Darkfire Knight & Kyle Aarons

The Curse of Chindi Springs

The challenge was to write a short story with the following setting: This large town is located in the desert and looks run-down. It is best-known for a tumultuous history and its beautiful park. Also, rumor has it that the inhabitants are hiding something.

Part I

Chapter 1

The couple watched as the Cessna 425 departed Tucson Arizona and banked to the west-northwest. As soon as it cleared the air traffic control pattern and angled to the north west, the dark haired woman lowered her binoculars and glanced over at her partner, "Yes or no?"

"Yeah, make the call," the second woman, a blond, stated as she checked some information on her laptop. "our contact mechanic was able to gain access and I got the call sign as N114LH. Flight plan is to Lake Havasu. Let them know, this is not the normal group. They seem to have money and connections overseas."

"For this kind of prize, they'll probably take a shot 3; I'll send them the MP4 of father's verbal tirade of the brat. Their heading 3;" the first woman did a quick check on her hacked in link to Tucson ATC. "They're making a beeline right toward it. Should be easy to find them."

"Perfect. When you talk to them, let them know they need to pay us something even if this doesn't work. This is the third lead this month and we have yet to see a dime. Shit, with what we are giving them, a complete moron should be able to find them. Tell them we get something even if they fuck this up or decide it's too high of a risk. I want some fucking lead finding cash or we're done."

The pilot of the Cessna was totally unaware of anyone paying extra attention to him or his aircraft. His sole focus was on his next destination. Once getting clear of air traffic control, the pilot switched over to VFR. With Visual Flight Rules, Benjamin Parsons was on his own in navigating his aircraft. He glanced down at the map to make sure he would stay well clear of the Phoenix air traffic controlled air space as he continued to head in that general direction. Once certain he would stay well to the west of Phoenix, he increased his altitude to 7000 feet [2100 m]. With a roll of his shoulders he looked up the VOR setting for the Lake Havasu Arizona City Airport and punched it in. This gave him a navigational beacon to his next destination, assuring him he would not get lost or confused in the vast expanse of the Desert Southwest of the United States.

Having grown up in England, and only having flown over to continental Europe a quartet of times, flying around the United States proved to be a great deal trickier than he had expected. There was so much land, and in many areas way too much undeveloped countryside. Keeping visual references on the ground was difficult and in some places next to impossible. If he mistook a single road, he could end up a miles off course before he realized his mistake. This was even worse in the Desert Southwest, since there were untold thousands of square miles with off road four wheel drive trails or no roads at all. Over the course of this eight week holiday, he had gotten lost four times before dialing in the VOR of where he was heading. Once he had even accidently strayed into restricted airspace and had been harshly warned to leave the area by the U.S. military. Hearing a stern sounding person over the radio telling him to bank hard to the south or face being forced to land had been the final straw. He was done with trying to fly without navigational aids. It didn't help that when he landed and had to explain why he had wondered into what happened to be the edge of White Sands Missile Range. At least the guy who questioned him understood what happened and why. Still, hearing he had been dangerous close to a ground to air missile test was more than enough to make sure not to stray into any more restricted air corridors.

Just as bad, maybe even worse, the questioning by the military officer also made him look like a total ass in front of his wife and kids. Hearing his twelve year old, Alex, snickering about dad getting 'busted' and trying to turn the entire family into 'missile fodder' had almost caused him to slap the silly smile off the boy's face. As a matter of fact, he probably would have, had it not been for the three armed men with the military captain who looked like they would have no problem shoving him in some military jail or even shooting him if he did anything even slightly suspicious. Alex's humor filled barbs had even gotten a smile out of the military men, so he reluctantly, and with a great deal of effort, kept his anger in check.

The events, although several day ago, were still fresh in Benjamin's mind. Because of this, he double checked everything. Just to be on the safe side, Benjamin even re-read the updates to make sure he was not going anywhere close to any temporary restricted airspace. Finally satisfied, he rolled his shoulders and glanced back into the body of the aircraft. His wife, Sondra, was, as usual, pampering the kids. In particular, their daughter, Harriet, was in need of something once again. His only girl was flatly lazy and had done nothing but whine the entire holiday. The thirteen year old had a daily list of British sit-coms she had to complain about missing. She also seemed to have no end of concerts she was not going to be able to go too, music releases she was missing, and social functions with friends she was absent from. Seeing his wife getting Harriet a soda, Benjamin glared and shouted, "Damn-it, Sondra, make her get her fat ass up and get her own fucking drink!"

Sondra rolled her eyes even as she handed the can over to her daughter. She already knew it was not worth saying anything, since her husband of sixteen years just wasn't a naturally compassionate person and didn't understand all kids needed a bit of mothering. Truth be told, she understood where her daughter was coming from. The whole excursion was geared toward him and leaned in the direction of the boys' areas of interest. In fact, the entire expedition had been his idea and, while the three boys seemed to find most of it fun, neither she nor Harriet had enjoyed more than a handful of days. The shopping in Phoenix while Ben had taken the boys out to yet another ghost town, had been something akin to a blessing. For a full day there had been no oppressive heat, no poking around in or around old mines, no looking at 3; well in Sondra's opinion, nothing. Yes, she had to admit, there had been a few foundations, some walls, and even an occasional partially collapsed building. But how Ben could find any of this interesting was beyond her. The latest stretch of seven ghost towns outside of Tucson had been brutally hot, dusty, and exhausting.

Making matters worse, once the ghost town had been checked out visually, out came the metal detectors. Treasure hunting, Ben called it. Treasure hunting, how absurd. It was the dream of a ten-year-old, not reality. Treasures didn't exist. However, it didn't stop Ben and the three boys from spending hours scanning the ground with top of the line detectors. Then every beep had to be investigated. In this her boys had found some enjoyment. They were exploring, looking for some grand find of a lifetime, or whatever a boy thinks about when handed a metal detector in the middle of nowhere.

It amazed her to hear the three boys eagerly asking each and every time when they could get out the ludicrously expensive metal detectors and begin yet another fruitless search. One, at least any normal person, would think after over twenty ghost towns, the kids would have figured out the obvious, but oh, no. At least not yet. And what did they have to show for the endless stupidity? Nothing. Well, there had been a few dozen old coins, all too worn to be worth much. This kept them going, so they could dig up some bits and pieces of what the former settlers had left behind, like part of a blacksmithing hammer, some rusted through horse shoes, and the like. Then came the pure junk. There were more bullet casing than seemed rational. Americans and their guns, it was ridiculous and flatly troubling. After the bullet casings things became even more annoying. There were the old cans, an abundance of rusted and dangerous barbed wire, a pair of hubcaps, and a whole assortment of other trash. It seemed Americas treated their deserts as a massive dumping ground. Yet one more thing to detest about them. They were one step up from barbarians, and certainly didn't care about the environment.

Even Phoenix, Arizona with all of its splendor, was a environmental nightmare. How much energy was being wasted to keep people cool? How much water was being exhausted in an already parched ecosystem to put a city in the middle of the desert? How many cars burning petrol to travel the vast distances, were sending hydrocarbon toxins into the air? It made her sick. All her environmental work in the U.K. was being buried under the Mother Earth destroying Americans.

Sondra ran her hands down her face and ignored the continued complaints of her husband even as she looked out the side window of the aircraft her husband had bought to take them across the United States. Of course the slightly more than half a million he had spent on the aircraft and even more making sure it was in perfect working order hadn't been a major concern. Ben's father had dipped into money that was older than the country she was flying over and handed it over along with an extra very large holiday stipends without batting an eyelash. He felt it was a good thing for his son to take his grandkids to see the United States. The fact Ben was following a rather childish lifelong dream in search of treasure was not lost on anyone, but it didn't really matter. In the eyes of the elder Parsons, the journey would be a learning experience for all of them.

Even Sondra had to admit this was far better than the trip Bermuda, where they ventured out to look for sunken ships and she got so seasick she had to be airlifted to a hospital. And it was immanently better than the trip three years ago when Ben packed them up to head to Lake Toplitz in Austria to look for the rumored treasure the Nazis dumped into it. His thought was doing the trip during the winter might turn up something since sound waves off the equipment he bought might do more in cold water. Like everyone else, however, he came up with nothing other than a map of the bottom showing the whole lake was covered in sunken logs, just like he had been told he would find. The only one to come away with anything other than hypothermia, was their oldest, Joseph, who learned to ski and fell in love with the past-time. Sondra, simply wasn't willing to call it a sport. It least skiing was a real hobby for the still very childish now fourteen year old.

Even now, as she glanced over at Joseph, the boy was drawing yet another dragon on a sketch pad. While the boy had a great deal of artistic ability, all he wanted to draw and paint were dragons, castles, and the occasional person skiing. If anything good had come out of this trip for Joseph, it was the boy had taken to doing some pencil sketches of some of the ruins in the ghost towns, and did one remarkably life-like drawing of a rattlesnake they had encountered.

Of course seeing a rattlesnake, only a few feet away, was terrifying. It certainly didn't help at all to see Alex playing with it, using a stick to poke at it to see how far it could strike. Then, when it started to come after him, he finally killed it with his throwing stars his grandfather had bought for him when the boy showed an interest in martial arts and the weapons used in them. It had been difficult, but money talked and someone was found to give Alex lessons in the ancient arts. Since then, Alex had picked up a brown belt in one of the styles and skills with what he kept calling 'ninja weapons'. These included not only his favorite, the throwing stars, but also nunchucks, katanas, and even bows. He had also taken an extensive interest in sleight-of-hand and was extremely proficient with the arts of 'magic'. His room back in Evesham, England was all but dedicated to the martial arts and magicians. If there were any of her children Sondra really wondered about it was Alex. He just wasn't normal. He probably should have been born a hundred years earlier since he was such an adventurous and witty little guy. One of his problems, however, was he never took anything, other than his martial arts lessons, seriously. Even when he was in serious trouble, or getting major physical punishment, Alex just couldn't seem to find it in himself to care. He found it all funny. Well, he hated physical punishments, but when they were dished out, he shrugged them off. This normally meant he tried a sneakier way to do the same thing he had been punished over. Sondra had even heard one of the boy's teachers say Alex was the class' little risk-taking goofball.

On the other hand, of the three boys, She felt Alex had the greatest potential. The boy had an inner drive and refused to give up on anything on ever. While his grades were the lowest of all four children, he never got down, and never stopped trying. Although, sometimes his idea of trying was a bit off, like the time he had to show his work on a math problem and made eighty-three groups of forty slash marks, so he could show the teacher how he came up with the right answer for 83x40. The worst part is, he was pretty good in math and could have shown his work in the proper way, but just decided it would be more fun to do it the 'easy way'. Alex just didn't take school work seriously enough, so would probably never be an honor role student, which was troubling. However, once he set his mind to something, he succeeded, so Sondra just knew he would go far in life.

The real problem was the twelve year old was starting to rub off on his younger brother to a large extent. The youngest Parsons, ten year old Brandon, was a shy little guy, but certainly looked up to his brother. Brandon was a loner, no question. Even the boy's teachers talked about how little he communicated with others and never seemed to have any friends. He was a boy who loved the outdoors not people. If he had it his way he would spend his entire day outside by himself. He loved to be alone in nature. His favorite activities where things he could do outside, alone, like astronomy, hiking, and fishing.

While being outside by himself was where he preferred to be, things had recently started to change. Over the last year he had started looking up to Alex more and more. This had led to Alex teaching him how to shoot a bow, and even convincing their grandfather to pay for them to go bow hunting. Seeing the boys come back from Sweden with pictures of deer they had taken down with bows had almost caused Sondra to divorce Ben. How could her offspring kill a defenseless animal, even if they did end up using it for food? Meat was brought back, but Sondra refused to cook or eat any of it. Instead it all went to Ben's family. For Sondra, it was not sophisticated and there was no way she would encourage the killing of wild animals in any way. While cooking was her biggest skill, she was plainly not going to touch a single bit of hunted meat. Hunting was flatly uncivilized, inhuman, and cruel.

The bow hunting trip had brought the two brothers even closer together, however, and they both became archery enthusiasts. Sondra fought tooth and nail, but finally backed off in letting both Alex and Brandon get hunting bows of their own after young Brandon threw a total fit. The boy screamed at her, endured a major belt spanking and still continued his tirade. He finally found something he could do with someone else, which was something everyone seemed to encourage him to do. He had found a new hobby and he flatly wasn't backing down. He even took a few harsh physical punishments for letting his grades drop and refusing to hand in assignments he had completed. Sondra finally threw up her hands and relented to the bows as long as Brandon's grades improved, but as part of the bargain he also had to pick a team sport to play.

She figured the requirement of joining a team sport would kill the archery, but it hadn't. Brandon chose baseball. A sport she was certain he picked because it was American, not British. This had a couple of side benefits, at least in Brandon's way of thinking. First and foremost, by not picking a sport his father understood or liked, it would keep his father away from the games. This meant the man would not be there to berate him, the officials, the coaches or even other parents. Brandon had been correct on this. Second, and just and important to the small for his age boy, it kept most of the other kids at a distance, since most of his school aged companions played football (soccer), or cricket.

The truth was, Sondra was pretty sure Alex had been the driving force behind Brandon choice of baseball, since Alex had a small baseball card collection. For Sondra, none of the how's or why's mattered. What was important was he Brandon was forced to get to know other kids. Being on a team meant teammates and practices with kids his age. It was also pretty surprising to find Brandon had a bit of a knack for the sport. His ability to catch and make contact and hit the ball endeared him to both his coach and his teammates. This had lead him to making a few real friends for the first time in his life. It then took only a couple of weeks for Brandon to turn his school work and behavior around once the archery equipment was procured and entrusted to him. With so much going right, Sondra finally washed her hands of the whole thing. There were a few things she would just have to reluctantly accept. Even as the bows were given to Alex and Brandon, however, Sondra made it clear she would not help in any way shape or form with hunting and any talk of hunting was not to be done in her presence.

A new, much larger problem was starting to crop up, however. This trip to the U.S. had opened both boys' eyes to guns. The damned things were everywhere. There were even department stores with guns and ammunition for sale. The more they saw, the more they wanted to try, but this was something she was flatly not going to allow. They could fire arrows until the world ended, but there was no way in this life or then next she would let them learn to shoot guns. They would not fire a gun of any kind on this trip or any other, even if it killed her!

Even as Sondra pondered the developments with her children, up front, Benjamin continued to look back and hurl obstinacies at his daughter. Harriet quickly tuned the man out by putting on headphones and turning up the volume of her brand new MP3 player and breaking out a large bag of potato chips to eat. While she hated pretty much everything about this latest trip, she couldn't be happier with her new music player since it took a single AA battery. This meant it wouldn't die out in the middle of the desert like her other one kept doing. Just to make sure, she used some of the money her mum had slipped her to buy a large pack of AA batteries. She figured she had more than enough battery life to make it all the way back to England where she could return to civilization and living like the elite private school girl she was.

Besides, Harriet figured her father would eventually drop whatever it was he was bitching about. He had to fly the plane, after all. In addition, Harriet knew her father would soon forget the whole thing since they were on their way to yet some other God-forsaken spot in the desert to look at more sand, more snakes, more tarantulas, more scorpions, and God only knew what else. As usual, she would stay in whatever vehicle her father could find to rent and sweat her bum off, drink another five or six sodas, eat whatever junk food the petrol station where they would fill up had, and listen to music while the boys all went off to play with the high tech toys Grandfather had bought them. Why the man had purchased one for her, she still couldn't understand. There was no way she was going to walk around and get bit by a snake or stung by a scorpion. Even worse, they broke out shovels and started digging whenever the dumb machines beeped so they could find whatever metal had been detected.

She was a young lady going to a highly respected school. Digging was beneath her in every way she could think of. How her brothers willingly and excited did so over and over baffled her. She chalked it up to a boy thing. She didn't even like boys. Some of the other girls in her school and even her class did, but she bet most of them didn't have to live with three of the barbarians.

Benjamin continued to glance back at his daughter with an immense amount of anger. The girl was already overweight. Seeing her drinking what amounted to sugar and inhaling chip after chip didn't help his demeanor. The real problem was his wife didn't seem to get any of it. In fact, Sondra defended Harriet at each and every turn. In Sondra's eyes, Harriet wasn't overweight, she was 'healthily plump'. She wasn't lazy, she was 'unenergetic', and when she didn't join in on the metal detection of the explorations with the family, she wasn't being contemptuous, instead Sondra called it 'being reserved'. It was all a load of crap in Benjamin's eyes. For him Harriet was turning into a spoiled, overweight, pretentious bitch. Even as he made sure he was headed in the right direction he determined it was time to break out his belt and knock the snobbishness clean out of her once they at the next ghost town.

Enough was enough, either Harriet pick up her metal detector and a shovel and joined her brothers, or her ass would be too sore to sit down in the back of the rental. Even as his mind started to search for other punishments, the radio in the cockpit came to life. "November, One, One, Four, Lima, Hotel, please respond."

Benjamin's eyes went wide even as he keyed his radio. The last time an unidentified voice came over the radio he had strayed into restricted air space. He spoke with a nervous filled voice, "This is N11LH, over."

The voice came back with a great deal of authority, "November, One, One, Four, Lima, Hotel, I strongly suggest you alter your flight plan and change to a heading of 270 for the next fifty miles. There are reports of extreme clear air turbulence between your location and destination."

"Thank you, but I am sure I can handle a little turbulence."

Another voice came over the radio, "Cessna 425, this is the pilot of the blue and white Beechcraft Bonanza below you and to your northwest. I came from the Havasu and came close to losing control. At least one other aircraft had to land under an emergency after getting structural damage."

This got Benjamin Parson's attention. He quickly scanned the airspace in front of him and spotted the aircraft. With a glance back over his shoulder at his family, he turned his focus back to the radio. "Beechcraft, where do I need to stay away from?"

