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.)
NOTE: I had Joe Penny in mind for the role of Gino Martinelli when I wrote this.
"Deep Cover" Chapter 5
by Lorrie
Walker and Trivette arrived at dock #12 in Port Charles at 11:30 p.m. Walker parked the RAM directly across from the dock as Trivette pulled out a set of binoculars. "See anything?" Walker asked.
Jimmy shook his head. "No, not yet." He put the binoculars down and looked at Walker. "Do you think Gage is here yet?"
Walker stared out the windshield. "I don't know. He sounded pretty nervous when he called. He was pretty sure that his cover had been blown."
"Do you think he's in trouble?" Trivette asked, concerned for his friend.
Walker nodded. "Yeah, I do. I feel like both of them are in trouble, I just don't know where they are or what kind of trouble they're in."
Trivette nodded. "I just pray that they're OK. I checked out Martinelli's bio. before we left the office. He's a pretty slick operator. He comes across as being a real sweetheart of a guy until he gets upset with you, then he'd just as soon kill you as look at you."
"That's the part that bothers me. Gage said he felt like his cover was blown, if Martinelli knows that he and Sydney are Rangers, I hate to think what he might do to them, especially as close as they had gotten to him."
Trivette started to speak, but was interrupted as Walker noticed a boat pulling into one of the slips at dock #12. "Let me see the binoculars." Trivette passed them to him.
"What do you see?" Trivette asked.
"The name of the boat. 'The Noontide', run it." Trivette picked up his cell phone and had the boat, 'The Noontide' ran through the maritime register. "I'll hold." He impatiently told the person on the other end of the line. A few moments later, he had the information he had requested.
"The boat is registered to Vincent Sergai, out of New York." Trivette reported as he began dialing on his cell phone again. "I'm going to have them run his name through the computer and see what we can turn up."
A few moments later, Trivette hung up his cell phone and turned to Walker. "Vincent Sergai is a known arms dealer out of New York. He has known connection with a couple of well known crime families there and it's suspect that he has a couple of cops on his payroll as well."
Walker shook his head again. "I don't like this. Martinelli should have been here by now." Suddenly, as if on cue at the mention of Martinelli's name, 'The Noontide' quickly pulled out of the slip and headed back for the open ocean. "Trivette, call the Coast Guard and see if they can intercept that boat." Trivette grabbed his cell phone once again.
Walker started the RAM and began to pull out when they received a call over the radio. "Ranger Walker, you have an emergency call, should I patch it through?"
"Yes." The call was patched through to Walker's radio. "Walker." He answered.
"I have to make this quick. Both of your Ranger's are in danger. Gena Cross is being held against her will inside the Martinelli mansion and you'll find Ranger Gage in a ditch out on Dabney Road. He's been beaten badly, but he was alive when I left him."
"Who is this?" Walker asked.
"I'm a friend." The line went dead.
"Who was that?" Trivette asked.
Walker shook his head unsure of the information he had just received. "They just said they were a friend. They also said that Sydney and Gage are both in trouble. Gage is in a ditch on Dabney Road and Sydney's being held in Martinelli's mansion."
"What do you want to do?" Trivette asked.
"We're closer to Dabney Road, let's go check it out."
*****
"Gino, you shouldn't have called off the deal. We could have handled things." Joey whined.
"Joey, you may have been right about the Rangers, but I know that I'm right about the decision to call off the buy tonight. I feel like we're being watched and if we are that could mean that we have another 'rat' in the house."
"Another cop? Who?" Joey asked.
"I wish I knew." Gino drummed his fingers on the armrest of the limo as they pulled up to the door of his house. "Maybe Ms. Cross can fill in the blanks."
Gino, Joey and Allen got out of the limo and entered the house. "You want me to go get Gena?" Joey asked.
"No! I'll take care of Gena myself." Gino poured himself a glass of wine and stared up the staircase leading to Sydney's room.
*****
Sydney paced nervously inside the bedroom. She had tried the door several times and had contemplated shooting her way through the lock. She had her gun out and ready to shoot when she heard Travis coming up the steps. She quickly put her gun away so as not to encourage the suspicion that she was a cop. That had been over three hours ago.
