This story is based on the characters of the TV series Walker, Texas Rangers. They belong to CBS Productions, Kick Top Productions, etc. I have no claim to them. But the story is mine. All disclaimers apply. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warehouse District
"Sydney, something's wrong here, there hasn't been anyone in this place for awhile by the looks of it." Trivette called her attention to the dust that had settled over anything.
"Yeah, I know. I wonder where that tip came from that it was going down today?"
"It was an anonymous tip. We'd better get back to headquarters before Gage gets lost in that paperwork we left him." He laughed as he could picture what Gage was trying to do to get through all the files.
"All right, hope he hasn't found the files that I didn't finish that I stuck on his desk. You think he'll realize it?"
"Sydney!"
"What?"
Headquarters
"Hey Gage, sorry I'm late, Angela needed some booster before school starts, and she wasn't exactly happy about. . . Gage?" Walker had finally looked up from the file he'd been handed on his way up and noticed that the junior partner who he had agreed to put on desk duty for a few days was nowhere to be found.
"Hey, Walker, how was the doctor's appointment? Walker…Walker? Hey, what's wrong?"
"Isn't Gage with you," he asked as he turned and saw only Sydney and Trivette.
"No, he was supposed to be finishing his files today. That's what you told us to tell him, isn't it?" Sydney's eyes betrayed the calm she was trying to portray.
"Yes, so I'm sure he just went to get a drink or something. He'll be back in a minute. I haven't been here that long."
"Walker, look at this…there's blood or something on these files," Trivette whispered so that Sydney wouldn't hear, or so they hoped.
"What? Blood! Walker, he's hurt. . . where is he, Walker?" Sydney's knees started to buckle and she collapsed into her chair before she fell.
"Sydney, he'll be all right, you have to believe that."
"But what if he's not this time? They got him inside headquarters, Walker. . . he was surrounded by police. . . he should have been safe," she paused to recompose herself. "I know he'll be okay, I'm sorry."
"Sydney, whoever did this was very good, but they wouldn't have gone to all of this trouble if all they'd wanted to do was kill him. He'll be all right, for now, so we need to concentrate on finding him. All right?"
Route 75
Gage fought to overcome the blackness that had engulfed him for so long now. When he finally opened his eyes, it was only to stare into more blackness. His first thought was that he was blind, but as he shook his head to clear it, he felt the cloth brushing across his nose.
"Well, Ranger, welcome back. I do hope your head doesn't hurt too badly," someone laughed as the van bumped along, heading north out of Dallas.
"What do you want?" He thought it was a reasonable question to ask. Apparently he was wrong when a shoe caught him in the ribs rather awkwardly. Gage thought he hears someone squeak and assumed that there was a young boy with them from the sound of that voice…if you could call it that. There was something oddly familiar about it though.
"All in good time, Ranger Gage, but until then, I would advise you to keep your mouth shut," said another voice from somewhere in front of him. "Billy, stay here, keep your seatbelt on."
"Billy?" Gage thought. "No way. . . why does Tommy have Billy?" He knew it would do no good to call out to Billy, but when he felt the trembling little boy push up next to him, he figured that Tommy and Billy's dad were up to something together. His only concerns were to get the boy out of there.
He reached around to the front of Billy and signed that he was okay and to go back and put his seatbelt on as he felt himself succumbing to the blackness once more.
A river somewhere north of Dallas
"Get up, get out here!" Tommy yelled to Gage, who stumbled out of the van with his hands now tied behind his back. Tommy removed the hood that had been pulled over Gage's head, and smiled as he grimaced at the bright sunlight. The blood on the side of Gage's head and the swelling from the blow had completely covered his left eye, but he could see that Billy looked to be all right.
"Billy," he said slowly, seeing that the boy was looking at him, "are you all right?"
"He can't here you, dumb ass, why do you bother asking. . . " Mike was surprised when Billy responded to Gage and the ranger smiled. . . he understood. "How do you do that?"
"What, I listen to him, that's all."