"The control has a better idea than I do, but it was real bad until I hit I-10, then it calmed the further south I went. I'd say stick below I-8, maybe all the way to Yuma, then angle northwest toward Palm Springs. It sounds like it is calmer coming into Havasu from the west."

Benjamin didn't like what he was hearing. The proposed flight path would take him close to a hundred miles out of his way to get to the same destination. However, he had already dealt with some crazy desert weather and he had heard of aircraft going missing over some of the mountains in the desert because of crazy winds from a couple of female pilots in Tucson. The other thing he had to consider was his family. The last thing he wanted to hear was them screaming if he flew into so very rough air. His wife could be such a drama queen, and he was sure his kids would feed off of her fear.

With a long sigh, he keyed his radio again, "Can you give me the VOR to Yuma by chance, over?"

The friendly sounding pilot responded quickly, "Use the Bard VORTAC, frequency 116.80. If you want to follow my recommendations and avoid the military airspace close to Yuma, you can then put in the Thermal VORTAC, frequency 116.20 in Palm Springs. You shouldn't have to go all the way there. You will see a large lake, marked down on your air charts as the Salton Sea. Once you are at the edge of the lake you can try to head back northeast to Havasu. I normally use the Needles VORTAC at frequency 115.20. Just follow the river down to the south and you will see the Havasu airport east of the river, Over."

Benjamin finished jotting down the information before responding, "Thank you, Beechcraft. Have a safe rest of your flight, over."

"Will do, take care, out."

Benjamin input the new VOR before glancing back at his wife. "I'm going way around some rough air, so we are going to be up for way longer than planned."

Behind Sondra, Alex looked up with a gleam in his eyes, "Oh, come on, we are going to miss being on a flying roller coaster if you go around it!"

Even as Benjamin snarled at his son, Sondra covered her face with her hands, "Alex, don't get your father started on something new. Just hush and grab something to drink for you and Brandon and buckle in just in case we do hit some bad air!"

Directly behind Alex, Joseph looked up from his sketch pad, "Yeah, shut up Alex. I don't want to mess up my drawing!"

"Joseph," Sondra spoke in a scolding tone, "do not tell people to shut up. It isn't nice."

Joseph shrugged, "He's nothing but a brat."

Before Sondra could respond, Alex grabbed a soda for him and his younger brother while flipping off his older brother by putting his middle finger directly into the older, yet smaller, boy's face, "Yup, that's me, Alex the brat. Better than being Joseph the wuss."

Alex was completely ready for what came next. Even as Joseph swung his fist at his brother, Alex pulled up the hard plastic lid of the cooler the soda was being kept in. The fist connected with a solid sounding 'thunk' followed by a howl of pain from the older brother.

Even as Benjamin turned sharply to see what was going on, Sondra slid out of her seat to move between the two boys. Her moving was not needed, however, since Alex quickly put the lid back on the cooler and moved out of range sporting a huge smile. He glanced over at Brandon with a gleam in his eyes, "Grape or cream soda?" "Grape 3;" Brandon started to answer only to notice Alex had already extended the can of grape out to him. "Why'd you ask if you knew?"

"Because I could."

Off to his side and only an arm length away in the confined cabin of the small aircraft, Sondra turned and pushed Alex into his seat while moving to look at Joseph's hand. "Why are you always so mean to your brother?"

"I'm not. Brandon and I get along great!"

"Alex Tarquin Parsons," Benjamin roared, "Sit your ass down and shut the fuck up before I put this bloody bastard on autopilot, come back there, and beat you till you're black and blue!"

Alex knew his father would never leave the cockpit, so even as he sat down and popped open his can of cream soda he fired back, "I like blue better, so how about blue and black next time."

Next to Alex, Brandon cringed, put his shoulder against the window and sunk down so his father couldn't see him. The last thing he wanted was to be including in the oncoming rant and come it did.

Benjamin cursed, screamed, and threatened everyone in the aircraft for almost twenty minutes. By the time he was done, his face was bright red, sweat was rolling down his forehead, and he was breathing hard.

In front of Alex, Sondra checked Joseph's hand and decided to put some ice on it since there was some swelling around the middle two knuckles. All the while, she continued to glance back at Alex and shake her head. There was no question she would not get between Benjamin and Alex, but would do what she could to lessen the belt whooping her son was certain to get.

Beside Alex, Brandon looked over and spoke in a whisper so soft it was all but impossible to hear over the drone of the twin props of the aircraft. "Dad is going to beat you silly, Lex! Why did you do it?" Alex grinned at his younger brother, "Cause I could, and he will find a reason to beat one of us anyway since he is already mad about going out of the way and Riet's being a pig. Remember, he wanted to check out Aubrey Landing today, and now we won't be able to. He'll blame one of us, so better me than you. Besides, if he goes off on me, then you are safe, and I won't have to hear Joey throw a big tantrum and rip up his sketch book again, or worse, listen to Riet sob the whole night and talk about running away for the hundredth time."

As Benjamin's rage infused outburst finally subsided into unintelligible muttering, Brandon put his head on Alex's shoulder, "I love you."

Alex ruffled his brother's hair, "Right back at you Brand."

Chapter 2

Still seething, Benjamin turned to the northwest when he got close to VOR marker outside of Yuma. By the time he turned back to the northeast just southwest of Palm Springs his fury had subsided which he replaced with ideas of what he was going to do to Alex. The boy would forever regret making fun of an ass beating. Not only would he get the normal punishment, he would put the boy on bread and water for the next couple of days, and he really didn't give a shit what his wife had to say about it. There had to be other punishments, but those would have to wait until he could figure out what would hurt the little shit the most.

The real problem with being pushed into such a rage was it left him emotionally and physically drained. While he was not the most observant man, had Alex not pushed his buttons there was a chance he would have spotted the aircraft angling in toward him from the east. It was in no way easy to spot, since it was painted a desert tan and was flying at 3500 feet [1000 m], or 2500 feet[750 m] below him. This meant it blended in well with the desert. Still, an observant pilot could have picked up on it or at the very least its shadow over the sun parched ground. Benjamin, however, was anything but observant. His thoughts were on punishing Alex, he was tired, and his focus was on the VOR beacon leading him toward Needles. All these factors combined into the aircraft going totally unnoticed.

A couple of minutes later the aircraft settled in below him and put itself in the same shadow as the Cessna 425 making it all but invisible to the passengers on the aircraft above. Once the Cessna was over the deep desert, the copilot got a nod from the pilot and sent out a signal on a hand held radio.

Benjamin suddenly noticed a red warning light pop up on the control console indicating an oil warning on the starboard engine. A few seconds later grey smoke came out of the back of the engine. Even as Benjamin grabbed his headset for his radio, Sondra and Harriet let out squeals of pure fear.

Benjamin spoke into the headset before it was even on his ear, "This is November 114 Lima Hotel, declaring an emergency."

Benjamin's heart sped up as the only sound he got back was static. "This is November 114 Lima Hotel, declaring an emergency, over!"

He quickly changed frequencies and tried again, only to hear more static. He was about to try again when a static filled voice came over the radio, "114 Lima Hotel, this is Piper Cub 97 Charlie, your transmission is badly broken. Are you in trouble?"

"Piper Cub 97 Charlie. I have an engine problem!"

"I can try to reach someone for you if you would like, over."

"Oh BLOODY HELL yes! but I am going to have to set down before I end up with an engine fire!"

"114 Lima Hotel, give me a GPS position."

Benjamin quickly looked down at his GPS and relayed the numbers shown.

"114 Lima Hotel, be aware your radio transmission is very weak and I am not that far from you, but I'm low on fuel. How far can you make it, over."

"No idea 3; engine is smoking very bad and I have an oil pressure light on!"

The male voice stayed very calm, almost too calm, "114 Lima Hotel, I'm from this area and have flown over a private airstrip about ten miles to your southeast several times. It is really close to the California aqueduct system. If you can make it there, I can radio in your mayday and have them meet you there, over."

"Give me the lat long and I will head toward it, Piper Cub!"

The pilot gave the coordinates then added, "If you have to set down before you get there stay with your aircraft so they can find you, Out."

Less than twenty second later sparks shot out from around the radio, cutting off any chance of Benjamin giving or getting any more information. Even as he banked hard to the south, the aircraft directly under him turned to the north and slowly gained altitude putting itself directly behind the crippled aircraft going in the opposite. It was able to leave the area totally unnoticed.

Even as smoke continued to twist and curl out from around the radio and the starboard engine's smoke got worse, he spotted a runway and felt his heart sink. The wind cone showed a strong cross wind at a near perpendicular angle to the single long strip of badly cracked pavement. There were some markers, but the sand blowing over them made reading them all but impossible. However, he really didn't see much choice. He glanced back and shouted, "Pull your seat belts as tight as you can and duck your heads forward!"

He turned hard to line up with the runway and tuned the nose into the wind slightly, so he could land more or less straight. By the way the right engine looked, it would not take long to catch fire, so he had no intension of going around. Being on fire scared him far more than a rough landing. The one thing he had going for him was the number of hours he had logged and the experience that went with it. This allowed him to correct for a strong gust which almost tipped his left wing too far, then evened out just enough to center himself over the landing strip. As soon as the back wheels touched down he pushed down on the stick and killed power to the starboard engine, using only the port engine for power. He then applied the break and fought to keep the plane on the narrow runway, battling the cross wind the whole time.

He did the best he could, but the aircraft went off the concrete and the front wheel sunk into the sand causing a massively hard lurch. Anything not secured in the cabin launched forward. One of the items, Harriet's cell phone, struck Sondra in the side of her head hard enough to shatter the screen and left her with a badly bleeding gash just above her right ear.

Joseph, Harriet, Alex and Brandon all had items bounce off of them and each ended up with marks across their wastes where the seatbelts prevented them from flying out of their chairs.

It took some effort for Benjamin to pry his fingers off the control yoke, but even as he did he shouted out, "Grab what you can and get out. Forget the rest!"

The five passengers reacted in totally different ways. Sondra, clutching the side of her head with her hand, raced to the side door, unlatched it and flung it open. This instantly filled the cabin with smoke since the door was on the right side of the aircraft. The smell and sight of the overheated engine caused Harriet to totally panic. She bolted out of the door screaming, then kept running. This, in turn, forced Sondra to go after her. The two females left the aircraft with nothing, not even their purses. Even though she was badly bleeding Sondra caught up to her daughter then slapped her hard a couple of times to get her to settle down.

Joseph was the next one up and out. The smoke caused him to forget about trying to grab anything other than his small backpack which had a trio of sketch books and an equal number of colored pencil sets. Finally it held his MP3 player, computer gaming notebook, and chargers. He didn't even think about his cell phone, which he had left in the back to charge and was now somewhere toward the front of the plane.

Brandon started to follow right behind Joseph but was stopped by Alex's arm. Alex looked right into the tear filled eyes of his brother, "The smoke is from the engine. Grab your hiking pack and a case of water. I'll get my pack and the cooler!"

Brandon drew some strength from his brother and did what he was told. Even as he lifted up the case of two dozen bottles of water, however, Benjamin pushed passed the two boys, grabbed the plane's emergency kit, yanked the case of water out of Brandon's hands, and jumped out of the side door. Much like the first three, he didn't think about his phone, or the minor detail of him putting it in the pilot seat pocket because the belt case was uncomfortable against his side when he was flying the aircraft.

Even as the smoke got worse inside the small plane, Alex moved forward to check on his brother who had been shoved out of the way by their father. Brandon gave him a nod, signaling he was OK but was rubbing his hip since the shove had caused him to hit it on the seat right behind the exit. Alex, although very scared, found himself suddenly extremely angry. The idea of his own father being more worried about saving his own skin then him or his younger brother's was enough to stop and look over the cabin even as the smoldering smell got worse. This extra couple of seconds of anger let him push some fear aside. He slid around into the back, pulled out his satchel of martial arts stuff from the suitcases and then yanked both his and Brandon's overnight bags out of the pile. He started to move to the door, but paused as he saw Brandon, still in the airplane, looking at him.

Seeing his brother had the same general feeling about their dad forcing his way out past the two of them, only increased his anger. With a deep scowl he tossed one of the night bags to Brandon then grabbed Joseph's. Finally, out of spite, he kicked his father's bag so it ended up in the very back of the luggage. Even as he motioned for Brandon to grab the small cooler he grumbled, "Dad can get his own damned bag!"

He then firmly hustled his younger brother out of the aircraft, noting as he did so there were flickers of flame coming from around the engine which was just in front of the cabin door. Seeing this caused him to yell out, "RUN!" to Brandon even as he sprinted to get away from the badly crippled aircraft.

Less than two minutes later and a good three hundred yards away from the aircraft, Alex took a knee and motioned for Brandon to join him. The two boys didn't even look around for the rest of their family for a couple of minutes, instead they watched the smoke twirl and twist in the stiff breeze. Finally Alex tore his eyes away from the Cessna and took a few seconds to really see where he was.

In all truth, there wasn't much to see. They were in the middle of the desert. The single runway was just about the only sign of humanity. Off in the direction of the late day sun, which meant he was looking west, he could see a dirt road angling off of the far end of the runway heading in the basic direction of some tall hills or low mountains which were kind of to the northwest. Gauging distance was next to impossible since there were no other reference points. There was some scrub plants here and there, but they were very sparse and not tall enough to allow him to judge distance.

Behind him, and not much further away from the aircraft, Joseph was also down on a knee looking at the smoke. Alex's older brother already had one of his sketch pads out and was battling the wind and the blowing sand, trying to draw the scene. Alex didn't know if he should laugh or cry over Joseph's total lack of concern for the situation they were in.

Much further away, and almost straight downwind, Benjamin was screaming at Harriet, but the words were hard to hear because the wind was literally taking the sound away from him. Alex really didn't need to hear the vocabulary: he already knew it. Things had gone wrong so they were going to bear the brunt of it. It really didn't matter which kid he was yelling at when things went bad. They were all twat-faces, plonkers, fucktards, wank stains, twonks, cock cheese 3; the list went on and on. If anything, the verbal inventory had only gotten longer as Benjamin learned American versions of name-calling and insult shouting. The new favorite way to talk about them included the American insults of shithead, cocksucker, ass-wipe, dumbass, and fuck-stick.

Even as Benjamin continued his beratement of Harriet, Sondra was doing her best to settle him down while also trying to stop the bleeding of her own head with a bandage from the emergency kit. As with any head wound, however, the bleeding was bad. Making matters even worse, she was clearly weakened and badly shaken, since she had to lean against her screaming husband just to remain standing.

Part of Alex wanted to go help his mum, but he already knew the second he got in his father's line of sight, the man would turn on him as well. There was also a chance, a good one, of Benjamin changing from using words to swinging a belt or a hand. The worse the situation the meaner his father became, and this was about as bad as Alex had ever seen things. Staying as far away from his father, along with keeping Brandon out of the man's reach, had to be way up on the list of priorities.

With the case of water over at his father's side, Alex pulled out a couple of more cans of soda out of the cooler. He handed one to Brandon and opened the second one. The boys quickly realized they had to turn their backs to the wind to drink it without getting sand in their mouths. Nothing was said.

After several minutes, Joseph moved up to his brothers, "Can I get a soda?"

Alex started to roll his eyes, but stopped himself. Without answering, he slid the lid back so his older brother could grab a can. "How's your hand?"

"Hurts like hell and I can't even hold my pencils for very long right now, fucktard."

Alex laughed, "Why thank you!"

On the opposite side, Brandon giggled at Joseph's expression then spoke up as his oldest sibling popped open the can, "Keep your back to the wind on the sand will go in your mouth."

Joseph nodded, but stopped short as he noticed his overnight bag, "Oh, right on, Lex, my bag!"

Alex shook his head even as he pushed Joseph's bag over to him with his left foot. "Some of us actually grabbed stuff out of the plane."

The meaning and even the tone was lost on the older brother who simply held up his sketching pack. "I grabbed this!"

"Oh, good for you, Joey." Alex responded sarcastically.

This time the tone caused Joseph to frown for a second, "It was the only thing close and I wasn't going to get blown up!"

Brandon giggled nervously, "I'd have left without nothin' too, Lex. I'm just glad you got our overnighters."

"Yeah, good grab." Joey stated with total sincerity. "At least we got something."

Alex really wanted to point out how dumb it was for his older brother to not have grabbed something important from the Cessna, but stopped himself. The overnight bag idea had actually been Joseph's, and at the moment, Alex was really glad they had them. Of course the idea behind them had been kind of foolish. Joseph's thought was, if they found some kind of treasure, they might want to stay a day or two. This lead them to put together large school sized backpacks with all the basics.

In actuality, Alex really did most of the work behind them with a little input from Brandon. Once Joseph planted the idea, Alex looked up emergency kits and got a list of things the 'overnight treasure hunting bags' should have in them. He then added a few things he wanted. Finally he checked out survival websites for items which should be added. The list was pretty impressive and expensive, but he used the treasure hunting guise on his father. This, as expected, worked like a charm. All Benjamin did was notice one of his kids was getting into the treasure hunting idea and fully encouraged him to put together the kits. Without any real questions being asked, the credit card was handed over.

With credit card in hand, Alex then spent a few days ordering stuff online for four of the kits. He actually bought enough for six, but Sondra wanted nothing to do with them, and Harriet left hers back in England. She claimed it had been an accident, but the brothers all figured she had done so on purpose, having already said she had no interest in looking for old junk in ghost towns let alone spending the night in one.

Just before he handed the card back, Alex looked up a couple of other military survival websites and placed a couple more orders. Since his father had sprung for all the items without a second thought and left Alex in charge, he simply charged a few extra items for himself and Brandon, knowing his father simply wouldn't check. As suspected he had been completely correct. The over 2100 British pounds [$3100 or €2850] he charged had been paid without anyone in the family batting an eyelash.

