Read Online Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 by Lisa Phillips - Free Book Online Page A

saying you
can’t go to Battle Night ever. But we don’t know these people. Once
we make friends, then when the next time rolls around we’ll talk
about it again. Does that sound okay?”
    Pat bit his lip and tears filled his eyes.
“Are you going to come back?”
    “Nothing’s going to happen to me. Haven’t I
come back every time?” John squeezed the back of his neck and
touched his forehead to Pat’s.
    John kissed the top of his head and pulled
his son to him. The kid put on a brave face but inside he was dead
scared he was going to get dumped off by another parent. John
hadn’t done him any favors being gone so much. Still, that wasn’t
going to happen anymore. Part of the reason why they were here was
so they could spend time together. To finally be a family, for
real. And forever. It didn’t matter what the town threw at them. It
didn’t matter who these people were. John was going to win at
this—being sheriff being a parent, all of it.
    He was going to make that happen.
     
    **
     
    The command center set up at the Meeting
House was a bust. John couldn’t very well observe people acting
natural when they knew he was watching them. Conversations turned
clipped the minute he entered.
    The personnel stationed around the folding
tables were mostly aging men who strode around with military
bearing. The coffee flowed thick and fast, courtesy of Olympia who
gave him a wave. The major general shook John’s hand, but quickly
turned his attention back to the map spread on a table in the
center of the room.
    Little flags on the map marked each of the
team members, the safe zones and the location of each team’s flag.
Two team colonels were there—Father Mathews, who had given the
prayer at dinner along with a stocky man who had a long beard and a
leather vest and introduced himself as Hal, the radio DJ. Each of
them used separate radio channels to communicate with their
lieutenants.
    John didn’t know why either was qualified to
command a team, but there it was.
    What bothered John was the two black flags on
the map. When he asked about it, the major general just glared. A
woman in a pant suit who looked like she should have been on staff
at the Pentagon, snapped straight and said, “Those are dark
agents.” As if that explained it perfectly.
    John filled a paper cup of coffee and headed
out. He strode by the front window of the sheriff’s office. Pat was
on the computer, probably online. That wasn’t exactly what John had
told him to occupy himself with but he wasn’t going to argue the
point right now. Pat was a good kid but John had been away from him
for a long time. He needed to rebuild Pat’s trust.
    He strode down Main Street toward the farm,
since he hadn’t been over that part of town yet. Eventually he’d
have to figure out a route to run in the mornings, get a better
idea of the layout of the town and a good six mile course.
    This end of town had a gym opposite the
hardware store, but the glass windows out front showed a boxing
ring and a series of punching bags around the place and that was
it.
    The last building on John’s side looked like
a café or diner, with tables and chairs outside wrapping around the
corner. Both the front and side had windows, and the interior would
seat fifty people easily between the booths and tables. Sunday’s
advertised special was going to be roast beef and mashed
potatoes.
    Two figures dressed in black strode from the
opposite side of the street. John ducked against the side of the
building and hid in the shadows of the diner’s front door. Armed
with paintball guns and wearing wool caps and goggles, they walked
like it was Sunday at two and they were going out for ice cream.
Both had the letter A drawn on their cheeks.
    “…so Sheila told me she didn’t want to see my
sorry butt again. By the time I got over there she’d thrown all my
stuff on the front lawn. It took me years to build up that
collection of The Amazing Spiderman. I had nearly every