The Guardian

his own ass. You do remember that conversation right?”
    “Ya, I remember. It still pisses me off. God, he’s such a self-righteous son-of-a-bitch.”
    As they made the turn onto SR160 they could already see the circus that was developing down the road. He just could not figure out how in the hell the media could get there so quickly.
    You could see the house from the road. The large wooden fence, the tall, flush trees, the leaves were blowing gently too and fro. It seemed like such a peaceful day for such tragedy and chaos to have been happening.
    They pulled up in front of the house, jumped out of the car and ran to the gate. They were badging their way in. Singletary and Smythe were already there.
    There were officers already in the house. The girls seated on the couch giving all the details of their horrible ordeal. A female youth counselor from the department was there with them.
    They saw Ms. Sanford jumping out of the cruiser that had followed them. She ran towards the house. At first she met considerable resistance from the officers outside, but John yelled over at them, “She’s one of the mothers, let her in.” They all stepped aside.
    The woman ran inside, yelling for her daughter, “Melanie, Melanie, God where are you?”
    When Melanie heard her mother’s voice, she ran to her, jumping into her arms. Both of them were sobbing uncontrollably.
    The other two girls looked around wondering why their mothers hadn’t come at the same time.
    The counselor explaining they were on their way. She explained it was just coincidence. The other girl’s mother just happened to be talking to police when the call had come in.
    It wasn’t long before the other two mothers had shown up. The girls running to their perspective parent and the same emotional scenario played out again.
    The girls would have to go to the hospital for tests for sexual assault. The mothers knew that. As for Melanie, fortunately she hadn’t been there long enough to have to go through that ordeal. However, it would still be necessary for an evaluation. The girls didn’t mind. They were just glad to be free from their captor.
    Halloway and Griffin looked on as the girls were rejoined with their parents. It made his heart fill with emotion, bringing him almost to tears as he watched. This was one of the rare, happy endings. All he had to do now was find the suspect.

Part Ten
    Just the Beginning
    Chapter 88
    The Guardian ran over to the wall where he’d left his bag of tricks. Grabbing it on the run, he ran back to the mound where he had left Jack. He was securely bundled and lying on the floor.
    He quickly went inside and found Jack right where he had left him. Jack was lying in the middle of the floor, moaning, struggling with his bindings trying to free himself.
    Putting the ball of his right foot against Jack’s right shoulder, he pushed hard, rolling him over onto his back. The spikes of his shoe were digging into the shoulder. “Aghhh, God, please, stop doing that. What the fuck’s the matter with you?” Jack said grimacing in pain as the blood stained his shirt even more.
    “You’re getting a break that someone in your position does not deserve.” He said to Jack as he sat him up against the wall. “Trust me when I say that, you have no idea.”
    Jack didn’t feel very fortunate at that moment. His whole body hurt, his face was a bloody mess. He was sure that two or more of his ribs were broken. Christ, now he had new punctures bleeding all over his chest, shoulder, and God knew how much hair this bastard had yanked out of his head.
    The Guardian had to move quickly. Halloway and the rest would be there in no time and he had to make sure that he was long gone. It was starting to get dark so he knew that would give him the advantage.
    As he went about his tasks, he proceeded to give Jack a piece of his mind.
    “People like you have no useful purpose on this earth. Monsters like you turn the weak and defenseless into what you are. I’d as soon kill you myself, but I’ve got too much work to do.”
    Jack just looked up at him, “You, you’re so fucking self-righteous; you think you’re better than me, but I’m smarter, you’re just some punk ass bully who thinks he can throw his weight around.”
    The Guardian just stood back, looked at Jack shook his head. “Shut up, you disgust me.” He said and shoved a rag in his mouth. He grabbed the roll of duct tape from his bag, yanked a long piece from the roll and wrapped