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

“What’s that?” Dillon asked, as loud as he dared, pointing at Derek’s gun.

“Duh … It’s a gun,” came Derek’s sarcastic reply.

“I know it’s a gun!” replied Dillon. “But what’s it for?”

Derek glanced at him with that, “Really kid?” expression.

“Okay I know what it’s for!” Dillon whispered a little louder as he rose to stand beside Derek. “But is it really necessary?”

“I don’t know,” came Derek’s sharp reply. “But I’d rather have it and not need it then not have it and need it!”

“What if it’s just the owners of the house?”

“That’s doubtful. I know for a fact that the owners are still detained,” Derek whispered matter-of-factly.

They could hear some light movement coming up the stairs.

“Well I really don’t want to see anyone get shot today! Especially not me!” Dillon whispered emphatically.

“Okay … okay … ” Derek said as he placed his gun back in its concealed spot under his shirt. He then bent down and reached under his pant leg and produced a small combat knife.

“What’s that?” Dillon asked again.

Derek just shook his head at him. “Listen Dillon, I’m not going into a possible fight without some protection. I’ll try not to kill anyone, okay.”

Dillon nodded his head up and down so fast that he looked like one of those bobble heads people have on their dashboards.

“Quick! We only have a second,” Derek said as he darted to the side of the door.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Just stay there,” Derek replied.

“What? And be used as bait?”

Derek shrugged his shoulders.

“And what if he has a gun and shoots at me before you have a chance to take him down?”

“Then run and try not to get shot!” Derek’s reply was less than comforting.

“I’m only twelve remember! I’m too young to die!”

Derek put a finger to his mouth, telling Dillon to be quiet.

Dillon could feel his heart pound in his chest. He was sure that it was going to explode at any moment. It sounded as though the person who was coming up the stairs was trying to be as quiet as they could but were failing due to the aged stair boards that creaked ever so slightly with any amount of pressure. Eventually Dillon saw a tall figure emerge from the stairway. He was wearing a dark balaclava, had kaki shorts on and a Hawaiian short sleeved shirt. It looked ridiculous, but Dillon didn’t laugh as he noticed immediately that the man was carrying a gun.

Dillon made eye contact with him which was enough to trigger his fight or flight response. “Nope,” he said as he ran to the side and dived behind the bed.

He could hear the man move up the rest of the stairs quickly and head for the room. As soon as he entered the room Derek charged into him, sending the attacker flying into the wall. The man managed to stay on his feet. He spun to meet Derek, gun leading. Derek managed to sidestep and knock the gun out wide as a shot went off.

Dillon flinched when the shot fired. He saw the two men entangled, fighting for their lives.

Derek spun his knife around and sliced the attacker on the arm that held the gun. The attacker grunted in pain but stubbornly hung on to his weapon. He tried to get another shot off, but Derek pushed his arm out wide again. The bullet sank into the wall beside Dillon’s head.

Derek grabbed the gun arm with his empty hand and held it up high as the attacker struggled to get free. He sliced down on his arm again. This time the gun came loose and dropped to the ground as drops of blood poured down onto the floor. Derek was forced to let go at that point as the man punched him three times in the ribs. He quickly put some distance between him and the attacker as each sized the other up.

From behind his back the attacker pulled a knife about the same size as Derek’s. Derek smiled. The man came forward. As fast as lightning Derek pulled his gun from behind his back and shot the attacker in the leg. The man went down in agony. As he crumpled, Derek gave him a clean roundhouse to the head which laid him out flat.

“See!” Derek exclaimed as he looked at Dillon who was now coming out from behind the bed. “Bang … down. That’s how it works with guns!”

Dillon bobbed his head up and down quickly like the bobblehead dolls again.

“Now let’s see who this guy is,” said Derek as he crouched down and pulled the mask from his face. The man had a shock of thick wild blonde hair.

“I know this guy,” Dillon said in surprise. “Well … I don’t know him … I mean I’ve seen him around at the resort.”

Derek looked at Dillon skeptically. “You’ve seen this guy?” he asked. “There’s only roughly five thousand people at the resort, not including the resident population who come in from time to time to use the pool or have dinner in the restaurant, and you remember seeing this guy?”

“Hey man. You’re the one who says I have gifts of observation. Besides, who could forget crazy hair like that!”

Derek conceded the point.

“And yes … I have seen this guy mingling around the pool when my family was there. Maybe he’s the one who ransacked my room?”

“Could be,” replied Derek. “But for now … ” His voice trailed off as he pulled out his phone and took a picture of the guy. “Let’s see if we know him.”

Dillon watched as Derek’s phone flipped through a bunch of pictures and then stopped on this guy. “He is known by The Orion Group,” Derek stated. “He’s a hired gun. A mercenary.”

“A mercenary?” Dillon asked.

“Yes Dillon. A mercenary that is obviously after you. And …” Derek began to say but then trailed off as he read more of the data about this guy on his phone.

“And what?”

“Never mind it’s not important,” Derek replied as he put his phone away.

Dillon swallowed hard. “This guy must have known you were here with me,” Dillon finally said at length. “How else would he have known we were here except if he followed me? He would have then seen you and I entering together.”

“And your point is?” Derek asked.

“If he’s some expert then why did he barge in here like a deer in mating season and get caught off-guard?”

“Interesting analogy Dillon. Do you hunt much?”

“I saw a documentary one time,” he replied.

Derek rolled his eyes. “The one thing you have to learn from this is that not every ‘expert' is smart, or much of an expert,” Derek replied with a chuckle. “Besides, you made the difference by running and diving behind the bed at the right moment. Your sudden movement sparked the chase instinct in him which momentarily blocked his logic centers. At that moment, for a split second, all he wanted to do was to get you and dismissed any thought of me. That second was all I needed.”

“So what you’re saying is that my running away like a scared little rabbit saved the day?” Dillon sounded confused.

“Another documentary?” Derek asked dryly. “Now come on. Let’s finish up here with John’s stuff. I’ll text a friend of mine to come and clean this up,” Derek stated rather coldly.

“I thought you were short staffed?”

“Short staffed on field agents,” Derek explained. “Never mind,” he waved his hand dismissively.

Dillon swallowed hard. What have I gotten myself into? he thought to himself. “Is this guy dead?” he asked.

“No. Just knocked out and bleeding a little. My friend will take him away and see to him.”

At this point Dillon thought that it was best not to ask anymore questions and instead he went back over to the hole in the wall and retrieved the backpack. Inside he found what appeared to be regular looking hiking gear: flashlight, lighter, large knife, hatchet, rope, and … a torch. Dillon thought that the torch was an odd addition to the gear, but then he remembered in his dream that he was carrying a torch. Even when he first dreamed about it he thought it was weird. Who uses torches in this day and age? But he just had this feeling that there was something important about it. The other weird thing he found was a large stone in the top pocket of the back pack. He looked at