Switched

by HelenKay Dimon

  “I’m outside security. I own a company that provides backup in situations like these and takes the lead on others.”

  Just when she figured out a definition for him, he changed the rules again. “A lawyer and a businessman.”

  A small squeak of hinges had them all turning in the general direction of the stairway to the right, the same one Risa had used to get to this floor.

  Aaron put a finger against his lips as he pushed her behind him. When she looked up, she stared at two wide backs. In the span of two seconds, they had closed in around her in a protective wall of male.

  “Stevens.” The whisper of a male voice carried down the silent hall and bounced off the open beams of the construction zone. Footsteps echoed against the new floorboards. “What the hell?”

  She guessed he’d found the barricaded bathroom door. This would be the start of the next wave of attacks. The danger kept ratcheting up and taking her heartbeat with it.

  She’d give anything to be one of the lucky ones standing outside in the cold night air.

  “We take this one alive.” Aaron spoke so low she would have thought he mouthed the words except she heard them.

  She wanted to grab on to both her protectors and run screaming in the opposite direction. More shooting. The chance for more violence. The thought of Aaron being hurt…or worse. It all sent her stomach flopping.

  Aaron pointed to the closest corner. “Stand there. Do not come out unless I tell you.”

  She grabbed his sleeve before he could run away. “Aaron?”

  “What is it?”

  She wanted to say the words that would mean something in the moment. The right phrase to thank him for risking his life—again—but it didn’t come to her. So she leaned in and kissed him quick on the cheek. She wanted to say or do more, but the timing was wrong.

  “Please be careful.”

  He winked at her.

  With 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 money. This felt personal, as if someone wanted him destroyed.

  When the silence dragged on, Angie cleared her throat. “Your father knows what he’s doing.”

  “No one is talking to you.”

  “Since I am part of this company and you’re not, you should watch how you talk to me.”

  Brandon leaned across the table, his fury alive and flailing. “I do not have to listen to you.”

  “Your father is right about you. You’re a spoiled brat.”

  “Shut up.”

  Angie looked at Lowell, but he wasn’t inclined to step in just yet. Not when Brandon finally showed some toughness in front of others instead of cowering behind his family name.

  Her chin rose in a sign of defiance he’d seen before. She aimed whatever anger streamed through her at Brandon. “How dare you talk to me that way?”

  “You are nothing more than my father’s—”

  Lowell snapped out of his wait-and-see stance. “Brandon, that’s enough.”

  “You’re right.” He pushed off the table and stood up. “I’m leaving. I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t need to wait for permission.”

  Palmer stepped in front of the room’s only door, blocking any exit. “No one is going anywhere until I figure out who started all of this.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Exactly what you think.”

  “You believe it was me.” Brandon said it as a statement instead of a question.

  “I think everyone is suspect at the moment.” Palmer pointed at a chair. “So sit.”

  * * *

  RISA DIDN’T WAIT FOR AN invitation. She jogged to the corner of the room where it emptied into the hallway and peeked around. In the precious few seconds it took for her to get across the room, Aaron and Royal had taken over and subdued the newest attacker. Royal stood holding his gun while Aaron had the man on the floor and a knee in his back.

  “Here.” Royal slipped a zip tie out of his back pocket.

  Aaron looked impressed with the preparedness but didn’t comment. He was too busy tying the guy’s hands and dragging him to his feet. And he wasn’t exactly gentle
. The guy had his head knocked into the floor twice before he stood up.

  While Royal reengineered the makeshift lock on the bathroom door, Aaron pulled the attacker toward the main room. Risa tried to duck into the shadows, but Aaron’s gaze zeroed in on her before she could get back into position.

  “Too late,” he said.

  “I heard it was under control,” she replied. Not that there was any real reason to hide. There was nowhere to go in the open room, and she was not about to go off on her own.

  Aaron brought the guy into the room and slammed him to his knees, earning a grunt from the attacker. “It’s time to talk.”

  The guy looked around, his gaze freezing on the body a few feet away. “Who is that?”

  “One of yours.”

  “Real bullets.” Royal gave his report after checking the new attacker’s weapons.

