"Never go fishin' with a man who has been drinkin'...'Cause things just might not work out like you wish...Just leave that fool at home to drink, he would just be as happy fishin' in the kitchen sink...Don't go near the water with a man too drunk to fish" Oh, sorry. I must still have the song in my head. (That last play of the song didn't help any, did it?) Well anyway, here is part three as promised.
Chelsea Meets Her Father
Part 3
Tuesday morning came, and Chelsea repeated her routine from yesterday. When she got off of the bus, she looked around and spotted the same pickup truck from yesterday. It was still too far to read the license plate, so she slowly moved toward it. The driver must have seen her approach because the truck started up and drove past her. She smiled because this caused her to get a license plate number, and she mentally filed it away for later. She didn't see Sean this morning, so she went into the building to get ready for the school morning by going to her locker and getting her textbooks that she will need.
Her first class of the day was math, she walked into her classroom and took her assigned seat. The tardy bell rang and Ranger Jimmy Trivette walked into the room. He placed his briefcase on the desk, and situated himself before beginning the class. "Hello, my name is John Tucker. You will call me Mr. Tucker. I'm your substitute teacher for the next few weeks. Your regular teacher had gotten sick with some food poisoning, but she will be fine." He laid down the school rules and then his classroom rules and told the class that he expected them to follow the rules.
After she had her fill of equations with variables, Chelsea went to her next two periods. She got caught up in her homework from yesterday in homeroom, and learned a few more phrases in her French class before going to lunch. While she was eating, she noticed a Hispanic male watching her from across the street as she was sitting down in the courtyard. The man matched Carlos Rodriguez's description, and she went on full alert as well as added a mental note to somehow mention it to her father this afternoon.
As she came to a decision on how to do that, the bell rang signaling Chelsea that lunch was over and it was time to head to her Criminal Justice class. Her regular teacher covered a lesson on proper search methods. The bell rang for her last class for the day just as she was done with her practice search. She was the first student to walk in to her history class and saw her father sitting behind the desk. She took the note she wrote in her last class and placed it on top of her homework and handed it to him as she passed. She made sure he saw it before she sat down at her assigned seat. She wrote down what she had noticed at lunch, and she knew then that Rodriguez had taken the bait.
Chelsea watched as her father read her handwritten note as the rest of the class came in and took their assigned seats. The last one stumbled in just before the tardy bell rang, and her father got up to close the door. Once that task was out of the way, he started class by introducing himself and looking over the students, stopped briefly at her to give a nod of understanding. "My name is Calvin Washington. You will call me Mr. Washington. Your regular teacher will not be here for the next two weeks, so I will be your substitute." After he made sure that sank in, he started role call and then the lesson for the day. She wasn't surprised to find him making plenty of references to the lengdary Texas Ranger Cooper Hayes, in fact she expected him to do such a thing.
He was in one of his tales as the bell rang, and she listened as the class gave their disappointment, but she knew the tale well enough that she could finish it for him. "Miss Walker, I need to see you privately." Her father requested of her. Chelsea just nodded her head in reply and finished packing her backpack as the others left.
Once she was alone with her father, Chelsea walked up to him and said, "You wanted to see me, Mr. Washington." He looked at her and smiled motioning for her to take a seat. She took one in front of his desk, and he perched himself in front of her on it. He looked her over very carefully, like the time she ran away from her mom and abusive step-dad in Houston when he took in her battered form and beat the living tar out of her step-dad when he tried to retrieve her. This time he was assessing if Rodriguez had shook her up, which he didn't.
"Chelsea, Rodriguez showed himself to his victims just a few days before taking them. Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked his daughter with great difficultly, not really knowing if this trap would work and keep her safe. He got up and closed the door to the room before returning to his seat and the conversation. "Remember when you ran away from your mom and step-dad, and found me at work?" Walker waited for her to nod before resuming, "Your step-dad really did a number on you, and he thought you were his to do as he pleased. He tracked you down a few hours later, and thought he could 'punish' you then right in front of Trivette and me. I handed you over to him to deep you out of the way, while I gave your step-dad a taste of his own medicine. I was angry and mostly scared for your well being then, but this time I'm scared beyond belief for you Sweetheart." He almost choked on the last sentence, and the tears that memory produced in Chelsea's eyes.
Instead of saying anything, she got up and flung herself into her father's comforting embrace and cried all over the front of his shirt. When she managed to control her sobs, Chelsea asked, "Why are you so afraid, Daddy? You never get scared. Not even that time when Alex, Uncle Jimmy, and I were taken hostage by that psycho general and almost drowned in that large water tank." She felt her father's arms slightly tightened at the memory of almost losing her to hypothermia and Alex to drowning.
