Watch Your Back (The Return of Latimier) - by Lorrie Ellis

Email: lorrieann@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: The following story is based on the characters of the TV Series "Walker, Texas Ranger". The characters belong to CBS Productions, Top Kick Productions, Washo Brother's Entertainment, etc, but the story is ours. ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY. (No copyright infringement is intended.)

Sydney dropped into her chair and began pecking away at her keyboard. "So, when are Gage and Walker due back?" She asked as Trivette returned to his desk.

Trivette smiled at her. "Sometime tomorrow. Why? Are you getting tired of having me as a partner?"

She let a giggle escape. "No, it's not that. I just thought I might have Gage over for dinner one night."

"Ahh." Trivette nodded, a sly grin spreading across his face. "So, there is more to this partnership than meets the eye."

"I didn't say that. I just thought it might be nice to invite him over for dinner one night."

Trivette patted her shoulder. "I think its sweet. You were really there for him when he needed you most, you know."

"You think so?"

"I know so. He told me that he wouldn't have lasted a day in a nursing home and there was no way that Dr. Shayler was going to release him without someone to stay with him."

"It was a little awkward at first, but after the first few days, things sort of fell into a routine."

Trivette nodded. "I think it was good for both of you."

"So, do you think that was the last we'll hear from Latimier?" Sydney asked.

"I sure hope so. I don't think Erica could stand another go round of him. Besides . . ." His thoughts were interrupted by Sydney's phone.

"It's probably Gage." She smiled as she answered. "Ranger Cooke."

"Hello my fair Sydney." An eerily familiar voice sounded from the other end of the line. "You do know who this is, don't you?" The voice quickly added. "But don't say my name out loud unless you want to hear the gunshots that will kill your partner and your boss."

"What?" Sydney asked, her voice slightly cracking.

"That's right Sydney. I have loverboy here in my sights right now. I could pop him off so easily." There was a long pause. "Maybe I'll do just that. Maybe I'll just kill him right now and get him out of the picture so you and I can finish what we started six months ago."

"Leave him alone." Sydney whispered harshly, turning her back to Trivette.

The voice began to laugh a sinister laugh that could belong to no one else but Travis Latimier. "How far are you willing to go to save his life Sydney?" Before she could answer, the line went dead.

Trivette waited patiently for a minute, giving Sydney time to tell him what was going on. It was obvious that the phone call had upset her and now, he could only wonder who the caller had been. "So, are you going to tell me about it?" He asked.

"Um, what?" She asked, his voice bringing her out of deep thought.

"The phone call. I know it upset you. Who was it?"

Sydney's eyes grew wide. She would love nothing more than to tell Trivette that it had been Travis Latimier on the phone, back from the dead to torment them all, but one thing held her back. She had no idea how Latimier was keeping tabs on her, Gage and the rest of the Rangers, but she would bet her life that he was. He was noted for bugging telephones, hacking into security cameras and depositing listening devices in public buildings and with the stakes this high, he was definitely watching her every move.

"Sydney?" Trivette asked, seeing the far away look in her eyes.

"Sorry. It was my mother."

Trivette knew that Sydney and her mother rarely talked, but he had never questioned why, until now. "I know that you and your mom have problems, but is there anything I can do?"

She smiled and patted his hand. "No, but thank you." She pulled her jacket from the back of her chair. "I think I'm going to step out for a minute, OK?"

"Sure." Trivette replied with a smile, knowing that she needed to clear her head.

As soon as Sydney stepped onto the front steps of the courthouse, her cellphone rang. "Hello." She answered.

"Now that you're out of the office, we can talk freely." Latimier's voice sounded.

"What do you want?" Sydney asked.

"That's simple. You. You see, in spite of all that you've put me through, I still want you for myself and Sydney Cooke, I will have you in every possible way."

"Go to hell!" Sydney screamed into the phone.

Latimier laughed. "Already been there my sweet. Actually, I plan to put your partner and Ranger Walker through hell in just a few moments. Why don't you give him a call right now and see where he is?"

Latimier was still laughing when Sydney hung up the phone and quickly dialed Gage's cell number.

"Gage." His voice was enough to make her melt.

"Where are you?" She asked in a hushed tone.

Gage looked around and sighed. "We're about forty miles south of Dallas, why is something wrong?"

"No, no nothing's wrong." She paused. "Gage, are you sure you're OK?"

"Ah yeah Syd. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Gage asked, looking at Walker.