One of the other reasons Alex didn't send too any other jibes at his very immature older brother was the situation they found themselves in. In simple terms, it was blazing hot and he didn't want to get into an argument when there was no place to go. Alex was also thankful Joey was not naive enough to get close to their father. While he hit Harriet once in a while, he was way harder of the boys. Even worse, once the man got started, he tended to spread his anger across all the boys. Since all three of them were staying well clear, they just might be lucky enough to stay out of their father's mind.

Joseph took a knee and looked around, really for the first time. "We are way screwed. Do you think Dad got of a distress call?"

Alex shot his older brother an raised eyebrow eye, even as he forced himself not to make a wise crack. The last thing he wanted was Joey running to mum to complain. This would only get them all the type of attention he knew none of them needed or wanted. Instead he went with an obvious answer, "Well, he turned and got to this landing field, so someone had to tell him this place was here. The real question is why is it here?"

Brandon quickly nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and I bet help is on the way. But we are 3;" He looked around. "Wow, in the middle of nowhere! Your right Lex, I wonder why this was even built?"

"It'd be super easy to get lost out here. No landmarks and nothing but blowing sand and a few scrub plants. This runway looks old and pretty much neglected, too," Alex stated even as he kicked at some sand partially covering the runway.

"Pretty much?" Joseph asked with a scowl, "Looks like it's totally abandoned to me!"

Alex pointed to the new-looking orange windsock at the far end, "Someone keeps that up, so it must be used once in a while."

Brandon grinned as Joseph frowned. He really liked when Alex made Joey look dumb. Since Joey was the oldest, he was the 'built in babysitter' when their parents weren't around and was left in charge. When this happened, Joseph made everyone else do his chores. Actually, he made Brandon and Harriet do them, since Joey was not so secretly afraid of Alex and his martial arts skills. Unfortunately, when Joey gave his chores away, most of them fell on Brandon because Harriet was extremely lazy. If they weren't done, their dad would get mad and Joey would point out how he told the others to do them. Then they would all get into trouble. This basically meant Brandon had to do them all. At least Alex helped most of the time and when Joseph got real pushy, Alex stepped in and made him do some of the chores.

To keep Joseph's attention, Alex changed the subject, "So did you draw the plane on fire, or what?"

Joseph's nodded eagerly even as he pulled out his sketchbook. As usual, the colored penciled drawing was very well done, albeit, not finished. He pointed out the work he still needed to do, but would have to add it in when the wind wasn't blowing so hard and his hand wasn't hurting so badly.

Brandon whistled softly, "Wow, Joey, that's super awesome! You are going to have to show it to Gramps when you're done!"

Joseph grinned at the complement, "Maybe he will spring for some more lessons with the private art teacher if I keep doing different things. I really like him and he showed me how to do all sorts of cool things. I'd sure like to learn how to draw the smoke, though. I tried, but it looks screwy." To add credence to what he was saying he flipped the page and showed four attempts at drawing the wing and engine with the smoke coming off it, but none really looked quite right. The swirls were off and in two the smoke was too dark, and in the other two, it was too light.

Even Alex begrudgingly had to admit Joseph's drawing of the plane and the attempts at the smoke were pretty good. In truth, he thought his brother was being too critical of himself, since to Alex the smoke looked about right. The last thing he wanted to do, however, was inflate Joey's ego, so he nodded and said nothing.

Joey was just about to start another drawing when Brandon jumped up, pointed to the northwest, and shouted while waving his arms wildly, "Someone's coming! Over here! Over here!"

Both Alex and Joseph stood and turned to see what their younger brother was pointing at. Sure enough, twin dust trails from vehicles could be seen. This caused Joseph to duplicate what Brandon was doing. Alex tried twice to tell them to stop yelling, since it was doing them no good, but gave up quickly. It was way too hot to deal with total stupidity.

The commotion got the attention of Benjamin, who quickly dug into the emergency kit and sent up a flare.

Even as this happened Alex smacked his head with his open hand, "Geesh, the plane is smoking like a smoke bomb and they are already heading right for us! We all must look like a bunch of nitwits." He ignored his brothers as they started to run toward the vehicles. Instead he picked up the overnight packs, putting one over each shoulder, grabbed the third with his right hand and the cooler with his left. With a long exhale and a shake of his head he simply started walking.

Chapter 3

The first vehicle to get there was on old Chevy Blazer with lights on the top and the word 'Sheriff' on the sides and back, plus a picture of a badge on the hood. It pulled up to the two running children. The second vehicle was an even older Ford pick-up and continued past the Blazer, making a beeline for Benjamin, Sondra, and Harriet.

Alex turned his head to avoid the dust from the pick-up's wake, not bothering to even speed up to get to the Blazer. He would get there or it would come to him. Besides, he was more than a little annoyed to have to carry almost sixty-five pounds [30 kg] of stuff while Brandon had nothing and Joseph only had five to ten pounds [2-4 kg] in his drawing bag. On the plus side, his martial arts instructor forced him to carry almost as much as he currently found himself with once to twice a week for five miles as part of his strength training.

Much as Alex expected, the driver of the Blazer got out, hustled his brothers in, then angled to pick him up.

The driver pulled to a gentle stop, jumped out, and eyed Alex for a second, "You OK, son?"

Alex looked up at the six foot four inch [1.90 m] man in his late thirties. The guy was in a pretty typical cop's uniform, brown shirt with a big gold badge on the left breast, matching brown pants with a off blue stripe down the pant legs, and boots. Then there was the typical police equipment belt including a sidearm, pouches for extra ammunition, handcuffs, pepper spray, and something else which Alex guessed was a taser. The man was huge and looked much more rough than any law enforcement person he had ever seen. The man's long hair, scruffy beard and thick mustache made him look like some kind of desert nomad. Normally this would have caused him to be a bit more cautious and not his normal smart-mouthed self. However, he was still miffed at his brothers, so he looked up with a smirk, "Would-a been a lot more OK if my brothers had taken their junk!"

This got a snicker out of the man, who continued to look over Alex for a few seconds before moving up to the boy. He grabbed the pack and cooler and lifted them up a couple of times, "Lot of weight here for a boy your size."

"Yeah, but it was leave it or carry it. I think you ought to make my brothers carry it all for a while and see how they do!"

Again the man chuckled as he jerked his head toward the back of the Blazer. "Come on, let's get this stuff stored. So you aren't hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. I think mum is hurt, though."

"Holden and Irwin will take care of her son." The man pointed in the direction of the pick-up, where a younger looking man in a similar brown uniform with a badge on the front was helping his mum into the back of the truck with the help of some other man who was in jeans and a plaid shirt. "You sure you're in one piece?

Alex glanced down, looked himself over, then stared back up with a grin, "Nothing missing other than two brothers who left me with their stuff, but looks like you found 'em 3;" Alex then glanced back at the Cessna, "The plane, however 3; well it's probably in need of your coroner."

This got a full fledge burst of laughter out of the man who led Alex to the back of the Blazer, tossed the pack and cooler into the back and helped Alex get the last two packs from off his shoulders and into the back. "Hop in the front and let's check on your folks."

Even as Alex climbed in, he sent a glare back at his brothers, "You both know, they already saw us and you didn't have to jump up and down, scream, and run like we had been stranded for a month, right?"

"You might want to be stuck in the middle of the desert, Lex, but I sure don't!" Joseph fired back.

The man climbed in, patted Alex on the shoulder and cleared his throat cutting off any further retorts, "Boys, enough. Your older brother makes some good points."

"Hey, I'm the oldest 3;"

The man shook his head in surprise and glanced back at Joseph, "Really?"

"Yeah, by two years and three days," Alex grumbled.

Brandon realized Joseph wasn't about to do anything to him with the massive man looking at them, so he added, "Joey turned fourteen on the second, but he's a super runt. I'm almost bigger than him and I'm ten!"

This got a growl out of Joseph, but as Brandon suspected, there was no chance of his brother doing anything to him in the presence of the man.

Seeing the huge man looking over all three of them, Alex added, "Yeah, we're all small, but Brand is right, Joey is a total shrimp."

Hearing his older brother snarl again, Alex grinned, "Hey, be mad if you want, but when I got taller than you and Granddad noticed over Christmas, he even tried to get you growth shots!"

"Yeah, but the doctors said no, since they say I am normal 3; Normal my ass, I am the shortest kid in my whole class, if not my school."

The man let out a long breath, "Best not to mess with nature, if you ask me. You are a damned good looking kid."

Joseph snorted, "Maybe for a ten year old."

Before more could be said, the radio in the Blazer came to life, "Hey, Sheriff?"

The man picked up, "Go ahead, Irwin."

The voice came back, "The woman is in bad shape. She has a nasty gash to her head and side of her face. She's not fully with it either. There is a man and girl over here who don't look too hurt, but this guy is pissed and hell hath no fury!

Next to the Sherriff, Alex lightly shook his head, "Way to go Dad."

The lawman looked over at Alex with an odd look even as he cranked up the air conditioner, "You don't sound too surprised."

Alex started to cover for his father, "Harriet ran and forced mum to go after her. I bet he's mad cause 3;"

Before more could be said, Joseph blurted out, "Happens all the time. He'll get over it."

A very unusual and even nasty looking smirk ripped across the sheriff's face and just as quickly vanished. His voice became harsh and all business. "Irwin, If he doesn't settle down, leave him, but let him know I'll be dealing with him. Just get the gal and the girl in the back and get them to the clinic. Have Nadine give the girl a once over while Lilia deals with the injury."

The sheriff then turned to look back at Joseph, "Is your old man going to give me any problems if I have to end up driving over there?"

At this, all three boys shook their heads. Alex summed it up best as he spoke up, "He's mean, not stupid."

The radio interrupted, "It's OK, Sherriff, I've got him talked down enough to jump in the back." There was a snicker as the man added, "He decided he really didn't want you coming over here. He does want to know who is going to put out the fire, though."

"Tell him we put a call out to the volunteers. They'll get here when they get here. You need to get that gal to the clinic. I'll meet you there."

Conversation between the sheriff and the boys was more of an interview. He got their names, ages, dates of birth, and home town. He radioed in the emergency contact information to a female dispatcher, and asked each boy a couple more times if they had been hurt. He then went over what led to the problem with the aircraft. As the line of barren hills got closer, the talk ceased all together. The truth of the matter was, after being suck out in the middle of the desert for almost an hour, the air conditioning felt great and it was just nice to be out of the intense sun and not getting stung by blowing sand.

***

Alex was first to get a look at the town since he was up front. What he saw didn't instill much faith in the clinic they were where headed toward. The whole place had an 'old' feel and look to it. Most of the structures had an industrial look and feel to them. The vast majority were formed out of concrete slabs with flat roofs. The rest were shabby, and very few showed any sign of new paint.

There was a large break between the much older buildings and a newer, yet still aged buildings. This second area was better kept up, but there was nothing to instill or inspire desire to live in the place. The houses were pretty much the same as those in the first section, only slightly larger. They were also all but identical to each other, too. Almost all were single story and looked to be out of 1950's movie. None had grass, and very few even had a single tree. The landscape of the entire place was sand and scrub.

There was a brief conversation as the boys asked why there were two sets of buildings. The sheriff pointed back toward the older buildings. Those were built back in the early forties when the mine was reopened because of a need for iron to support World War II. The government built them for those willing to come out here. The part we are driving through now was put up in the late fifties by a company who thought they could form a totally company town. It fell apart and the company went bankrupt during a violent mine strike. The workers demanded more money and to stop getting charged for living in company buildings and the company's office was burned to the ground. The current owners of the mine bought it all, did some repairs to make most of the structures usable, and the workers come in and buy the properties for very cheap prices and fix them up however they want."

Alex looked around, "People actually want to move out here?"

The Sheriff snickered, "Good paying jobs, cheap property, and the mine owners take in quite a few ex-cons, offing them a fresh start. After spending a few years in prison this ain't all that bad, and getting paid fifteen to twenty an hour is way more than the average convict can make elsewhere."

Joseph showed more than a little fear, "So a lot of bad people live here?"

The sheriff shook his head as he pulled up in front of a long warehouse looking building with the words 'Sheriff's Office' along with a badge on the window. "Most of it is petty stuff, and very few have more than one conviction. The mine is pretty careful to only hire people who are not violent, too. There are good people who made a mistake, maybe two. Nothing to worry about." He put the Blazer in park and looked over to Alex, "Give me a hand getting your things stored, then I'll take you over to the clinic."

He then pointed to the small pack Joseph was carrying, "I'll take that too."

Joseph put both hands over this backpack, "No, I 3;"

Alex spoke up, "It's his drawing stuff, sir. He never goes nowhere without it."

With a raised eyebrow the man, tuned, "Drawing stuff, huh? Mind if I take a quick peek and make sure you don't have anything dangerous in there?"

Reluctantly, Joseph nodded and handed his pack forward.

The sheriff dug though it then pulled out the partially used sketch pad. He opened it up and let out a light whistle. He then spent over five minutes flipping though the drawings. He tuned and held up the drawing of the rattlesnake, "Damn, son, you got some real talent. I've seen professional artists who can't do this kind of work. This bastard looks like it could jump off the page and bite!"

This got a rare smile out of Joey, "I could-a done better if Lex would have left it alone."

Seeing a questioning look, Brandon giggled, "Lex found a long stick and kept poking at it so he could see how far it could strike."

The sheriff looked up at the ceiling of his Blazer and shook his head, "You must be a fun handful to deal with." He handed the pack back to Joey then ruffled Alex's hair, "Ok, crazy one, let's get your stuff stored so we can check on your mom."

Alex hopped out and let out a long breath. The heat was really bad and he didn't have sunglasses so he had to squint. The sheriff handed him two of the packs while he grabbed the cooler with one hand. Looking back at his vehicle he spoke to the other two boys, "Stay put. We'll be right back."

Alex let the sheriff open the door for him as he was all but forced to turn his head from the glare of the sun off the glass. He gratefully entered the small front office. The cool air, even after only a couple of minutes out in the heat, felt really good.

Behind the desk a woman looked up, "Hey Sheriff, Raul and Rich Ray are here for registration 3;" She paused and look over at Alex, "Oh, sorry didn't realize you had company."

The sheriff put his hand on Alex's back and pushed him forward, "Sara, this is Alex Parsons, goes by Lex. They were out there for almost an hour with only soda to drink. See if you can dig up a bottle of water for him and a couple more for his brothers while we store what they managed to get out of the plane. Oh, and just enter Rich and Raul into the system and we'll call it good this time. It's not like anything has changed for either one of 'em and I got my hands full at the moment."

Sara gave a quick nod, "Sure thing. Anything else?"

"Any word from the fire crew?"

"Nothing yet."

"Well, tell them to get their asses moving. Fire was eating at things inside when I got to them. The wind is real bad and we sure don't want a brush fire out there."

"Will do; I'll keep you posted."

The sheriff directed Alex to a back closet and pulled out his key ring. He unlocked the door and pointed, "Just toss them in. They'll be safe in there until I can sort things out."

Alex did as instructed, but noticed the room was pretty big and held lots of packs and even luggage. He almost asked, but the big man put down the cooler and the third pack before quickly closing and locking the door. Seeing the look, he gave a slight grin, "Evidence locker and all around catch all room. We get lots of drug runners in these parts."

This made a great deal of sense, so Alex quickly brushed it off. He collected three bottles of room temperature water from Sara on the way out. He moved up to the door, but did pause to turn and look at the two men who were filling out paperwork at the desk, since he couldn't help but notice both guys were all but staring at him. Seeing one of them grin at him, he shrugged off the odd looks and moved back out into the heat, noticing the big round thermometer on the side of the building was maxed out at 130 degrees [55°C].

The sheriff noticed the boy's wide eyes, "We melt a couple of them a year. It's really only about 110 [45°C], but the side of the building gets hotter. While you're here, don't touch anything black after about ten in the morning, stay out of the sun when you can, and drink plenty of water. Soda may taste good, but it ain't what you need in this type of heat. This is real dangerous land, too, so don't go wandering too far. More than a few folks have lost their way and died horribly of sun exposure, dehydration and even critters out here."

The message got through loud and clear and Alex nodded in total understanding as he jumped back into the Blazer. He handed water bottles to his brothers before unscrewing the cap and taking a deep drink of his. It wasn't very cool, but it sure helped his dry throat and lips.

The short trip through the town was far from awe inspiring. The more Alex looked around, the more confused he became. As best as Alex cold tell, there were four styles of homes; a small, one car garage type which looked like they were two bedroom. Two were medium sized. One with a one car garage and a small second story, and the other with a two car garage and no second story, which were probably three bedrooms. The last type was only at the southwest corner of every block. It was large with a two car garage and a moderate sized upper level. They looked more like a five bedroom homes. Some had garages on the right while others were on the left, but they were pretty much identical to each other right down to the three concrete columns holding up a flat roof so they had shaded porches. The porch was always opposite of the garage and the garage stuck out from the main house so the porch made a nice even line across the whole front making all the houses perfect rectangles to those looking down on them. It was pretty ugly and very drab to look at. The other thing he noticed, all most every building had solar panels, all of them slightly turned to the southwest. Finally, there were only a handful of street signs, so getting lost inside the town would be almost as easy as getting lost in the desert.

Gazing down the few side streets, everything about the place looked boring and way too even. It was like someone made cookie-cutter homes and placed them super evenly along the perfectly straight streets. He only saw two homes with obvious additions added to the basic floor plans, so they really stood out.

As the Blazer turned on to the main street, the place was super quiet for a weekday afternoon. Alex only saw four people, all of them men who gave a wave at the Blazer. As far as businesses went, many had names on signs but it was impossible to tell what they were. Of the ones he could easily identify, there was a single gas station, a tire and repair shop, a bakery, a general store, a bank, three bars, a hardware store, a sporting goods store, a book store, and a pair of diners. All the businesses, on both sides of the street, had shades down to protect against the blazing desert sun. This meant the boys couldn't see into any of them.

