The following story is based on the characters of the TV Series "Walker, Texas Ranger". The characters belong to CBS Productions, Top Kick Productions, etc., but the story is mine. ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY. (No copyright infringement is intended.)
"Survival" Chapter 2
by Lorrie
"Trivette, have you heard anything from the FBI yet?" Walker asked.
Trivette shook his head. "No, but I'll call Agent Sims and see if he knows anything."
Alex put her arms around Walker. "You're really worried about them aren't you?" Walker nodded.
"If they weren't in trouble, we would have heard from them by now. It's been almost four weeks."
"Hey you guys, you should hear this. OK Agent Sims, you're on the speakerphone. Ranger Walker and Asst. DA Cahill-Walker are both here. Tell them what you've found." Trivette requested.
"In the last year, the FBI has lost two field agents, the CIA one, the US Marshall's Office one and now your two Texas Rangers."
"Do you know who's responsible?" Walker asked.
"Not exactly, but we do have a starting point. There's a website for a mercenary group that calls themselves 'Prevalent Justice'. From what we gather they take on six hits per year."
"Hits? At whose request?"
"According to their website, if you want a law enforcement official taken out, you supply specific information to the website along with a bid. Highest bid wins, then 'Prevalent Justice' picks up the "hit", but we don't know what happens after that."
"Have any of the abducted officers turned up?" Alex asked.
"No ma'am."
"How long have they been missing?" Trivette asked.
"The two FBI agents, 11 months; the CIA agent, 8 months and the US Marshall, 3 months. Now your two Rangers have been missing for a month. Rangers, we're staying on this and we'll do everything we can to locate your people, but it's slow going. I'll keep you up to date on our findings."
"Thank you Agent Sims." Trivette hung up the phone.
"Trivette, can you bring up that website?" Walker asked.
"Sure, give me a minute." Trivette changed his current search engine and pulled up the website of 'Prevalent Justice'. "Walker, you're not going to believe this." The website asked for the name or names of up to two potential hit victims, then asked that you enter your bid, payable only by electronic deposit.
"Go back to the main page." Walker said.
"OK." Trivette hit a couple of keys. "Look at this." The home page read like an everyday ad for a hunting outfit. 'Would you like to go on a hunt? How about a hunt for your least favorite law enforcement officer? We'll provide the hunting field, the prey and the weapons . . . for a price. You will be contacted approximately 8 weeks after the capture to schedule your hunt.'
"Does that mean that Gage and Sydney are alive?" Trivette asked.
"I would think so. At least for four more weeks." Walker thought for a moment. "Is there anyway you can get into 'Prevalent Justice's' records and see who requested the hit on them?"
"Maybe."
"If you need help with it, get whoever you need. We're going to have to work fast."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Let's find out who's responsible first."
**********
Three and a half more weeks passed with Walker and Trivette fervently working to find Gage and Sydney and to locate the person responsible for placing the hit.
"Walker, I'm not having any luck and they're running out of time." Trivette said in frustration.
"Keep looking. We've got a few more days."
**********
Gage and Sydney lay in their shelter side by side, weakened by malnutrition. "Do you feel like trying to make it to that cliff today?" Gage asked.
"OK. We can try it after we find something to eat."
"Like what?" Gage asked.
"Oh, I don't know. How about fish? There's a whole ocean full of them out there." Sydney said harshly.
"And what are we supposed to catch them with? No bait, no hooks, no net, no spear. Anyway, we've already tried that. Syd, I'm no miracle worker." Gage yelled back as he walked off.
"That's the truth." Sydney muddled under her breath. "Where are you going?" She yelled after him.
"To the cliff."
Gage slowly made his way through the thick underbrush to the rocky base of the cliff, half dragging the chain that bound his ankles together. "Man, I wish those guys would have at least left us our shoes." He carefully stepped across the pebbles and sat down on a large rock to rest. As he did, he looked down to his left and saw the gruesome skeletal remains of two humans.
There were shackles and chains on the wrists and ankles of these two bodies, just as they had found on the US Marshall. Gage slowly shook his head. He picked up both ID's, which were lying on the ground and opened them. "Great, these guys were Feds."
Sydney was at the edge of the pebbles when she saw Gage holding the ID's. "Don't tell me that there's another body."
