Chapter 1
Bluewater was a very small and quiet town in California. A village was surrounded by desert for miles and there were hardly any visitors. The town's population was just over one hundred.
From a small home in the middle of the town, a man in his late twenties walked down the street to the sheriff's office. It was beginning to get late and most of the shops and establishments were closed for the night.
The younger man knocked firmly on the door and waited impatiently for the sheriff to answer. When he finally did so after a few minutes, the man quickly walked around the sheriff and stood near the desk in the corner of the room as he began to explain the reason for his hasty intrusion so late in the night.
"Jack, you have to gather your deputies as soon as it is light out to see if you can find out where the dead child that was brought to me two weeks ago came from. Another child, about fifteen, came walking into town half dead earlier this evening. He was in the same condition as the other boy; dehydrated, starving, and filthy. They also had welts, scratches, and bruises on various parts of their bodies. They had obviously been walking a long time. It's amazing the older boy survived out there for God knows how long."
"Jared, I assure you, that we will see what we can do as soon as it is light out," the Sheriff answered. Now, did the boy tell you anything about where he came from?"
Jared lowered his head and replied, "No, he fell unconscious when he finally made it to me. He hasn't woken up yet. I don't know if he even will, but I am going to do everything I can to help him."
Jared turned around and headed toward the door as the sheriff responded, "I am sure you will try, Doctor, but I am afraid that I can't let you. I've got too much at stake and I can't let you ruin what I've got here."
As the sheriff said this, he swiftly grabbed his gun from his holster and used the butt to knock Jared in the back of the head before the young doctor even had a chance to turn around. Jack reached down to check the man's pulse and when he saw that he was fine, but fully unconscious, he called out to someone who was hiding in another room of the office.
As the second man walked out, the sheriff began to yell at the man saying, "Another one of those blasted kids managed to escape, Rick. We are lucky that those who know what we are doing, knows to keep their mouths shut, but this doctor isn't that kind of man. He's stubborn. It's a good thing he came to me first instead of waiting for the boy to wake up. He could have spoiled everything."
"Don't you dare speak with me as if you are the one who's in charge around here, Jack," the man replied. "I am the one who is making you a rich man, as well as most of the other people in this town. If it weren't for me, you would have nothing. Go and finish the boy off. He should have known better than to run away. Then, go out and bury him where no one can find the body. My men and I will bring the doctor back to the mine with us and make sure that the rest of the kids don't try to escape again. Just do your job and I will worry about mine. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Sir," Jack answered. "I'll take care of the boy."
"Good," Rick said. "Now, help me put him in the trunk of my car."
Together, they lifted up the doctor and carried him out to Rick's car that was parked just outside the door and then walked in different directions. Rick headed off to the bar to meet up with some of his men, while Jack headed toward the doctor's home in order to take care of the fifteen year old boy.
There weren't too many people who actually knew the truth of what Jack and Rick were into, but Rick paid most of the people in town to keep quiet, should they see anything bad or suspicious. They were also too afraid to talk to anyone out of fear of what would happen to them or their families. Those who did know the truth and were involved were paid much better.
When he walked into one of the rooms that the doctor had set up to treat his patients, Jack found the boy lying in a bed. He was still unconscious. Jack walked over to the bed, picked up one of the pillows and quickly used it to smother him, so that no noise would be made.
After holding the pillow in place for over a minute, Jack finally lifted it up to make sure the job was done. The boy was dead. Jack grabbed the blanket from the bed, wrapped the boy in it, and carried him out of the room. He left the home from the back door and walked back to his car in front of the station from behind the buildings along the street. Even though he knew that most of the people wouldn't even question what he was doing, he didn't want to take the risk of running into someone like the doctor.
Little did Jack know that someone had watched everything he had just done. Once the sheriff left the room carrying the boy, another boy stepped out from the closet in the room where the boy once lay. The boy was a few years younger. He quietly snuck out of the doctor's house and ran to the orphanage where he lived.
Once he made it safely to his room where there were several other children sleeping, he lay down on his bed and silently cried for hours. The boy he had just seen the sheriff kill was his older brother. With the sheriff being bad and not knowing who else he could turn to, the younger boy was terrified.
Anyone who lived here in Bluewater knew everyone and practically everything about them, except for the things that were meant to be kept the darkest of secrets and a dark one was about to come out.