Suddenly Sydney heard heavy footsteps on the staircase. Each step made closer to the bedroom door made her heart pound. Finally, the footsteps stopped just outside her door. "Gena?" Gino called.
"I'm here Gino, right where you left me." Sydney said sarcastically. "I still don't understand why you've had me locked up here in my room all day."
Gino leaned his head against the door. "Gena, I wish things could have been different. I was really falling in love with you, you know."
"I feel the same way about you."
"Do you?" Gino replied with mock sarcasm. "Then maybe you can explain why you pilfered through my office earlier today and why you took picture of my files?"
Sydney closed her eyes and felt her heart sink into her stomach. She caught her breath and quickly tried to come up with a logical explanation. "I'm sorry Gino. The door was opened and I was curious."
"That doesn't explain the pictures Gena."
"No, I guess it doesn't." Sydney replied as she quickly began to think of something to say. "Gino, you have a 'rat' in your business." Sydney said slowly, knowing that she had to turn the tables on someone now to take Gino's suspicions away from herself and Gage.
"Go on."
"Someone approached me and threatened to kill me and you if I didn't get some hard evidence for them against you." Sydney paused hoping that she could pull this together off of the top of her head. "I told them I would do it."
"I'm still listening Gena. I want a name."
"I can't Gino. I'm scared. They said they had listening devices all over the house and would kill me if I ratted them out." Sydney closed her eyes, hoping that Gino was buying this.
Gino backed away from the door for a moment. Then put his key into the lock and started to walk away. "You can come out anytime you like Gena. I'm not going to hurt you, yet."
Sydney cautiously stepped outside of the door. "Where's Ricky?"
"Dead." Gino replied flatly as he headed down the steps.
Sydney slowly sank to the floor in shock and could hardly catch her breath. Could it be true? Could Gage really be dead? She sat there shaking for what seemed like hours.
*****
Walker and Trivette arrived at Dabney Road around 6:30 a.m. the following morning. They realized they had wasted almost four hours at the docks and had been a little over an hour and a half from Dabney Road when they received the call about Gage.
Walker slowly drove down the narrow dirt road and shined his spotlight in the ditch on either side of the road, moving it from the right side to the left side in hopes of locating Gage.
"Maybe the call was a hoax." Trivette said quietly.
"Maybe, but I don't think so. The guy sounded nervous, almost scared." Walker abruptly stopped the RAM and backed up, shining the spotlight in the ditch on the right side of the road.
"What is it?" Trivette asked, squinting and trying to make out the figure in the ditch through the darkness.
"I don't know." Walker opened the door and hurried to the figure. He immediately knew it was a body. "Trivette call 9-1-1."
Walker gently turned Gage over and fought back the emotion as he realized that the battered body laying in the ditch was that of his young friend. He nervously moved his hand towards Gage's neck to check for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a weak one.
Trivette ran towards them. "Is it Gage?"
Walker nodded as he sat down on the ground and pulled Gage's head into his lap, cradling him there until the paramedics showed up. Before the paramedics arrived, he and Trivette tried to talk to Gage, encouraging him to hang on. The only response they received were a few low moans, then nothing.
*****
After the paramedics left with Gage, the local police showed up to secure the scene. "I want casts of those tire tracks." Trivette instructed as Walker studied the area carefully.
"It looks like there were two of them, besides Gage." Walker noted a couple of footprints beside of the blood spatters they found on the dirt. "Get me a cast of these too." Walker called to one of the officers as he and Trivette headed for the RAM.
"Where are we going?" Trivette asked.
"Martinelli's."
"We don't have a warrant."
Walker was angry, angrier than Trivette had seen him in a long time. "We won't need a warrant. Sydney's in there and she may be in danger."
They drove the 30 some miles between Dabney Road and the Martinelli mansion. As they pulled into the driveway, the security gate began to close. Walker didn't give any indication of slowing, he rammed the gate sending parts of it and the RAM flying.
They pulled up to the house and were met by gunfire from Martinelli's men. Gino, hearing the ruckus, ran upstairs and grabbed Sydney. "A rat in my house huh? Why do I think that you're the only rat in my house?" He pushed her ahead of him, with a gun in her back. When they reached the bottom of the steps, he opened the door. "Rangers!" He yelled. "I have a cop here with a gun in her back. If you want her to live to see tomorrow, you'll get in your truck and leave now!"
