The Guardian

around the compound.
    He went all the way around, trying to find some crack or small area between the timbers where he could see in. He checked and found nothing. Whoever had built this wall did a very good job of it.
    Reaching the front gate, he thought that there surely would be some sort of gap, which he could see through. There was a small space between the gate support and the skin of the gate. With a squint to his eyes he tried to see in. It wasn’t a very good view, but from what he could tell, it was a large, multilevel house. It had a large unattached four-car garage. He could see the front of the mound that was protruding out of the ridge of the mountain. It didn’t look as though they were using it for anything since he didn’t see any way to enter through the front. Perhaps they only used it for landscaping effect.
    He wasn’t doing any good here now. He would have to come back with the proper equipment to get over the wall. His curiosity was peeked now. He had to get in there and check things more thoroughly. He would plan to come back later in the evening. He worked better at night anyway. There were no dogs or at least no evidence of dogs. That was one thing he didn’t have to worry about. Frustrated he made his way back the bike.
    First, he would check out the last of the addresses on the list and head for home. The supplies that he needed were there. If not for that, he could have just holed up in Vegas somewhere. No mind, he had time. He’d be back tonight. With any, luck the Jag that he had seen leave would be there and he could have Halloway or Griffin run the tags for him.
    Climbing back on the bike, it fired to life and he headed out to finish checking the other houses. The houses that he found were nowhere near acceptable for the purposes of someone wanting to hide two young girls.
    They were either too close to other properties or too small. Some had no garages or other buildings or shelters to accommodate such a scheme. His attention kept going back to the second place he had been to. That property where he had seen the Jag had to be it. He was almost sure of it. That one place, the setting was almost perfect. The security, the secrecy, seclusion, everything about it said, “Here they are.” Until he could get himself in there and make sure, all he could do now was speculate.
    He had finished up with the last of the houses. He made some mental and written notes and decided that he would call it a day.
    The Guardian headed out on the freeway towards Chloride. He would take a power nap and make his plans for later tonight. His senses told him he was getting warm. It was almost a given that he would find what he was looking for at that first house. So it was decided. He would come back and do a thorough search. He could hardly wait.
    Chapter 73
    Halloway and Griffin returned to the station, booked, processed, and got their Mexican bandito all set for deportation. Since he was an illegal, here without papers or authorization, it seemed stupid to try to prosecute him for anything. He’d make bail and be gone back to Mexico never to be seen again anyway, so they just let the Immigration Office handle it.
    The little girl was returned to her mother, who had said that the only reason she had let her daughter go with him was because she was so afraid of him. It all sounded lame, but she was the child’s mother. There was nothing they could do. The woman had gotten her green card. Because of that she was allowed to stay. Laura didn’t want to get child services involved, they had enough of their own problems as it was. Adding one more helpless child that they couldn’t keep track of was going to do the little girl any good. She was better off with her mother.
    John was getting anxious. They hadn’t heard from their unseen partner and they were nearly complete with their list.
    Laura and John were sitting in his office going over what they had found when there was a slight knock on the door. It was Singletary and Smythe.
    “Come on in guys, have a seat.” John said, motioning them in. “What have you got? something good I hope?”
    “Sorry Lieutenant. We came up empty on every one of them. Some of them were taxicab moms, others business people. They were just regular schmucks doing regular schmuck stuff.” Smythe said.
    “There’s got to be something there. Just one little thing that can give us this van.” Laura added.
    “The sad part is there are nearly 500,000 people in this