The Guardian

want to talk to Halloway, right now and no one else. Tell him it’s the Guardian, that should put a bug in his britches, I’ll wait.”
    Smythe went back to Halloway’s office. He couldn’t believe he had the Guardian on the line, he relayed the message. When he got back, he said, “Okay, he’ll take your call. I’ll put you through.”
    The Guardian held his breath. He sure hoped he knew what he was doing.
    “Halloway”
    And so it had started, but it ended just about like he thought it would. What an arrogant asshole. All he cares about is his image and his reputation. While he’s playing his stupid macho games, those two young girls out there are running out of time.
    He’d gotten so pissed off at him he’d hung up on him. This bastard was worrying about deals. All that the Guardian really wanted was the assurance that he wouldn’t get hauled in. He was no good to those kids if he was locked up in a jail somewhere. Well, he’d have to see. He needed their help. Strength was in numbers. They could accomplish a lot more working together. Damn it, he thought and threw the phone across the room.
    Every time he tried to put faith in the police force, they had let him down. He had worked as a bartender at a CD’s Bar on Pecos and Desert Inn for a short time after getting out of the military. It was a local watering hole for a lot of off duty metro officers. He wanted to get a feel of the area. See where the hot spots were. It was there that he had developed his strong disrespect for most of the cops in Vegas.
    Night after night, they’d come in, drinking, bragging, sharing their stories of how they operated. It was embarrassing to listen to them. He remembered these two, partners, Donnie and Steve. They were in nearly every night. Donnie was a big, tall tree trunk of a guy. He was usually quiet sitting playing a couple rolls of quarters drinking on average two to three pitchers of beer all by his self. Steve was a young, blonde haired, blue eyed rookie. He’d only been on the force about a year.
    Steve hadn’t been in for about a week and Donnie was coming in by himself.
    “Hey Donnie, where’s Steve, he ain’t been in for awhile?”
    “Oh, he’s on sick leave, he’s okay.” Donnie said, not looking up from his Double/Double Poker machine,
    That following Monday Steve and Donnie come in, just like usual. As soon as they had sat down at the bar, I could see why Steve hadn’t been in. He had the remaining evidence of a real good ass whooping.
    “Jesus Steve, what the hell happened to you? Did you get hit by a truck or something?”
    Long story short, he had pulled over a car full of Mexicans, just for something to do. He was bored. Hey, it was a car full of Mexicans and it was late. He was just messing with them. They hadn’t actually done anything wrong. He hauled them in, had their car towed the whole bit.
    They made bail. A few nights later about three in the morning Steve got jumped coming out of a 7-11 on Washington and Nellis. They don’t know exactly who it was, but the money was on that car load of Mexicans. They beat the holy be-Jesus out of him.
    After he had told his story, “You know what? I don’t feel sorry for you man. You got exactly what you deserved.” He told him.
    That was the way they were. That and the off duty cops that would offer him lines of coke to help him stay up. First, even if he did do drugs, which he didn’t, he sure as hell wouldn’t be stupid enough to take it from an off duty cop in the bar where he worked.
    Their arrogance just never ceased to amaze him. So, here he was, dealing with another arrogant cop. The problem was, this was one cop that he needed help from. The woman who worked with him could possibly be of more help than him. If nothing else, keep him in line. He’d have to think on it. But he couldn’t think too long. They were running out of time.
    Chapter 54
    Jack Gorman was pleased with himself. For the past two weeks he had been having his way with his new companions. No one knew where they were or what he had done. It was working just like he had planned.
    He’d go about his business every morning, do his errands, go by and check on the business, maybe a meeting or two. No one had a clue about what he had done or what he was doing. The girls in the office greeted him. The guys at the plant nodded. Everyone was so polite and friendly. He would just smile and think about what their reactions would be if they knew who he really was or what