Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 Read Online Free PDF

separated by a snaking river. Civilization dropped
off to miles of trees and peaks topped with snow. When they rose
over the highest peak, John heard Pat gasp and they dropped into a
huge circular valley. It really existed.
    Faced with the evidence of a secret town
hidden away in the Idaho mountains, he realized he’d doubted the
story. John stared at the place he might live the rest of his life.
The place his son would grow up—until he came of age and was able
to make the choice to stay or leave forever.
    If they were to stay in Sanctuary, all the
conditions of residency would apply to Pat. When he grew up and
chose his own path, John might rarely see him. It was a high price
to pay for a job he wasn’t even sure he wanted.
    The helicopter flew over fields of crops, a
barn and a farmhouse. They passed two strips of residential
streets. Three rows on the north and three on the south with a wide
street between that was likely Main Street—enough housing for two
hundred people. The town was a mile long with the ranch at one end
and the farm at the other.
    To the north was all green—pathways and play
equipment at the town’s park. Beyond that was more trees, followed
by fields of cows.
    The helicopter flew overhead to the ranch,
where a square of concrete had been turned into a landing pad with
a giant H painted on it. They circled once and the pilot set them
down. The radio in John’s headphones clicked. “Welcome to
Sanctuary.”
    “Thanks for the ride.”
    John climbed out, pulling out the suitcases
and his lockbox before he lifted Pat down. The rotors whipped up
his collar. Together, he and Pat dragged their belongings a safe
distance from the chopper before it lifted off, leaving them
standing on the asphalt.
    A rusty, red pickup truck topped the rise,
driving toward them from the fields. A Hispanic man in his late
twenties jumped out. “Boss man says I’m to drive you into
town.”
    His jeans and chambray shirt were worn. He
clearly didn’t see shaving or getting his hair cut as a priority,
since his dark hair curled from under his tan cowboy hat. “I’m
Matthias.” He pulled off his glove, sticking his hand out.
    “Sheriff John Mason.” He might as well get
used to saying it.
    “Yeah, I heard that. News travels fast around
here. How about you, little dude?”
    “Patrick Garrett Mason.” He puffed out his
chest. “I’m eight and a half.”
    “That half is very important.” Matthias
grinned. “You wanna ride in the back? It isn’t far to town, just a
mile.”
    Pat looked at John, fear mixed with
little-boy excitement.
    John smiled. “I’ll ride back there with you,
if you want.”
    “Yeah!”
    They loaded the suitcases and John lifted Pat
up before he climbed in himself. Once they’d settled, Matthias
climbed in the driver’s seat and slid open the back window. “Ready
for the grand tour?”
    “Yeah!” Pat’s excitement was infectious and
John actually laughed along with his son as they bumped across the
field onto the gravel road.
    Main Street was flanked by storefronts with
wooden walkways, a café, a diner. In the center was a meeting hall
that looked big enough to hold every resident at once. People
walked up and down the street, waving at the truck before they
stopped to chat with someone. John half expected to see a horse
tied up outside the hardware store, the whole place had such an
“old west” feel to it.
    Aside from the ranch truck, John didn’t see
another vehicle. Not even in the parking spaces, or around the
island of grass and the tree dead-center in town. A golf cart came
around the corner, driven down the center of the street until the
man parked it nose-to-nose with the now crawling truck.
    MAYOR was painted on the hood.
    The driver hopped out. He had fully silver
hair and a trimmed silver beard. A woman climbed from the opposite
side of the golf cart, a purse on the shoulder of her pink
skirt-suit. She wore pearl earrings and a pearl necklace and she’d
done that