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.
Search Party Part 5
Chapter 17: Ranger Headquarters
Within an hour of Trivette stepping out of the company B office door, he was running back in with names of the two men that they seen in the surveillance video.
"Okay, Walker. The two men in the video are Ned Barker and Carl Radley," Trivette began as he walked up to where Walker was seated at his desk. "Both have minor scrapes with the law, a few breaking and entering charges, some assault charges. Barker did a year in Huntsville for possession and was released in January. Radley was in about the same time for armed robbery."
"Do we have addresses on either of them?" Walker asked.
"They were both set up in the same half way house and both left in March. The addresses they fed their parole officers are phony. So for about a month, they have just seemed to have disappeared. However, I cross referenced everyone else who may have been released around the same time and I found two other names of people who were released within a month of these two who were also sent to the same half way house. One of them, Bob Harlowe also has vanished, but Greg Gordon I have a viable address for."
"Where is it located?" Walker asked.
"A farm house on the outskirts of Dallas about a half and hour away." Trivette answered.
Just then, Alex came running into the office. "I have some news, guys." She began as she handed Walker some pictures and a note. "These arrived via messenger to the governor's office twenty minutes ago."
Walker flipped through and saw pictures of Gage and Sydney in a small cement room. The note said, "They are alive for now. Our demands are safe passage into the next state and 3 million dollars. The account number where the money should be deposited is listed below. We want safe passage through border checkpoint four into Arkansas. Once the money has been deposited and we are safely across the border, we will tell you where you can find the two hostages."
"In the pictures, it looks like they could be in the basement of the farmhouse you have an address for. Let's check it out. Alex, don't give into these demands just yet. We may have found them." Walker said as he grabbed his black Stetson and headed out the door.
Chapter 18: Yard of the Farmhouse
"Don't shoot!" Sydney cried out.
"Okay, little lady," Carl said, "I won't shoot him, yet."
"Who are these two you guys picked up?" John Slim, the mastermind behind the entire kidnapping asked the four men who were working for him.
"We don't know," Bob started, "but they are not an ordinary married couple."
The captors grabbed Sydney and Gage and cuffed them to the posts so that they could pump them for information and also to keep them from trying to escape again.
"We don't have time for this!" Slim yelled. "We are supposed to be out of the state by now. But since I cant trust you people to kidnap and kill a few people and dispose of their bodies where I need them to be found, I guess I'm going to have to kill them and leave them here."
"You can't kill them and leave them here! I'll be charged with murder!" Greg shouted noting that this is his property.
"Plus, no one is killing anyone else until we see some green." Ned started.
While the captors argued amongst themselves, Sydney and Gage struggled to free themselves from their handcuffs but to no avail. The other hostage who the men had most recently kidnapped was sitting on the ground next to Gage and Sydney.
"Hey, what's your name?" Gage asked the girl.
"Leann," she shyly answered.
"You aren't hand cuffed and I have the keys in my shirt pocket to these hand cuffs. Do you think you could help us out?" Gage questioned.
"I don't know. If they see me helping you, they will kill me. I knew dating this guy would be a bad idea. . ." the girl said as she wrapped her arms around her knees.
The men were still arguing about thirty feet away from the prisoners so Sydney began to grill the girl for information. "Who are these guys?"
"The one in charge is John Slim. I have been dating him for a little while. Turns out his brother is wanted for murder and John is helping him escape from the cops. You guys are only here to throw the cops off. They are gunna kill you as soon as they stop arguing. And they are taking me with them for insurance purposes. No one will hurt them if I'm with them."
"Why don't you help us out and we promise we will help you out." Gage said.
"What can you do?"
"Uncuff us and we'll show you."
The woman quietly took the keys from Gage's breast pocket of his shirt and slipped them into his hands and then quickly sat down again. Gage undid his and Sydney's cuffs making sure not to let on that they were free.
"Gage, look," Sydney stated as she tilted her head back nodding toward the house. Walker and Trivette were hiding around the corner of the house waiting to take the men down.
"Okay," Slim said as the six men came over towards Gage, Sydney and Leann. "the time has come to release you, so to speak. We don't need you anymore." Gage and Sydney were still pretending they are attached to the posts.
"But before we end your lives," Ned said as he flipped Sydney's hair and Bob put his arm around Gage's shoulders, "we have to know, who are you?"
"We would be Texas Rangers," Sydney firmly stated, "and you are all under arrest."
At this point Trivette and Walker had come up behind the men and each flew into two of them. Trivette threw punches and jabs at Greg and Carl, easily taking both men down. Gage flung Bob off of him and with a few hard kicks to his midsection took the man down. Walker took on Slim and Colburn and, though both men were stubborn, then both went down without much of a fight.
Sydney took the liberty of elbowing Ned in the chin and used her fighting skills to take him to the ground. Once he was down for good, she looked at him and said, "Not bad for a little lady, eh?" Gage put his arm around her shoulders as she leaned into him while they both shared a chuckle at her comment.
Trivette helped Leann up as Walker headed towards his Ram to call for back up.
Chapter 19: CD's Bar and Grill later that evening
After all that had transpired over the past day, the group went to CD's to unwind and celebrate the safe return of Sydney and Gage.
"Well," Trivette began, "I bet those accommodations must have really great in that cellar you were in."
"Yeah, Trivette, the accommodations would have been great it we had been in prison for ten years prior." Gage commented.
"Oh, I'm sure it was awful." Alex commented.
Sydney's mind wandered back to the moment in the cellar when Gage and her had shared a kiss and an embrace.
"Are you all right, Sydney?" Walker asked noticing she seemed distant.
"Fine," she stated snapping back to reality. Suddenly she got up and said, "I'm sorry. I have to go. I am really beat." And like that, she flew out the door.
Gage looked at the rest of the people at the table and quickly said, "I'll see you guys later." And also left CD's.
After hurrying out the door hoping to catch Sydney, he looked around and noticed Sydney standing against the building a little to the left of the windows. "Are you okay?" Gage asked her as he trotted to stand beside her.
She was so unsure of what had happened between her and Gage. After a minute of silence, she looked at him and said, "what happened in that basement between us. . ."
"Would have been much better if it wasn't in a basement." Gage interjected.
"Do you really care about me, Gage? Or was what we said only said because we thought we might die?"
"I really care about you, Syd." Gage said as he stepped closer to her and smiled.
"Just checking," she said.
"Do you really care about me?" he asked as he positioned himself only inches away from her.
"I guess so," she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Hey!" Gage said as his jaw dropped acting surprised that her response wasn't as genuine as his was to her. "You better care about. . ."
"Gage?" she interrupted.
"Yeah?"
She began to softly laugh as she took one hand, grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him towards her. "Kiss me." She said as once again their lips were locked.
From the window, Trivette and Alex had crowded around, they could see the two junior rangers sharing their intimate moment. "Walker, get over here and look at this!" Trivette said.
"I don't want to. I am not nosy like the two of you." Walker said as he remained at the table sipping his coffee.
"We are not nosy!" both Alex and Trivette shouted in unison.
All Walker could do was stare at them and laugh.
