Alex listened to the phone ring for the twelvth time. Walker, she screamed
inwardly, please pick up the phone!
She heard footsteps overhead; her blue eyes widened in fear. Should she hang up
now or let it ring for just a moment longer? She might not get another chance to
contact Walker, and she had to let him know what had happened!
Suddenly, on the thirteenth ring, the phone was picked up. "Walker." His voice
sounded breathless. Alex's heart leaped when she heard Autumn crying softly in
the background. The baby sounded hungry and unhappy...but at least Alex knew
she was safe.
"Walker." Alex's voice was little more than a whisper. "I...I've been kidnapped."
She was suddenly fighting back tears...just hearing her husband's voice made her
long to see him, and her beautiful daughters. "I don't know who the guy is. He...he
blindfolded me."
"Alex! Are you all right?" Walker's concern showed in his voice.
"I'm all right, Walker, but I think...I don't know what he's planning but...he
scares me. He's crazy, Walker." Alex closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I'm in
a basement. I think I'm in the country somewhere. I'm...just a wild
guess...probably about an hour outside of Dallas. The guy—he calls me Aiosha.
He says he's going to set me free. He—"
Walker heard a creak in the background, and Alex's voice dropped to a terrified
whisper. "He's coming, Walker! I have to go. I love you. Tell the girls I love
them." The phone went dead.
For a moment, the only sound was Autumn's cries. Walker stood very still,
staring at the phone in his hand. "Hang on, Alex," He whispered. "I'll find you.
We'll find you."
Trivette. He had to talk to Trivette.
Quickly Walker placed Autumn's carseat into the Dodge and headed for Ranger
Headquarters.
~~~~~
Trivette was sitting on the couch next to Erica, watching an old movie, when the
phone rang. Trivette answered, a hint of laughter still hanging in his voice. "Yeah,
Trivette."
"Trivette?" It was Walker's voice. He sounded worried. Trivette sat up straight—
he knew that when Walker sounded that worried, it was always something serious.
"What's up, Walker?"
"It's Alex. She's been kidnapped." Walker sounded tired and stressed out.
Trivette could hear Autumn crying in the background. "I need you to meet me at
Ranger Headquarters, Trivette. We've gotta find Alex."
"Will do." Jimmy hung up the phone and leaned over to give his beautiful wife a
quick kiss on the cheek. "Gotta go," He explained quickly. Seeing the worry in her
husband's chocolate brown eyes, Erica asked what was wrong.
"Alex has been kidnapped." Jimmy gently touched his wife's hand. "It's okay,
Erica. We'll find her—you know we will."
Erica fought back tears—she'd become close friends with Alex Cahill-Walker. "I
know you'll do everything you can, Jimmy."
She bit down hard on her lip as she watched her husband sprint out the door.
"Oh, God," Erica prayed, "please protect Jimmy and Walker...and please let them
find Alex before it's too late!"
~~~~~
Texas Ranger Francis Gage was glad to finally be back at work, but he hadn't
expected to have to work this late on his first day back. "Couldn't they give me a
little slack? I'm an injured man!" He complained to his dark-haired wife, who had
thoughtfully stayed to keep him company.
Sydney laughed and made a face. "Francis Gage, you sure do change your tune
fast! You've been trying to convince me for the last two weeks that you're
perfectly fine, but now, as soon as you have to do a little extra paperwork, you're
making it sound like you're on your deathbed." She gave him a quick kiss. "Well,
Sweetheart, I think you'll survive."
Gage frowned, wishing his feisty wife would be a little more sympathetic to his
plight. He made his most pitiful face and was about to reply when the door
suddenly opened and Walker came in. He had his month-old daughter with him,
and he didn't even seem to notice Gage and Sydney, who watched him with
growing concern.
"Didn't he leave hours ago?" Sydney asked Gage, who nodded without taking
his eyes from the older Ranger.
"Something's up," Gage said softly. He stood up and headed over to Walker,
who had sat down at his desk and was fidgeting nervously, obviously waiting for
someone.
"Hey, Walker?" Gage approached Walker's desk. "What's wrong, man? I
thought you went home hours ago." Gage looked at Autumn, his confusion
evident. What, he wondered, is going on here?
"It's Alex." Walker rested his head on his hands. "She's been kidnapped, Gage.