  The anxiety twisting in Risa’s gut eased when she saw the guy’s face. She knew violence came in all sorts of packages, even when the guys were young and attractive like this one. He couldn’t have been more than early twenties with huge eyes and a baby face. There was nothing hardening or scary about this one, except the weapon. He didn’t seem to fit in with the others at all.

  “What are you doing?” the guy asked when Aaron paced around him without saying a word.

  “Figuring out the best place to shoot you that will cause pain but not kill you. Well, not right away.”

  Her gaze zoomed in on Aaron. From everything she knew about him, this was a con, but then it turned out she didn’t know much about him, did she? Still, she knew in every part of her soul that he was rock solid.

  “Maybe we should—” She was ready to fight for the kid’s life, but Royal waved her off.

  “I didn’t do anything.” The kid rocked back and forth as his voice tripped higher.

  Aaron stopped pacing and stood right behind the guy. He pushed the gun into the back of his head. “You have two seconds to tell me who hired you.”

  The kids fumbled to get the words out. “I don’t know.”

  Aaron pushed harder. “I’m getting tired of that answer.”

  The kid winced but stayed quiet.

  Risa clenched her fists to keep from reaching out and breaking this up. Instinctively she knew this was the right way to get the information, but she hated the threats and posturing. Desperation clawed at her. She wanted this over. All of it and now.

  “This is ridiculous and you are wasting time. Answer him,” she blurted it out, earning a fresh scowl from Aaron.

  When Royal motioned for her to join him, she complied. The new angle gave her a clearer view of the kid’s face. Seeing him head-on ramped up the energy buzzing around inside her.

  Aaron leaned in until his mouth hovered near the kid’s ear and his foot clamped down on the kid’s calf. “Listen to the lady. She is trying to help you live to see tomorrow.”

  The kid’s mouth dropped open several times before any words came out. “I was hired by my uncle. He’s up here somewhere.”

  Royal walked over to the dead attacker and shifted him so his face was visible. “Is this him?”

  Risa turned away but not before seeing the skin around the kid’s mouth turn green. He heaved and she didn’t blame him.

  When the coughing fit subsided, the kid started talking. The words came out in a long, breathless stream. “No, I don’t know that guy. There were three teams of two. My uncle came up first. I was in the second wave, but when the first failed to check in, we came looking.”

  The uncle was the blond in the bathroom. She’d bet on it. They had the same eyes.

  “What was your assignment?” Aaron asked.

  “I don’t—”

  Aaron tramped down harder with his foot. “Kid, I am out of patience. You have five seconds and I start shooting.”

  The kid squirmed under the assault. His voice turned breathy as panic radiated off him. “I don’t know.”

  “One.”

  Her insides kept jumping. She was desperate for the kid to answer before something terrible happened. Not that Aaron would hurt him just to hurt him, but she didn’t think he’d bluff.

  The kid shook his head hard enough to knock something loose. “You have to listen to me.”

  “Two.”

  “I’m not even supposed to be here.” He focused on her as if silently begging her to step in and end the torment. “I was a late addition to the team.”

  “Please answer him.” She whispered the plea as tension choked the room.

  “Four.”

  The kid’s eyes followed her until she stopped looking at him and focused on a spot on the floor instead. Her heart ripped in two. Part of her wanted to tackle Aaron and the other wanted to grab the gun and hurry this up.

  The kid said, “Please, don’t—”

  “Five.”

  “Wait!”

  She looked to see the kid flinching away from the gun. He swallowed hard enough for her to see his throat move.

  Royal exhaled next to her. “Now, kid, or I’ll take a turn on you.”

  “We were supposed to be on this floor at a certain time to grab this woman.” He peeked up at Risa. “We weren’t going to hurt you.”

  The words didn’t amount to an apology or an explanation. They didn’t make much sense, either. “You have the wrong woman,” she said. “Not that having the right one would make this plan any better.”

  “That…” The kid looked around at all of them. “What?”

  “Why do you think I’m the woman?”

  The kid snorted as though they’d all missed an obvious point. “There was only supposed to be one person, this brunette woman, on the floor at the set time. We got the place and time. It seemed so simple.”

