Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (books suggested by bill gates txt) đź“•
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- Author: Chad Stewart
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That last statement removed all hesitation from Dillon and silenced Sarah and the deep-voiced man in his head. He truly did want to find out what happened to John, and if he was able to do something to help save the man’s life then he would do it. He just hoped that Derek’s offer of protection was enough to keep his family safe.
He nodded.
“Great,” replied Derek. “I have to go now, but I’ll be in touch real soon. We have to act quickly.” With that Derek spun around and, before walking into the crowd said, “One last thing Dillon. Don’t tell anyone about this. We don’t want more people getting hurt”
Dillon nodded as the blood drained from his face. That statement of them having to act quickly relieved Dillon a little as he now knew he had some direction that he needed to pursue, and that it was going to happen soon, but the comment about “getting hurt” did not sit well with him. He hated the idea of not knowing what to do. And he definitely wasn’t fond of the idea of getting hurt, whether it was himself or someone else.
“Hey man,” said Jordan as he approached the table with a huge tray of food and a drink for Dillon. “I thought you could use this,” he said as he placed the monster drink in front of his brother. “Who was that you were talking to?” he asked.
“Who … oh him?” Dillon tried to play it cool. “No one. Just a guy I met in the stairway at the resort. I guess he remembered me from a couple days ago and wanted to talk.” Dillon sucked back on his pop.
“Right … ” replied Jordan sceptically.
Man! I am terrible at this lying thing! Dillon lamented to himself. He continued a long pull on his straw draining half his drink in a matter of seconds. Jordan stared at him for what seemed to be an eternity trying to get him to share more. Dillon looked away pretending to be interested in something else. Jordan stared for another second then unwrapped his lunch and began eating.
“That’s pretty cool,” Dillon said as he pointed to a nearby ride.
“Ah huh,” was all Jordan said with a mouth full of food.
The rest of the time that Dillon had to kill watching his brother eat his burger and avoid answering any direct questions was soooo painful! He knew that Jordan didn’t believe him and he wanted to tell him the truth because maybe he would believe him this time, but he couldn’t. The last people he wanted to be harmed were members of his family—no matter how annoying they were at times. No. He knew he had to do this alone and trust in this stranger who had just confided in him. What other choice did he have?
Derek walked into the small restaurant and slipped his sunglasses off, stowing them on his neck with the glasses facing backward. He quickly scanned the booths and noticed Jake sitting at the far table seemingly engrossed in something he had pulled up on his tablet. Derek quickly made his way over and slipped into the seat opposite Jake.
“Well?” came Jake’s immediate question without even looking away from his screen.
Derek paused for a moment before he responded. It wasn’t till Jake looked up from his tablet and starred Derek in the eyes that he spoke what was on his mind. “I don’t like involving the boy. Can’t we call it off, send them away or something?” he stated flatly.
“Why the sudden change to heart?” Jake asked.
“Dillon has already been compromised,” Derek stated. “They have made contact with him and warned him not to get involved or something bad will happen to him or his family.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Jake said, rather coldly. “But we can’t deviate from the plan. He was involved the moment we made it so and we need to see it through.”
“We have to bring in some more operatives to help keep the Hunts safe now.”
Jake nodded. “I’ll make the call.”
“We need them here right away,” Derek stated emphatically. “Dillon is in real danger now, and it’s only a matter of time before he disappears as well.”
“Can I get you something?” said the waitress who noticed Derek come in and sit down at the booth.
“Just coffee,” he said as he glanced up at her.
She smiled softly and padded away.
“You’ve made your point clear Derek,” Jake continued with the conversation after the waitress left. “But do you really think they would be bold enough to take a twelve year old boy from his family because he’s asking a few questions? I don’t think the resort would want that kind of publicity.” He almost seemed indignant at Derek’s suggestion.
“I know they tried to kill Dillon once with the use of the necrotoxin enhanced creatures,” Derek stated. “I caught a glimpse of Dillon speeding through the desert on his bike when I was heading back to the resort after talking with Tom Tom. I was pulling out of the information center parking lot and onto the highway when I noticed a couple of the things in pursuit of him.” Derek paused as the waitress came over with his coffee. When she was gone out of earshot he continued. “I knew Dillon was going to be hard pressed to make it so I tried to buy him some time by firing some shots at the creatures in order to get their attention while Dillon sped away. Thankfully he made it.”
“And that was lucky for us,” Jake cut in.
Derek’s eyes went wide.
“And of course lucky for the boy,” Jake was quick to add, trying to pacify Derek’s shock at the cold statement. “I don’t want any more harm to come to the boy than you do,” Jake continued. Derek scoffed at that remark, having had a lot of experience dealing with Jake over the years. “But …” Jake continued, dismissing Derek’s clear sign of distrust of his statement, “… we need him. You know that as much as I do. Dillon is the key to help us save more lives.”
Derek sat back in silence. After a moment of digesting the information he relaxed, grabbed his coffee, and took a sip. He knew Jake was right, no matter how much he hated what they were doing to the boy. The problem for him was that he didn’t realize how dangerous this mission was going to be when they first conscripted Dillon who was, back then, totally unaware of what was going on to him. Now the stakes were much higher, and he wasn’t comfortable with them.
“Okay then,” Derek said finally. “Where do we go from here?”
Jake smiled. “We move to the next stage of our plan. We need to get the boy to the house.”
After Jordan was finished eating, the two brothers decided to explore the other side of the park they haven’t been to yet. There were dozens of more rides over there. They hit a couple of quick ones—the lines having died down during lunch—which the boys thought was awesome! As they walked through trying to plan out their next adrenaline rush Jordan noticed the haunted house.
“Awesome!” he said as he ran toward it. Dillon followed closely behind.
As they approached and were about to enter, the ride operator stopped them. He was a short middle-aged man with greying hair. “Sorry boys, but you have to go alone on this ride.”
“What! Why?” Jordan blurted.
“For effect of course,” was the man’s reply. “We try to give all our guests the best possible experience. And, obviously for a haunted house, the best experience is to scare the pants off you by yourself.”
Dillon’s face went pale. He had enough frightful excitement so far on this trip. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go seeking for it now.
“Oh awesome!” Jordan replied. “That’s a great setup.” He looked back at Dillon. His face showed that he didn’t seem keen on the idea. “You’re not scared are you?” he chided.
“What … me … no, of course not,” he replied, trying to talk himself into manning up to the ride.
“Good. Because I’d hate for your friends at home to find out how you chickened out of a little haunted house in a theme park,” Jordan said, implying that he would never let this go if he didn’t go in.
Dillon swallowed hard. He knew what he had to do. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll go first.” He walked up to the entrance and into the house.
Before he entered, the operator of the house grabbed his arm. “This house isn’t for the feint of heart,” he said with a deadly serious tone. “Beware the demons,” he stated as he let go of him.
The door had the word “MURDER” written over it
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