Gage nodded. "Two more. They were Feds." Sydney made her way to Gage's side. "Don't look." He stood between Sydney and the bodies. "There's not much left anyway."
"Had they been shot?"
Gage nodded. "In the head."
**********
"Walker, I've been working with Agent Sims, we might have something." Trivette called Walker to his desk.
"What?"
"Give this just a minute to connect." A list of names and account transactions appeared on the screen. "Look, Trevor Holt."
"I wouldn't have thought he would have gone this route, especially after the mistrial."
"Maybe he submitted the bid before the trial." Trivette suggested.
"Let's get a warrant and pick him up."
"What then?"
"We wait for 'Prevalent Justice' to contact Holt for the hunt, then I'll pose as Holt and you as my body guard."
**********
Gage and Sydney made their way back to their crude little shelter and once again collapsed on the palm leaf bed. They were both asleep in minutes, exhausted from their hike across the island.
They awoke to loud claps of thunder and pounding surf. Gage went down to the beach to check on the direction of the storm. He then he made his way back to Sydney as quickly as he could. "It looks like it's going to be a bad storm. This shelter isn't going to be enough to protect us."
"Isn't it hurricane season in the Atlantic?" Sydney asked.
"Yes." Gage replied. "And I'm pretty sure that's exactly where we are."
Gage helped Sydney to her feet. "We need to climb the cliff."
"What? Why?" Sydney asked.
"Because it's the highest point on the island and if this does turn out to be a hurricane, when the storm surge hits, most of this island will be underwater."
Sydney took Gage's hand as they headed for the cliff. "How are we going to climb this with these chains on?"
"We'll have to be careful and hope we can find leverage points that aren't too far apart. Can you free climb?" Sydney nodded.
They began to slowly climb the cliff and after an hour, they reached the top, exhausted and out of breath. They huddled together under a small rock ledge as the winds increased and the rain poured relentlessly. Sydney turned her head in towards Gage's chest and he laid his head on top of hers. He gently whispered in her ear. "Syd, if we don't get out of this, you have to know something. I'm in love with you. I've known it for a while now, but I wasn't sure how you felt about me, so I haven't been able to tell you. I just, I wouldn't want something to happen to either of us without you knowing how I felt about you."
Sydney turned her head up to Gage's face. "Gage, I love you too." She hugged him closer as the storm raged on.
Sydney and Gage clung to each other until the storm passed. Once the wind died down, they stood on the top of the cliff and looked around. "You can see the whole island from here." Sydney said.
"And the shipping lane. Look over there." Gage pointed to what appeared to be a freighter in the far distance.
"This island really is small, isn't it?" Sydney turned as she spoke. Gage nodded in response.
Something caught Sydney's eye as she turned. "What's that over there?" She asked as she walked towards the slumped figure. "Oh my God!" Sydney immediately turned away upon seeing the decaying corpse and felt her knees buckle.
Gage made his way to her side and held her close to him a moment before looking at the body. He reached in the back pants pocket and found yet another badge and ID. "This guy was CIA." Gage called to Sydney as he turned the body over. "It looks like he was shot in the chest." Gage noticed a piece of paper in the shirt pocket of the man.
"Syd, look at this." Gage and Sydney read the scribbling on the paper. "Investigating a mercenary group called 'Prevalent Justice', kill for hire, highest bidder, all law enforcement vulnerable. If you've found me, then you're next on their list. 8 weeks after being dropped on island, they returned at night with Stefan Crandle, a man I had put away years ago who has made no secret of wanting revenge on me." The handwriting scribbled away to nothing.
"So someone has put a hit on us? Who?" Sydney asked.
"It could be anyone?" Gage replied.
"But so far, all of the bodies we've found have been Federal agents of some sort. We're Texas Rangers, bound by Texas law." Sydney reminded Gage.
"Then it should be a little easier to figure out who might hate both of us enough to order a hit." Gage moved towards the edge of the cliff. "I have my suspicions."
"Who?" Sydney asked.
"Holt."
"Holt? But his case was declared a mistrial."
"I know, but Holt hates me enough to want to kill me and probably you too, because he knows we're close."
"This has to do with more than the case, doesn't it?"
Gage nodded. "I've known Holt since we were teenagers. His girlfriend, Kelly and I were best friends." Sydney looked at him and raised her eyebrows.
