Read Online Storm (Swipe Series) by Evan Angler - Free Book Online Page A

forcefully.
    But Sally wouldn’t let it go.
    “Hey, man, what’s your problem? Is Connor Goody Two-Shoes really so wonderfully modest that he’d sooner disrespect a General’s Award than admit he’s a rising star? I mean, I’m just so sorry for you and your inconveniently perfect life . . .”
    Connor shook his head. He was hot with shame. But what could he say? He couldn’t say anything about his life. He couldn’t say that the whole General’s Award honor was just a big sham, no more than an elaborate excuse for Lamson to travel to Lahoma and talk with Connor’s parents without raising suspicion. He couldn’t say that he himself wasn’t even worthy of knowing that much; that he’d found it all out only after being held at gunpoint just for looking into it. And he certainly couldn’t say what Lamson’s big meeting with the Goodmans was actually all about.
    So instead he just said, “You’re right, Sally. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I was being self-centered. And it was belittling of me to try to help you win our stupid, miserly game of Mark-opoly, just to cheer you up from this horrible, disgusting, foul mood you so clearly seem to have fallen into.” He walked over to the trophy and picked it up. “You happy now? I’ll put this in my room the second we’re done down here. A moment that I’d welcome, by the way—anytime now.”
    Sally folded her arms across her chest. “Leave me alone, Connor.”
    “Just tell us what’s wrong!”
    There was a long pause. Sally sighed. “My dad was laid off today,” she said flatly. “We’re gonna have to sell the house.”
    “Oh Cylis ,” Steve cursed.
    “Yeah.”
    Connor put down the trophy. He turned off the tablescreen. Mark-opoly could wait.
    “It just keeps getting worse and worse,” she continued. “Without the mill, there just isn’t enough work in this town.”
    “We still have the mill,” Connor reassured.
    “In what way? Connor, Lahoma hasn’t made it rain in months! There’s nothing to do over there. My dad was in charge of handling shipments. What kind of shipments are there to handle when we haven’t launched all winter? Those silver iodide canisters are piling up in a warehouse! They don’t need him there for that . How long can they possibly pay a guy for twiddling his thumbs?”
    Connor was silent. The fact was, Sally’s family wasn’t the first to be hurt by the technical problems at Lahoma’s weather mill this past winter. The whole town’s economy had been built around that complex, and without it functioning properly, Lahoma’s families were falling out of work right and left. The town had shrunk to three-quarters its former size in just the last six months alone. Everyone was hurting.
    Steve cleared his throat. “Actually,” he said. “I don’t know if this’ll make you feel better or worse, Sally, but . . . I think I might actually know something about why the mill’s been on the fritz so often these last six months.”
    “Because it’s made from cheap, European Union technology?” Sally asked scornfully. Clearly she’d been listening to her father’s nightly rants.
    “’Fraid not,” Steve said. He frowned. “You know how my dad’s the head of security over there?”
    “Sure—he’s one of the lucky few still working. Along with Connor’s charmed parents, of course.”
    Steve sighed. “Well, anyway. Recently, Dad’s actually beensaying . . .” He bit his lip. “He’s been saying it’s starting to look like sabotage.”
    “ What? ” Sally’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “ Cylis! Who in the world would do something like that?”
    “I don’t know. I’m—hey, look, I probably didn’t even hear him right. It’s pretty crazy to think about. But if it is true . . . and if my dad can find the person responsible for it . . . well . . . well, then maybe he can bring the mill back online.” Steve shrugged. “I mean, now that he’s looking into it—who knows? If the whole