Disclaimers: I do not own or lay claim to Walker, Texas Ranger or the characters Walker, Gage, Sydney, Trivette or Alex. This was written for entertainment purposes only.
It's Not Her Part 2
Chapter 4: Office of Resident Director of Sydney's building
Since Walker had asked that Sydney and Gage try to compile a list of possible women this group of attackers would have been after, the two junior rangers decided to go see the resident director of Sydney's building. Her landlord was a very rich and busy man so he hired a "resident director" to take care of all of the issues with the tenants. Sydney knew where the man's office was and that his name was Carl Light but she had never met the man. Carl's office was about 2 miles straight down the street from headquarters, so Sydney and Gage decided to walk.
After walking for a half a mile in silence Gage finally said, "Syd? What's up with you? Why have you been ignoring me all morning?"
Without looking at him and slightly quickening her pace she said, "I told you about the case and I told you where my resident director is located."
"Syd, that's work. That's all you have said to me all morning."
"Well I'm not ignoring you. I am acknowledging your existence."
Realizing he was starting an argument he was never going to win he decided to talk about what was really on his mind. "Syd, why didn't you say good bye this morning?"
Sydney heard his question but chose to not answer. The truth of the matter was she believed that they had made a mistake. In her heart, she knew she loved him but last night she was tired. She was also sexually frustrated because she hadn't had a relationship in months. She didn't think, she just felt and by letting her guard down like that to Gage, she did not want him to think less of her. By having sexual relations with Gage and even instigating the act, she completely jumped out of character. It was as if the woman Gage had been with was not Sydney.
After waiting a minute or so while the pair still walked, Gage spoke again. "Sydney, did I do something wrong?" Noticing she was still staring straight ahead while she walked, he grabbed her shoulder and positioned himself in front of her, forcing her to stop walking.
Looking straight into his eyes with an almost cold stare she said, "Gage, don't touch me."
Gage dropped his hand that was resting on her shoulder. "Syd, what is up with you? Last night we."
".we made a mistake." Sydney said sternly. "That's why I didn't say good bye. I didn't know what to say. Last night was wrong. It wasn't the right time or the right thing. What were we thinking?"
Gage puzzled responded, "We were thinking that we loved each other. Last night may have not have been planned and it may have been under the wrong circumstances, but the feelings were the same as if we had been to a fancy dinner and danced afterward."
"Do you know that neither of us said we loved each other last night? Did you realize that?"
Thinking for a second that thought hadn't crossed his mind. It was true, neither of them had said, 'I love you' to the other. "I thought our love for each other was understood. Couldn't you feel it?"
"Gage, we are on duty and we have a job to do. Let's get going." Sydney began to walk again leaving Gage standing in shock still facing the opposite direction.
Eventually, Gage pulled himself together enough to catch up to Sydney and walked about five paces behind her. It wasn't more than three minutes later when they reached the building where Carl Light worked. His office was room 134. After asking the man at the main desk in the lobby and flashing their badges they found out where the room was located and walked to it. The door was open and a man was sitting at a huge desk that encompassed nearly three- quarters of the small office.
Sydney spoke as she flashed her badge, "Hi, Mr. Light? I am Ranger Sydney Cook and I am also a resident at the apartment building owned by Kevin Press on Oak Street."
"Hello Ranger Cook, what can I do for you?"
Gage realizing Sydney had no intention of introducing him spoke up. "I'm her partner, Ranger Gage and we need a list of all of your tenants."
"Why do you need a list?" Carl asked.
"Well, last night when I was going for a run, I was attacked by a group of men. I wasn't who they were looking for but I have reason to believe the person they were after might live in my building." Sydney said.
"Okay then," Carl said as he began to type on his computer, "well it is a three story building with 4 apartments on each floor. The third floor only has two of the apartments being used."
"We are going to need a list of the tenants." Gage said.
"Here you go." Carl said as he handed Sydney the page he had just printed. "Should I notify the other tenants to be careful?"
Sydney began, "I will be talking to them soon, so that won't be necessary. Thank you." She didn't want this man to cause unnecessary hysteria amongst the people in her building.
Gage and Sydney left the building; Syd walked about five feet in front of Gage the entire way back to headquarters.