She disappeared from the grocery store—I found Autumn strapped into her
carseat. Then I got a call from Alex saying she's been kidnapped by some psycho
and taken to someplace in the country. She doesn't even know where she is."
Sydney, who had followed her husband, heard Walker's words and gasped
audibly. She leaned over to give Walker a hug. "It's okay," She said softly, trying
to calm him down. "I'm sure we'll find her. She'll be fine, Walker. She always has
been before."
"Yeah, I know." Walker's voice rose slightly. "She's always been fine before! So
many times she's been fine! I just have to think that one of these days, our luck is
going to run out. One of these times we aren't going to be so lucky. One of these
times..."
He was near tears. Sydney had never thought she'd see the tough, experienced
Ranger like this. "Hey," She reminded him, "Luck's not all there is, Walker. God
is looking out for Alex. He's watching over her and He's watching over Autumn.
Why do you think Alex has survived unharmed through so many dangerous
situations? She's under the protection of a higher power."
"Maybe you're right, Sydney." Whatever else Walker might have said was cut
off as Trivette sprinted in.
"Hey." He greeted quickly, out of breath from running. "Walker, man, what's
up? Do you know any more than what you told me?"
Walker leaned back in his chair, an intense expression on his face. Autumn was
fussing again, but he didn't even seem to notice as Sydney gently lifted the baby
out of her carseat, which Walker had unstrapped and brought in with him. Sydney
cradled the small child and spoke softly to her, calming her down considerably.
"Alex said the guy seems psycho," Walker was explaining, "And that he calls her
'Aiosha'. That's all we've got to go on, Trivette—that and the fact that she said
she thinks they're about an hour out of Dallas. It's just a rough guesstimate, but
it's something."
"Aiosha." Trivette repeated, a thoughtful expression crossing his handsome face.
"Aiosha, Aiosha...I could have sworn I've heard that name somewhere before." He
turned on his laptop computer and sat down, punching keys. "Hold on...let me do a
websearch for it."
A few seconds later he gave a low whistle. "Walker, look at this!" He pointed to
the screen. "Aiosha is the name of the heroine in the 'Brystien Chronicles'. It was
a wildly popular sci-fi series written by Martin Williams—came out a few years
ago, I think. Anyway..." His tone grew more and more somber as he read "...this
Martin Williams is a bit of a nut. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder and just about everything else you can think of. Got arrested for
stalking his next-door neighbor..." He gave a low whistle. "He was in a mental
facility for five months, Walker. He just got released six weeks ago."
Walker nodded grimly. "Find out all you can about this Williams guy, Trivette,"
He instructed, then added on a sudden hunch, "and about the Aiosha character in
the book."
Trivette merely nodded. Within a few minutes, he had brought up a complete file
on Martin Williams. "He's thirty-five years old," Trivette reported. "Never been
married...one living parent, a mother...she's been arrested three times for dealing
drugs. His papa committed suicide, looks like...he published several fantasy books
before he hit a gold mine with the Brystien Chronicles. He's...he's apparently
become 'delusional and dangerous' before."
Walker stared at the computer screen for a moment, without really seeing it.
"Trivette," He said finally, "I want you to find out more about the Aiosha
character."
Trivette simply nodded. "You got it, man." He searched for a review of the
Brystien Chronicles, and when he found it and started reading, his heart skipped a
beat.
The review said that Aiosha, the heroine of the Brystien Chronicles, was
supposedly a mortal woman with an ordinary life, completely unaware that once
she died, she was destined to be the queen of some "Astral Colony". The hero of
the story, a man named Steele, knew Aiosha's destiny and did her a service by
ending her earthly life, which at first seemed cruel to Aiosha, until she realized it
was for the better.
Trivette was the one who finally found his voice. "That makes for interesting
fiction," He said softly. "But if this guy starts taking his own story literally..."
"He thinks Alex is Aiosha," Walker stated in a flat voice. "She told me he kept
saying something about 'setting her free'. Dear Lord—he thinks he's going to be
doing her a service by killing her!" His voice rose until he was almost yelling.
"Trivette, find out more about this Williams. Find out everything. We have to
figure out where he is!"
"Okay, Walker. Okay." Trivette swiveled his chair back around to face the
computer screen. For a few tense moments the only sound was the Ranger's
fingers tapping on the keyboard, but then suddenly he spoke. "Walker! His
grandparents, both dead now, owned a place about forty-five minutes out of
Dallas. You think—?"
