Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (smart ebook reader TXT) 📖

it to make any noise inside the building if he let it drop to the floor. About halfway through he paused for a moment and listened while he looked around inside the room, just to make sure no one was there. Even for him the fit through the window was tight! But he somehow managed to get through anyway. Once inside he quickly looked around and tried to get his bearings. He apparently snuck into the small coffee room that the employees used for their break times. There were a couple tables, some chairs, a counter with a coffee pot on it, a fridge in the corner, and a small flat screen TV hanging on the wall.

Dillon noticed the half-opened door directly across from where he had entered the room. He crept silently to the door and slowly peeked his head out, looking both ways down the adjoining hallway to see if anyone was there. It was empty. As he moved from the room he heard some muffled speaking coming from down the hall. Slowly he walked toward the muffled conversation, careful to watch every footfall so as not to alert anyone to his presence.

As he neared the end of the hallway he could hear the conversation becoming more clear. He definitely recognized one of the voices. It was Tom Tom.

“I told you before. I don’t know what happened to him!” Tom Tom stated emphatically.

“I don’t think you realize what danger exists here,” the other man replied.

Dillon couldn’t help but think that the other man’s voice seemed familiar somehow but he just couldn’t place it.

“I know very well what these people are capable of and … ”

“That’s why you refuse to give me the information I need,” the other man finished.

“No … no … it’s not that. Listen, if I could help you I would,” Tom Tom replied. “John was my friend. I never wanted anything bad to happen to him.”

“So you say.”

“Yes! Of course! How dare you accuse me of helping to harm my friend!” Tom Tom cried in rage.

“So he’s been harmed?” the man questioned slyly.

“No! I didn’t mean … I don’t know … You’re confusing me,” Tom Tom said. “Please, just leave.”

“Not until you start being straight with me!” the man said, raising his voice for effect.

Dillon thought for sure that a fight was about to break out. Out of instinct he looked around for an escape route just to make sure he could run to safety before calling for help.

“I am being straight with you,” he heard Tom Tom reply in a barely audible voice. Quiet sniffles followed Tom Tom’s statement. A moment later, Dillon heard someone blowing their nose. He could almost feel the tears welling up in the old man’s eyes. A long awkward silence ensued.

“Okay,” replied the other man finally. “But if you hear, see, or suddenly remember anything at all, please give me a call.”

Dillon heard footsteps coming toward the hallway where he was. He quickly shuffled back the way he had come and tucked into the coffee room again, hiding around the partially opened door. He could hear the footsteps get louder until they were right at the door. Then they stopped. Dillon could hear his heart pound. It felt as though his chest was going to explode. He didn’t dare breathe. Then the steps moved on. Dillon let out a sigh of relief. He knew he should have tried to get a look at who it was that was arguing with Tom Tom, but he couldn’t move.

After a moment he was able to finally collect himself and came back out of the room. “Okay,” he said to himself. “You can do this. You can do this.”

He heard the front door to the info center open and close; the distinctive chimes on the door ringing out from the movement. Now that the other man was gone Dillon didn’t feel the need to employ as much stealth as he had before, so he hurried down the hall and into the room where Tom Tom was.

Even though he had only met Tom Tom once, he had a strange feeling that he could trust the guy. Maybe it was his boyhood naiveté? He wasn’t sure, but he felt driven to know what happened to John and he needed Tom Tom’s help. Despite the fact that he just overheard a conversation where Tom Tom denied knowing where John was, he still felt there was information the old man could share that might shed some light on this mystery.

The back room was large and full of various merchandise—boxed and otherwise. Dillon noticed that there was a large table near the back with three chairs scattered around it in no organized fashion. As he entered the room he immediately saw Tom Tom leaning over the table with his hands firmly planted against it. He appeared to be mumbling to himself. Tom Tom shot his head up, alerted to Dillon’s presence when he entered the room. The old man’s eyes were red and teary. He looked confused when he saw Dillon standing there looking at him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Oh … I …” Dillon stumbled for a reply. It was as though all of his confidence left him at once and he couldn’t think of a good answer to give the clearly shaken man. “I …” he tried again.