"We were just friends, Syd. Anyway, Kelly got pregnant and when her father found out, he beat her up pretty bad and she lost the baby, then she eventually committed suicide."
"Holt was the father of the baby?"
"Yeah and denied it all and pointed his finger at me, even though I had never touched Kelly." Gage sat beside of Sydney. "Her father told my foster father and things just escalated from there."
"What do you mean?" Sydney asked.
"Syd, I can't talk about. Not right now, OK?" Gage was getting upset and Sydney could see that he hardly had the energy in him to deal with his anger. He shut his eyes tightly as if trying to block out a painful memory. She turned away to give him a minute to recompose himself. "Syd, I will tell you someday." Gage smiled.
Sydney smiled. "OK. We'd better get back to our little camp. We need to try to get another fire going before the sun goes down."
"You know climbing down isn't going to be as easy as climbing up, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Just be careful."
Sydney started down the cliff, inching her way to the ground. Gage slipped a couple of times, but was able to find new footing before falling.
"Gage?"
"I'm OK."
Sydney continued her descent.
**********
"Well?" Trivette asked as Walker came out of the interrogation room after an hour of talking to Holt.
"He hired them." Walker replied. "He has a personal vendetta against Gage and he included Sydney because she's important to Gage."
"A personal vendetta?"
"It goes back to when they were teenagers."
"Holt and Gage grew up together?"
"They went to the same high school and Gage was friends with Holt's girlfriend Kelly."
"Small world, uh?" Trivette replied.
"Yeah, I'll say. I really would like to hear Gage's side of it. I don't think I'm getting the whole story."
Walker turned to Trivette. "Can you get into Holt's email?"
"I can try."
After an hour, Trivette called Walker back to his desk. "I'm in. There's a message here from 'Prevalent Justice'."
"Open it."
"Ok is says, Meet us tonight at 6:00 p.m. at DFW, Gate 2 - Private flight area. There are two of us and we will have the initials PJ on our sleeves. If you're late, we'll finish the job without you and expect an additional $10,000 per hit."
"That's it?" Walker asked. Trivette nodded.
"Alright, we'll be at DFW at 6:00 tonight and we're bringing Gage and Sydney home."
End Chapter 2
"Survival" Chapter 2
by Lorrie
"Trivette, have you heard anything from the FBI yet?" Walker asked.
Trivette shook his head. "No, but I'll call Agent Sims and see if he knows anything."
Alex put her arms around Walker. "You're really worried about them aren't you?" Walker nodded.
"If they weren't in trouble, we would have heard from them by now. It's been almost four weeks."
"Hey you guys, you should hear this. OK Agent Sims, you're on the speakerphone. Ranger Walker and Asst. DA Cahill-Walker are both here. Tell them what you've found." Trivette requested.
"In the last year, the FBI has lost two field agents, the CIA one, the US Marshall's Office one and now your two Texas Rangers."
"Do you know who's responsible?" Walker asked.
"Not exactly, but we do have a starting point. There's a website for a mercenary group that calls themselves 'Prevalent Justice'. From what we gather they take on six hits per year."
"Hits? At whose request?"
"According to their website, if you want a law enforcement official taken out, you supply specific information to the website along with a bid. Highest bid wins, then 'Prevalent Justice' picks up the "hit", but we don't know what happens after that."
"Have any of the abducted officers turned up?" Alex asked.
"No ma'am."
"How long have they been missing?" Trivette asked.
"The two FBI agents, 11 months; the CIA agent, 8 months and the US Marshall, 3 months. Now your two Rangers have been missing for a month. Rangers, we're staying on this and we'll do everything we can to locate your people, but it's slow going. I'll keep you up to date on our findings."
"Thank you Agent Sims." Trivette hung up the phone.
"Trivette, can you bring up that website?" Walker asked.
"Sure, give me a minute." Trivette changed his current search engine and pulled up the website of 'Prevalent Justice'. "Walker, you're not going to believe this." The website asked for the name or names of up to two potential hit victims, then asked that you enter your bid, payable only by electronic deposit.
"Go back to the main page." Walker said.