Walker yelled back. "Martinelli, let the girl go! You're under arrest!"
Gino pulled Sydney back inside, pressed the gun into her back and started to pull the trigger. Sydney closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, taking what she was sure would be her last breath. Suddenly Gino fell to the ground with Tony on top of him.
The momentary lack of gunfire gave Walker and Trivette an opportunity to enter the house. Walker quickly found himself face to face with Marty, while Trivette had his hands full with Travis and Allen, but was able to hold his own. Sydney rebounded and went after Joey.
Tony continued his struggle with Gino; then slapped a pair of handcuffs on him and herded him into a corner. He then began to scuffle with Allen, while Trivette had his hands full with Travis. Soon both Allen and Travis were handcuffed and taken to the corner with Gino.
Sydney emerged with Joey in tow as Walker took Marty down with a kick to his chest.
Trivette started to arrest Tony. "Hey buddy, wait. I'm on your side. I'm FBI." Tony pulled out his badge.
Sydney looked at Tony with disbelief. "I'm sorry Gena."
"It's Sydney." She corrected.
"I'm sorry Sydney. I've been in deep cover with Gino Martinelli for almost three years and I was just too close to nailing him to even chance revealing anything to you and Range Gage."
Sydney was struck with a sickening feeling at the mention of Gage's name. "Tony, where is Gage?"
Tony closed his eyes. "I don't know if he made it. Marty beat him up pretty bad."
Sydney let her tears flow as Walker and Trivette came back inside the house. "Sydney, Gage is hurt pretty bad. He's been beaten and he's lost a lot of blood from a gunshot wound to his leg. He's in the hospital."
"I want to see him!"
Trivette nodded. "Come on, I'll take you. Trivette, can you finish up here?"
"Sure. Let's begin with you." Trivette walked up to Tony. "You were with Ranger Gage when he was beaten, weren't you?"
Tony nodded. "Yeah. I came real close to blowing my cover then. I didn't want to see Marty kill the guy. I figured that he was a cop and then Joey found a picture of him in a Dallas newspaper that confirmed it."
"So if Marty was beating him up, why did he shoot him?" Trivette asked.
"He didn't, I did."
"You, an FBI agent who suspected that Gage was law enforcement shot him?" Trivette said in disbelief.
"You weren't there. If I hadn't have shot him in the leg, Marty would have killed him right there on the spot. Your Ranger was throwing kicks at Marty and was getting some pretty good ones in, what he didn't know was that Marty carries a knife inside his shirt sleeve and he was getting ready to use it. I knew I could shoot the guy in the leg and put a stop to the kicks, then Marty wouldn't use the knife."
"Why did Marty stop?"
"He wanted your guy to go out suffering."
"Well, lucky for all of Gage has more stamina than Marty gave him credit for.
*****
Sydney and Walker sat in the waiting room for hours waiting for news on Gage. Trivette joined them later and filled Walker in on Tony's statement.
"I plan to have a talk with his superiors tomorrow morning." Walker said angrily.
"Is there a Sydney Gage in here?" A nurse asked quietly.
Sydney nervously got up. "I'm Sydney Gage."
"Your husband is out of surgery. He's lost a great deal of blood and he's still very bruised and swollen from the beating he took, but he's asking for you." She smiled.
Sydney returned the smile through her tears as she hugged Walker and Trivette, who were also smiling. "Go on." Walker urged.
Sydney followed the nurse to Gage's bedside and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him. His right arm was in a sling, as was his right leg and he appeared to be covered from head to toe in bruises, cuts and bandages, but he was alive.
Gage sensed that Sydney was in the room. He tried hard to open his eyes, but the swelling would only allow them to partial open. "Syd." He whispered.
"I'm right here." She held his hand up to her lips and kissed his palm.
"Are you OK?" He whispered again.
Sydney nodded. "I'm fine. How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a truck."
"Tony said Marty used you for batting practice."
Gage nodded. "I remember."
"You need to rest now." Sydney was almost crying again.
"Don't leave me." Gage pleaded.
Sydney shook her head. "Nothing could get me away from your side right now."
Gage closed his eyes. "Syd?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too." With that, she laid her head as close to his chest as she could and held his hand until they both fell asleep.