Just off the main street, there were a few other businesses, but no one seemed to be going in or out of them either. On the far side of town, Alex noticed a very small post office, barbershop, a second-hand store, a clothing store and another grocery store. At least these stores had a few cars in the lots. The Blazer then turned onto a dirt road and headed toward the barren rocky hills cutting off the view of the town.

Suddenly and very unexpectedly, as the Blazer went around an outcropping of rock, the land turned green. There were fields of grass, shrubs, a small pond, a baseball diamond with a fence, a soccer/football field with nice grass, and a big playground.

"Wow!" Joey spoke in wonder. "Can we stop so I can draw this?"

Before the sheriff could answer, Alex spoke up, "That's really cool. How come you put the park way out here?"

"We didn't; it was pretty much already here other than the sports fields, playground and mini-golf which is just up into the rocks on the far side. If you look past the pond there is a ridge of rock. Right behind and under the ridge is the big aqueduct system taking water from the Colorado River into southern California. We ain't real sure if it is a crack in the system or a natural spring, but water bubbles up from just behind that big rock in the pond and runs down toward the road until it just disappears back into the sand. We actually think it is natural and the aqueduct adds more water to it since there are legends of this being a Navaho worship site. When you go out here, we have an area marked off with fencing. It's where the water goes back into the ground. Whatever you do, don't go in there. The sand is wet and soupy. It's a lot like quicksand, and there are rumors of people drowning in it."

"Can I draw it, please?" "We'll find someone to get you out here Joey, don't worry none. Right now we need to get to the clinic."

The Blazer continued around the rocky outcropping until the park finally disappeared from view. The land opened up again showing a large number of buildings up on the bigger hill to the west. The road actually stopped at a guard post with a wooden gate arm to block cars until they were allowed past by the guard. The sign over the guard post read 'East Gate Entrance. Employee's Only'.

The sheriff pointed at the gate, "Iron mine and the whole reason this place exists. It was shut down for years, but it was bought and reopened by a few folks. It employs over seventy percent of the town. Just a few months ago they hit a silver vein off of the main shaft, so after a rough few years, things are looking pretty good."

Finally, the Blazer pulled into the lot of a long building with a medical cross sign on it. The pick-up was waiting in the lot by the front entrance and the man in the jeans was keeping an eye on Benjamin. Even though they were several yards away, Alex could tell his dad was in handcuffs and beyond super angry.

Seeing the Blazer pull in, the man pointed for Benjamin to stay put while he walked well away from the truck.

The Sherriff rolled down the driver window, instantly filing the air-conditioned vehicle with very hot air. It was like someone opened the doors on a furnace. Brandon summed it up best as he wiped off a few instant beads of sweat from his forehead, "Silver or not, living here 3; It's not worth it."

The sheriff spoke even as the man with the plaid shirt, now covered with dried blood, wiped sweat off his brow, " Holden, what's the story with the guy?"

"The guy's a total prick and threatened Nadine when she asked about a nasty handprint on the girl's face. I slapped cuffs on him just keep him in check. Now, all he wants to do as demand we get his stuff and wants to call home. He keeps saying he rich, is going to hit me with unlawful arrest and 3; Oh, you know the type. Just to top it off, the jackass is a stuck up Brit 3;" He paused as he saw all three boys turn and stare at him.

The sheriff spoke with a bit of humor in his voice. "No insult intended toward you all, boys." He then turned his focus back on Holden, "What about the woman?"

"She lost a lot of blood, and I wasn't able to stop it. She took something to the face real hard. It's a good thing we got to her when we did. My bet is she'll pull through 3;" Holden paused as he noticed a deep frown come from the sheriff, "Um 3; She'll need a lot of care for a while though 3; and that gash 3; well, we might want to get her to a face specialist of some kind or she'll have a hell of a scar. I think we can handle the basics here, but she needs more than we've got if she is going to fully recover."

The sheriff glanced over his shoulder at the boys and saw all of them looking fearful. Brandon leaned forward and spoke softly, "Lex, I don't want to go to the hotel with Dad tonight."

Alex nodded, while looking back at both his brothers, whatever we do, we have to say away from Dad, guys."

The Sheriff glanced over at Holden with a strangely satisfied expression, "We'll let Lilia do her thing with mom and go from there. Do me a favor and take these three in to get checked out by Nadine while I talk to their old man and find a reason to stick him in jail for the night. Make sure the kids are cared situated for the night here, just to keep them safe, then get cleaned up."

The sheriff turned off the engine even as he turned to the boys, "Guys, I'll deal with your pop. While I do, I want you all to get a full check-up. You all look a little pale, probably just the stress, but better to be safe than sorry. Holden, here, will stay with you all. He is one of our paramedics and a back-up deputy even if he don't look like one, so he may take some blood or whatever our PA wants. Don't give either of 'em any guff. Until I get back with you, I expect you all do exactly what Holden tells you to. Got me?"

Seeing the stern look and hearing the forceful voice, all three nodded. The boys quickly hopped out and followed Holden into the clinic even as the sheriff stood, straightened his police belt, and made his way over to Benjamin.

Joey cringed, "If he arrests Dad 3;"

"It'll be ugly," Alex answered. "If he's like normal, let me take it."

Brandon leaned into Alex, "Sorry, Lex."

Alex hugged his younger brother, "Nothing to be sorry for. It isn't your fault."

Holden listened to the exchange, but said nothing. He would certainly have to get with Sheriff Eaton about what he heard though.

Entering the clinic, all three boys were surprised. The drab outside gave way to a very modern looking medical clinic. Holden led them past a man cradling his arm and looking like he was in a great deal of pain and a woman who kept coughing. Holden didn't even pause as he walked past a woman at the reception desk and made his way down the hall. He turned to the left and pointed to the end of the hall. "Last three rooms, Each of you take one and strip down to your undershorts. Nadine will be with you as soon as she finishes with your sister."

The three exchanged glances, but Holden cut off any complaints with a clearing of his throat and adding, "I'm not asking. Now get to it 3; Unless you want me to go get the sheriff 3;" This got all three moving.

Alex took the furthest door and looked around. The room was the same as any other exam room he had ever been in. There was the table/bed with the white paper over it, a stand with a dozen magazines, a small computer terminal, a sink, and cabinets clearly marked with what was in them. The rest of the room was pretty standard as well, there was a scale on one wall and height measuring markers on the opposite wall. The room also had a small mirror on the door. Finally a regular trashcan and another for bio-waste and sharps rounded out the room.

Stripping down to his boxers was not high on his list of things to do, but after glancing over a couple of magazines and hearing someone lightly knock at the door across from the room he was in, he finally did so. As he took off his shirt, he noticed a lot of sand fall to the floor. He used some paper towels over the sink and some water to clean it up the best he could then much more carefully removed his shoes, socks, and jeans, taking care to get as much sand as possible into the small trashcan in the back corner. Even with as careful as he was being, the whole floor had a gritty feeling to it by the time he was down to his boxers.

As with most medical exam rooms, this one was pretty chilly, so it didn't take long to get slightly uncomfortable. Coming in from the intense heat to the having to going down to boxers in a cool room only made it worse. To take his mind off of the chill, he picked up a hunting magazine and read a couple of articles about shooting. Even as he read them, he wondered if there was a way to convince his mum to let him try, just once.

After nearly fifty minutes, and him starting to get truly bored, there was a light knock on the door. A second later a black woman entered followed by Holden. As the door opened, Alex could have sworn he heard someone moaning about getting hit, but as the door shut the sound went away. The woman gave what passed for a smile, "Hello, I am Physician's Assistant Nadine Finch. You can call me Ms. Finch. What is your name and how old are you?"

"Alex Parsons, most call me Lex. I turned twelve nine days ago."

Nadine handed over a plastic container. "Go with Mr. Spark and fill that to at least the line with urine. If you need to do any other business get it done while you are in there."

Holden took Alex across the hall and a couple of doors up, and stood with his back away from the boy as Alex peed into the cup. Once it was over half full, Alex handed it over to Holden, then finished peeing. He was then escorted back to the exam room.

The second Alex re-entered the room, Nadine pointed over to the scale. As soon as Alex stepped on it, the computer beeped. A bright light then came on behind him and moved up until it hit a sensor on the far wall. A readout showing he was just under 56 inches [142 cm] tall appeared on a monitor. At the same time a digital display lit up showing he was 84 pounds [38 kg]. She quickly entered this into the computer then motioned for him to sit up on the paper covered bed. She moved up to him, checked his temperature, pulse, blood pressure, ears, eyes, throat and nose.

She spent a few seconds looking over some bruises and a long scratch he got from some thorny plant at the last ghost town, then checked his reflexes in both knees.

With the basics done, Nadine had Alex lie down. She then pulled out a towel, got it wet and started wiping him down. When Alex started to complain, Holden wagged a finger in his face and spoke with a harsh commanding tone. "It's this or I take you down the hall to get a shower and you walk back here in the buff." Seeing Alex's eyes go wide he smiled and patted Alex on the back, "Didn't think so. Just lay there, boy. You have desert all over you and Nadine needs to look at you, not dirt, sand, and dust."

Alex held up both hands in surrender and turned over on his stomach and laid back on the exam table.

Nadine was very hands on as she wiped Alex's arms, back, legs, and feet, then had him roll over and did his face and chest. She held up the formally white towel to show just how much grim he had accumulated. She then want back over him, looking over every bump, bruise, and mark all over again. Scratches were treated with dabs of anti-biotic ointment and the bruising was carefully cataloged. After nearly thirty minutes, she turned to Holden, "He looks a bit worse in the treatment department than Joey and Harriet, but is certainly healthier, has much better muscle development, and is considerably stronger than his older siblings. Some of these bruises are more play oriented than what I have seen on the others, but I still don't like what I am seeing. I'm sure he's OK, but let's do a CBC and a BMP on him too, just so we cover all our bases."

Even as Holden grabbed a blood draw needle and some blood tubes, Nadine continued to look over Alex. "So Lex, you got quite a few bruises on the back of your legs and back. What happened?"

Alex shivered since he had been wiped down with a cool towel and the room was still chilly. Just wanting to get dressed so he could warm up some, he quickly looked at the back of his legs and noticed a couple of bruises from his dad's belt and a few other marks he couldn't remember happening. Most of them were so light he could barely even make them out, a few of the others were pretty new and a couple were deep purple from getting hit with things when the plane lurched to a stop. He shrugged, "No idea, must have happened when Dad landed hard or at one of the ghost towns we were at."

It was pretty clear, even as Holden moved up to draw the blood sample, the woman didn't accept the reason given. "What about the ones on your back?"

Alex tried to turn his back to the mirror and crane his neck, but there was no way to see what she was talking about. He finally gave up as the needle was jabbed into his arm. He turned with a wince and spoke as he glanced down at his blood spilling into the clear tub with some kind of goop in the bottom, "Sorry, I didn't even know they were there."

Holden held Alex's arm as he filled three vials, then pulled the needle out and stuck a cotton ball with a bandage over the needle mark. "Keep pressure on it by keeping your elbow tightly bent. It won't bleed for too long."

Alex did as instructed even as the woman spoke, "OK, let's see the rest of you." Nadine then made a downward motion with her right index finger while pointing at his boxers.

Alex looked nervously over at Holden, "Um 3; isn't there a guy doctor?"

Nadine frowned deeply, "Young man, I still need to check out one of your brothers and there are people who are in the waiting room who need attention, now drop 'em or I will have Mr. Shock, here, take them off you."

Holden cocked his head and gave Alex a stern eye, "Nothing she hasn't seen before. Let's just get this over with, OK?"

Alex let out a long breath even as he reluctantly pulled down his boxers and let them fall around his ankles.

Alex looked away as the female spent some time looking over his front side. Feeling a hand stretching out his dick was totally embarrassing, and then having to deal with hands messing with his ball sack and squeezing his nuts to the point where it hurt some was way up the list of things he didn't want to have someone doing to him. As with the rest of him, Nadine wiped down his groin and bum with a wet towel before taking an even closer look.

Nadine finally moved back to the computer and made a couple of notes then motioned for Alex to spin around so his back was to her. Before he had time to react or protest, the woman pushed him over to the paper covered exam table and continued to push on his back until he was bent over. She then, without any warning, inserted a finger up his anus without a glove or lube. Alex let out a yelp and tried to struggle, but found Holden had moved up to secure him.

The man spoke, "Hold still, relax, and let her check your backside." He then turned to the woman, "You could have been a little nicer there, doc."

"Judging from the bruising on his ass and waist, he's been through worse. Besides, he'll thank me for this later. The first time is always the worst." She then pulled the finger out just long enough to put her index and middle finger together and jamb them back in. This time Alex let out a howl and almost broke free.

Holden quickly moved around to put his weight behind Alex so the boy could not get up. "I know this sucks, bud, but she has a job to do and the faster she gets it done, the easier it will be." He paused and looked over to Nadine, "He's a strong little guy, so go easy and just get it done."

At the same time Alex started whining, "It hurts, It hurts, stop! Please, stop."

Holden continued to tell him to try to relax, but used the distraction to take an injection needle handed to him by Nadine, pull off the orange tip guard with his teeth, and inject it into Alex's butt.

Nadine, on the other hand, ignored the boy and continued on without showing any remorse for what she was putting Alex through. She unrelentingly moved her fingers in, out, and around inside him for over a minute. As soon as she saw Holden move the needle toward Alex's firm cheek, she did one hard thrust as the needle was put into the boy's ass which had the desired effect of having the additional stab go unnoticed. Finally she pulled back, moved over to the sink and washed her hands. "I'm done, so knock off the blubbering. You really need to clean back there better. It was hard for me to get in and check for any lumps or bumps. Besides, it's not at all healthy to not have it clean and you are old enough to do a better job. Now, while you calm down, tell me why you have bruising on your waist, butt, and upper thighs. Those marks aren't from a playing."

Alex wiped his nose off on his bare arm while reaching down to try to pull up his boxers with his other hand. "It's nothing 3;"

Nadine rolled her eyes as stepped around the table to look right into Alex's eyes, "Do you think I am stupid, kid?"

Seeing the angry look in her eyes and finding Holden was keeping him pinned to the bed so he couldn't get dressed, he shook his head, "No 3;"

Holden kept his weight on Alex and used his right hand to keep the boy bent over the table. Even as he did this, however, he ruffled the boy's full head of platinum blond hair, "You're a strong little dude, but chill. We need to know where all these marks came from and I can't let you go while you're trying to fight me."

Nadine reached around and ran a hand down Alex's right butt cheek, "Mr. Shock's being too nice and I'm getting tired of this. There are others in the waiting room who need my attention. Do them, yourself, and me a favor and tell me where these lines came from before I decide to start this whole check-up over again!"

Seeing the woman hold up fingers and move behind him again, he shook his head wildly, "No, please! That hurt!"

"Then speak up boy! I saw the plane. Most of these marks didn't come from landing hard!" Holden spoke sternly. "Nadine's not joking around here and I sure don't want to see you hurt more."

"OK! OK! I mouthed off and Dad hit me!"

"With what, a belt?" Nadine demanded to know even as she spread the boy's butt cheeks.

Alex started to feel funny and his brain took the suggestion and basically repeated it. "Yes, a belt! He used his belt! Please don't!"

Nadine backed off and motioned for Holden to let Alex go. "Just keep in mind, the first is always the worst. Now that you've told me the basics, let's hear the rest."

"The rest of what 3; You know I'm going to tell 3;"

Holden put a finger up to Alex's chest and poked him hard enough to get a wince. "Boy, you best simmer your butt down and drop the attitude. Nadine be doing her job and believe it or not, you'll be happy she did sooner rather than later. You were in a plane crash, so a good and full physical was needed and you're smart enough to know it. You need to tell us the truth, though. We saw the marks on Joey and already heard from him about getting hit and your sister has a full hand print on the side of her face. You got marks on your legs, back, and butt. I'm sure hoping we don't need to go through this with Brandon, but we need to find out the whole story. So are you going to start talking or are you going to make us put your other brother through this?"

Alex winced as he moved away from the table and pulled up his boxers. Not liking the looks he was getting, nor hearing Brandon was about to be subjected to what he had just gone through, he clenched his fists. At the same time he started to get some vertigo. This caused him to forget the rest of his clothing and lean on the exam table. "You'll leave Brand alone if I tell?"

Nadine's eyes narrowed, "I still need to give him a full head to toe once over and get blood samples, but it'll be easier than this was."

"You'll stay out of his bum?"

"That's part of the physical 3; But if you are really willing to tell us how your dad hits you, I'll keep my fingers out of him. It's not like I enjoy it, anyway."

Alex felt trapped and his mind wasn't working right. He didn't want to tell on his dad, and he really didn't see the big deal. Dad mostly yelled. He only broke out the belt when he was really mad. Besides, most of the new bruises came from the plane going off the runway and stopping hard. Hearing about the hand print on Harriet's face was surprising, but figured she must of mouthed off while he was watching the smoke come out of the plane's engine. After a few seconds, and seeing the two adults about to leave the room, he finally spoke up. "No, don't 3; I'll tell you."

Holden took his hand off the doorknob and turned back to Alex, "Ok, out with it, son. Tell us that your dad hits you with a belt."

Alex looked down as the words sunk in and he blinked in confusion, "Dad uses his belt on all of us."

"What about his hands? He hits you with his hands too, right?" Nadine demanded to know.

"Dad uses his hand," Alex found it harder and harder to argue but he still tried, "but not like a fist or nothing."

Holden quickly chimed in, "So he hits you with his belt and his hands. He hits your brothers and sister too, right?"

Alex shifted since his bum-hole still felt sore. He also felt a little more woozy. He blinked a couple of times and shook his head, "Yeah, when we get him mad 3; he hits us with his hands and belt 3; Um, I don't feel so good."

Nadine interjected, "You've been though a lot and may have a concussion or inhaled poisons from the smoke. But I can tell you get it worse than Joey. Your dad hits you more, doesn't he?

