The Guardian

that would be the last time that he would ever see his friend Joshua. A short time later, he would discover that his dear friend had been killed in a robbery. The thief, caught a few hours later had gotten less than twenty-two dollars and fifty cents for his trouble. The young boy would always carry the guilt that if his friend had not given him the medal that day he would still be alive.
    As soon as he was old enough, after turning 18, he enlisted into the Marine Corps. He quickly got into the Special Forces unit. The major war of the time was Viet Nam. It did not take long to get orders. He had survived two tours in Nam. While in the corp., he had spent a considerable time in the Asian countries. He toured the Philippines, Thailand, and Korea. Thailand was the worst. Even today, these monsters go there to find young, under age sex with these innocent children. They were all the same though. The sale and black market trade of sex was rampant. Young children, little girls especially were nothing more than items in an exploding meat market that would reap millions upon millions of dollars for the sick and depraved worldwide. The young girls and boys sodomized so many times, their insides destroyed would no longer work. They would soon die a very young age.
    The things that he saw would make him physically sick to his stomach. Many, many times he would grab the medal he still wore from his friend Joshua. He swore that he would some day be the one to break the chains that bound them and carry the children to a safe place to cross. He knew he’d never be a saint, but he would surely be their guardian.

Chapter 3
    The paramedics and a large assortment of official vehicles arrived, lights flashing, commotion everywhere. Of course, the media had shown up almost as soon as Jacoby had gotten off the radio to central.
    “What the hell?” One of the medics said his mouth hanging open, eyes wide. “Man, I ain’t never seen nothing like that.”
    “Ya, us neither. As soon as the crime scene guys get their pictures and we’re cleared by the lead investigator, just cut him down. Be careful not to disturb anything so we can maybe get some prints, check the area.” Reynolds was saying.
    As soon as the CS guys were done with their pictures, they got the okay to go about their business. They cut the man free, starting at his ankles, then, one at a time. Each wire tie cut, until all the pieces of wire had freed him from his cross. The man slumped to the ground.
    “Keep those wires, we want them tagged.” A voice from off to the side said, as the medics were going about checking the man for vital signs, the routine stuff.
    The voice, the lead investigator, Lieutenant John Halloway was walking towards the two officers. “Well, what do we have here gentlemen?”
    Reynolds was shaking his head, rubbing his forehead, “Dambdest thing I ever saw Lieutenant.
    “We just see this guy, out here, tied down and cut up like some ritual sacrifice or something. Whoever it was had left this recorder behind, running like this.” He said. He was pointing down at the device as he walked over to it.
    Halloway walked over, knelt down, looking at the audio device, “I’m sorry, really, please, I won’t do it again…..”
    He looked up at the two men, “What’s all this, any idea?”
    “We don’t know. It’s been playing the same shit, over and over.”
    Halloway stood up, looked at Jacoby. Jacoby just shrugged and said. “Just this guy we presume, or whom ever it is on that tape, going on and on about being sorry, won’t do it again, shit like that. We thought it was him, but his damn tongue had been cut out. Don’t know what the hell to make of it.”
    “His tongue was cut out?”
    “Ya and his thumbs cut off, eyes sewn shut. Some sick fucker did a real job on this guy.”
    One of the medics came over, sweating, shaking his head. “You guys aren’t going to believe this, but the guy’s dick was cut off to a two inch stub and gets this; it was cauterized to stop the bleeding. Can you believe that? They didn’t want him to bleed to death; they wanted this guy to live!”
    They all stood there looking at each other. They didn’t have to say a word. Each one of them knew exactly what the other one was thinking. “What the hell was going on and who would be sick enough to do such a thing?”
    “Okay,” Halloway was saying. “Let’s get this guy to the hospital. You people finish up here and let’s see if we can’t get the