The Guardian

way ahead of her. He had a rag on her nose and mouth before she could. In only a moment, she was out cold. He couldn’t help but notice that she too had bruises and cuts on her face and shoulders. He laid her back down pulling the covers over her. He softly stroked the side of her bruised face, and quickly went to the man on the other side of the bed.
    He gathered his gear, using the same type of needle that he had used before. He injected the serum into the man’s arm. He would be out for a very long time.
    After dragging him into the same room that the young girl was in, he dropped him on the floor next to her.
    Next, he went about removing the staples and rope from the small girl. Once she was free, sobbing she hugged his neck so tightly that she almost cut off his oxygen. He hugged her back, patted her on the back. He wrapped the blanket securely around her. He told her to go to her room with her brother and not to come out.
    After she had run off, he got busy. He had things to do and not much time to do them. He didn’t want the child to witness what he was going to do. She had already seen enough.
    He was only slightly concerned about the mother. The fact that he was removing the main problem was assurance enough for him. She would do what was right. She couldn’t tell what she didn’t see. The fact that she too was a victim to the abuse would insure that she would side with him in the event she did happen to come out.
    The Guardian moved the man to the center of the room, lay him face up, arms and legs spread eagle just as he had the little girl. He stood there looking down at him. The disgust, rage, and loathing that he felt at this moment seemed almost overwhelming. He realized that he couldn’t let his emotions cloud his senses and interfere with what he had to do. Grabbing his bag of tricks, he quickly went to work.
    Chapter 20
    Inspector Laura Griffin came running down the hall to Lieutenant Halloway’s office. She didn’t even knock, just came barging into the room.
    “Excuse me John, we’ve got another one.” She was panting and could hardly contain herself.
    “Another what, and don’t you ever knock?” Halloway was trying to be perturbed.
    “We’ve got another victim from our mysterious vigilante.” She said, catching her breath.
    “Good God, how bad is it this time?”
    “It’s not as bad as the last one, but it’s pretty bad.”
    Halloway sat there, momentarily stunned, “shit” was all he said. He got up off his chair, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door with Griffin. “Okay, let’s go.” He said Griffin right on his heels.
    “How’d we find this one?” Halloway wanted to know.
    “Oddly enough, the wife called it in. I guess our vigilante went in some time last night and surprised them.”
    “Was the wife hurt in any way?” Halloway had a million questions, as they sped down Las Vegas Blvd.
    “She has cuts and bruises on her head and shoulders, but we don’t think it was from our intruder,” Laura answered.
    Heading north towards Lamb Blvd he headed east on Lamb to Alexander Rd. They found Flossmoor St. and could see all the black and whites with the rollers going in front of the house.
    And, just like before, it was a media circus. All the stations were there in force. They were trying to push their way into the front so they could get the story “first.”
    Griffin pulled up to the curb and they both go out. They badged their way through the media and the officers standing outside making their way into the house.
    Once inside, it was apparent that it was the work of the same person or persons.
    “In here Lieutenant” the officer said.
    Halloway looked at the officer, “Officer O’Malley sir. I was the one got the call and was first to arrive.” He said.
    “Well, what do we have...?” Halloway started to ask as he was led into the room where, there in the middle of the floor was their second victim.
    In the middle of the floor was the man. He was spread eagle lying on his back, naked, just as the girl had been. His hands and legs, tied with the rope. The ropes stapled to the floor. His face covered in dried blood. His arms and legs had been broken. His nose looked like it had moved to the side of his face. The Taser marks still showed on his chest and there was a note around his neck. His scrotum cinched with wire at the base of his penis. His penis had a piece of wire twisted tightly around it’s circumference about half way down its length. It was