"Yes, dad hits me the most 3; I tend to mouth off more. It's my fault 3;"

"No, no it's not," Holden cut him off before he could finish. "You didn't force him to hit you. He choose it. You may have acted up, but you didn't hold a gun to his head and make him hit you. But you are really telling us your dad hit you all the time, right?"

Alex found he had to lean on the table to stay standing and his vision started to blur. He also found it impossible to argue at this point. "Yeah, dad hits me all the time."

Nadine sent Holden a slight smirk as the boy started to wobble, "And all these bruises, you're telling me your dad gave you all the bruises on you?"

"Yeah 3;" by this time Alex felt totally compelled to answer back with the suggested words, "Dad gave me all these bruises 3;"

Holden moved forward and gabbed Alex before he fell to the floor. "That's all we needed to hear, kiddo." The man picked up the boy, carried him out into the hall and put him on a rolling bed.

Nadine motioned for one of the nurses, "He's got a mild concussion and may have inhaled toxins. Get him a full sponge bath and put him in a private room. Let's and give him an IV drip to prevent dehydration and add Ketamine as a mild sedative. He has a body weight of 84 pounds [38 kg], so use the pediatric chart. He needs some rest."

As soon as the boy was wheeled away, Nadine turned to Holden, "You got it all on audio?"

"Of course." Holden held up a digital recorder. "Every word and easy enough to edit."

"Good, but now I've got to keep my word since he was a tough little cuss and it took so long for the Scopolamine to hit him. He very well might remember me saying I wouldn't put a finger up his brother. This means the next one's poop-chute is all you."

A smirk crossed Holden's face, "Then I get to be doc and you get to play good cop."

Nadine snickered, "Doc, sure. Cop, OK. Good, no chance!"

Chapter 4

Brandon was the first of the kids to wake. His head was pounding and he couldn't figure out where he was at first. The one thing he did know was he really had to pee. The room was dark and totally unfamiliar. He sat up, only to find he was in a bed with rails on both sides and a tube was running into a needle in his arm. "Hello? Anyone there?"

The small voice caught the attention of a male nurse in the hall. The man entered the room and clicked on the light, "Hey, there buddy, how you feeling?"

Seeing the medical scrubs outfit, gave Brandon just enough information for him to realize he was in a hospital. As this happened the events of the prior day, and in particular, the man and woman looking him over returned to him. As the memories of the fingers going up his bum returned he made a whimpering sound and he pushed himself deeper into the bed, "Where's mum?"

The man moved into the room, "She was hurt, buddy." He saw the boy try to pull further back into the bed so he stopped, "Hey, careful. You don't want to pull the IV out."

Brandon looked at the tube running into his arm and looked up with trembling limps, "Where's Lex?"

"Your brother?"

Brandon nodded.

"He's in one of the other rooms, but must be sleeping. You are the only one awake in the overnight rooms. You need anything?"

"My head hurts."

"Let me go get the PA. I'll be right back."

Nadine entered the room only a couple of minutes later. She moved up to Brandon only to see him slide toward the other side of the bed. She eyed the boy until he gulped in fear then moved up. "I was told your head hurts. I can't do much unless you let me have a look."

"You hurt my bum."

"Your bum?"

The male nurse spoke from behind her, "His butt. It's the way Brits speak. There's times it's like a different language, but I got used to in when I was in the Air Force over there."

Nadine frowned deeply even as she nodded in sudden understanding. "Oh, yeah, his brother said the same word." She then turned sharply and glared at Brandon, "Boy, I did no such thing to you. Mr. Sparks checked you pooper as part of the check-up, but he sure didn't hurt you! I was right there the whole time. Besides you told both of us your dad gave you those bruises with a belt when you spilled grape juice in the plane the other day. If your butt hurts, it's because of him not us."

Brandon started chewing on his upper lip with his lower front teeth. There was no way he was going to argue with the woman, even though it did hurt and it was not from getting a belt across it. Besides, She was right. It was the man who stuck fingers up his bum. He didn't however, remember telling anyone about his father hitting him, but figured he must have since she knew why he got the last bum whooping.

Nadine saw the fearful reaction and stared into the boy's eyes until he looked away, "OK, now I best not hear another word out of you about anyone here hurting you. Any more out of you and I'll wake up Mr. Sparks and we'll start all over. Understood?"

Brandon continued to chew on his lip even as he nodded. The last thing he wanted was to go through it all over again. "I'll be good, promise!"

"Good. Now let me check your temp and see about getting you something for your head. Your blood tests showed some poison in your system, probably from the smoke, so you'll be sick for a few days and need to have an IV in your arm."

Even as Nadine put the thermometer up to his ear, Brandon put his hands over his groin, realizing for the first time since waking up he was dressed in only a hospital gown.

Even as Brandon wondered how he ended up in the gown with nothing else on, the male nurse saw his reactions and spoke up, "I think out young guest needs to go Ms. Finch."

Nadine glanced at the reading then down at the boy's hands. "Need to go to the bathroom?"

Behind her, the man snickered as Brandon cocked his head to the side with a questioning look. "A bathroom is where they take a bath. She's asking if you need to use the toilet, kid."

Brandon looked up and nodded with obvious relief.

"Should I get a bedpan for him?"

"No. His temperature and pulse are fine. Let's get him up and moving a little." Nadine then turned to look at Brandon, "Nurse Goll is going to help you. You'll probably find it hard to walk and may even feel sick. Throwing up, is a very good possibility, so don't be surprised or scared. Also, peeing could be hard at first and take a while, so you need to let Nurse Goll hold you and you need to keep your right hand on the IV stand so even if you do pass out your arm will stay close to the stand and the IV will not pull out."

Nurse Goll waited until the boy repeated enough of the instructions back to where both he and Nadine knew Brandon understood. He then carefully and slowly helped the boy shuffle to the toilet. As Nadine predicted, the combination of the medication and the IV being in for several hours combined to make him dry heave. It also made peeing difficult and long. After nearly a minute of forcing out small spurts Brandon found it hard to stand. While it was horribly embarrassing, he finally had to let the nurse hold his dick and aim for him since he was close to passing out. Finally, however, the dam inside broke and he sent a stream into the toilet for over forty seconds. Totally spent, he had no choice but to let the man pick him up and take him back to the bed.

Nadine pulled out another syringe and injected some more Ketamine into a fresh IV bag and replace the old one with it. Once she was certain Brandon was out, she glanced over to Nurse Goll, "The girl should be next to wake. We do the same thing to each. We need them to start depending on us and to lose a couple of days before we hand them back to Sheriff Eaton. From here on out, we tell them they inhaled poison smoke which is making them all sick."

"I got this down pretty well. Too bad there isn't a younger one, though."

Nadine let out a snort, "Maybe next time, but don't go getting attached."

"Don't worry. I'll wait my turn. At least working here I get some access."

***

Joseph cringed as he forced his eyes open. The shades were down, but the room was still very bright. Without even thinking about it, he pushed the call button. A few seconds later Nurse Aid Teddy Vole entered the room with a smile, "Hey, Joey, how you doin' buddy."

Joey gave the man a weak smile, "Hungry and need to go again, sorry."

"Hey, nothin' to be sorry for. I'm just glad to hear you're getting your appetite back. Let's get you up and to the bathroom."

By now Joey knew the drill. Teddy, the day guy, moved up, put down the side bar of the bed and helped him to stand. Joey then grabbed the IV stand with his right hand and held onto Teddy with his left. The man then took him to the bathroom, untied his gown and moved it around so Joey could pee. Unlike the last few times, however, the stream of piss came out easily. Joey also found he could stand pretty well without having to lean on the man.

Joey started to take his arm off the man so he could hold his dick, but Teddy shook his head, "Nope you hold on to me, Joey. You're almost there and we sure don't want you back slide and start all over again. Maybe next time I'll let you try it on your own."

Joey wasn't happy, but didn't argue. He didn't like to have someone else hold his junk and aim for him, but at least it wasn't Nurse Goll. Teddy was nice about it and listened when Joey said he was done. Nurse Goll never took his word for it and he had to stand there and wait until the nurse decided he really was done. He just wished Teddy would only hold his dick and not keep his hand around his nuts too. The other thing was Teddy's hands were always cold.

Teddy quickly retied Joey's gown behind him even as he spoke, "Much better. How about we try some real food today?"

"Finally no Jell-O?"

Teddy snickered, "I'll bring some up just in case you can't keep down something with a bit more oomph to it. I'll see what they're serving and be right back up. Now let's get you back to bed. But this time I want to see if you can get yourself up on it. I bet you can."

Joey grinned at the challenge and maneuvered himself up onto the bed with no real problem. He even managed to get the IV stand back to where the tube hung down while giving him room to move his arm around.

True to his word, Teddy brought up a plate of meatloaf, potatoes and peas. He then stuck around while Joey ate, making sure the boy didn't throw up. "Why to go, Joey! You feeling sick to your stomach at all?"

"Kind-a, but not like the last two times 3; I'm real full though."

"It'll take awhile for your stomach to be able to accept the amount of food it used to. Until it does, you'll need to eat more often. As soon as you keep a couple of meals down, we'll be able to take out the IV."

This got a relived nod at of Joey, "I can't wait!"

Teddy moved up and ruffled the boy's hair. "You lay there and watch some TV or something. I'll check in and, if you are still feeling good, Dr. Hinson may finally say Sheriff Eaton can come talk to you."

Joey's eyes went wide, "Why? What'd I do?"

"Relax, buddy! You aren't in any trouble or nothin'. He just wants to ask you some questions and junk."

"OK 3; Any word on mum?"

"I'll see what I can find out, but I don't think so."

Joey frowned as the man left the room. To pass the time he reached over and grabbed his sketch book and started drawing the room. He wasn't even half done when the sheriff knocked lightly on the door frame and entered the room, "Hey, hear you are feeling better."

Joey looked up nervously, but nodded, "Kept my food down this time."

"Good, real good. So the doc says you're strong enough and clear headed enough to answer a few lingering questions. You feel up to it?"

Again Joey nodded.

"Perfect." The sheriff grabbed a stool, moved it close to the bed and pulled up a recorder. "So, I just want to remind you, you told my deputy that your father hit you and your siblings."

"I guess 3;" Joey sated weakly, "I don't really remember telling him 3;"

Sheriff Eaton held up a finger and pulled out a small recorder out of his breast pocket with his other hand. He clicked it on. There was no question it was Joey's voice, "Dad hits us with a belt. Mum stops him if he is too mad, but most of the time she just watches."

Joey frowned deeply. It was his words, and they were pretty close to the truth, but he sure didn't purposefully tell anyone about it.

"Now, son, those are your words, aren't they?"

Joey looked down, "Yeah 3;"

"Not your fault, but I need to make sure I have all this down. Mr. Shock and Physician's Assistant Finch also took some pictures of some marks on the back of your legs and rear. You told them your dad hit you with a belt?"

"I guess."

"You guess? Did he hit you with a belt and make those marks or not?"

Joey gave a weak nod. Seeing the huge man starting to look angry, he looked up and spoke, "Yes, sir."

"Yes sir, what?"

Joey noticeably cringed, "Yes, sir. Dad hit me with a belt and left those marks."

"OK, I know it's hard to do this, but I need to ask just a couple more questions. "You also told deputy Spark Alex gets hit the most. Is this true."

Joey shrugged, "Lex mouths off more than all of us, so dad punishes him more. Lex also does things on purpose if he thinks he can get hit instead of Brand."

This was new information, at least the part of Alex taking beatings for his younger brother. This was really good stuff. Sheriff Eaton had to force himself not to smile. "And when you say Lex and Brand who are you talking about?"

"You know 3;"

"I do, son, but I need to have this on record and there is no Lex or Brand in your family."

"Lex is Alex, my bigger than me younger brother. Brand is Brandon, my youngest brother. We've been calling each other by those names as long as I can remember. Dad doesn't like it, but he doesn't hit us for it."

"Did he used to?"

"At first, but Mum threatened to tell Gramps, so he stopped. Gramps only wants dad to hit us when we are bad and junk."

Sheriff Eaton almost followed up on the grandfather, but realized he had exactly what he needed out of the single clip and didn't want it clarified any further so he moved on. "You're doing great. Just a couple more questions. Harriet is your sister, correct?"

"Yeah, she's lazy." This got a snicker out of the big man, "Sisters often times are. You said your dad hits her and we found her with a hand print on her face when we picked you up at the airfield. Did he do that?"

"I didn't see it, but it had to be dad. He slaps us when we mouth off, and he hits harder when he's mad. She must of smarted off to him while we were waiting for help and he was super mad about the plane catching on fire."

"Could it have been someone else?"

"No. Me, Lex and Brand stayed away and mum was hurt."

"So it had to be your father?"

"Yeah."

The sheriff stood and tucked the recorder back into his pocket. "Sorry to put you though all this. Get some rest."

"What about Mum? Is she OK?"

"She was hurt bad, son. We stopped the bleeding here, but that was about all we could do. She will be taken to Desert Palm as soon as it is safe, so she can get a higher level of care."

***

Harriet didn't even look up as Nadine came into the room. Being in the hospital wasn't all bad. She got to watch TV all day and didn't have to do any chores. She didn't like Ms. Finch, though. The woman had a nasty manor and had been real rough when doing the check after Dad all but crashed the plane.

She had never had a finger stuck in her bum before and it had hurt. Having her virginal area checked in the same way just as bad, maybe worse.

However, nothing she did could compare to the fact she did it all while a man observed. It made her feel all nasty to know a man had watched and had even helped hold her still while the woman's long fingers were suck up into her private areas.

The problem was, Harriet was also very much afraid of Ms. Finch. The woman didn't take no for an answer and after a single fit about a guy helping her to the toilet, Mrs. Finch had inserted a catheter. It was awful and having to look at the piss bag was gross. It was also disgusting to have to take a dump in a bedpan and have to smell it until an orderly took it away.

Because of all this, Harriet finally relented to having a guy take her to the toilet. The problem with this was, the first surrender only led to a new demand. The male orderlies were tasked with sponge bathing her. When she complained, the catheter was re-inserted and trips to the bathroom stopped while the bedpan was returned to her bed.

With no real options and not having any idea how long she was going to be in the hospital, she gave in again. Besides, she kept getting sick. Mr. Finch told her she breathed in some poison smoke, since some of the things that burn on a plane can came poison gas. It made sense, especially since she had bad headaches. Mr. Finch had even shown her a medical article about the effects of poison smoke and the headache was one of them.

After only a couple of days, Harriet was totally confused as to what was really going on with having male nurses and orderlies always doing things to her, but had figured out to do and say whatever those 'caring' for her wanted. Because of this, she looked for clues as to what the sheriff wanted when he came in to ask her questions. He had recorded conversations of her telling Mr. Spark and Ms. Finch about her dad hitting her and even about Harriet's mom not doing anything to stop it. It was weird, because she couldn't remember any of it, but the look and tone of voice of the sheriff made it clear what he wanted. She repeated everything said on the recording and even embellished it just to make him happy. While most of it was basically true, the spin and way the questions were worded made it seem like her dad was some kind of monster and her mom was supportive of her dad's actions.

It wasn't like it was a big deal. Her dad might get in trouble, but she was sure she would end up back in England living with her grandparents in no time. She could then forget about the horrible trip and go back to being the rich girl she knew she was. With these thoughts in mind, she told more than a few nasty lies, like her dad hitting Alex with a thorn branch once and locking them all in their rooms without food, water, and having to pee into whatever they had in their rooms until they were let out.

Even better, her suspicions as to what was wanted out of her were confirmed shortly after making her dad look like a total asshole. Harriet was allowed to clean herself up and even go to the bathroom on her own, albeit, with one of the male orderlies watching. On the plus side, she wasn't out in some damned ghost town, she had been given back her MP3 player with new batteries, and she had full access to the cable channels which had been blocked up until right after she told the sheriff what he clearly wanted to hear.

Harriet said nothing as Ms. Finch checked her temperature and did her normal run-down. Since she was watching a BBC America rerun of an episode of Being Human, she barely heard Mrs. Finch say, "You're doing much better. I'll be releasing you as soon as your guardian situation is figured out."

Chapter 5

Benjamin Parsons looked at the Assistant District Attorney and over to the lawyers his father had found for him. Mr. Parsons was seething with rage as the ADA once again made a counter offer to the wranglings of the high powered defense attorneys from San Francisco, "Mr. Parsons, It is very obvious you come from money and can hire the best, but this is going to be my final offer. Eighteen months minimum security and another twenty-four months probation with intensive counseling. Let me make this clear: I'm not making a lower offer." He put down the pictures on the table and turned to the lead lawyer. "Do you really think a jury will let your client slide when they see this?"

"This is bullshit!" Benjamin roared, "I didn't smack my girl and those marks on the kids' waists are from the seatbelts!"

The ADA pulled out a recorder and hit play for the fourth time. It was Alex's voice, "Yeah 3; Dad gave me all these bruises." The man then pulled out a second recorder and hit play. This time it was Joseph's voice, "Lex mouths off more than all of us, so dad punishes him more. Lex also does things on purpose if he thinks he can get hit instead of Brand."

The attorney tried to get Benjamin to stay quiet, but the man's anger got the best of him, "Alex is a smart mouthed, little arse! Give me a few minutes with the little wankstain and I'll set him and his fucktard brother straight!"

The three lawyers and winced as Benjamin clenched his right fist and slammed it into his right hand.

"Yeah 3;" the ADA shook his head, "Your obviously violent side, and total disregard for your kids' well being leads me directly to my last demand. You, Mr. Parsons, are to have no contact with any of your children for the duration of the sentence."

Benjamin's eyes filled with rage as he lost his cool and took a step toward the ADA. Only one of his lawyers getting between him and the ADA prevented a much nastier scene.