"Just a feeling, I guess. Make sure you guys watch your backs out there, OK?"

Gage was growing more puzzled by the minute. "Syd, I've known you long enough to know when you're not telling me something, now what's wrong?"

"He's back." She whispered.

"Who?" Gage asked, a genuine fear welling up inside of him.

"I can't say. I'm afraid he's listening and . . ." Suddenly her their connection was cut. "Gage! Gage, are you there?"

"Syd! Sydney!" Gage yelled into the phone.

"What's wrong?" Walker asked.

"I don't know exactly, but from what Sydney said it has everything to do with Travis Latimier."

"Latimier?" Walker questioned. "Has he contacted her?"

Gage shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. She sounded scared. She said he was back, she was afraid he was listening and for us to watch our backs." He paused, staring at Walker. "We've got to get back to Dallas. If Latimier is back, he'll go after Sydney again."

"We only have one more stop to make. I need to check in on a little boy that was placed in foster care a few months ago."

Gage cringed at the word 'foster care'. "Who is he?"

"Kaleb Morton. His father was Josh Morton."

Gage nodded as he remembered some of the details of the case. "The little guy was in his father's custody before he was sentenced wasn't he?"

"Yep. I heard that after the trial Kaleb's mother got custody, but was killed in a car accident shortly after."

Gage closed his eyes, letting his mind drift back to his own traumatic childhood for a moment. "And I guess he has no other relatives, uh?"

Walker shook his head. "Not that anyone could locate." He pulled the RAM to a stop outside of a two-story farmhouse.

Gage paused with his hand on the doorhandle. Walker caught his hesitation and guessed the reason for it. "You don't have to come in if you don't want to. I understand."

Gage took a deep breath and made himself open the passenger side door. "No, I'll come with you." As the two Rangers started towards the house, a loud explosion knocked both men off of their feet.

Across the road, a man lifted his finger from the button on a remote control and picked up his cell phone. "It's done." He said simply and pulled off.

Walker and Gage shook off their stupors and got to their feet. They could hear the screams of the children inside. Without hesitation, Gage ran to the front door with Walker close at his heels. "No unnecessary chances Gage!" Walker called out.

They frantically began herding the children outside. Gage saw two older boys just standing in the doorway. "You two get these little guys out of here." He ordered, nodding at three small children. The two older children complied as Gage continued his search.

"Help!" A small voice called from upstairs.

Gage stood still and listened again, trying to block out all the sound of the raging fire and the screams from the other children. He caught sight of Walker in one of the other rooms. "I'm going up!" He called out as he started up the stairs.

"Gage, there's no time!" Walker called out, watching the fire lick at the backside of the stairs. "Gage!"

Gage kicked open each of the upstairs doors, calling out as he moved. "Keep talking! I'm on my way!"

"Help me!" The small voice called out again. Just as Gage kicked in the last door, a blaze tore through the floor.

"Where are you?" Gage called out again.

"I'm in here. I can't get out." The voice called again.

Gage stared at the closet door. He pulled at it, but found it to be stuck. "Turn your head away from the door." He shouted and then quickly kicked the door open finding a little boy sitting on a pile of clothes. "Hey, let's get you out of here." Gage smiled, brushing the tears from the little boy's face.

"I was scared when that man was here, so I got in the closet and shut the door, but it wouldn't open again." The little boy wailed.

"Shh. Hey what's your name?" Gage asked as he grabbed a couple of blankets from the pile of clothes and threw them over himself and the child.

"I'm Kaleb."

"Hi Kaleb. I'm Ranger Gage and I'm going to get you out of here now, OK?"

Kaleb nodded and then buried his face into Gage's shoulder when he saw the flames. "The house is on fire!" He shouted.

"I know." Gage held the little boy close to him. "But we're going to get out of here, OK?"

Gage could feel the little boys head nod against his shoulder. Now he only had to convince himself that they would be able to get out the house alive.

Walker heard the sirens as the firetrucks pulled into the yard. He gathered up a little girl who had fallen in the kitchen and rushed her outside. A fireman stopped him on the porch. "How many more are inside?" He asked.

"One of my men and at least one child." Walker shouted and ran to lay the little girl on the ground. The EMT's were already on the scene and quickly took over, making sure that the child was breathing.

Walker started back towards the house. The fire Chief stopped him just as he was about to go inside. "You can't go back in there Ranger. The house is already 80% consumed and very unstable."