Chapter 5: Ranger Headquarters
It was around two o'clock and Sydney and Gage had spent the past hour and a half reviewing the list of tenants to see if there was anyone else in the building who might resemble Sydney. Gage had ordered in food for them and engulfed his whole sub, but Sydney had left her salad on the corner of her desk untouched.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Gage said.
"Not hungry."
"Okay, figure anything out?
"Well, I noticed that there are ten apartments with tenants including mine. Clearly I am not the one they are after, so that leaves nine. Since the men were probably going after a petite woman, which cuts it down to six, since three of the apartments are occupied by male bachelors. Three of the apartments are elderly couples who never leave after six PM so I am assuming those are out if the guys were waiting at nine-thirty. That leaves three. One is a family of three. Two kids and a father, mother moved out last year. So we have two apartments left. One on the first floor, a twenty- eight year old woman named Sally Kane and one on the third floor, a thirty year old woman by the name of Rebecca Lin."
"So we have two possible people they are after, Sally and Rebecca. Know them?"
"I know Sally; I have talked to her a couple of times. She is tall and blonde though. She looks nothing like me. As for Rebecca I have never seen her. I didn't know anyone had moved in on the third floor recently. IAccording to this list Carl gave us it says she moved in two weeks ago."
"Okay, so we go and talk to Rebecca." Gage said as he noticed Walker, Trivette and Alex come into the room.
"Hey guys, how's the case coming along?" Trivette said.
"We have narrowed it down to one person. We are going to go talk to her." Sydney said.
"Keep us posted." Walker said as the two junior rangers headed out the door. He could sense something weird about the two. "You guys notice something odd about the two of them?"
"Syd has been giving Gage the cold shoulder all morning. I don't know what the problem is though." Said Trivette.
"Lover's quarrel, I bet." Said Alex.
"That could be it!" said Trivette.
"Enough, you two." Walker said as he headed toward his desk.
Chapter 6: Sydney's Apartment Building
After leaving headquarters, they hopped into Sydney's car and drove in silence to her apartment building. Gage wanted to talk things through with Sydney but he was also afraid to start another argument with her. As they pulled into her parking space Gage finally broke the cold silence with, "What apartment is she?"
"302. It is on the third floor. First door to the left of the stairs."
The two rangers walked up the stairs, Sydney once again a few steps ahead of Gage. Just as Sydney was about to knock on the door, Gage grabbed her wrist and said, "Do you hear that?"
Sydney listened for a second and heard glass breaking from inside the apartment. Gage went for the door knob and said, "Cover me." Syd and Gage drew their weapons and Gage opened the door to find five men dressed in all black with ski masks on. Four of the men had their backs to the rangers holding a petite, dark haired woman. He couldn't see the woman's face. The fifth saw them as they came in and pulled a knife, throwing it at the rangers. The knife hit Gage in the shoulder as he fell backwards into a glass table.
"Gage!" Syd yelled as she fired her weapon at the man who had thrown the knife at Gage. Missing him, he came at her while the other four dragged the woman down the fire escape. After Sydney fought with her attacker for a few more minutes he finally tackled her to the ground. She grabbed the ski mask and pulled it off his face. She looked at the Asian man who had her pinned to the ground for about five seconds before he smacked her hard across the face causing her to blank out for a few seconds and leaving himself time to run down the stairs. She looked out the back sliding door and down three stories to see the four men who had taken the woman toss her in a black van. Seconds later she saw the fifth man jump in the van as it proceeded to speed off.
As Sydney cursed herself while she regained her consciousness she turned around to see her partner lying amongst broken glass with a knife sticking out of his shoulder. "Gage," she cried as she ran over to him. He was unconscious but had a pulse. Sydney dialed 911 and within minutes the paramedics had arrived. One of the paramedics took Sydney downstairs to tend to another fresh bruise on her face while the others took care of Gage. The ambulance drove off right as Walker and Trivette showed up in Walker's Dodge Ram. Sydney stayed behind and was going to take her car to the hospital. Walker and Trivette jumped out of the truck to talk to her.
"What happened?" Walker said to Sydney.
She looked at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Rebecca was kidnapped and Gage is hurt."
To be continued.