The ADA's eyes narrowed, "I would highly advise you to talk to your client before I add intimidation and attempted assault charges 3;"

The lead lawyer jerked his head in the direction of the door, letting the DA know they needed a few minutes. Once they were alone in the room, phone calls were made and evidence was shared with high priced attorneys back in England.

Ten minutes later the phone was handed over to Benjamin. He tried a couple of times to say something, but it fell on deaf ears. After a few minutes of doing nothing but listening, he turned very pale and handed the phone back to the lawyer. "My father wants you to make a counter offer."

As soon as the phone call was disconnected, the ADA was called back in. This time the man came back in with Sheriff Eaton. He saw the protest coming so he killed it with quick demand. "Your client almost came at me a few minutes ago, so either he stays or we both leave."

The San Francisco lead lawyer put on his best patronizing face, "I can assure you, you mistook my client's actions, but accept your logic. We want to make this quick, anyway. Mr. Parsons would be willing to plead guilty if he is allowed to go back to England."

The ADA scratched his chin and shook his head, "Sorry, but I've got enough background to know he will be out in no time if this happens. This means he will be back with his kids, and this is flatly not something I am willing to allow."

The lawyer gave an very fake smile as he nodded, "You have already made this abundantly clear, so, if you are willing to revoke Mr. Parson's right to return to the U.S. His family would be willing to pay for his wife and children to stay in San Francisco 3;"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sheriff Eaton all but laughed at the offer. "Once those children are out of our jurisdiction, he will find a way to get them back to England and I heard with my own ears that the children's mother does not do much, if anything, to stop the abuse! Besides, she is still in a hospital and will soon be in Desert Palm recovering from blood loss and other complications. The only way Mr. child beater gets to leave is if the kids stay where me and my people have some control!"

The ADA glanced over at the sheriff and saw only anger. After a few seconds he decided to fully side with the big man. "Sheriff Eaton makes a few very valid points, gentlemen. However, I see an upside to your offer as I believe the good sheriff does as well. I will release Mr. Parsons to the English authorities after a guilty plea on four counts of child abuse resulting in injury and other charges as discussed. If his family agrees the children stay under the jurisdiction of this county and if there is no contact with the father for the duration of the entire sentence of forty two months. The mother may maintain custody as soon as she is fit to do so. However, the state and county has full right to intervene at the first signs of mistreatment. Furthermore, the mother may not transport the children out of this county without written permission.

"Finally, the children may have written and spoken correspondence with the grandparents on either side, but those forms of communications may be monitored at the discretion of the county child services representative assigned to the children."

"This is absurd!" one of the other lawyers shouted, "You are keeping them from family 3;"

"No!" Sheriff Eaton snarled right back. "We are keeping them out of the clutches of your scumbag client! Do I need to replay Harriet telling us about her father locking them up with no food, water, or bathroom? Now, let me toss in my own thoughts before you three suits think your cocks are bigger than they really are. You all accept this way too good an offer, or see how your dirt-bag client does in a California prison once I make public the photos of what he did to his kids and get what the kids said over to the Brit press. The Parsons' name will be smeared just like good ole' Ben's face will be smeared all over the prison. Even in a minimum security, the men ain't going to take kindly to what these statements and visual evedence portray."

"We'll sue the shit out of you, sheriff!"

Sheriff Eaton advanced on the lead layer until he had backed him into a corner, then looked down with his chest almost touching the suited man's nose. "And when you do, I'll bring the audio and visual records of everything I have collected and make sure the whole fucking world hears it. Once it is out there, I will file a counter claim and see how much of that Parsons' fortune I can get my hands on in a counter libel suit." His eyes narrowed, "Also, I want to make it abundantly clear 3; I know how you all play your games. You think you're rich, powerful, and untouchable. In your world you believe that money will make this all turn out for Ben here.

"Well, you can take all the cash your Brit client has, double it, and shove it were the sun doesn't shine. I was special ops for a very powerful private security company before being invited to come out here and pin on a badge. I have buddies in over a dozen countries who owe me and who will make any hired thugs look like choir boys. And, on the slim chance you do pull off the world's greatest miracle and anything happens to me, or you get your soiled hands on the kids, your lives all go down the shitter. You have no clue how bad things can get, but I can guarantee you it will be worse than any horror novel you can read. It will not stop there either. Others will send out copies of all of this from one end of the globe to the other and my associates will come after you all financially. Others will then hit the Parsons' with lawsuits the likes of Satan himself would cringe at. Your call counsel!"

Benjamin looked pale but still tried to show some bravado, "You're bluffing 3;"

Sheriff Eaton snorted and held up a flash drive copy of all the evidence, "I'm holding four aces and you've got a pair at best. I don't need to bluff and you know it. Now take the offer and get your ass out of my country."

The junior most lawyer looked like he wanted to jump out of his own skin and run, but managed to clear his throat, "What about the children's care while the mother is hospitalized."

Sheriff Eaton's eyes narrowed, "You think the people here could do any worse in taking care of them than this piece of garbage?"

Seeing Ben shaking with anger, and being more than a little intimidated by the sheriff, the lead attorney held up his hand. "Give me a few more minutes to confer with my client and make a couple of phone calls."

The ADA nodded and jerked his head toward the sheriff. As soon as the two men were out of the interrogation room, the ADA shook his head, "Are you insane? Two of those men are partners of two of the powerful law firms in San Francisco!"

"I'm not in Frisco; I'm here and this is my town. Now, you want to be part of us, then you need to learn to play hardball!"

"They will smear me 3;"

"So, what? The powers that be assign you here? That'll work out for all of us. Hell, you pull this off and I'll be able to say you are the ball buster we need out here. You'll never make District Attorney, but you will have untouchable job security and should something run afoul, you will be able to plea things out and sweep things under the rug to where we draw no extra attention."

"Yeah, well you are killing me. They could still claim you threatened them."

"I did and I'll say it in court if needed. I'll also show the reasons why. There ain't no jury that would find me guilty. Just puff out your chest when we go back in there and back my play. I have it on good authority, the family is much more worried about reputation than they are about the kids. Once he accepts, I'll let our contacts imply the kids are the ones tarnishing the family name. They won't cut them totally off, that would also make them look bad. However, if we play our cards right, they will happily banish them here. Hell, with a bit of effort, we may even get them to take the mother back and send support money and birthday cards."

The ADA rubbed his chin, "That would be nice. Keeping the mother at bay 3;"

"Gary, chill. You want into the inner circle you need to harden up and take charge. Your worrying about the mother is a detail we handled on day one. If she is able to come back at all, it won't be for months. Even if she does return here, we'll keep her unable to care for them and needing medical care until the kids are enervated."

The ADA took a deep breath and finally agreed, "Fine, I'll play your game, but I want a real piece of the action sooner rather than later."

Sheriff Eaton smirked, "As a key player you'll get first dibs on the next commodity in your preferred spectrum."

A few minutes later the two senior lawyers exited the room while the junior attorney continued to talk to Benjamin. "We have two concerns about his arrangement."

Gary decided he needed to show Sheriff Eaton what he was made of, "You mean above and beyond the fact the British Consulate isn't with you? I mean, really, if you couldn't get them on board with your kind of monetary backing, it's abundantly clear, they already know what a abusive piece of crap you are representing."

Seeing the two men flinch, Gary realized he had guessed right. The British government wasn't willing to go to bat for a man who was clearly guilty of multiple counts of physical child abuse. Still, if he wanted to keep all the cards, he had to show some willingness to at least listen and offer a compromise. "You got concerns, let's hear them, but don't expect me to bend any more than I already have."

This got a nod out of the smaller lawyer, "First is the children's medical condition. We want them seen by a specialist."

Gary smiled at the obvious attempt at manipulation of words and he put on his best 'screw you' face even as his words seemed to give them some of what they wanted. "Medical only, and no head shrinkers. No way am I going to let you twist their minds into recanting. You want them to get a psych eval, it will be done by a court appointed one, and your people can observe. If you do go down that road, however, then the offer is withdrawn and we go to trial. I'm only offering a deal so the kids can move past this whole thing quickly and easily."

This got a deep scowl, but after a few seconds the men exchanged nods. The taller one spoke, "OK, we withdraw, but the second matter isn't something we will bend on. We want them in a private school with a high standard of education. The Parsons' don't think you can provide this."

Sheriff Eaton let out a humor filled snort, "Oh, so we live in a desert so we can't possibly have a decent school, huh?" Seeing the two men nod, he pointed to one of their computer tablets, "Use the WiFi here. Password is 'Eaglesnest1', then hand it over. I'll show you a local private academy with test scores in the top two percent of the state. It's a boarding school, normally, but they make a few exceptions and I know the founder. He'll bend a rule or two in his charter to allow them in, since he owes me for getting his missionary son out of a particularly nasty situation in the Middle East."

He took the tablet and typed in the web address, entered a password, and handed it back. "It's normally invite only, so it is not a wide open portal for any idiot with a troubled brat to find a place to stick a kid. It is elite, caters to kids who are too smart for normal schools, or those who are child prodigies in one area or another. It has a small but extremely brilliant staff, most of which had to put up with being in schools not capable of understanding them.

"If you like, I'll even take you over there for a walkthrough. Also, you can ignore the prerequisites. I'll get them waved if necessary and we'll make sure they have transport there and back. I am sure, since this is for highly gifted, they will find classes beyond challenging, and may even be beyond their abilities." Sheriff Eaton laughed, "But I know enough to be certain they can arrange individual home lessons to keep the kids well schooled for an extra fee. Let me add, before we take a look, there ain't no way in hell we are paying for the tuition, nor the added cost of one on one instruction. The family can pay to send them or we have a perfectly decent public school for them."

Both men deflated as they looked over the information on the private academy and walked the grounds. Talking to a couple of the kids, only verified what the academy online portal showed. It was meant to teach the smartest while keeping the kids staying there in an environment where they were understood. Three hours later, and with acceptance letters for all four children in hand, the plea agreement was finalized.

Chapter 6

Sheriff Eaton glanced around the small town hall meeting room. There were forty-two men and twenty-four women who showed up to the meeting. This was way more than had ever show up for one of these assemblies before. The interest in the kids was beyond high which meant the effort to snag them had been worth the expense. He smiled, knowing he would get a huge procurement fee for this group.

He allowed the attendees to mill around and talk for a few minutes before walking up to the podium. He then pointed to the back and the lights dimmed slightly. As expected, this brought a quick hush over those in the hall.

"Good evening. I know you have all heard of our latest endeavor and very few of you have gotten a look at those we will be discussing. As always, I will give you what we know, what requirements surround the subjects, and risks associated with each.

In this case we have four subjects. They are British, and come from money. While we have been able to fully isolate them, we did have to give up one concession. They must attend Eagle Hollow Academy." Hearing a few groans and seeing several start to head toward the doors, He smiled and held up both hands. "Relax, and don't go anywhere yet. The cost is being picked up by the family, and as with any unorthodox placement at Eagle Hollow, they will be getting private tutelage with very limited classroom time. Also, as always, the first semester will be done from home with residence visits from community selected instructors to get them up to the high standards of the academy."

This got some smiles and even some snickers

Sheriff Eaton tapped a button on the podium, putting a picture of Joseph up on the screen behind him. To the left of the picture was a list of basic information. He gave the attendees a couple of minutes to review the data before speaking. "You will note this boy is very small for his age. The others are also smaller than average, so as you look this over, don't think this is a mistake.

A woman spoke up from in middle of the room, "Come on, Terry, are you really telling us this boy is fourteen, is under four seven [1.40 m] and only weighs sixty-nine pounds [31 kg]?"

"Yes, Maggie, I am. He is right about where a normal ten year old would be right down to a size six shoe, so he is either going to be very small or hasn't even started a growth spurt yet. When I first saw him, I thought he was the youngest of the three boy's but he is the oldest. Blood work on all four came back is good, but the girl has sugar markers, meaning she could be pre-diabetic. According to Lilia, this should be able to be corrected with adjustment to diet and exercise. The others are in good health."

A male voice spoke up form further in the back, "So what can you tell us beyond the physical stats?"

"Quite a bit, Norm. I'll go down what I know on each as always, but unlike some, I have had a great deal of contact with each, so you will all have much more to go on than normal. One thing of note, they each know a foreign language, since it is required in the private school they have attended their entire lives.

"Up on the screen is Joseph. He is called Joey, and when I tested the waters, I found he prefers Joey. This fits with his persona. As I already noted, he is the oldest and is the most physically mature, but not mentally. He acts much younger, and has mentioned to me he likes to be around younger kids. He is really self-conscious about how short he is, and this all bundles up into him thinking like a younger child. He will be easy to manipulate. In my interviews with him, he quickly angled in the directions I suggested and eagerly sucked up to any praise I gave him. This means he is intelligent, but extremely malleable. Like all kids, he has an MP3 player and a computer notepad. He likes British and German rock, and speaks German pretty damned well. He talks to Hans in German every day. This also helped since Hans was able to get more information out of Joseph. Hans found out all the games on his computer tablet are adventure games and he wants to explore and find buried treasure, which is the basic reason the father brought them out here."

This got some snickers which Terry allowed to diminish before he continued. "He has a love of drawing dragons too, so I am betting he is or would love to participate in role-playing games. This could make an interesting in for getting to him.

"One other thing I do want to say about this subject centers on his overall artistic ability. His pencil drawings are beyond outstanding. Drawing is his primary love and in my opinion needs be encouraged. If you want a fast in, use his drawing in some way. Besides, I am betting, with very little work, he could end up as a real art prodigy at Eagle Hollow. I have already submitted one of his sketchbooks to them, and it got a couple of light whistles.

"A final note on Joey: he wants, needs attention. Everything I have heard from all the kids, suggest he is used to being badly teased from classmates about his size and really craves friendships. Your other primary ins with him should include praise and possibly a kid who is nice to him. Once you get him talking, the rest should be easy enough."

Terry Eaton let this sink in for a few seconds before he changed the photo and information to Harriet.

After only a few seconds a male voice spoke up, "Real pudge-ball there, Terry." The comment got some laughter and nods out of several of the others.

Terry nodded with a grin, "You pretty much nailed it on this one, Mather. We've knocked off five pounds already, which is her current listed weight. Harriet, called Riet by her siblings, is overtly manipulative, meaning she is bad at it but tries constantly. She will do or agree to things in order to do less in just about every aspect of life. She is your way too typical spoiled rich teen girl. From what I've seen, she is book smart, but it ends there. There is very little wisdom and even less real world understanding inside her head.

"She is extremely lazy and watches BBC on the TV about 16 hours a day, often times while listening to her MP3 player. Her music taste is all modern pop, with a leaning toward the younger groups many of which are British, so it may be hard to start up a music conversation with her. She is fluent in French and says she is picking up Chinese, but she could speak gibberish and I wouldn't know the difference, so I just nodded my head when she spoke it.

"She hasn't liked the forced male orderly attention we've given her one bit, but when inconvenienced even a little, she quickly capitulated to everything we demanded. Over the last few days, she has even shown a tendency to deal with it without verbal objection as she has gotten used to it. If looks could kill, though, we would need a couple more male orderlies.

"On the other hand, she has made comments to me, Nadine, and others who dealt with her that makes me think she is leaning in the direction of being a lesbian. She even told me once, if it had been a woman bathing her and taking her to the shitter, she would be OK with all of it. Again, lazy is the key word with this one.

"You want an in with her, junk food is a good start. Doing thing to keep her comfortable will also help. She gets those two and she will open up. Turing the tables slowly, to make her life less easy for her, will then certainly get what you want out of her. All three boys have mentioned Harriet was down in some basement and the light bulb went out. Not sure how old she was, but they all insist she is afraid of the dark. You may want to test this out or use it against her. However, be watchful, two of her brothers told me Harriet has threatened to run away several times. I don't think she is stupid enough to try it out here, but I can't guarantee it."

Once again he let people take notes before changing the photo to Alex. Hearing a few loud exhales and even a whistle or three, he smiled. He knew Alex would draw lots of interest. He spoke before anyone could comment, "I figured Alex, with the nick name of Lex, is going to get lots of attention. He is just a little small for his age, and the legs and arms are as firm as they look on this photo. Actually, the photo doesn't really do him justice. His platinum blond, fairly long, hair has to be seen for anyone to really understand what I am talking about.

"However, this boy is the exception to this group. He is rambunctious, very strong willed, fast, agile, and for his size and age, strong. He has a very sharp wit, and while his grades are well below the others, I would all but guarantee he is the smartest. He is fluent in Russian and can read and write it. I tested him on it with my notebook and he aced the three tests I found.

"He's very tough, mentally and physically. This little guy even dealt with Nadine spiking his food so he stayed sick. Yet, he pushed past it rather than accept a new IV and being taken to the bathroom and bathed. The spiking was discontinued since it was abundantly clear he would rather be dangerously sick than let anyone take care of him. One oddity, I should mention, Alex's MP3 player has a ton classical music with a smattering of extremely hard rock on it. Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Copeland, and several others I couldn't recognize are there, but no Mozart. The rock isn't as prevalent, but is super hard. I had no idea what the names of any of the songs, or the groups were, but he did tell me one song was actually called 'whore' and a listing of the others off the MP3 player are 3; well 3; I almost got a headache reading down the list of song titles!"

Terry let the laugher subside before he continued. "In addition diverse musical tastes, he is lightning fast with insults and picks up innuendoes way faster than most kids his age. His overall demeanor is rugged and very thick skinned. As an example, I have heard from all three of his siblings of his willingness to take beatings, some very serious, to prevent the others from getting hit. All three of the others also say he will move between his younger brother and the swing of a belt or even a fist. In addition to all of this, the older two are afraid of Alex, here, and he was the last to speak poorly of his father, and only did so by me offering a bribe of sorts. We let him out of bed and he gave me some of what I wanted, but not until then. Don't take this little fire-plug lightly."

A voice come from the far back, "Damn, Sheriff, I'm liking this kid more by the second! This could make coming here worth it!"