End Chapter 5
NOTE: I had Joe Penny in mind for the role of Gino Martinelli when I wrote this.
"Deep Cover" Chapter 5
by Lorrie
Walker and Trivette arrived at dock #12 in Port Charles at 11:30 p.m. Walker parked the RAM directly across from the dock as Trivette pulled out a set of binoculars. "See anything?" Walker asked.
Jimmy shook his head. "No, not yet." He put the binoculars down and looked at Walker. "Do you think Gage is here yet?"
Walker stared out the windshield. "I don't know. He sounded pretty nervous when he called. He was pretty sure that his cover had been blown."
"Do you think he's in trouble?" Trivette asked, concerned for his friend.
Walker nodded. "Yeah, I do. I feel like both of them are in trouble, I just don't know where they are or what kind of trouble they're in."
Trivette nodded. "I just pray that they're OK. I checked out Martinelli's bio. before we left the office. He's a pretty slick operator. He comes across as being a real sweetheart of a guy until he gets upset with you, then he'd just as soon kill you as look at you."
"That's the part that bothers me. Gage said he felt like his cover was blown, if Martinelli knows that he and Sydney are Rangers, I hate to think what he might do to them, especially as close as they had gotten to him."
Trivette started to speak, but was interrupted as Walker noticed a boat pulling into one of the slips at dock #12. "Let me see the binoculars." Trivette passed them to him.
"What do you see?" Trivette asked.
"The name of the boat. 'The Noontide', run it." Trivette picked up his cell phone and had the boat, 'The Noontide' ran through the maritime register. "I'll hold." He impatiently told the person on the other end of the line. A few moments later, he had the information he had requested.
"The boat is registered to Vincent Sergai, out of New York." Trivette reported as he began dialing on his cell phone again. "I'm going to have them run his name through the computer and see what we can turn up."
A few moments later, Trivette hung up his cell phone and turned to Walker. "Vincent Sergai is a known arms dealer out of New York. He has known connection with a couple of well known crime families there and it's suspect that he has a couple of cops on his payroll as well."
Walker shook his head again. "I don't like this. Martinelli should have been here by now." Suddenly, as if on cue at the mention of Martinelli's name, 'The Noontide' quickly pulled out of the slip and headed back for the open ocean. "Trivette, call the Coast Guard and see if they can intercept that boat." Trivette grabbed his cell phone once again.
Walker started the RAM and began to pull out when they received a call over the radio. "Ranger Walker, you have an emergency call, should I patch it through?"
"Yes." The call was patched through to Walker's radio. "Walker." He answered.
"I have to make this quick. Both of your Ranger's are in danger. Gena Cross is being held against her will inside the Martinelli mansion and you'll find Ranger Gage in a ditch out on Dabney Road. He's been beaten badly, but he was alive when I left him."
"Who is this?" Walker asked.
"I'm a friend." The line went dead.
"Who was that?" Trivette asked.
Walker shook his head unsure of the information he had just received. "They just said they were a friend. They also said that Sydney and Gage are both in trouble. Gage is in a ditch on Dabney Road and Sydney's being held in Martinelli's mansion."
"What do you want to do?" Trivette asked.
"We're closer to Dabney Road, let's go check it out."
*****
"Gino, you shouldn't have called off the deal. We could have handled things." Joey whined.
"Joey, you may have been right about the Rangers, but I know that I'm right about the decision to call off the buy tonight. I feel like we're being watched and if we are that could mean that we have another 'rat' in the house."
"Another cop? Who?" Joey asked.
"I wish I knew." Gino drummed his fingers on the armrest of the limo as they pulled up to the door of his house. "Maybe Ms. Cross can fill in the blanks."
Gino, Joey and Allen got out of the limo and entered the house. "You want me to go get Gena?" Joey asked.
"No! I'll take care of Gena myself." Gino poured himself a glass of wine and stared up the staircase leading to Sydney's room.
*****
Sydney paced nervously inside the bedroom. She had tried the door several times and had contemplated shooting her way through the lock. She had her gun out and ready to shoot when she heard Travis coming up the steps. She quickly put her gun away so as not to encourage the suspicion that she was a cop. That had been over three hours ago.
