Disclaimer: Chuck Norris, Aaron Norris, CBS and others own the characters of "Walker Texas Ranger" and "Sons of Thunder". Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a fan fiction intended for entertainment purposes only and I am not making any money from it.

Chapter 21: Search

Lucy and Darryl arrived at the first location on the list of several that they would be checking out with Sydney and Gage, while Walker, Trivette, Butch and Trent had another list. In total, there was about a dozen places listed in Daisy's real name.

As the two detectives scanned the area, and saw that they were the first to arrive, they waited in the air-conditioned car. About five minutes later, Gage's car pulled up alongside Lucy's car.

Everyone exited and stood together, looking down an overgrown driveway on the other side of where they had parked. There were no signs of crushed grass from either a car or someone walking, but that didn't mean that there wasn't another path onto the property.

"Ok, so the driveway is about a quarter mile long and it looks like it leads to a two-storied house," Darryl said as he put his cell away.

Lucy nodded her head and looked at the men standing before her. "Sydney and Gage will head to the back of the house, while Darryl and I will go in the front."

Everyone agreed as Darryl went to the trunk of the car and pulled out bulletproof vests.

She loaded her weapon and checked to make sure that she had spare ammo. After she adjusted her bulletproof vest, she took a deep breath and glanced over at her partner. He met her gaze and gave her a reassuring nod. She nodded her head in return and took a deep breath.

"Let's go find Carlos." Her green eyes sharpened.

As they traveled down the path, she kept her eyes peeled for any signs of movement. The adrenaline was pumping and it allowed her to block out the horrifying images of Carlos that had been on her mind and in her dreams.

They arrived at the two-storied house that was in need of paint, but otherwise appeared to be in decent shape. She signaled for Sydney and Gage to head out, pointed at her watch, and held up three fingers, telling them that they would enter the building in the minutes.

Lucy and Darryl stood on either side of the door. She kept an eye on the time and when it reached five seconds left, she used her fingers to count it down and when she reached zero, she nodded her head. Darryl kicked in the door while Lucy stood to the side, gun out ready to fire.

He rushed into the building, Lucy right behind him. The first room they entered was a small entryway with an old hall tree with a mirror. There was a living room on the right, while an open door on the left led to what looked like a den or office. A staircase across from the front door that led upstairs and a hallway alongside the stairs that led to the back of the house in which Lucy could see the back door that Butch and Trent had entered.

They cleared the rooms in the front of the house, just as Sydney and Gage joined them at the stairs.

Lucy ascended the staircase first, and Darryl was right behind her. The two Texas Rangers would remain at the base of the stairs, one watching the front door and the other the back, just in case someone arrived or tried to escape down the stairs.

Lucy and Darryl cleared the rooms. There were no signs of anyone having been there in a long time. As Lucy and Darryl descended the stairs, Lucy shook her head at the Rangers, whose faces instantly became crestfallen.

"Maybe the others will find Carlos," Gage suggested hopefully as they left the building and walked down the path back to the main road.

"We still have a few others that we need to check out," Darryl reminded them and read off the address for the next one.

Lucy nodded and followed her partner back to the car. As she entered the driver's seat, she thought that finding Carlos unhurt was unlikely, but finding him alive was becoming even more doubtful.

Lucy put the car and gear and took off, leaving Sydney and Gage to catch up to her and Darryl once again.

Carlos groaned, leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. His shoulder felt as though a tire iron had struck it.

He opened his eyes when he heard a Daisy take a step towards him.

"Now, I am getting impatient and when that happens, well," Daisy came right up to Carlos, stopped and then leaned forward, her mouth right next to his ear. "I tend to lose control."

The sound of a door opening downstairs had Daisy stepping away from Carlos and walked over to the boarded-up window. "Well, it seems that Oswald has returned," remarked Daisy as she set the gun down on the windowsill and went to stand on Carlos' right.

He didn't respond to the woman's comment as he was just trying to focus on his breathing as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"So, Oswald, what took you so long?" Daisy called out once the footsteps reached the top of the stairs. "I wouldn't mind your expert assistance with our guest."

"Well, I have to disappoint you, Daisy," Eli Parker said as he stepped in the doorway, holding a gun pointed at the surprised woman, "but Oswald won't be giving his expert assistance ever again."

"Eli," Daisy said too sweetly, beaming a phony smile. "I hope that is not true."

"It is and I can see that he," pointing at Carlos with his free hand, "hasn't given you what you want."

Carlos remained silent and still, wondering if he could use Eli's presence to his advantage. He could see Daisy out of the corner of his eye, trying to act nonchalant, but he could see that she had leaned toward the windowsill.

Eli waved the gun, shaking his head and barked out an amused laugh. "I wouldn't reach for that gun, or I will shoot you." He paused and shrugged his shoulders, his gaze turning even colder than when he had walked in. "I will probably shoot you anyway for betraying me even though I have been loyal to you for all of these years." He signaled for Daisy to step away from the windowsill, giving her a menacing glare.

She released a cold and mocking laugh as she held up her hands and stepped closer to Parker and further away from the windowsill. "No, Eli, you betrayed me when you fell in love with Pilar. Pilar was mine, not yours."

"Pilar was on of your escorts, but once she and I got together, she was mine."

Daisy smiled coyly at him. "I allowed the relationship to happen between the two of you, but when it started to affect my business, that was when it had to end." The smile had vanished, replaced by a coldness that made Carlos want to shiver.

Anger flashed in Eli's eyes. "It ended with Pilar's death. You had Oswald strangle her."

Daisy laughed. "No, Oswald didn't kill her. I did. As you know, he is the man I use for cleaning up messes, but this mess was personal." Her eyes softened. "Pilar had wanted out of the escort business all together and I couldn't have that since she belonged to me." Her eyes hardened and any softness that had been on her face vanished. "She had to go."

"You killed Pilar," Eli exclaimed, his face darkening.

Carlos watched as she placed her hand on her left hip.

Daisy shrugged. "You killed my enforcer. I killed your ex-lover. I suppose we are even but there is one thing I never tolerate and that is disloyalty." She reached into her waistband and grabbed a knife. She threw the knife at Parker, and jumped to the side just as Parker fired off his gun.