"Buck, it's good to have you here and feel free to jump right in, but let me make this clear to everyone. For the record, this one's going to be a handful. I have found a few possible ins, but not easy ones. He loves archery and has mentioned guns at least a half dozen times, but his mother is flatly against them. This means he has never fired one, but desperately wants to. He likes thrills and is an adrenaline junkie, so doing dangerous things are certain to peek his interest. Once you have him the only way I see to control him is to use his younger brother. You may find other ways, but I'd start there."

Buck grinned widely, "Well, hell, if it ain't a challenge, it ain't worth it!"

A few nodded in agreement while most of the others shook their heads.

Certain his words of warning had gotten through, Terry pulled up the final picture.

The conversations died down quickly as several of those in the room looked over the data provided.

Seeing the interest on the last boy was also relatively high, Terry waited for over a minute before speaking, "This is Brandon, called Brand by all his siblings. He is a hard one to get a handle on since he is extremely introverted. I tried to talk to him about friends and got nowhere. He isn't even particularly close to his parents. While all the others asked about Mom, and Alex tried to deflect blame off his dad, Brandon did neither. He was reluctant to tell me about the abuse, but I really think it had more to do with having to talk to me than hide what had occurred. He admitted everything, but did say Alex protected him much of the time.

"As best as I can tell, this one has only one real relationship, his brother Alex. He even went with Russian as his foreign language, and it's pretty clear Alex helps him, since he came damned close to acing the three tests. Every single time I interviewed him, the first question was when he could see Alex. As soon as I quashed it, he went into an answer the question only mode. He is the only one who has not asked about Mom, which should tell you all something. Questions about likes and dislikes got me one word answers. I can tell you he enjoys the outdoors though. His one word responses about likes include, fishing, camping, hiking, archery, bow hunting, and astronomy. When I brought up archery, because I heard about it from Joseph, he mentioned a bow hunting trip with Alex and talked about taking down a deer. It's the most I got out of him without pressing him and he talked about it for almost fifteen minutes. I was so astonished, I just let him talk, so this might give someone an in. Dislikes include video games, TV, and oddly enough, horse riding. He likes to read more than listen to music, but he has picked up on Alex's musical interests to some extent.

"The last few things I have to add about Brandon, comes from Joseph and Harriet. They both commented about Brandon being on a baseball team and it sounds like he may not be half bad. Both of the older kids said Brandon had been forced into joining a team sport by the parents and it had been Alex who suggested baseball, because the father knew nothing about it. Brandon never mentioned baseball, and when I did, he didn't bite, so I have no clue how much stock to put into his being interested, let alone decent at it. The other thing Joseph told me is, Brandon has an imaginary friend by the name of Hector. He holds conversations with Hector often, but never around his parents because he has gotten badly beaten for it. The orderlies have heard him whispering, so he may be talking to his 'friend' here, but if he does he is very careful. As soon as he even suspects someone is coming he shuts up."

A voice in the back spoke up, "Probably why he hasn't asked about mom or dad. They want to take away his best friend."

"Possible Rudy, but let me say this one more time. He has a real friend. This youngster all but worships his brother Alex. Unlike Alex, I am betting if you try to threaten Brandon with bad things happening to his brother, you might well find a powder keg hiding underneath. I wouldn't go there with him."

Another woman spoke up, "So Sheriff, when is the meet and greet?"

"Reba, we are looking for it happening within the next two days. As soon as I have confirmation of the father being on a plane back to England we're a go. Those still getting meds will be taken off them tonight so they are feeling well and have a clear head. At the same time, we will airlift the mother to our friends in Desert Palm. She will not be in the picture, and the only contact with the family will be voice and letters, which will have to be closely monitored. However, my sources are telling me, the family is very angry about the betrayal by the kids. This means we need to make sure to drive in an even deeper wedge to keep our new charges isolated.

"If you are still interested in any or all of them put your cell numbers on a list. We will send out a text in the next couple of days. Remember, only one per household, so if you try for more than one, you need to provide the order of preference. Finally, they will be easy to spot, just look for the target."

This last comment got some snickers and outright laughter.

Chapter 7

Alex stood at the window looking out at the barren hills. The multi-day stay in the medical clinic had been beyond frustrating and boring. The constant attention by the orderlies and nurses, plus the restrictions placed on him had come to a breaking point after only a day and a half. He forced himself out of his bed and went to the toilet on his own. He also washed himself as best as he was able. He came very close to passing out but made it half back into bed before his actions were noticed. The assigned nurse's aide, Mr. Vole, had nearly lost his mind when he found Alex clawing to get back into his bed. The ensuing firestorm from both Ms. Finch and Dr. Hinson was the most entertainment Alex had seen.

He heard the same story from all of them. What he had done was dangerous. He was too weak to be leaving his bed unescorted. The toxic fumes from the fire aboard the plane needed time to be purged from his system. The sheriff even dropped by to express his annoyance over Alex not following doctor's orders. All the parade of people did, was to make Alex even more determined, however. To prove his point, Alex, while the sheriff was talking to him, got out of bed and took himself into the side room to take a leak. When the sheriff reached for him, Alex shook his head saying he was done with being treated like a cripple and he needed exercise to get the rest of the poisons out.

The medical people and even the sheriff finally relented under the condition he went over the 'abuse' by his father all over again without trying to lay blame elsewhere. Alex agreed. He was clever enough to realize they were gunning for his father for some reason and had reluctantly accepted it. Besides, he was certain his brothers and sister had already folded under the pressure if they were getting the same as what the staff was putting on him. He also figured out his father was going to get in serious trouble regardless of what he said. Once this realization hit, he decided to make the deal with the devils around him. He told the truth and even lightly embellished it in a few areas in exchange for them drastically reducing the hands on treatment he had been getting. The IV came out and he was allowed to just be sick and fight through it. It wasn't easy, but after two more days, Alex started getting his strength back and was even doing some limited martial arts exercises.

Alex's biggest concern was his younger brother. He knew Brandon well enough to guess the adults had him doing and saying everything they wanted. Brandon was just too shy, too timid, and too fearful of authority figures not to fold under a tenth of the pressure Alex had been subjected to. The truth of the matter was, Alex was all but certain his older siblings were no better off. He just didn't care about them as much as he did Brandon. Looking out the window, he guessed Harriet was too lazy to put up a fight and Joseph was too immature to do more than complain even as he did as he was told.

Alex really wanted to go out and look for Brandon, but one thing the adults around him would not bend on was him staying in the room. He could tell by the reactions when he asked about going to see Brandon, that even mentioning wandering around was treading on ground akin to thin ice over a deep pond. After three tries he finally dropped it. The one time he was seen sliding out his door, had ended up with Ms. Finch giving him a shot which made him really loopy and ended up giving him crazy dreams once he finally did fall asleep. Because of this, he decided there wasn't going to be a second attempt with sneaking out, no matter how tempting it was.

From his window, Alex watched a low flying helicopter as it banked hard to the west and continued to gain altitude. He correctly guessed it had come from the clinic and was taking someone somewhere with more doctors and equipment. Just as the small dot got out of his line of sight, there was the sound of someone clearing a throat at the door to the small room.

Alex didn't even turn. Instead he adjusted his stance just enough to use the window to get a reflection of the doorway. He still didn't turn even as he spoke, "I really don't know what else there is to tell you Sheriff. I think you know about every hit Dad gave me, every grounding, every meal of bread and butter only 3;"

The sheriff leaned against the door frame of the private room. "Indeed you did, and you did a real good job while showing a high degree of loyalty to your family. Very observant of you, by the way. You didn't even look."

"I cheated, I got you in the window."

"Not cheating at all. You are very perceptive to use what is around you."

"I guess. But can you just tell me what you want to know so I can answer or let me go outside?"

"I'm not here to ask you questions."

This got Alex's attention. He turned with clear surprise even as he asked, "Really? What then?"

Sheriff Eaton tossed a small gym bag on the bed. "Get dressed. You are about to get your wish. Dr. Hinson feels you are all strong enough to get some air. She wants me to take the four of you to the park for a few hours and see how you do."

Alex wasted no time, not even bothering going to the bathroom. Instead he shucked his gown and quickly dressed in the swimming trunks, using them as underwear. He then pulled on one of the three tee-shirts with a target and a scorpion in the middle in back and a target with a rifle and bow crossed in the middle on the front. The same patches were on the swimming trunks. The front logo of the shirt read "Scorpion Sportsman Center". He picked the light blue shirt over the gold and burgundy ones after only a few seconds. The rest of the outfit was pretty standard. There was light tan cargo shorts, belt, ankle socks, and white running shoes with blue stripes. Inside the bag he found a twin pack of colored briefs, a cheap single fold wallet, sunglasses, a brimmed fishing hat, a huge tube of sunscreen, and a bathroom kit with soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, and comb. The hat and wallet had a similar logo, but the scorpion looked way meaner and better than the one on the shirt and there was no target behind it.

Terry pointed to the sunscreen, "Son, this is a desert, it's already ninety [32°C] and it's not even ten in the morning. You either goop yourself up, or let me. One way or the other, you don't leave this room until every bit of exposed skin gets covered. Also, the hat and glasses will save your head and eyes."

True to the man's word, Alex wasn't allowed out of the room until his skin was coated. This meant having the sheriff touch up the back of his neck, legs and his ears. Even as he exited the room, he glanced over, "Where'd these cloths come from."

"The town has an emergency fund. I dipped into it to get you all something to wear. Most of it came from our sporting goods store, and shooting range which I am part owner of, so those didn't cost us much. For some reason the shirts I gave you all didn't sell well. We changed the logo to one with a meaner looking scorpion and we took off the target rings. The new ones are much better sellers. Problem is I have a good four hundred of the old style shirts left, so I tossed in three for each of you."

"Thank you 3; And, yeah, the robot scorpion looks way better 3; Um, but why couldn't we just wear what we had on?"

Once again Terry was caught off guard by the boy's perceptive skills. The lad had noticed the logo differences with only a quick glance. He would have to warn those interested of this skill as well. "We just got you all healthy and Dr. Hinson said there was a chance, no matter how slim, some of the smoke could have contaminated your clothing. Because of this, we decided it was better to destroy it all and buy you new stuff."

Before more could be said, Brandon came out of a room just down the hall dressed identically to Alex, except he had chosen a red shirt. He was followed by Mr. Vole. Brandon ran straight to Alex and hugged him. "Lex!"

Alex wrapped his arms around his brother, "Brand, you OK?"

"I got so sick 3; I 3; they had to take me to the toilet and wash me 3; I couldn't do nothing 3;" He switched in to Russian as he added, "They made me tell on Dad too 3; I told them you got hit for me 3;"

Alex gripped his brother a little tighter and responded in English, "It's OK, Brand. You were sick and had to tell them. It was pretty much the same for me. I really wanted to come see you, but they wouldn't let me."

"I wish they would have. I was starting to wonder if you were hurt bad or something."

Behind the two younger brothers, Joseph was led out of his room wearing the same thing as his brothers, but had chosen a black shirt. He was flanked by Holden while Harriet was escorted by Irwin. Harriet was in a light green sleeveless "Scorpion Sportsman Center" girl's shirt, tan skirt, short socks and white and pink shoes. The straps of a bikini could be seen under the thin shoulder straps of the shirt. The two older siblings said little. They watched the exchange between Alex and Brandon while nodding. It was kind of nice to know they all had to tell on Dad and were all sick. Besides, neither really wanted to talk about being taken to the toilet or being washed by others.

Alex, however, looked over Joseph, "Are you serious?"

The older boy frowned, "What?"

"You're going to wear a black shirt out in the desert?"

"It was either this, yellow, or, brown 3;"

"Lex is right, Joey," Harriet spoke jumped in. "If I was you, I'd change to yellow. I didn't think about it but I already picked the lightest color I was given."

Brandon looked down at his shirt and shrugged, "I got orange, red and gray. Red is the only one I really liked."

"Better than black, Brand," Harriet chuckled, then added, "You should see the pink one. I think it could glow in the dark!" She paused and looked at her three brothers, "and the purple one is really dark, so I'm really glad I didn't put that one on! "

Joseph grumbled, but stopped, pulled the yellow shirt out, and changed quickly while glaring at Alex. "There! Happy?"

"I could care less, but you'll probably be glad once we get outside."

Terry exchanged looks with the other adults. They had all heard and been told during the interviews that Alex was generally feared and reluctantly looked up to by the older two. Seeing it in action was actually quite remarkable. Terry detoured into the bathroom before pulling out his radio, "Buck, you on?"

"Right here."

"There's no way this is going to work as long as Alex is with them, so let's get the diversion going. I'll meet those of you interested in Alex out there."

"You got it. Give us fifteen to twenty minutes."

"We'll be there."

Terry quickly rejoined the group as they made it to the front door. The heat, after spending days in a cool medical clinic, hit all four hard as soon as they walked out into the desert air. Each let out a long breath and Harriet took a step back toward the door while asking, "Do I have to go to the stupid park?"

"Yes you do." Terry growled while blocking her from getting to the door. "You need to get outside, get some fresh air, and do something physical. Other than Alex, you have all been in bed way too much over the past several days. Besides, there are other reasons we need to get you acclimated to the weather here. Any more complaints out of you and I will make you walk there.

This comment caused Alex to glance back at Sheriff Eaton, but seeing the look of disgust and anger on his sister's face, he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. Besides, if he caught the meaning of what was said, there was nothing he could do about it. At least this way, he could enjoy the annoyance and disgust plastered all over Riet's face.

As they got to the Blazer Terry moved between Alex and the others, "I'm going to need a hand with a couple of things, Alex, why don't you ride up front, so you can help me. I'll get you to the park in an hour or two."

Behind Alex, Brandon all but deflated, but he wasn't about to argue. Alex almost did. Even as the words started to come out of his mouth, he realized by the look in the man's eyes it wasn't really up for debate. Besides, if he was guessing at the meaning of what he had heard, the last person he wanted to get on the bad side of was the sheriff. Even as he started speaking, he knew it was a bad idea to say what he wanted, so he changed what he was saying in mid-stream, "I really don't 3; I mean, I really want to get outside and 3;"

"Oh, don't you worry none, Alex, you'll be outside. I'll bet I can even get you some payment for helping me." Terry then held up his hand, "Oh, and speaking of money, let me give you each something to spend today. The pool has a refreshment stand and vending machines. The mini-golf has a concession stand with hotdogs, burgers and fries. You may even want to play a game or two of golf." He then handed each kid a twenty. "I gave your names and pictures to the pool. There is no charge for it. Everything else, well you are all smart enough to get it. This will be the only spending cash you get for a bit unless you earn some, so once it's gone, you'll have to go without."

Joseph looked confused as he pocketed the bill, "Mom and Dad 3;"

Alex decided to shut the conversation down before all three of his siblings freaked out. "Guys, Dad's in trouble for hitting us and Mom was hurt bad. They can't give us a thing."

Even as Brandon climbed in to the back he spoke softly, "Grams and Gramps 3;"

At this point Joseph picked up enough to understand their current plight, "Brand, they are back in England. They'll come get us or send us some money, but until they do we're stuck 3;" As he spoke, the words really caused the whole situation to dawn on him, He gulped hard and looked up at Terry with wide eyes, "Um, thank you Sheriff."

"You're welcome, Joey. Now hop in so Alex and I can take care of a few things and I can get him to the park too."

Harriet said nothing on the short ride to the park, nor when she got out.

Brandon looked around nervously as he got out, but caught a look from Alex and saw his brother holding the twenty in one hand, pointing to it with the other, and using his eyes to gesture toward the sheriff. After a few seconds, he nodded and managed to hold up his own twenty and get out a, "Thank you, sir."

This got a nod and a slight smile out of the big man, who simply pointed to the fenced off area, "I want you all to pay close attention. No matter what, DO NOT go inside the barricaded area." For emphasis, he pointed into the back, "Harriet, grab me that coffee cup."

The girl almost told the guy to get his own bloody cup, but also caught the implications of what Joey had said. She was at this guy's mercy until her mom got better or her grandparents sent for them. She still scowled, but did procure the mug out of the back.

Terry noted the girl had put her money on the seat while she went into the back. Since Alex was talking to Brandon so was focused elsewhere, he grabbed the bill and stepped back. Once he was handed the cup, he moved a bit closer to the fence and spoke up, "All of you watch this." He then tossed the cup over into the sand. It sunk in about half way up the handle. Seeing he had the attention of all four, he picked up a large rock and lobbed it over the fence. It landed right next to the cup, but in doing so disturbed the sand just enough to where the cup went totally under. "Looks solid, even acts pretty solid, but it ain't. If you still don't believe me, come back in an hour or so. That rock will be gone the sand will look totally smooth again. That sand killed at least three before we built the fence, probably four, and we think a dog too. Who know how many were swallowed before this town was reopened. If something goes in there, ball, Frisbee, horseshoe, keys, wallet, even a pet, consider it gone. Also, other than the marked path to the mini golf, stay off the rocks. This is rattlesnake country. Any questions?"

Seeing the kids shake their heads with more than a little fear in their eyes, Terry pointed toward the green grass of the park. "Irwin, Deputy Sauls, will be in the park all day with his girl. He is the one who came out with Harriet and went over the fire on your plane and the hard landing with you all. Since you all know him pretty well by now, he's agreed to be your go to guy. If something comes up, don't hesitate to find him. I'll drop Alex off when we're done, then pick you all up about six."

He didn't give any of them a chance to say more. Instead he hopped in the Blazer and headed back toward town.

Chapter 8

Alex said nothing at first. After a couple of minutes, he glanced over, "Why'd you take the money you gave Riet?"

The question almost caused Terry to swerve the vehicle as he looked over in shock. He had been so careful, how had Alex spotted it? An even better question was why did he wait to say something? Since he was caught red handed, he figured there needed to be a large measure of turth behind his response. "Honestly, Lex, she's been an ungrateful pain in the ass."

