Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (books suggested by bill gates txt) 📕

Gwen stopped talking but put on her pouty look. “Fine!” she stated as she crossed her arms.

“What about you boys?” asked Mom. “What was the most exciting thing you did at the park?”

Jordan smirked at Dillon. “I would have to say that it was the haunted house.”

“Wow! A haunted house?” Dad asked enthusiastically.

“Ya. It was pretty awesome, though I think Dillon would have preferred the kids carousel,” he said with a laugh.

Dillon scowled at him. If only he knew, he thought to himself.

“You see, we had to go in one at a time and Dillboy here went first. It must have scared him so bad that when I was done he came running over to give me a hug and make sure I was okay!” Jordan couldn’t help but laugh when he recounted the incident.

“I was not scared!” Dillon blurted. “I just didn’t think that someone as big and dumb as you would be able to make it without crapping yourself!”

Jordan slapped Dillon on the head.

“Boys!” Mom yelled.

They both glared at each other before going back to their appetizers and drinks.

After dinner the Hunts decided to hang out at the pool for a couple hours before turning in. They all went to their rooms and got changed in their swim gear and grabbed their towels.

“See ya down at the pool Dillboy!” Jordan said—seemingly happy with the new nickname he had come up with for his brother—as he headed out the door of their room.

Dillon finished getting changed, grabbed his towel, and headed to the pool. As he was walking through the lobby by the front desk he heard someone call him over. He jumped a little at the sound of his name but soon collected himself as he noticed that it was Janeen.

Dillon promptly jogged over to the desk. “What is it Janeen? Did you find out what that symbol means?” he asked in a hushed tone, not sure who might be listening in.

Janeen looked at him curiously. “Why are you whispering?” she asked.

“Oh … uh … it’s just a habit I get into sometimes when I talk about stuff that’s … ah … interesting and mysterious,” he lied.

“Oh, okay,” she responded in a hushed tone. “Well, I found out that no one really knows what this symbol means,” she said. “It was really weird actually when I was asking around because you would think that someone knows what it means, or even where it came from. Most people didn’t even notice it on the wall. I finally had to ask a friend of mine who I met when I first started here. He’s an older guy who has been around for a while and I thought for sure he would know something, but he didn’t.”

“Oh …” Dillon replied dejectedly. “That’s kind of a bummer.”

“Ya, tell me about it. He seemed really curious too about why I was asking.”

Dillon’s heart skipped a beat when he heard that. “And what did you say?” he prodded.

“I told him that you were asking about it,” she said matter-of-factly.

Dillon froze, his thoughts spinning.

“I figured he would be interested in one of his guests being so observant as we have never had that question before,” Janeen confessed innocently.

“His guests?” Dillon asked.

“Oh yeah,” Janeen responded with a wave. “He’s one of the board members who has oversight of the resort. He’s a nice old man who loves to make sure that his guests have a great time!”

Thanks! Dillon thought to himself as he started to wonder if the reason he seemed to have a target on himself was somehow due to the fact that others now knew he was asking questions.

“Oh … okay thanks Janeen,” Dillon said, trying to be as upbeat as possible.

“No problem!” she responded with a big smile.

Dillon walked away in a daze, not sure what to think. Did this conspiracy go right to the top? How else would someone know that he was snooping around? It just didn’t add up though that someone would risk exposure if something bad happened to a twelve year old kid at their resort. Dillon knew that he may have gotten in over his head, but in reality, it wasn’t his fault. It was Derek’s and those people he works for. Dillon and his family wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for them orchestrating the circumstances behind them coming to the resort. Dillon decided that Derek would have to answer a lot of questions when he made contact with him next time.

After about an hour of hanging out by the pool Dillon started to relax more. He even went and played an epic game of pool dodge ball with Gwen and some other kids within his age range that he met poolside. He figured that no one would be stupid enough to try and attack him right in the middle of the resort with all the people around. That thought made him feel safe.

The rest of his family seemed to be enjoying themselves too. As Dillon played, the recent memories of his ordeals would surface for a moment, but then he would repress them and carry on with the fun he was having. Despite all of his thrill and desire for excitement and adventure, he was beginning to just enjoy being a kid on vacation with his family.

He quickly jumped out of the pool for a moment, wiped himself with his towel, and grabbed his virgin margarita. He sucked back on the straw like his life depended on it.

“Come on Dillon!” he heard Devon, a kid who was about his own age, call from the pool.

Dillon put his hand up indicating that he would just be a moment. He slammed the margarita cup down and was about to head back into the water when he heard someone behind him say, “Mr. Dillon Hunt. You have a message at the front desk for you.”

Dillon turned to see one of the bellman standing there.

“Who could that be from?” Dillon’s Mom asked as she looked up from her book.

“Who knows?” Dillon responded, trying to play it cool. He actually didn’t know who it was from, and even feared he was going to get another call from the deepen-voiced man. “Oh … it’s probably from Sarah,” he said, trying to make up something on the fly. “She’s probably just wondering how I’m doing and didn’t want to use up any minutes on my cell.”

“Well that’s courteous of her,” Mom said as she returned to her book. “I’ve always liked that girl.”

Dillon rolled his eyes and headed for the lobby. It’s a good thing Dad wasn’t around to hear that,” Dillon thought to himself. He would have been a little more suspicious.

As he approached the front desk and mentioned who he was, the guy there handed him a note and said, “The man who left this was insistent that I give it to you in person at the desk.”

“Oh … okay,” replied Dillon as he took the note, feeling a little overwhelmed with the apparent seriousness of the message.

He opened up the folded paper and all that was written on it was a phone number.

He looked back to the guest services agent who was already busying himself at the computer. “What did the guy look like?” he asked.

The man thought for a moment. “The only thing I really recall was that he was, caucasian, muscular, and bald with an odd tattoo on his head.

He immediately felt a sigh of relief inside of himself as he realized that it was Derek. He rushed over to the business center, sat himself down in one of the cubicles, and was about to pick up the phone when a thought struck him. He immediately put the phone down. If the conspirators were the ones who were running the resort then of course they would probably have the phones tapped. He realized that he would need to use his cell which was in his room.

Dillon ran over to where his stuff was poolside and grabbed his card-key.

“What’s up?” asked Mom as she looked up from her book again.

“Oh nothing,” replied Dillon. “I just remembered that I forgot something in my room.” He darted away from her as quickly as possible, not giving her a chance to ask anymore questions.

He ran across the lobby as quickly as he could and into the closest available elevator. Even though his room was only a few floors up it felt as if the elevator ride would last for an eternity! Finally the doors opened and he darted down the hall toward his room. As he got his card out he noticed that something wasn’t right: his door was already unlocked and cracked open with the upper secondary door lock from the inside opened and resting on the frame!

Dillon froze. His heart pounded. His thoughts whirled, trying to remember if he was the one who left his door opened by accident when he exited. No. He remembered closing it tightly before heading to the pool and he didn’t think Jordan had come up yet. Someone else must have opened it after and, either didn’t close it when they left, or were still in there!

Despite his better judgement, Dillon took a couple deep breaths then, with one hand, opened the door slowly. He took a step inside and listened for a moment. He heard nothing except for the low buzz of the air conditioning unit. He felt the chill of the cool air on his damp shorts. “Hello!” he called out. “Is someone there?” No response.

“Hello!” he called out again. “I’m packing heat!” he warned. “I don’t want any trouble.”

He wasn’t sure if that was water from the pool or sweat which was dripping down his forehead. He took another step inside and peeked around the first