The Guardian

I’m not gloating. I have no reason to. I’m out here, doing what I do for a reason. I can’t afford to be caught, not right now.”
    “So, what do you want from me?” John wanted to push him to get him talking. They were going to try to trace the call.
    “Don’t bother trying to trace this call, it won’t work. It will only come back to your office anyway. So, now that you know that, you can focus all your attention on what’s at hand here.”
    Halloway looked up at Laura, shaking his head. She just shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “What can you do.”
    “Okay then. What can I do for you?”
    “It’s what we can do for each other.” The Guardian said.
    “Each other I don’t see how…..”
    “Listen to me.” The Guardian cut him off.
    “We have a man out there with two small girls. You can’t find him and I can’t do it alone. I know that you’ve only got one lead and that one is thin at best.”
    “How do you know about that lead? Where are you getting your information?”
    “Don’t worry about that. That’s what I do. That’s why you’ll never catch me. Just stay focused okay. We need to meet so that we can discuss this without any interference.”
    “What do you have in mind?”
    “Some place remote, so I can watch that you aren’t followed and that you’re alone. The only one who comes with you is the girl. Your partner can come with you. But I will need some guarantees. Without them there’s no deal.”
    “Sorry slick, we don’t make deals….”
    “Nice talking to you.” The phone went dead.
    “What the hell was that about?” John said looking up at Laura, surprise on his face.
    “He obviously didn’t like your tone.”
    “Who does he think he is? Just call up here demanding deals like we’re some humanitarian outfit.”
    “He’s obviously someone who can control our phones. He knows what we’re doing and what’s going on without us even having a clue. That’s probably who he knows who he is.” Laura said sarcastically. “And besides, we were talking about the possibility of working with him. Why’d you have to go and piss him off like that?”
    John turned in his chair and looked at her. “Whose side are you on here?”
    “Look John, I’m on your side, you know that. But damn it, the guy’s right. We can get more done with his help. We discussed that already. Don’t you remember?
    “Okay, we cut him a deal. How many of those dirt bags that get hauled in for serious crimes like murder and God knows what all that we cut for the Christ’s sake?” Laura was very firm on her issue.
    “Okay, I know. You’re right. I hate it when you’re right. What now? We have no way of contacting him.”
    “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. He’ll be calling us back. You heard him. He’s all about the kids. He won’t turn his back on those two little girls. He needs us as much as we need him right now.”
    Chapter 53
    The Guardian paced back and forth. He was trying to make up his mind as to what he was going to do. He knew what he had to do though. It was stupid to even think about it.
    He had purchased several prepaid Cell phones and decided that he would use one of them to make a call to the LVPD. He’d try to talk to this guy Halloway. He’d feel him out. He’d see if he could figure out where the guy was coming from. He hated to admit it but he needed some help if he was going to save those two young girls.
    Over the past two weeks two young girls had gone missing. No bodies had been found. There was no concrete evidence other than the white van with the second girl. He was pretty sure that it was by the same predator.
    The Guardian took one of the phones and attached the scrambling device to the mouth piece. It was also attached to a satellite redirection unit. He dialed the number for the LVPD.
    After several rings and going through the annoying “push this number for this” routine, he finally got a real person. “Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, how may I direct your call?”
    “Lieutenant Halloway, please.” He said.
    “One moment, I’ll put you through.”
    “Officer Smythe, can I help you?”
    “Halloway”
    “He’s kinda busy right now, can I take a message?”
    “No, I’ll speak only to Halloway, put him on.”
    “Okay, hang on. This may take a minute or two. Let me see if I can find him.” Smythe put the caller on hold.
    He came back a moment later, “He’s tied up right now, can…..”
    “Look, I