Alex busted up in laughter.

"I can tell you are anything but surprised."

Alex shook his head, and managed to speak, "Mum's always making excuses for Riet and she gets more than the rest of us. Was she really that bad?"

"Worse," Terry responded with an inner sigh of relief. Since Alex was still looking at him, albeit snickering, Terry shat the boy a smirk, "When I saw the cash laying there, I got a little pissed off. I also figured it might just teach her a lesson. Money doesn't grow on trees. Besides, Irwin is out there and will make sure she gets some food in her."

"Still, not very nice."

"No it wasn't. But, to be frank, she has been the least polite was flatly rude to the orderlies and even the Doctor Hinson and Physician's Assistant Finch. As a side reason, if you really want one, I was all but betting that whole twenty would have been spent on junk food."

"I'm sure you're right."

"So why did you wait to say something?"

Alex glanced over, "Because the money came out of your wallet, so I figured it is actually yours, not the city's." The look Alex got confirmed his suspicions, "Even worse, she didn't even thank you for it even after I tried to give her a hint." A bit of a sinister grin crept across Alex's face as he added, "This why, she will have to go to Joey or Brand to ask for money, which will give them a chance to hold something against her and maybe force her to be nice to Brand."

By this point Terry was certain the boy next to him was flatly brilliant. Most kids would never have thought about, or even cared, where the money came from let alone who it belonged to. Still, he had to throw out a bone to seem more caring. He pulled the wadded up twenty and slid it over to Alex, "You can give it to her when you see her again or even keep it. I also feel I need to point out the fact she is not there alone. All she has to do is go to Irwin."

Alex pushed the twenty back with a shake of his head, "It's your money and you were nice enough to give us some. I can't take it. It would be too much like stealing and Riet doesn't deserve it. She never even thanked you. But just so you know, she won't go to your assistant constable. If it was a woman, probably, but she won't go to no guy."

"Why?"

"Not sure, but she don't even like boys, and she hates when she has guy teachers. It's just Riet being Riet." Alex quickly changed the conversation to something far more interesting. "So what do you need help with?"

Terry deeply wanted to pry more into Alex and Harriet, but would have to be real careful and use opportunities as they came up or alarm bells might go off inside Alex. Because of this, he switched subjects with the boy, "Noting too glamorous. Just getting some things picked up." Terry made a snorting sound, "Actually a whole lot of something."

Alex cocked his head to the side, waiting for more, but nothing came, Seeing the man turn on a dirt road just before getting to the edge of town his eyebrows really went up, "Where are we going?"

"Trust me, you'll see and you probably won't like it much." Alex remained quiet, although fidgety. He wasn't really afraid. He was with a peace officer, but it seemed odd to be heading well outside of town and they guy had stolen back from Riet. At least he had admitted it and the reasons made total sense. Ten minutes later, he saw an open back box truck just off the road with deep fishtailing skid marks in the dirt road and groaned. There were hundreds of metal drums all over the place behind it. There was another truck with five men and two women helping to load it. "What are those?"

"Empty beer kegs. We have a brand new small brewery on the south side of town. This was a shipment going to them. The bigger problem is, this is a back way into town. We use this as our primary road get ore down to Interstate Ten so we don't have big trucks going through town and we need to get this cleaned up so the road is open to them."

"Why just bring me?"

"Cause you are the strongest, were the least sick, and I saw you carrying those packs by yourself when I first picked you all up, so I know you are strong enough to lift them without too much of a problem. I also figured you wouldn't mind helping us out, since all you have wanted to do the last four times I have talked to you is get out and do something."

Terry pulled to a stop and hopped out, "Let's get to work."

Alex let out a long breath and he stepped out. As soon as he did, the others all turned to look at him, then back at the sheriff as if the guy was out of his mind. This got a smile out of Alex, who decided to show he was a good choice to help. He moved up to the closest keg picked it up and walked it over to the second truck. Seeing the others still looking at him, He hefted it over his head and put it on the back by himself.

Terry looked over to one of the men working on jacking the damaged truck up so he could change the tire even as he grabbed a keg with each hand and walked them over to the other truck, "Stronger than he looks, Buck."

The man laughed and tossed Alex a spare set of gloves, "If they aren't in the shade, they'll be hot after almost an hour in the sun, so use those. Besides, I'd hate to see blisters on those pretty-boy hands."

"I'll be damned," a woman in the back of the truck spoke even as Alex put on the gloves, sent Buck a nasty look, and went to retrieve another keg. "Not too shabby."

This time a man in the back of the truck took the keg from Alex, "OK, I'm impressed, but I give the little squirt thirty minutes before he's toast and we've got a good hour or two of loading left, Terry."

Terry snickered and patted Alex on the back, "I've got twenty buck on Alex here."

Buck quickly pulled out a twenty. "You're on."

The woman in the back of the truck also nodded, "Happy to take your cash. It'll make up for some of the ticket you gave me last week."

"Stop doing ninety on these back roads, Heather, and you wouldn't have a ticket. Anyone else?"

The man in the back of the truck stacked the keg Alex had handed him even as he spoke, "Sure, I'll go twenty against the little runt."

Seeing Alex frown and quickly grab another keg, Terry laughed, "Hey, I don't mind eating steak with your money tonight, Todd."

"I'm the one that will be eating with your cash, Sheriff, but whatever."

The talk quickly subsided as the group worked to clean up the mess. The first priority was to get the kegs off the road so trucks could go past. Once this happened, it only got harder. First, this meant going after kegs further out and second because each passing semi kicked up a great deal of dust. Alex refused to stop, even after he found it harder and harder to lift the kegs onto the back of the truck. The looks and talk when he first got there gave him all the reason he needed. He rebuffed any offer to quit or even slow down. There was no way he was going to be talked about like he was some wimpy child, no way.

After almost forty five minutes, a car pulled up with a couple more people to help. They also had water. The break was a welcome one. Alex sat down with his back against the driver's side back tires to get what little shade was available, and took some long drinks. Before he was done with the first bottle, Buck moved up to him, sat down, and handed him another bottle, "Damn, fine work, boy."

Alex looked over with a hint of a grin, "Thanks."

The man edged closer so he could utilize the limited shade. "You one of those kids from the plane, right?"

"Yeah 3;"

"Hey, bad things happen. Hell, just look around at this mess. Not your fault, not no one's fault. Things break sometimes. Just like this beast's stupid tire, and I just had the safety inspection on it last week."

Alex decided to steer well away from the abuse, hoping the man didn't know anything about it. "At least this was already on the ground. It was pretty crazy seeing the smoke come out of the engine."

"Been on a sinking boat, and now a blown front tire at over sixty miles an hour, so kind of understand. But, I can see how being in the air would make it bit more interesting."

"Interesting?" Todd asked will eyeing Buck with a shake of his head. "Interesting is seeing two scorpions fight, or finding an old railroad spike out here. "A burning plane engine, while I'm in it, ain't interesting!"

Heather move up, "Yeah, interesting my ass, I'd move it up to scary as hell!"

"Terrifying." The other woman joined in.

Alex shook his head, "Scary, but kind of in a fun way."

"Fun?" Todd asked with a rather stunned expression.

Alex grinned, took another long drink, and nodded, "Yeah, kind of like going down a hill super fast on a bike and wondering if you will be able to make the turn or crash." Seeing most of the others staring at him only made his smile widen, "Oh, come on, you know, the tingle of not knowing what is going to happen 3;"

Buck reached over and put his arm around Alex, "Adrenaline rush, you like the feel don't you?"

Alex glanced around, noting the others didn't give the arm now over his shoulders much thought, so he fought himself not to slide away, "I guess, I never really had a name for it 3; Um, shouldn't we finish up?"

Buck moved his arm, ruffling Alex's hair before standing. "Yes we should. You in a hurry to get somewhere?"

"Uh, huh. The park. Brand is there by himself 3;" A sudden realization hit him. He turned to Terry sharply, "And that is why you brought me out here, wasn't it?"

Terry didn't bother to hide his surprise at being found out, "Actually 3; Well, yes."

Anger crept into Alex's voice as he spoke harshly, "Why?"

Seeing the others about to jump in, Terry held up his hand, "Alex, if you were to take a guess, what would it be?"

Alex took a couple of deep breaths to calm down and paused to really think, "If this hadn't happened, you would have found something else, some other reason so I wasn't there, wouldn't you?"

"Yes."

"You know, Brand is scared right now because of you."

"That is possible, Alex, but let me ask you again, why do you think I did it?"

Alex put the gloves back on, moved out into the sun, grabbed another keg and literally tossed it into the back of the truck knocking over a few stacked kegs as he did so. Still not calm, he followed it up with five more, taking time to really think things over. When he came back he looked less angry and more afraid, "We are stuck here, aren't we."

The other adults all had to fight hard not to look too shocked. At the same time, and partially to distract Alex from the reactions of those around him, the sheriff nodded, "Your father is already on his way back to England, and the courts here and there will not let him near you all for quite a while. Your mom was flown to a bigger hospital 3;"

"The helicopter this morning?"

Terry let out a sharp breath, "Yes, and once again very perceptive. She was finally stable enough to transport. Your father should have done something to stop the bleeding instead of hitting your sister and whatever else he did."

"So where are we supposed to stay?"

"You'll each be placed with someone from the town. Several of those interested people are at the park today."

Alex hung his head, "So we won't live together?"

"To be honest, not much chance of one person or family being able to take in four kids, Alex 3;"

Alex kicked at the sand and clenched his fists. "Now I get it 3; You didn't want Brand with me all day so people here could see him and not me 3;"

"You are incredibly intelligent 3;"

"Not real hard to see what you're doing. Back at the hospital you said something like we had to get used to the weather so I figured something was up. You could have just told me and I would have 3;"

"Alex, come on 3;"

Alex turned his back on all of those looking at him to hide the fact he had a few tears in his eyes. He then had to take several breaths so he didn't sound like he was crying before he spoke. Just to make sure his voice didn't crack he moved away and grabbed yet another keg, this time flinging it into the back had enough to knock over a couple of already stacked kegs. "Yeah, OK, you're right. Brand would have still stuck with me unless I was mean to him and I wouldn't 3;"

"Sorry, but yes." Terry spoke evenly, "And it isn't just Brandon. All I had to do was see the way you got Joseph to change to a light colored shirt. It told me what your brothers and sister said privately."

"What?"

"Nothing bad. They told me you are the leader, even when Joey was left in charge of you all, Alex, you were really the one calling the shots. Also Brandon said more to you in the first minute of seeing you than he did to me in the first thirty minutes of me talking to him. He also shows more adoration for you than your mom or dad, so I know he would be close to impossible to separate him from you without something getting between you. I also am guessing, there is very little chance of you both being taken in together, so I did this as much for him than anything."

"I just don't want to live with strangers 3;"

"Well, they won't be strangers for too long, Alex. You'll get to know them real well in no time at all."

Since Alex was looking down, he didn't notice the smirks of those around him. "How long?"

"At least until your mom gets stronger and can take you back into one home."

"What about going home?"

"Alex, your father went home. This means you can't. He agreed not to be in contact with you for quite a while 3;"

"Grams and Gramps?"

"Your grandparents felt 3;"

A flash of Anger hit Alex and he didn't hide it in the slightest, "They're mad at us because you made us tell!"

"Alex, I didn't make you do anything."

"Yes, yes you did!" Alex snarled. "You 3;"

Buck moved up to Alex and clamped a hand on his shoulder hard enough to get his full attention, "Boy, stop and listen."

"Stop?" Alex barked back only to see the look in the man's eyes. "But 3;"

"Alex," Terry spoke softly, yet sternly, "you can blame whoever you want, but when we got you to the clinic, your sister had a hand print on her face and each and every one of you had serious bruising. You had the worst lines, belt lines 3; lots of them, and even some broken skin. Harriet wasn't too bad, but she had the hand print. It was real fresh and a few marks looked recent. Brandon had only a couple of belt lines, but we heard from your siblings, all of them, how you took shots for him 3;"

"I had to! He never does nothing bad! Dad just gets too mad and mom hates when he talks to himself 3;"

"And here you go again. You took belt blows not even meant for you yet you still want to protect your dad and mom. I get it, but before I ever started questioning you, we already knew there was a serious problem and your dad was arrested before anyone ever talked to you. As you got sick, you started saying things and answering questions. Maybe because you were poisoned, you didn't really know it, but you did. Remember, I played the recordings back to you. What you said wasn't forced by anyone, and you can blame me if you really want, but I wasn't even there. Besides, what you said was nothing compared to what the others said. Your brothers and sisters told us way more the first day than you did or have yet to tell me.

"Anyway, your grandparents didn't want to embarrass you all 3;"

"Embarrass us? how would we 3;"

"You would have to go live with them while your father lived elsewhere and your mom is in no condition to travel back to England. This means you'd all have to answer some hard questions and 3;"

Tears threatened to fall out of Alex's eyes again, "They 3; They don't want us back 3; They don't want to have to tell people 3; It's about them, not me 3; They don't even care about Brand!"

"They care 3;"

"Then they would get us home!"

"Before we go to the park, We'll swing by the office and you can call them. I bet they will be able to explain much better than me."

"Won't make no difference." Alex half pouted even as he moved to grab another keg.

Since the remaining kegs were pretty far away, Terry spoke softly to the other adults. "I warned you all 3;"

Buck made sure the boy was still well out of earshot, "Shit, Sheriff, he's wicked smart, strong, cunning 3; And that hair 3; Damn, what a looker. Fuck, I want him more than ever!"

"I'm still very interested too," Heather responded.

Todd nodded, "Defiantly the best I've seen since coming to this blast furnace, maybe the best I have ever seen. Just the few glimpses I got of those hazel eyes 3; They are just as stunning as his hair!"

The others all nodded in agreement, but when talk moved to taking Alex in, they shook their heads. They had seen enough to know they didn't want to deal with what in their opinions amounted to a walking stick of dynamite.

An hour later, Buck reached in to his pocket and offered to pay everyone for their help. The others refused, so Alex also held up both hands, but Buck was not going to take no for an answer. "Boy, you are a hell of a worker and I heard enough to know you are going to want some spending cash at some point. Besides, each of these kegs cost me quite a bit of cash, so I really owe you for helping. Now take this before I make you take it." He then held out a trio of twenties.

Reluctantly, Alex put the money in his new wallet, suddenly wondering if his old wallet and cash had been destroyed with his clothing. He wanted to ask, but decided to do so would sound mean, so he thanked Buck and said nothing about the over hundred dollars he had with him when the plane caught fire.

***

The air-conditioned Blazer felt great after helping to load the kegs, so he didn't strike up a conversation until he was taken to the Sheriff's Office and the lady behind the desk dialed up his grandparents. As the discussion progressed, Alex fought hard not to wipe tears out of his eyes as his grandparents tried to tell him that the best place for him and his siblings were there, with their mom. According to them, being away would let him and his siblings recover and allow their dad to get help.

They told him about the wonderful school they had found for them, and how they would send stuff and make sure they had everything they needed. What was never directly said, but was highly implied, was the fact they didn't want others to know of the black-mark on the family. Keeping the kids in the U.S. at an extremely highly rated school was nothing more than a cover to hide having a deported criminal in the family. On the plus side, they didn't place much blame on him or Brand. They did, however, mention some of the things Joey and particularly Riet said. If what he heard was true, both had flatly lied, especially Harriet.

One other thing Alex picked up on was the way they both tried to convince him that his father was a really great guy and how they really didn't want to hear anything else said about him being a bad parent. They also managed to add in that Alex and his siblings were really the ones responsible since they had acted up. They never once so much as suggested the beatings had been wrong.

Alex hung up without even returning the "I love you." After several seconds of silence, he turned to Terry, "What am I supposed to tell Brand?"

"Nothing, son."

"Nothing? How can I tell him nothing?"

"From what I've heard and seen, he is closest to you. You tell him and he may blame you for things you can't control. You sure don't want him angry at you and neither does he, not really. All I am saying is this is a time to be a kid and let others handle this. He will end up having the same kind of chat as you just did. He may end up with resentment at your father or grandparents, but not you."

"But 3;" Alex looked up with very sad eyes. "Why can't the two of us stay together?"

"In the long run it will be easier on you this way. You are twelve, and while smart, too young to be a parent, which is exactly what you would become if you and Brandon were put in the same house. In addition, being separated will force you all to interact with those who take you in. I know it's hard to get, but you will in time." Terry looked away to hide the smirk on his face even as he spoke with what sounded like a compassionate voice. "You need to cry, do it here. No one's going to blame you."

Alex hardened, "No 3;"

"You ready to head to the park, then?"

Alex looked up with some resentment and surprise. "As soon as I get there Brand will find me. I didn't think you wanted 3;"

"I don't, but I said I'd bring you there."

"Maybe 3;"

Terry looked down, "No sense in being bashful all the sudden. You got an idea, let's hear it."

"I don't think you'll say yes."

"Worst answer you can get is no."

This got a reluctant nod out of Alex, "Well 3; um 3; you say you have a range 3; can you teach me to shoot a real gun?"

Terry cocked his head to the side. The kid was not only smart but stealthfully manipulative. However, in this case it could work out well. Alex would get something he dearly wanted and the three who were most interested could spend the rest of the day, longer if he played his cards right, with him without outside interference. "I'm on duty, but I bet I could pawn you off on Buck, Heather and Todd. All of them are good shots and Heather helps out at the range."

"My mom would freak though 3;"

The sheriff chuckled, "She's not in charge of you at the moment, I am. Besides, I think every boy ought to learn how to shoot. I'll leave it up to you to tell her or not 3;" He stared the boy down, "Let me make a few calls, but if this happens you do what Todd, Heather and Buck tell you. Shooting is dangerous, and if they are willing to take you for the day, I expect you obey them no matter what they tell you. Understood?"

Alex nodded eagerly, "Yes, sir!"

NEXT PART