"Mike, let's go, don't talk to him, he'll just confuse you. Let's get this over and done with already."
"Yeah, no problem." He jabbed the gun into Gage's back and told him to get moving.
"Where are we going, what's going on?" Gage asked, not taking his eyes off the scared child walking in front of him.
"Just shut up back there, all right, you'll know soon enough!"
They hiked for over an hour, the pain in Gage's ribs and head escalating with each step. Every time he slowed or fell, as happened often enough, Tommy doubled back and took out the delay on Gage again and again. Billy looked on with tears in his eyes, too young and afraid to help his friend.
Headquarters
"God, Trivette, what's wrong with this picture? There aren't any prints, nothing to suggest that anything happened here besides Gage's blood. It just doesn't make sense."
"I know, Walker, whoever did this was good. No one remembers seeing anyone unusual walking in here, and no one saw Gage step out."
"Guys, I just talked to the front desk, a delivery guy came by yesterday with a package for Gage, it's a long shot, but what do you want to bet that that is how they got in here?"
"That's possible Sydney. Didn't you say that there was a package from Julie on Gage's desk? Call her and see if she sent him anything, and I'll open it."
"All right, I'll get her number from Gage's desk, she shouldn't be on assignment, she hasn't called recently to tell Gage she was going anywhere. I should tell her about Gage, she should know."
After she called and confirmed that the package wasn't from her, she let Walker and Trivette know that Julie was coming down. She hoped that they'd have some more news for Julie when she got there.
After Sydney had left to meet Julie, Walker and Trivette looked down into the package that had been left for Gage. Inside was only a note that asked if the Rangers had ever gone whitewater rafting because Gage was going to get a crash course in how to navigate the river.
"So that narrows it down a whole lot as to where Gage is," Trivette replied sarcastically.
"Tell me about it, there are countless places that they could have gone."
The River
"We'll camp here tonight, and get to the river in the morning." Tommy told Mike as they tied Gage to a tree far from the fire and their tents.
"I'd argue with you, but Billy's falling asleep, and he's hungry as anything."
Gage's head dropped to his chest in defeat as he knew that there was nothing he could do tonight. He was in for a long night, he knew, as the wind was picking up and it was getting cold. Sitting against the tree, he tried to wiggle free of the ropes, but all he managed was to make his wrists bleed. He settled down to sleep, hoping that Sydney wasn't too worried and that Billy was all right for the night.
The next morning. . .
"Wake up, already. . . c'mon, get up. . . uhh, Tommy. . . something's wrong I think."
"Just kick him a few times, and if that doesn't work, put a bullet near his head. . . that'll do the trick."
Gage had passed out sometime around 2 a.m. and hadn't responded to Mike's threats for about ten minutes when he heard the gun go off, splintering pieces of wood above his head. He jumped, and heard Tommy's "I told you so" remark to Mike. He stood, hoping to find his hands untied for the moment, but Mike wasn't dumb, and had already retied Gage's hands behind his back.
They hiked until almost noon when Billy stumbled over a rock and sat down crying. When Mike had been unable to comfort him, Tommy untied Gage and told him to shut the kid up. He told him that if he tried anything, the kid would get it.
"Billy," Gage signed, knowing the boy wasn't as hurt as he let on, "what's wrong?"
"I saw them talking last night, Ranger Gage. I'm scared."
"It's going to be all right, kiddo, I won't let them hurt you. Can you stop crying so that I can think of a way out of this?"
"I guess so."
"Thataboy. . . we'll get out of this. . ." somehow, Gage thought.
Tommy retied Gage's hands while Mike trained the gun on him, and they pressed forward. Late in the afternoon, they reached a drop off point in the river, where a raft was docked and abandoned.
"End of the line, Ranger, it's been a pleasure." Without warning, Tommy cocked the gun and shot Gage in the chest. Feeling himself falling into the water, Gage could only hope that Billy had been turned away. As the cold from the rushing water overtook him, Gage didn't hear the splash of another diving into the water after him, trying to save him. . .