  “How about now?” Aaron asked, the disgust evident in his voice.

  “You didn’t have a photo?” Royal asked.

  “No. One woman in a specific location. We pick her up, hold her and then let her go when the word comes. It’s all part of some plan to get money.”

  Aaron lifted his foot off the kid’s calf. “So then she was supposed to be a hostage for ransom? Gotta tell you, that’s not sounding as no-big-deal as you’re pretending this is.”

  “I just know she wasn’t really supposed to be touched, but…” The kid looked at the ceiling and floor, everywhere but at a person. If he had some big secret, it was taking a long time spitting it out. “Something went wrong.”

  Her sympathy fizzled. Probably had something to do with being on the receiving end of an ongoing attack.

  She shot him her best you’re-an-idiot frown. “No kidding.”

  “No, you don’t understand.” The kid tried to move closer to Risa, but Aaron pulled him back. “This wasn’t a real kidnapping.”

  “What was it?” Aaron asked.

  “A joke, I guess. I don’t really know. It’s just that it was clear there was nothing illegal about what we were doing.”

  “A nonillegal kidnapping? I’m not sure what law books you guys are looking at, but that doesn’t make much sense.” Royal looked ready to explode. If he shifted one more time, his weapon might accidentally go off. “And why do you have guns and bullets?”

  Fear cleared from the kid’s eyes. “In case something went wrong.”

  Aaron finally looked at her. “I guess it’s good to be prepared.”

  “I’m starting to hate the holidays,” she mumbled under her breath.

  “Tell us what’s happening downstairs.” Aaron walked around to face the kid.

  Whatever he saw in Aaron’s face had the kid answering without trying to stall. “Most of the people have been evacuated. There’s a group in a small conference room near the party.”

  Royal threw up his hands. “And?”

  The kid didn’t handle Royal’s anger any better than he did Aaron’s. When either man spoke, the kid seemed to shrink. Much more and he’d be in a ball on the floor.

  She was just about to step in when the kid answered again. “We’re
awaiting further instructions.”

  “From?” The chill in Aaron’s voice washed over the room.

  “I don’t know.”

  Silence pounded in on her from every angle. No one said a word and neither man moved. The kid had turned a strange shade of yellow-green, as if he was on the verge of throwing up.

  Finally Aaron broke the quiet. “You know what that means?”

  Royal nodded. “Yes.”

  When they didn’t say anything else, she gave up on being subtle. “Anyone want to fill me in?”

  “Inside job.” Aaron’s words resonated, and then no one said anything at all. They were too busy wincing and covering their ears as the building’s alarm system rang out.

  Emergency blue lights flickered to life and flashed from the small boxes in the upper corners of the room. The alarm wound up and then blared in a high-pitched beeping sound before repeating the process again. A computer-generated voice told them to leave the building.

  “What’s happening now?” She shouted the question over the noise.

  “It looks like someone has moved on to plan B.”

  Chapter Eight

  Lowell watched Palmer rattle the door handles before turning back to the rest of the room. The small area had broken into chaos at the first flashing emergency light. For only six people, they made a lot of noise. Everyone but Palmer’s security man shouted questions and insisted they get out.

  “The building could be on fire,” Mark pointed out as he argued that they should run.

  Brandon stood up. “I told you we needed to leave. Staying here puts us in more danger.”

  “In light of what’s going on now, I have to agree with Brandon on this,” Angie said.

  Palmer held up his hand. “Everyone calm down. There is no need for concern. We are safest in this room.”

  Brandon tried to push toward the door. “How can you say that? Something is happening out there. Anything from fire to an attack on my father and we’re here, vulnerable and just waiting to be picked off.”

  “I need everyone to sit down. Chaos is our enemy here.” Palmer grabbed Brandon’s arm and shoved him in a chair. “Mr. Craft, can I talk with you a second?”

  Lowell met Palmer at the door. In a room the size of a small bedroom, it wasn’t easy to find privacy and no one was making it easy. They leaned in and fired questions. When Lowell didn’t respond, they turned on each other, throwing out suggestions about what to do next while sirens roared around them.