"OK." Trivette hit a couple of keys. "Look at this." The home page read like an everyday ad for a hunting outfit. 'Would you like to go on a hunt? How about a hunt for your least favorite law enforcement officer? We'll provide the hunting field, the prey and the weapons . . . for a price. You will be contacted approximately 8 weeks after the capture to schedule your hunt.'
"Does that mean that Gage and Sydney are alive?" Trivette asked.
"I would think so. At least for four more weeks." Walker thought for a moment. "Is there anyway you can get into 'Prevalent Justice's' records and see who requested the hit on them?"
"Maybe."
"If you need help with it, get whoever you need. We're going to have to work fast."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Let's find out who's responsible first."
**********
Three and a half more weeks passed with Walker and Trivette fervently working to find Gage and Sydney and to locate the person responsible for placing the hit.
"Walker, I'm not having any luck and they're running out of time." Trivette said in frustration.
"Keep looking. We've got a few more days."
**********
Gage and Sydney lay in their shelter side by side, weakened by malnutrition. "Do you feel like trying to make it to that cliff today?" Gage asked.
"OK. We can try it after we find something to eat."
"Like what?" Gage asked.
"Oh, I don't know. How about fish? There's a whole ocean full of them out there." Sydney said harshly.
"And what are we supposed to catch them with? No bait, no hooks, no net, no spear. Anyway, we've already tried that. Syd, I'm no miracle worker." Gage yelled back as he walked off.
"That's the truth." Sydney muddled under her breath. "Where are you going?" She yelled after him.
"To the cliff."
Gage slowly made his way through the thick underbrush to the rocky base of the cliff, half dragging the chain that bound his ankles together. "Man, I wish those guys would have at least left us our shoes." He carefully stepped across the pebbles and sat down on a large rock to rest. As he did, he looked down to his left and saw the gruesome skeletal remains of two humans.
There were shackles and chains on the wrists and ankles of these two bodies, just as they had found on the US Marshall. Gage slowly shook his head. He picked up both ID's, which were lying on the ground and opened them. "Great, these guys were Feds."
Sydney was at the edge of the pebbles when she saw Gage holding the ID's. "Don't tell me that there's another body."
Gage nodded. "Two more. They were Feds." Sydney made her way to Gage's side. "Don't look." He stood between Sydney and the bodies. "There's not much left anyway."
"Had they been shot?"
Gage nodded. "In the head."
**********
"Walker, I've been working with Agent Sims, we might have something." Trivette called Walker to his desk.
"What?"
"Give this just a minute to connect." A list of names and account transactions appeared on the screen. "Look, Trevor Holt."
"I wouldn't have thought he would have gone this route, especially after the mistrial."
"Maybe he submitted the bid before the trial." Trivette suggested.
"Let's get a warrant and pick him up."
"What then?"
"We wait for 'Prevalent Justice' to contact Holt for the hunt, then I'll pose as Holt and you as my body guard."
**********
Gage and Sydney made their way back to their crude little shelter and once again collapsed on the palm leaf bed. They were both asleep in minutes, exhausted from their hike across the island.
They awoke to loud claps of thunder and pounding surf. Gage went down to the beach to check on the direction of the storm. He then he made his way back to Sydney as quickly as he could. "It looks like it's going to be a bad storm. This shelter isn't going to be enough to protect us."
"Isn't it hurricane season in the Atlantic?" Sydney asked.
"Yes." Gage replied. "And I'm pretty sure that's exactly where we are."
Gage helped Sydney to her feet. "We need to climb the cliff."
"What? Why?" Sydney asked.
"Because it's the highest point on the island and if this does turn out to be a hurricane, when the storm surge hits, most of this island will be underwater."
Sydney took Gage's hand as they headed for the cliff. "How are we going to climb this with these chains on?"
"We'll have to be careful and hope we can find leverage points that aren't too far apart. Can you free climb?" Sydney nodded.
They began to slowly climb the cliff and after an hour, they reached the top, exhausted and out of breath. They huddled together under a small rock ledge as the winds increased and the rain poured relentlessly. Sydney turned her head in towards Gage's chest and he laid his head on top of hers. He gently whispered in her ear. "Syd, if we don't get out of this, you have to know something. I'm in love with you. I've known it for a while now, but I wasn't sure how you felt about me, so I haven't been able to tell you. I just, I wouldn't want something to happen to either of us without you knowing how I felt about you."
