Chelsea Meets Her Father

Chelsea Walker walked down the hallway to the appointed door and entered. The young man behind the desk looked up at her approach and smiled, "I'm sorry Chelsea, but your father is not at his desk at the moment. Feel free to wait for him there." Chelsea looked at him and smiled back, nodding her head as she went by to wait for her father. She walked to his desk and sat down in his empty chair behind it.

Chelsea looked on top of her father's desk and tried very hard not to look through the few files scattered on top. Curiosity won her over, she made sure no one was watching her before she made her move. She quickly opened the upper most file and began to read the information inside. What she found shocked her down to her soul. The man's name was Carlos Rodriguez. His background said he was wanted for kidnaping and murdering small kids and teenagers. She knew that he was a serial kidnapper by the time she was done with his file. She learned that all the victims were never found alive or not at all, at least the youngest ones weren't found. The older ones were abused and looked like Holocaust victims.

She quickly closed the file and started to reach for one of the remaining few to read when she heard the door swiftly open and more than one pair of boots tapped on the floor. She looked up to find her father and his partners walk in. She took in her father's dirty shirt and jeans and knew immediately that he was not in a sociable mood. 'Must have chased a perp and rolled around in the dirt with him or her, just before he or she got away.' She thought as she was thinking how to get the stains out this time. She looked into his brown eyes like her own and greeted him, "Hello Daddy, I was wondering where you were. By the looks of your clothes, I can guess where." She watched as he motioned her to move out of his chair, and replace the empty space with his own six foot frame and light brown hair and well-trimmed beard. She noticed as he looked at the files on his desk, and hoped he didn't remember exactly how he left them.

"Chelsea, did you read any of these files?" He asked her with a look that told her that he would know if she was lying to him. She was seriously thinking about doing just that, but she also remembered that her father would trust her more if she told him the truth. The consequences of doing that would be tremendous, but that is nothing compared to her father's trust in her.

Before she could answer, his main partner called him over. "Hey Walker, come look at this." Chelsea looked to the next desk at the just below six foot frame African-American man. He was sitting at his computer in a suit as the same condition as Cordell Walker's outfit. She managed to get a good glimpse on the screen, before her father blocked her view with his massive body. There was a dossier on the screen, and the picture was of that Rodriguez guy.

Chelsea heard her father ask, "What is it, Trivette?" She saw Trivette point to the screen before Walker leaned forward to read it. "Well, looks like we are going undercover again, Trivette. Rodriguez's playground seems to be Chelsea's school. Which reminds me," He turned around to face his daughter once more. "What are you doing here instead of at school? And don't think I haven't forgot my last question I asked you, either." He demanded of his daughter.

Chelsea looked shamelessly down at her hands giving away her answer to his first question. "Yes to your fist one. Now for number two, remember I was on a field trip with my criminal justice classes today. You wrote a note and attached it to the permission slip saying that I would ride the bus here, but you will take me home and that I should not ride the bus." She looked right into her father's eyes as she answered him. He walked back over to his desk and sat back down.

"Well, I don't like you to be used as bait but I have no other choice. What file did you read?" Walker asked his daughter in a grave tone of voice. He also looked at her to see her reaction to his decision to use her as bait. He could see her stiffen at what he was going to ask her to do.

"Carlos Rodriguez's file, Daddy. I didn't like what I read in it." She answered him in a dauntless tone. She hoped that he could read her body language as well as he could track a criminal in the woods. She was really scared of that man whose file she read. Then again, she also knew that he would do everything in his power to keep her safe. She knew that he foresaw something like this when he taught her martial arts for self-defense and self-discipline. She watched him turn his chair to her and reach for her hands.

"You know as well as I do, that he will have to go through me before he can harm a hair on your head and I'm not easy to get through to begin with. Trivette and I will be there to watch your back as well as Sidney and Gage." Walker motion toward the two other people that walked in with him and Trivette. She met the eyes of her father's before moving them to Trivette's, then to Gage's and finally to Sidney's, and then back to her father's before she nodded her head in agreement. "That's my girl. Now that you read his file, I don't have to fill you in on what type of monster this scum is. Do you have any homework?" Walker replied to Chelsea.

"No, I don't have any homework. I'm caught up on all my classes. The only reason I'm doing this is because you said that you, Uncle Jimmy, Sid, and Gage are going to be there to keep an eye on me. I've just got to remember to not to call you by your real names while at school." She mentioned as she remembered what happened last time. She looked over to Trivette's desk and asked, "Daddy, do you think I can play a game of chess on Uncle Jimmy's computer until your ready to go? And when do you plan on starting the undercover assignments?"

Walker nodded his head to give Chelsea permission to ask Trivette if she could use his computer. He watched her ask his partner if she could play on his computer, and his partner's answering nod. He got up and walked over to him and discussed the undercover assignment as soon as Gage and Sidney joined them . They came to the conclusion that they should start on Monday morning as substitute teachers for a majority of Chelsea's classes, in order to trap Carlos Rodriguez and save the senator's niece. Walker told everyone that he and his daughter were going to head back to the ranch to discuss her part in this, and he wanted Trivette to work on their cover stories and get them placed over the weekend.

Chelsea was just about to win the match against her anonymous chess buddy, when her father's hand securely touched her shoulder to signal her that it was time to go and she should forfeit the game. She did as he silently suggested and logged off. She turned around and gathered her belongings and followed Walker to the silver Dodge Ram 1500 extended cab, that she could spot from a mile out. She got in and buckled up her seat belt before turning to him and asked, "Well, Daddy? You still haven't answered my question earlier."

Walker started up the truck and drove out of the parking space and onto the street before answering her, "The four of us decided to start on Monday morning. Since we can't do nothing on the weekend but paperwork and pulling strings to get us placed, I'll let Trivette do the honors in that department. My job is to make you ready for the unexpected and fill you up to speed on what is going on." He saw out of the corner of his eye his daughter's nod of understanding. The rest of the ride to the ranch was in silence, as he mental went over the list of martial arts moves to go over with her to make sure she is not rusty as well as a few he had not taught her for the fatality of the movements. He could also see her thinking the same thing with out the last part, because he led her to believe he taught her everything he knew.

TO BE CONTINUED