The Guardian

control.
    The local paper was crying out. Where was the Guardian now? This so called God who was sent to protect the children? It wasn’t very long ago that they were singing his praises. They didn’t even know who in the hell he was.
    Whoever had taken the little girl was making him look like a fool. As he sat listening to the news and reading the papers, he knew that he couldn’t help them all. He refused to allow this person or persons that had taken her get to him.
    He was smarter than the abductor. The key was finding his one weak link and breaking it. A chain was only as strong as its weakest link and he would find his.
    The Guardian had spent every waking moment talking to the children around the parks. He went to the housing development where the girl lived. He hung out in all the areas where the little girl was known to have been at least once.
    It just didn’t make any sense. Something was terribly wrong. He expected something to happen. He was hoping that it wasn’t going to turn out to be anything this serious. However, he knew. He felt it. As sure as the sun comes up, it did.
    They had wanted his help. He wasn’t sure how to react to that. Not long ago he was the subject of a manhunt. Now, because he was able to trap these monsters and do the things that they themselves could not do, they were soliciting his help.
    It could very well prove to be a double edged sword. It was the result that concerned him. Working together, they could increase the chances of finding the young girl alive.
    There had been no ransom. There hadn’t been any clues that the girl was taken for any reason other than sexual assault or possibly murder. If that were the case, they would eventually find a body. There would be another statistic and another crime that some shitbag had gotten away with.
    What ever it was he decided to do, he needed to do something very quickly. Time was running out.

Chapter 49
    It was almost seven days exactly when the call came in. Another young girl had come up missing. A ten year old walking home from the library never made it home.
    There was a small library on Jones between Harmon and Flamingo. It wasn’t a big library. There were enough books to keep a young, curious ten year old busy for an hour or two after school until her mother got home.
    This one had long, wavy brown hair and big brown eyes. She was a bit bigger than the first girl. She walked up Jones towards her apartments where she and her mother lived. She had her attention stuck in the middle of one of the old Nancy Drew mysteries that she had checked out.
    She didn’t notice the white mini van that had pulled into the parking lot of Jack Potter’s Bar. The bar sat right on the corner of Harmon. It had pulled in and was facing out towards Jones. The van was sitting, idling, and waiting.
    The young girl started to cross the parking lot cattycorner like she always did. She was not paying attention to anything but her book. She didn’t even notice the van or hear the side door slide open.
    Passing in front of the van, Jack watched her. Quickly he slid to the back between the two front seats. As soon as she got close to the door he reached out and grabbed her. Quickly he put the cloth over her face and had her inside. He did all of this quicker than you could spit.
    Pushing her to the floor, she struggled to get free. His weight was too much and he was extremely strong for her. Gasping, she breathed in the chloroform that saturated the rag. In just moments she was out like a light.
    Jack looked out the windows, making sure that no one had seen him. He quickly gagged her, tied her hands and feet with the rags that he had bought. He tossed a blanket over her and jumped into the front seat.
    He sat there for several moments. Nervously he was looking and checking both ways. He saw nothing. He heard no sirens. His heart pounding, he pulled out slow, calm, and headed south down Jones.
    It was about a twenty minute drive usually. However it was just after five in the afternoon and traffic would be a real bitch. That was okay. It forced him to drive slow and unnoticed.
    As he was passing Lucky’s Lounge and Restaurant in the Concorde Plaza, he heard sirens. He franticly checked his mirrors. His heart rate had escalated to cardiac mode.
    “God Damn It! I can hear you but I can’t see you. Where are you?” Jack was franticly, searching, watching, and looking back in the back of his van. He wanted to make sure that his precious cargo