"One of my men is still in there." Walker shouted.

"May God be with him then." The fire Chief replied as the last of the firemen exited the burning structure.

Walker stared at the house in disbelief. "Why aren't they trying to put out the fire? Why aren't they looking for Gage and the missing child?"

"Ranger, you have to understand, at this point, the house is gone and as for your Ranger and the missing child . . . I'm sorry."

Walker rubbed the side of his face, letting the fire Chief's words sink in. "He's saying Gage is dead." Walker said to himself. "He can't be dead. He was just here. He isn't dead." A look of determination came to Walker's face as he stepped back inside the house, the fire Chief yelling at him to come back.

"Gage!" Walker shouted.

"Up here Walker! I've got Kaleb, but there's no way out! This whole floor is getting ready to go, you had better get back outside." Gage shouted, coughing intermittently.

"I'm not leaving you in here!" Walker replied as he looked for a way up to the second floor. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed the laundry shoot in the corner of the kitchen.

"Gage! Find the laundry shoot."

Gage headed towards the bathroom and quickly found the shoot. He wrapped Kaleb up carefully and stuck him inside. "You'll be fine Kaleb. Ranger Walker is waiting for you downstairs."

"What about you?" Kaleb asked as Gage finished wrapping him in the blanket.

"Me? Well, I'm too big for the laundry shoot, so tell Ranger Walker than I'm taking my chances on the roof." He quickly shoved the little guy down the shoot and heard him fall into Walker's waiting arms.

"Gage!" Walker shouted.

"I'm too big Walker. I'm going out on the roof!" He shouted and then ran back to the room where he had first found little Kaleb. The room was filled with thick, black smoke as Gage made his way towards the window. He felt for the latch and soon had the window raised and stepped out onto the roof of the porch, his lungs burning as he took in a breath of fresh air.

Below, a group of firemen had gathered and Gage saw Walker carry Kaleb out of the house safely. "Ranger!" One of the firemen shouted. "The porch is on fire and the roof is going to give any minute. You'll have to take your chances and jump!"

Gage nodded that he understood. He pulled himself to his feet and ran towards the edge of the porch. As he was falling through the air, he was certain that he saw Latimier's face laughing at him.

He rolled as he hit the ground and came to a rest on his back. Walker was by his side in an instant. "Gage? Gage, are you OK?"

Gage nodded slightly as he tried to sit up to take a deep breath. He winced as the air filled his lungs. "I'm fine." He took hold of Walker's arm for support.

"Don't try to get up. I want the paramedics to take a look at you." Walker looked back towards the roof. "That was quite a fall."

"Are all of the kids out?" Gage asked and then began to cough deeply.

Walker placed his hands on Gage's shoulders as the paramedics put an oxygen mask in place. "As far as we can tell, they're all out. Now be still and let these guys take care of you." He continued to support Gage's weight until a gurney was brought out of one of the waiting ambulances.

Once Gage had been placed inside one of the waiting ambulances, Walker set about trying to find little Kaleb. He found him sitting in the back of the ambulance. "Hi Kaleb. Remember me?" Walker asked.

Kaleb nodded. "Ranger Walker."

"That's right." Walker smiled. "Are you OK?"

Kaleb nodded again. "What about Ranger Gage?"

Walker looked towards the ambulance Gage was being transported in. "He'll be fine."

"I didn't mean to make anyone come and look for me, but I was so scared of the man holding the clock." Kaleb confessed.

Walker's eyes grew wide with the realization that Kaleb may have seen whoever set the bomb. He climbed into the ambulance with Kaleb. "Kaleb, would it be OK if I rode to the hospital with you?"

The little boy nodded. "I don't like hospitals."

"Neither do I." Walker confessed, placing his arm around the little guy as the ambulance pulled off, followed closely by the one carrying Gage.

*********

Sydney sat at her desk, replaying her conversation with Gage in her head. "We just lost the connection. That's why the line went dead." She tried to convince herself, but her earlier conversation with Latimier kept playing through her mind. ". . . I plan to put your partner and Ranger Walker through hell in just a few moments." She pulled our her cellphone and dialed Gage's number again.

"We're sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service at this time. Please check . . ." The automated message kicked in. Sydney hung up and let her eyes rove the room for a moment and then dialed Walker's cell number.

Inside the ambulance, Walker's cellphone began to ring. "Sorry." He said as the EMT's glared at him. "I have to take this."