"Sweetheart, I was scared then. That SOB was playing games with me as he tried to slowly drown the three of you. This time I'm not sure I'll be able to stop Rodriguez from taking you." Walker gently lifted his daughter's face so he can wipe away her tears and that she can see the expression on his face. He wanted her to see just how scared he was for her. "I don't know who is worse your step-dad or me. Granted I don't beat you to a pulp every time I feel like it, but I do put you in danger at least every two weeks if not all the time."
She decided to let her hardheaded father in on a little secret. "Daddy, there is a difference between the two of you. With him I never had the choice of being abused, but you always give me one before allowing me to be I danger. If the courts were involved in my custody, I think they would grant you sole custody of me over my step-dad." Chelsea took a small step back and looked at the clock on the wall. She hadn't realized how late it was, it was already past 4:45 pm. As a matter of fact, the activities bus leaved in about a minute and a half, which was all the way across the school campus. No way was she going to make it in time. Walker noticed her frown just as she was about to explain, "I've missed both school busses. How do I get home now? Also I have a license plate number for you."
Going back on what he said Sunday night, he decided that she was not leaving his sight outside of school. "Change in plans. I'm taking you to and from school starting right now. As for that number, what is it?" He made a mental note of the number she gave him. He put everything in a briefcase he uses for undercover work as a school employee. He picked it up and her backpack, which he handed to her. "Let's go. I've got to stop by the office to check it out before we head home." He led the way out to his pickup truck, and unlocked the doors so they both can get in. He made sure she was buckled in before leaving the parking lot right after he did so himself.
Once Walker and Chelsea arrived at Ranger Headquarters, he told her she could work on her homework while she waited on him inside. She agreed to do so as she followed him inside. She sat down at her father's desk in the chair beside it, and pulled out her homework and began to work on it as he sat down in his chair. Her father picked up his desk phone and dialed dispatch. When the line picked up, he said, "Doris, this is Walker. Could you get me the information for license plate number CUL 8TR, please?" He waited for Doris to pull up the information on the computer screen, and as she recited what was before her he wrote down what he needed and thanked her before hanging up. He nearly shouted, "Gotch ya!" His daughter, who was not expecting that, jumped and nearly hit the floor with her derriere. He nearly chuckled at her expense, but smiled wide at her as she caught herself and resituated back in her chair.
Chelsea saw him smile at her near accident, and scowled at her father. "That wasn't funny, Daddy! I almost hurt myself at your loud remark. What did you find out?" She was really curious as to what made him forget himself. She was really sure that the truck was stolen, if not the plates were. However, she was not prepared for what he told her.
"Rodriguez was dumb enough to use his own vehicle and plates. I don't think that is where he keeps his victims though." Walker heard his daughter's stomach growl, and decided to feed the both of them before it got too much later. "Let me leave a note for Trivette, Sydney, and Gage, then I'll treat you to dinner. Okay?" He waited for her nod as she started to repack her backpack, before making triple copies of the same note and leaving them on the appropriate desks.
Fifteen minutes later, Walker and Chelsea were on their way to the ranch to retire for the day. He stopped by Subway, and got them both six-inch sub meals and ate them there. During the drive, they talked about what would happen if Rodriguez succeeds in kidnapping her. He told his daughter that he would most likely try to break her down before rebuilding her to his standards. He also said that Rodriguez might try to force himself on her. She told him that she understood what that manic might do to her before he tries to kill her.
Late that night, Walker stood in the doorway of his daughter's bedroom watching her sleep. He had only done that twice in his life. First time was when his wife and him had brought Chelsea home from the hospital when she was born. He was afraid to let her out of his sight thinking he was dreaming that. The second time was when she ran away from he mom and abusive step-dad and ran right to him with that bastard right behind her. Then he couldn't believe she was alive with the shape she was in. All those bruises, burns, and cuts over her fragile body. He wondered why he didn't kill that Son of a Bitch when he tried to beat her in front of him. He quietly pushed himself off the doorframe he was leaning on and walked up to her bed. He brushed away the bangs off her forehead, and leaned over and gave her a light kiss.
Walker whispered to her before he left the room to go to his for the night, "I love you, Sweetheart. Don't let Rodriguez break you down, Baby." As he walked down the hallway, he thought to himself. 'Cause if he does, I will kill him with my own two hands. Ranger or not.'
TO BE CONTINUED
