The Guardian

in here without backup. You had to know that its procedure.”
    “Yes, I did know that. I expected it. They obviously aren’t you’re sharpest in the drawer. They didn’t even attempt to be inconspicuous. That was very blatant. I should be offended. You obviously think I’m totally stupid or something. It was a test.”
    “Oh come on. Look around you. Where in the hell would they have hidden? You knew it would be difficult.”
    “That’s exactly right. Honestly, I really don’t care about any of that. What I do care about is getting those two girls back alive. I hope that there won’t be anymore. He’s already tried again and failed.”
    “Okay. So how do you want to do this? What do we do with your list?”
    “Go over to the men’s restroom. Leave it behind the first stall toilet seat. I’ll take it from there.”
    John was looking around. I don’t know where you’re at but you have to come down here to get it. Aren’t you afraid we’ve set you up?” He said smiling, toying with him.
    “No, I’m not. I really don’t think you’re that stupid. The lady with you wouldn’t allow it.”
    Halloway looked over at Laura, frowning. “What” is all she said?
    “And remember.” John said. “You get anything, you give it to us. No hero, vigilante shit. You got that?”
    The phone had gone dead already. The Guardian watched them. He would hesitate before he would start on his way down. They’d have to be gone by the time he got there. He would get his list and things would finally start to happen.
    Halloway and Griffin walked over to the car where Singletary and Smythe were sitting. As they got closer, the two got out and met them half way.
    “You guys were made, you do know that right?” Halloway said as they approached them.
    “Jesus John. Look around you. Where the hell were we gonna hide?”
    “I know I’m just giving you shit. At any rate, the guy didn’t even care. Here’s your part of the list. I’m gonna put this one in the can for him. Let’s get this nut job and get those girls back before it’s too late.”
    The Guardian watched as they dropped of his list, went back to their car, and drove off. He waited until the other two we headed off as well. When they were all gone and he was sure there weren’t any other patrol cars he rode his bike down to the parking area. He’d get the list and get busy.
    Chapter 63
    The Guardian waited until he was sure that everyone had gone. He fired up his bike and rode slowly down from the ridge. Parking the bike, he left it running. He walked into the men’s room. He tossed the prepaid phone he had used in the trashcan, retrieved the list, and left.
    Scanning the area to make sure that he wasn’t going to be followed he straddled his bike and headed off for home. The two hour ride to Chloride would do him good. Riding his bike on long stretches like that helped him think better.
    He was watching his mirrors. Constantly checking to make sure that he wasn’t being followed. Surprised that they had kept their word he gunned the throttle and shot down SR160 towards home.
    Some of the addresses that he had been given were in this particular area. It was a bit early in the day to start doing any serious checking. It was better at night. He would see if he could at least check to see where they were.
    He pulled off to the side of the road. Punching up his GPS, he entered the first address. Making a mental note, he entered another one, then another.
    It had been almost 45 minutes that he sat there entering the addresses. He decided that he would map out a sequence of the addresses. That way he wouldn’t be doing any backtracking or wasting more time.
    This was going to be a bit more time consuming than he had originally thought. It was all they had right now. Unless somebody came forward with some astonishing information that is all they could do.
    As he was riding down SR160, he couldn’t help but notice the houses that lined both sides of the freeway. They were predominantly large, multi-level houses. People of means owned these houses.
    Most of them sat back off the road. They were up on ridges, secluded. There were houses surrounded by walls. There were houses surrounded by trees. Most of them had nothing around them at all. They had horse stables, corals, and small mobile homes off to the sides. They probably had housekeepers or ranch hands.
    This area had a lot of development of going on. The number of housing tracts that were going in was