Sydney turned her head up to Gage's face. "Gage, I love you too." She hugged him closer as the storm raged on.
Sydney and Gage clung to each other until the storm passed. Once the wind died down, they stood on the top of the cliff and looked around. "You can see the whole island from here." Sydney said.
"And the shipping lane. Look over there." Gage pointed to what appeared to be a freighter in the far distance.
"This island really is small, isn't it?" Sydney turned as she spoke. Gage nodded in response.
Something caught Sydney's eye as she turned. "What's that over there?" She asked as she walked towards the slumped figure. "Oh my God!" Sydney immediately turned away upon seeing the decaying corpse and felt her knees buckle.
Gage made his way to her side and held her close to him a moment before looking at the body. He reached in the back pants pocket and found yet another badge and ID. "This guy was CIA." Gage called to Sydney as he turned the body over. "It looks like he was shot in the chest." Gage noticed a piece of paper in the shirt pocket of the man.
"Syd, look at this." Gage and Sydney read the scribbling on the paper. "Investigating a mercenary group called 'Prevalent Justice', kill for hire, highest bidder, all law enforcement vulnerable. If you've found me, then you're next on their list. 8 weeks after being dropped on island, they returned at night with Stefan Crandle, a man I had put away years ago who has made no secret of wanting revenge on me." The handwriting scribbled away to nothing.
"So someone has put a hit on us? Who?" Sydney asked.
"It could be anyone?" Gage replied.
"But so far, all of the bodies we've found have been Federal agents of some sort. We're Texas Rangers, bound by Texas law." Sydney reminded Gage.
"Then it should be a little easier to figure out who might hate both of us enough to order a hit." Gage moved towards the edge of the cliff. "I have my suspicions."
"Who?" Sydney asked.
"Holt."
"Holt? But his case was declared a mistrial."
"I know, but Holt hates me enough to want to kill me and probably you too, because he knows we're close."
"This has to do with more than the case, doesn't it?"
Gage nodded. "I've known Holt since we were teenagers. His girlfriend, Kelly and I were best friends." Sydney looked at him and raised her eyebrows.
"We were just friends, Syd. Anyway, Kelly got pregnant and when her father found out, he beat her up pretty bad and she lost the baby, then she eventually committed suicide."
"Holt was the father of the baby?"
"Yeah and denied it all and pointed his finger at me, even though I had never touched Kelly." Gage sat beside of Sydney. "Her father told my foster father and things just escalated from there."
"What do you mean?" Sydney asked.
"Syd, I can't talk about. Not right now, OK?" Gage was getting upset and Sydney could see that he hardly had the energy in him to deal with his anger. He shut his eyes tightly as if trying to block out a painful memory. She turned away to give him a minute to recompose himself. "Syd, I will tell you someday." Gage smiled.
Sydney smiled. "OK. We'd better get back to our little camp. We need to try to get another fire going before the sun goes down."
"You know climbing down isn't going to be as easy as climbing up, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Just be careful."
Sydney started down the cliff, inching her way to the ground. Gage slipped a couple of times, but was able to find new footing before falling.
"Gage?"
"I'm OK."
Sydney continued her descent.
**********
"Well?" Trivette asked as Walker came out of the interrogation room after an hour of talking to Holt.
"He hired them." Walker replied. "He has a personal vendetta against Gage and he included Sydney because she's important to Gage."
"A personal vendetta?"
"It goes back to when they were teenagers."
"Holt and Gage grew up together?"
"They went to the same high school and Gage was friends with Holt's girlfriend Kelly."
"Small world, uh?" Trivette replied.
"Yeah, I'll say. I really would like to hear Gage's side of it. I don't think I'm getting the whole story."
Walker turned to Trivette. "Can you get into Holt's email?"
"I can try."
After an hour, Trivette called Walker back to his desk. "I'm in. There's a message here from 'Prevalent Justice'."
"Open it."
"Ok is says, Meet us tonight at 6:00 p.m. at DFW, Gate 2 - Private flight area. There are two of us and we will have the initials PJ on our sleeves. If you're late, we'll finish the job without you and expect an additional $10,000 per hit."
"That's it?" Walker asked. Trivette nodded.
"Alright, we'll be at DFW at 6:00 tonight and we're bringing Gage and Sydney home."
End Chapter 2