The Guardian

the Jon Benet case. He claimed all this stuff and nothing fit. He was just another nut bag trying to get his 15 minutes of fame. Even his family tried to secure a damn movie deal and he hadn’t even been convicted yet. In his opinion the whole family was nuts. Personally, in his own humble opinion, the guy had been busted in Bangkok for some sex crime and decided that if he were going to do any serious time anywhere, he’d rather do it in the states. He obviously fabricated the shit. However, that was just Halloway’s opinion.
    This stranger, this person who was doing his justice thing had become a hero. People wanted to find him. They were calling in to radio stations and TV stations. They were even calling the police station. People were putting ads in the paper, begging to know how to find him so he could save them, help them, or in some other morbid way be their saving grace.
    Hell, even women were putting in ads offering marriage for the Christ’s sake and they didn’t even know who he was. This town definitely had more than it’s fair share of sickos and nut jobs.
    Some anonymous nut with money even put a full page ad in the Review Journal asking this person to make him available so that he could be a gun for hire. They actually wanted to hire him and pay him to do what he was doing. They wanted him on retainer and under contract. That was just nuts. What in the hell could people be thinking?
    Chapter 35
    The Guardian read the papers, watched the TV and listened to the radio. He wasn’t shocked. He wasn’t a bit surprised at what he was seeing and hearing.
    He knew that it wasn’t a matter of putting an ad in the paper and advertising his services. What he hadn’t expected though was the attention that his actions would put on him. Oh, he knew that he would generate attention. He had not calculated the part where it may become more difficult for him to operate.
    People wanted something or someone to fight their battles for them. With all the problems and sadness in the world it was no wonder that the current flow of movies revolving around super heroes was so popular. In times of trouble, people needed something positive and uplifting that they could focus on. Even if it is some make-believe person like Spiderman, Superman, or the X-Men.
    Well, he surely wasn’t anywhere close to being a super hero that was for sure. In fact, he was very different from it. He simply wanted to protect the children. They were the ones who were helpless and defenseless against the wicked.
    He just had to be a lot more careful about what he was doing. He’d been in and around the courthouse. They were watching for him there. Fortunately, there hadn’t been any serious cases where he felt the need to get involved. He would like to think that perhaps the monsters that were out there were either having second thoughts about their habits and carryings on or there had just been a significant drop in the crimes. But, sadly he knew that wasn’t the case. The truth be known, they just hadn’t been caught yet. That was the bottom line. They simply were just being more careful.
    The Guardian didn’t have super powers. He couldn’t foresee the future, and he didn’t have a crystal ball. He couldn’t find the ones in trouble by having super hearing like Superman, picking out the screams and pleas for help. If that were the case, he really would be a busy man.
    No, he had to do things the hard way. He was very astute at keeping his eyes and ears open when he was out. Years of martial arts training, which he still worked at staying fluent in had taught him to be very observant and aware of his surroundings. He never bothered with a belt ranking. He’d earned his black belt years ago in the service and since then it didn’t really matter. He just got better and better. The constant, continual training had made him deadly. He was constantly aware of the people and happenings around him when he was out. His senses were as sharp as a cat.
    He had a talent for mingling within a crowd unnoticed as though he weren’t even there. He’d become very good at blending in. That’s what kept him alive and out of the hands of the people who wanted to put him away. What was it they called it, hiding in plain sight, yes, he thought, that’s exactly what it was.
    He concentrated mostly on the school yards, playgrounds or anywhere children would play or hang out. That’s where the predators would hang out. He had studied them enough to