"I think we've got to get out there! Now!" Walker jumped up, checking his gun.
Trivette and Gage followed, and Sydney started to follow too, still holding Walker
and Alex's month-old child in her arms.
Gage leaned over to give his wife a quick kiss on the lips. "You stay here, Syd,"
He told her. "Take care of Autumn...she looks like she could use a little care." His
eyes held hers for a brief moment. "I love you, Syd."
"I love you too, Gage."
Without another word, he spun and jogged, albeit painfully, in the direction that
Walker and Trivette had gone.
~~~~~
Things had gotten worse when he found her cell phone; she had known then,
from the expression in his eyes, that he was going to kill her. "You'll thank me,"
He had told her confidently. "Once your destiny is complete, I know that you'll
thank me."
Now, some time later, Alex was sitting in the basement, barefooted, her hair
tousled, wondering what was taking him so long. She wished Walker was here.
She wished she could hold Autumn and Angela just one more time, wished she
could be there to hear her second daughter's first words.
"God," Alex whispered softly, "if it isn't Your will to get me out of here, please
take care of Walker and Autumn and Angela. Please, God, please give them a good
life, even if I'm not a part of it." She blinked against the tears that stung her eyes.
She'd faced danger before, but it was so different now that she had a family...now
that she had two beautiful babies who needed her.
The trap door opened. He was coming—it would be now, Alex knew. Unless a
miracle occurred, this psycho was about to kill her, about to take her away from
her family. The most ironic thing of all was that he actually believed, in his own
twisted mind, that he was helping her.
Martin Williams had a gun. He was smiling, a very deranged, satisfied smile,
telling himself that everything would be wonderful after this—he would be free!
She would be free! Free of the pain that life was always inflicting. Free to explore
the endless reaches of space. Free to reign...together.
His own twisted mind couldn't grasp the fact that he was deceiving himself—
that all he believed to be true was nothing but a fantasy story created by his own
mind. He was beyond reality, beyond the point of no return, and Alex Cahill-
Walker was about to become a victim to his psychotic imaginings.
Alex had prayed for a miracle, and at the last moment, as she was watching
Williams point the gun at her heart, one occurred. A car pulled up outside, then
another; she heard the door being beaten down. Martin Williams looked panicked;
he wavered between finishing the job he had started and facing the intruders.
Seeing that he was going to shoot, Alex dove to the side as he pulled the trigger.
She hit her head on a metal pipe and lay stunned on the floor, unable to move,
waiting for the end, unsure whether the first shot had hit her.
"Alex!" Walker shouted when he heard the shot. Fearing the worst, he shot the
lock off the trap door, wrenched it open, and descended the stairs two at a time, his
gun drawn and held in front of him. Reaching the dingy basement, he stopped
abruptly—the man facing him, wild-eyed and disheveled, was obviously Martin
Williams, and the woman lying on the floor.
Oh, God. Walker thought his heart would stop. He was too late...he had failed
her this time. He was so shocked by this realization that he didn't notice when
Martin Williams' gun pointed in his direction. He didn't see the deranged author
start to tighten his finger on the trigger.
"Walker!" Trivette yelled from behind him. Two guns fired as one—Williams',
with his shot grazing Walker's arm, and Trivette's. The bullet from the African-
American Ranger's gun struck Alex's captor in the heart. He staggered backward,
his eyes widening. "Aiosha?" Williams whispered. "Aiosha..." His voice trailed
away and he was dead. The look on his face at that last second, just before life
fled, told all those watching that he had realized, when it was too late, that he
wasn't destined to rule an Astral Colony—a far different fate awaited him.
"Alex." Walker dropped to his knees beside her still form. He reached out to
touch her hand, and her eyes fluttered open.
"Walker?" She looked dazed. "What...what happened?"
"It's okay." Seeing that Alex wasn't badly injured, Walker pulled her into his
arms. "It's okay, Alex. He can't hurt you now." She threw her arms around his
neck and buried her face in his chest—her blond hair was tousled but he thought
she'd never looked more beautiful.
Watching from the background, Trivette and Gage smiled and exchanged looks.
God had been merciful, after all—the Walker children would have a mother to
lovingly guide their steps as they grew into adulthood.


THE END