Suddenly Sydney heard heavy footsteps on the staircase. Each step made closer to the bedroom door made her heart pound. Finally, the footsteps stopped just outside her door. "Gena?" Gino called.
"I'm here Gino, right where you left me." Sydney said sarcastically. "I still don't understand why you've had me locked up here in my room all day."
Gino leaned his head against the door. "Gena, I wish things could have been different. I was really falling in love with you, you know."
"I feel the same way about you."
"Do you?" Gino replied with mock sarcasm. "Then maybe you can explain why you pilfered through my office earlier today and why you took picture of my files?"
Sydney closed her eyes and felt her heart sink into her stomach. She caught her breath and quickly tried to come up with a logical explanation. "I'm sorry Gino. The door was opened and I was curious."
"That doesn't explain the pictures Gena."
"No, I guess it doesn't." Sydney replied as she quickly began to think of something to say. "Gino, you have a 'rat' in your business." Sydney said slowly, knowing that she had to turn the tables on someone now to take Gino's suspicions away from herself and Gage.
"Go on."
"Someone approached me and threatened to kill me and you if I didn't get some hard evidence for them against you." Sydney paused hoping that she could pull this together off of the top of her head. "I told them I would do it."
"I'm still listening Gena. I want a name."
"I can't Gino. I'm scared. They said they had listening devices all over the house and would kill me if I ratted them out." Sydney closed her eyes, hoping that Gino was buying this.
Gino backed away from the door for a moment. Then put his key into the lock and started to walk away. "You can come out anytime you like Gena. I'm not going to hurt you, yet."
Sydney cautiously stepped outside of the door. "Where's Ricky?"
"Dead." Gino replied flatly as he headed down the steps.
Sydney slowly sank to the floor in shock and could hardly catch her breath. Could it be true? Could Gage really be dead? She sat there shaking for what seemed like hours.
*****
Walker and Trivette arrived at Dabney Road around 6:30 a.m. the following morning. They realized they had wasted almost four hours at the docks and had been a little over an hour and a half from Dabney Road when they received the call about Gage.
Walker slowly drove down the narrow dirt road and shined his spotlight in the ditch on either side of the road, moving it from the right side to the left side in hopes of locating Gage.
"Maybe the call was a hoax." Trivette said quietly.
"Maybe, but I don't think so. The guy sounded nervous, almost scared." Walker abruptly stopped the RAM and backed up, shining the spotlight in the ditch on the right side of the road.
"What is it?" Trivette asked, squinting and trying to make out the figure in the ditch through the darkness.
"I don't know." Walker opened the door and hurried to the figure. He immediately knew it was a body. "Trivette call 9-1-1."
Walker gently turned Gage over and fought back the emotion as he realized that the battered body laying in the ditch was that of his young friend. He nervously moved his hand towards Gage's neck to check for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a weak one.
Trivette ran towards them. "Is it Gage?"
Walker nodded as he sat down on the ground and pulled Gage's head into his lap, cradling him there until the paramedics showed up. Before the paramedics arrived, he and Trivette tried to talk to Gage, encouraging him to hang on. The only response they received were a few low moans, then nothing.
*****
After the paramedics left with Gage, the local police showed up to secure the scene. "I want casts of those tire tracks." Trivette instructed as Walker studied the area carefully.
"It looks like there were two of them, besides Gage." Walker noted a couple of footprints beside of the blood spatters they found on the dirt. "Get me a cast of these too." Walker called to one of the officers as he and Trivette headed for the RAM.
"Where are we going?" Trivette asked.
"Martinelli's."
"We don't have a warrant."
Walker was angry, angrier than Trivette had seen him in a long time. "We won't need a warrant. Sydney's in there and she may be in danger."
They drove the 30 some miles between Dabney Road and the Martinelli mansion. As they pulled into the driveway, the security gate began to close. Walker didn't give any indication of slowing, he rammed the gate sending parts of it and the RAM flying.
They pulled up to the house and were met by gunfire from Martinelli's men. Gino, hearing the ruckus, ran upstairs and grabbed Sydney. "A rat in my house huh? Why do I think that you're the only rat in my house?" He pushed her ahead of him, with a gun in her back. When they reached the bottom of the steps, he opened the door. "Rangers!" He yelled. "I have a cop here with a gun in her back. If you want her to live to see tomorrow, you'll get in your truck and leave now!"