“Well?” Tom Tom pressed more forcefully.

“I just wanted to ask you some questions,” Dillon blurted, realizing at that moment that he should have prepared himself more for this meeting. It also just dawned on him that he was just about to ask Tom Tom about John Taylor Sebastian, which was no doubt the same John the man who the previous guy just asked him about which was the very conversation that made Tom Tom visibly shaken and upset. How Stupid! he thought to himself.

“About what?” Tom Tom asked sceptically. “How much did you hear?”

Dillon froze and the blood drained from his face. A huge lump welled up in his throat. He didn’t know what to say.

“What does it matter anyway?” a resigned Tom Tom finally said at length as he sat down in the chair closest to him. “What are you curious about Mr. Hunt?”

Dillon relaxed at that and moved closer, grabbing a seat across from the old man. “I was reading up on … ” he began but then paused, not sure how Tom Tom would take the next statement, “ … on John Taylor Sebastian and … ”

“And you want to know how much I knew him?” the old man cut in.

“Well I saw a picture of him and his team in the book I purchased from your store and noticed that you were in it,” Dillon stated.

Tom Tom’s shoulders shrunk a little. “Yes I knew him,” he said. “He was my friend. Not that they would believe me,” he finished, waving a hand at the door to indicate the man who had just left.

Dillon looked from the door back to Tom Tom. “Who are they? he asked.

“Aren’t you a little young to be asking such questions?” Tom Tom put in. “Shouldn’t you be enjoying yourself with your family and the other kids at the resort?”

“I would, but I can’t get the thought of John Taylor Sebastian and the mystery he was investigating out of my mind. It’s as though I am driven for some reason to help uncover what has happened here.” Dillon paused for a moment. “I can’t explain it,” he finally said in a soft voice.

“Dillon, you’re just a boy!” Tom Tom exclaimed, almost pleading with him. “You shouldn’t be asking these questions or worried about these events. They happened and no one can change that. Others three times your age have come here and failed to find what they were looking for. What makes you think you can crack this when they haven’t been able to?”

Dillon was hit hard by Tom Tom’s words. Up to this point he never thought that he couldn’t do what others failed to do. He seemed to possess a confidence that was innate—apart from age, circumstance, or training. It had never occurred to him until now that he was way over his head. Maybe Tom Tom is right, he thought to himself. Maybe I should just go and be a kid; have fun at the resort and forget all this nonsense?

“I don’t know,” he said in a barely audible tone.

He was about to turn and walk away when Tom Tom said, “I can’t tell you much Dillon. I warned John that the investigation was dangerous but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

Dillon thought for a moment. “Dangerous how?” he pressed.

“I can’t explain it, and you need to drop it as well,” Tom Tom said firmly. “No one else is going to get hurt because of this,” he vowed. “This is dangerous in the way that experienced explorers have gone missing … never to be heard of again. Do you want your family going home without you, never knowing what happened to you?”

Dillon swallowed hard as a chill went down his back. He hadn’t reasoned it out that way yet. What if the old man was right? He couldn’t deny the logic of it.

Tom Tom must have noticed the look in Dillon’s face as the revelation struck him. “Go and enjoy your vacation Dillon,” he said softly.

Dillon nodded slightly. He was about to leave but knew he had to ask one more question. “What do you know about a symbol that is shaped like a boxed-in pentagram with an eye in the middle of it?”

Tom Tom looked hard at Dillon for a moment then said, “I don’t know anything about that. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Dillon nodded, then headed for the door. He wasn’t sure if Tom Tom was telling the truth, but he knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the man.

He suddenly stopped before leaving and looked back at the emotionally battered man. “Answer me honestly,” he said. “Do you know how