “I haven’t played those in years, not that you know anything about my life. Not that any of that is even relevant to the discussion.”
    “Everyone knows about your life. It’s been in the news and the subject of gossip all over town.”
    Brandon’s jaw clenched. “This is not about me. We are sitting here, waiting to get attacked, when we should be moving.”
    Lowell hated to admit it and would never say it out loud, but the kid had a point. Lowell questioned the current strategy. He also wondered if the man he hired for protection was really working against him. The idea of Aaron being taken out was hard to imagine. That left few options.
    For more than a half hour, Lowell had been mentally running through the people who benefitted from him being removed from the company. There were so few, but that’s exactly what the threats demanded. Aaron’s
initial insight might have been correct—this wasn’t about