Walker yelled back. "Martinelli, let the girl go! You're under arrest!"
Gino pulled Sydney back inside, pressed the gun into her back and started to pull the trigger. Sydney closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, taking what she was sure would be her last breath. Suddenly Gino fell to the ground with Tony on top of him.
The momentary lack of gunfire gave Walker and Trivette an opportunity to enter the house. Walker quickly found himself face to face with Marty, while Trivette had his hands full with Travis and Allen, but was able to hold his own. Sydney rebounded and went after Joey.
Tony continued his struggle with Gino; then slapped a pair of handcuffs on him and herded him into a corner. He then began to scuffle with Allen, while Trivette had his hands full with Travis. Soon both Allen and Travis were handcuffed and taken to the corner with Gino.
Sydney emerged with Joey in tow as Walker took Marty down with a kick to his chest.
Trivette started to arrest Tony. "Hey buddy, wait. I'm on your side. I'm FBI." Tony pulled out his badge.
Sydney looked at Tony with disbelief. "I'm sorry Gena."
"It's Sydney." She corrected.
"I'm sorry Sydney. I've been in deep cover with Gino Martinelli for almost three years and I was just too close to nailing him to even chance revealing anything to you and Range Gage."
Sydney was struck with a sickening feeling at the mention of Gage's name. "Tony, where is Gage?"
Tony closed his eyes. "I don't know if he made it. Marty beat him up pretty bad."
Sydney let her tears flow as Walker and Trivette came back inside the house. "Sydney, Gage is hurt pretty bad. He's been beaten and he's lost a lot of blood from a gunshot wound to his leg. He's in the hospital."
"I want to see him!"
Trivette nodded. "Come on, I'll take you. Trivette, can you finish up here?"
"Sure. Let's begin with you." Trivette walked up to Tony. "You were with Ranger Gage when he was beaten, weren't you?"
Tony nodded. "Yeah. I came real close to blowing my cover then. I didn't want to see Marty kill the guy. I figured that he was a cop and then Joey found a picture of him in a Dallas newspaper that confirmed it."
"So if Marty was beating him up, why did he shoot him?" Trivette asked.
"He didn't, I did."
"You, an FBI agent who suspected that Gage was law enforcement shot him?" Trivette said in disbelief.
"You weren't there. If I hadn't have shot him in the leg, Marty would have killed him right there on the spot. Your Ranger was throwing kicks at Marty and was getting some pretty good ones in, what he didn't know was that Marty carries a knife inside his shirt sleeve and he was getting ready to use it. I knew I could shoot the guy in the leg and put a stop to the kicks, then Marty wouldn't use the knife."
"Why did Marty stop?"
"He wanted your guy to go out suffering."
"Well, lucky for all of Gage has more stamina than Marty gave him credit for.
*****
Sydney and Walker sat in the waiting room for hours waiting for news on Gage. Trivette joined them later and filled Walker in on Tony's statement.
"I plan to have a talk with his superiors tomorrow morning." Walker said angrily.
"Is there a Sydney Gage in here?" A nurse asked quietly.
Sydney nervously got up. "I'm Sydney Gage."
"Your husband is out of surgery. He's lost a great deal of blood and he's still very bruised and swollen from the beating he took, but he's asking for you." She smiled.
Sydney returned the smile through her tears as she hugged Walker and Trivette, who were also smiling. "Go on." Walker urged.
Sydney followed the nurse to Gage's bedside and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him. His right arm was in a sling, as was his right leg and he appeared to be covered from head to toe in bruises, cuts and bandages, but he was alive.
Gage sensed that Sydney was in the room. He tried hard to open his eyes, but the swelling would only allow them to partial open. "Syd." He whispered.
"I'm right here." She held his hand up to her lips and kissed his palm.
"Are you OK?" He whispered again.
Sydney nodded. "I'm fine. How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a truck."
"Tony said Marty used you for batting practice."
Gage nodded. "I remember."
"You need to rest now." Sydney was almost crying again.
"Don't leave me." Gage pleaded.
Sydney shook her head. "Nothing could get me away from your side right now."
Gage closed his eyes. "Syd?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too." With that, she laid her head as close to his chest as she could and held his hand until they both fell asleep.
End Chapter 5