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

Dillon and Jordan struggled against their captors to no avail as they were led down the long hallway. Their arms were held tightly behind them by what seemed to be an iron grip.

“Where’s my sister!” Dillon screamed, wondering what they had done to Gwen that made her eyes glow yellow. The image of the coyotes, rat, and snake came rushing to his mind as he thought about his sister.

“Don’t worry,” came a smooth woman’s voice from behind. “She’s right here and doing just fine.”

Dillon knew he had heard that voice before. It couldn’t be! Images flashed in his mind from a few days back when he had rented the bike from the on-site shop at the resort. He was sure it was the woman at the desk, Tara! How many of these people are involved in this? he wondered to himself. His mind whirled with all the possibilities of the different people he met. Could Janeen be a part of it too? he thought.

He brought his focus back quickly as he knew he would have to find a way out of this if he and his siblings had a chance of surviving. And he had to resign to the fact that he would have to take Tara’s word that Gwen was fine.

The hallway turned and then opened up into another room. Dillon and Jordan were thrown forcefully to the floor. As they began to rise they noticed some cages to the left of them against the wall. The room was large with a high ceiling. It resembled the last room with a dozen or so computer terminals, chemistry-type equipment with beakers brewing an assortment of different colored liquids, Bunsen burners, and lots of microscopes and lab hand tools strewn about the many counters. A few people in lab coats appeared to be at work at the various stations. They didn’t even turn to acknowledge the new arrivals. All of them had the same glowing eyes that Gwen now had.

Dillon looked to the cages and noticed immediately that Tom Tom was slunk down in the corner of one of them. Next to his, in adjoining cells, were a few people he didn’t recognize—and next to them was … Derek! Dillon’s heart skipped a beat when he saw Derek and Tom Tom still alive. Derek looked like he had a fight with a bus and lost badly! Dillon wasn’t even sure if he was still alive.

“But how?” he whispered to himself, unable to understand how Derek could have been brought down here before them, unless there was either another entrance, or he was taken down the direct route that he, Jordan, and Gwen avoided after they found Gwen. Either way, he was just happy to see the man again. He just hoped he was still alive.

As he scanned the room some more he saw, standing next to one of the computer stations, a man that looked familiar. The man turned to him, his eyes were glowing yellow just like Gwen’s. Dillon flinched in surprise. It took a second but Dillon finally recognized him. It was John!

John stared at him for a moment with a blank, yellow-eyed, stare and then went back to work.

“Impressive isn’t it?” he heard a voice say that jolted him from his shock.

He and Jordan both looked to the side and saw a man coming down some stairs from another hallway at that side of the room. Dillon recognized him immediately. It was Troy! Troy smiled at the two brothers as he entered the room.

“You know … I never thought you would make it this far,” he said in a tone that sounded almost impressed.

“So you’re the one behind all this,” Dillon accused.

“Wait … ” Jordan said in a questioning tone. “What is all this?” he asked looking to his brother. He glanced over at Troy as a look of recognition played across his face. “Isn’t that the guy that we met at the front gate when we came in?” Jordan asked.

Troy laughed.

“No offence,” Jordan said cutting Troy’s laugh short. “But you’re not exactly intimidating. You know … ‘The Gate Keeper’ and all.”

Troy grinned wickedly and nodded toward him. Suddenly Jordan was lifted off his feet. Dillon couldn’t believe the ease at which the guy who grabbed his brother hoisted him into the air.

“Cool isn’t it?” Troy commented. “It’s called Centrigenix. It’s a chemical compound that affects the nervous and muscular system of a person to such an extent that they are able to perform extraordinary feats; at least, that is, until the effects wear off which, as we just discovered is pretty quick. But Rob there has enough “juice” to last for a little bit longer I think. Long enough to show you some manners.”

As soon as he finished speaking Rob threw Jordan into the air.

Jordan’s heart pounded as he felt himself take off. “Noooooo!” he heard Dillon scream. He closed his eyes as he slammed into the steel bars of one of the cages. He felt the wind being blown from his lungs as he landed hard on the floor. He writhed around, trying to get up. His vision blurred a little but then came back to normal a few seconds later. His side and his arms hurt. He didn’t think anything was broken but couldn’t be sure. He looked toward Dillon and Gwen and saw that Dillon was racing over to see if he was okay. Rob and the other guy that brought Dillon down the hallway moved as if to go and retrieve him, but Troy put up a hand to stop them.

Dillon stooped down. “Are you okay bro?” he asked urgently.

“Ya, I think so,” replied Jordan with a wince as he felt a sharp pain in his side when he spoke.

Dillon helped Jordan to his feet, then turned back to Troy. “What did you do to my sister and John?” he asked accusingly.

Troy slowly walked over to where Gwen was standing with the woman from the bike shop. “Oh she’s fine,” he said. “We just implanted her and John with a neurogenic transmitter.”

“A neuro what?”

“It’s for mind control,” he heard Derek say in a weak voice from his cell. “They implanted them with a chip that makes them completely obedient to their commands. It must be the same chip you found in the coyote.”

“But why?” Dillon asked.

“Well … you see, John and his team are the scientists that created the original batch of Genesis.”

Dillon looked dumbfounded. “But John’s an archeologist, not a scientist.”

Troy laughed. “No Dillon, actually he’s not. You’ve been fed a line. John was sent to Oasis Resort—undercover posing as an archeologist—in order to track down the location of the serum that we stole a few years ago. It’s kind of funny. John did such a good job at playing the part, and with the help of Orion and their vast resources, they were able to fabricate his whole life as an archeologist so that no one would suspect him.”

“If you didn’t want anyone finding Genesis then why would you even let him come here with a team to look for the supposed source of the springs?” Dillon asked, rather dumbfounded with the whole situation.

Troy laughed again. “Because, over the years we have allowed such expeditions to occur and no one has ever been able to even come close to what we’re doing here. We have hidden our secrets quite well. The problem with John, is that he was the creator of this particularly helpful chemical agent, and that gave him an advantage that the others didn’t have. He knew its chemical makeup and was able to detect traces of it in certain spots around the resort which allowed him to accurately estimate the location of