"Go ahead Ranger." The head EMT stated.

"Walker." He answered.

"Oh thank God. Walker, it's Sydney. I need to talk to Gage."

"Sydney, he's not here right now."

Sydney shook her head. "What do you mean he's not there right now. I thought the two of you were on your way home."

"Sydney, there's been an accident." Her heart skipped a beat as Walker continued to talk. "Long story short, we stopped by to see a child that was placed in foster care a few months ago and as soon as we stepped out of the truck, a blast knocked us off of our feet and the house began to go up in flames. We both started getting the kids out and . . . Sydney, he's OK. They're taking him to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but he should be fine."

"Latimier's behind this Walker." She whispered before she realized what she was saying.

"Sydney, have you told Trivette about the call from our friend?" Walker asked, not wanting to utter Latimier's name aloud in front of anyone.

Sydney shook her head. "No. I shouldn't have told Gage, or you for that matter."

"Tell Trivette what's going on and both of you meet me and Gage at Mercy Hospital as soon as you can; and Sydney, be careful."

"OK. We're on our way." She replied as she saw Trivette take a seat at his desk.

Hanging up her phone she called out to him. "Trivette, come on, we're out of here."

"Where? Sydney, what's going on?" He asked, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

"It's a long story. Can we talk on the way?" She asked, sliding her arm into her jacket.

Trivette grabbed his coat and joined her at the door. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Mercy Hospital."

The senior Ranger continued to stare at her until she finally began to talk. "Walker and Gage were involved in some sort of accident." She began to relay the story as Walker had told it to her.

"So, they're both OK, though?" Trivette asked.

"As far as I know, but that's why I'm in such a hurry to get there. I want to see for myself." She slid into the driver's seat and cranked the car before Trivette got inside.

"Sydney, you've got to calm down a little and tell me what's really going on - all of it."

She remained tight-lipped until they were out on the beltway. "That wasn't my mother that called this morning, it was Travis Latimier. He said that he still wants me for his own and will stop at nothing to get me. Jimmy, he as much as said that he was going after Gage . . . and Walker."

Trivette was beginning to get the impression that Sydney and Gage's relationship might just be a little more than professional. "Sydney, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She said quietly.

"You really care for Gage, don't you?"

Her eyes darted from the road and to her superior. "I, uh, I, of course I care for him. He's my partner and my best friend."

Jimmy smiled. "He feels the same way about you, you know."

"He does? I mean, well, sure he does. We're friends." She could feel her face growing red as they spoke. "Do you think it's hot in here?" She pulled up the sleeves on her jacket as they continued to drive towards Mercy Hospital.

********

In the triage, Gage had been attended to and moved to a room for observation. Walker stood outside of the door, waiting for the doctor to emerge.

While waiting, a security guard approached. "Ranger, I'm Jake Raines. I was told to report to you for instructions until the police arrive."

"I want you outside this door until another guard arrives to take your place. I'll be in the room with Ranger Gage, but no one besides hospital staff are to enter without my consent. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"I do have two Rangers that are on their way in from Dallas. When they arrive, send them in."

"Yes sir." Mr. Raines replied as he took his post.

The doctor left the room and started down the hall while Walker was giving instructions to the guard. "Doctor!" He shouted.

The doctor stopped. "Oh, Ranger Walker. I'm sorry, did you need to speak with me?"

"Yes. How is he?"

"Ranger Gage? He'll be fine. We given him a breathing treatment to help clear up his lungs, but I'll probably release him later today."

Walker smiled. "That's great news."

After speaking with the doctor, Walker entered Gage's room. He found him awake and alert, but still on full oxygen. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"When are they releasing me?" Gage asked through the mask.

"Hopefully, later today." Gage reached for the mask and started to remove it only to be scolded by Walker. "But not if you don't listen to the doctor. Now leave that alone."

"Have you talked to Syd?" Gage asked and began to cough.

Walker nodded and waited until Gage's coughing spell subsided before speaking. "She and Trivette are on their way here."

"She's coming here? Walker, if Latimier is after her, she's going to be a prime target out in the open."

Walker could tell that Gage was beginning to get worked up. "Gage, Trivette's with her. Besides, Sydney's one of the best. She can take care of herself."

"I know, but . . ."

"But you still worry about her, don't you?" Gage nodded. Walker patted his hand. "Get some rest."

Gage nodded and closed his eyes.

End of Chapter 1

(To be continued)