DISCLAIMER: Not mine. I can wish though.
SUMMARY: When Gage's sister goes missing from the airport, can he and Sydney get past their unresolved issues in order to work together to find her and get her back?
A/N: This is my first attempt at a Walker fanfic. Please don't flame if I get the characters a little off.
Four hours later, Gage woke up to his phone ringing. He sat up rather quickly. That was when he realized that his head had been resting on Sydney's lap and she had one hand resting on his head. She was asleep with her head tipped back against the back of the couch.
He reached out his hand and grabbed his phone. "Gage."
"Gage, it's Walker. Is Sydney there?"
"Yeah, boss. She's here."
"Has she told you what we found out yet?"
Gage's heart leapt into his throat. "No. I didn't really give her the chance."
"Well, to start with, my contact found out who had your sister. Gage, it's not good. She's being held by white slavers who've apparently already sold her to a sheik in the Middle East." Walker took a deep breath. "Apparently, he's told them to hold on to her until his son's birthday in three months. We have just that long to find her and get her away from them."
"That's better news than telling me that you don't have a clue as to where she is." Gage was trying to see a silver lining. His boss hated to be the one to take that away from him.
"The bad news is that no one knows where they're keeping her."
"Thanks for letting me know, boss. I appreciate that you're at least keeping me in the loop." Gage hung up before Walker had a chance to tell him the really bad news: Sydney had to go undercover.
If these guys didn't grab Sydney, they wouldn't stand a chance in hell of finding Jessie before they moved her. The good news on that front was that word had gone out that they were looking for a young woman who could be a kind of assistant to a blind girl that Walker was guessing was Jessie.
Sydney had posed the plan before they had ever known about the slavers. She would go undercover and try to get these guys to grab her so that she could find Jessie and protect her.
Walker could only hope that Sydney would tell him and that she could make him see that it was their only chance to find Jessie.
"Hey, Shorty." Gage was trying to wake Syd up. He knew that she had come here for a reason and he wanted to know that reason.
"Hey, Gage. Feeling better?"
"I am. Look, Walker called here just a little while ago and was asking if you'd talked to me about something. What was it that you were supposed to talk to me about?"
She was awake now. "I have to go undercover. The guys that have Jessie, they're looking for someone to help her. At least we think it's her. I'm going to try to get them to take me." She saw the look on his face and spoke up before he could. "It's the only way to find her. I'll be able to protect her. We've already got things worked out. I'll have a subcutaneous tracker. They won't know anything about it."
"Syd, no. This isn't a good idea." The main thought that was running rampant through Gage's mind was that Syd would have no way to call for help if needed. What could happen to her without backup? He shook his head; he couldn't afford to think on that right now. "What about backup?"
"Walker's already said that he wouldn't leave me in there for more than about 24 hours and he'd be right outside the whole time. He just wants to give me enough time to find Jessie and let her know what's going on." She put her hand on his arm. "I'll be fine. You know that."
He shook his head again. "No I don't and neither do you. You don't know what these guys are capable of. What they might do to you if they find out that you aren't who you say you are."
"Gage, we've considered that. That's why only 24 hours. Less if I can get to her and get her alone long enough to tell her what's going on." Syd was worried; she couldn't deny it. She didn't want to. She was afraid that they might overhear her telling Jessie what was going on.
She stood up and Gage grabbed her arm. "Shorty, please. I can't loose you. You have to be careful."
"I promise. I'll be careful." She smiled at him and left the apartment.
"Okay, Sydney. I need you to hold very still. This might sting just a bit." The doctor who was inserting the tracker had administered a local anesthetic.
Syd did as she was told and found it didn't hurt much at all.
"Ready, Syd?" asked Walker as soon as the doctor was finished.
"Ready. Is my cover in place?"
"You bet. You're a teacher's aide at a local high school. No family in Dallas and no romantic life. It's the best we could do on such short notice. You start your part tomorrow."
"Okay." Syd kept telling herself that she was ready for this. 'Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll start to believe it,' she told herself.