Chapter Five
The Abandoned Cellar
"Umm, Mom," Chris slowly got out, "What… happened."
"Oh thank God," Syd whispered out taking Chris' hands in hers.
"You tell us what happened," Gage coaxed his son helping him to sit up.
As his hand moved to his head his fingers rubbed over the outside of his pocket bringing a slight smile to Chris' face in spite of everything. "Got your badges back," he drawled out as he reached into his pocket to hold them out.
"Christian Francis!" Sydney admonished him much in the same way she would his father.
"Sorry Mom," Chris apologized having heard the tone many times before.
"Chris what happened?" Gage questioned his son as he helped steady him.
"I got this call… They said if I wanted to keep you two alive I'd better follow all their instructions to the letter," Chris began to tell the story.
"Oh Chris didn't we teach you better then that?" Syd began catching Gage's eyes realizing that even though she and her partner both knew better they would have done the same thing. With tongue in check she gave her son's hand a squeeze saying, "What else Honey?"
"Not much I just pretended that it was Uncle Walker on the phone and that he wanted me to come down to headquarters."
"What exactly did the voice on the phone say to you?" Gage asked.
"Like I said they threatened to kill you and Mom if I didn't do exactly what they told me. Even though I know all the rules I just couldn't take the chance with your lives," Chris pleaded his case.
Gage nodded his understanding as his son continued finishing with the fight in the old barn and the jab of the needle that knocked him out.
"The same as they got us," Syd spoke aloud to herself.
"So now what?" Chris quizzed his hand going to his temple wooziness from the drug still clouding his mind.
"Not much we can do but wait," Syd supplied.
"Yes but they've made their first mistake," Gage grinned both Syd and Chris giving him a sideways look.
"How so?" Chris asked.
"They evened the playing field a little more when they dropped you in here," Gage smiled knowing Chris could hold his own as well as he or Sydney.
At The Gage Residence
Angela Walker pulled up out front at the Gages' house. She had waited all day without even a hint to what was going on and in her mind she had waited long enough. Besides she felt her place was with Chris, she knew if her parents were missing she would want Chris by her side.
Shutting off the car she pushed open the door extending her shapely leg to the pavement. Angela was the picture of her mother right from top of her head to those great legs. Sliding out from behind the wheel she walked up the driveway past Aunt Erica's and her mother's cars. Even before opening the back door though a feeling of true apprehension began to descend over Angela that Cherokee sixth sense that her father was blessed and sometimes cursed with. Catching sight of her mother she simply asked, "Any news?" the whole room going silent around her.
"Angela what are you doing here?" Alex questioned her daughter.
"I just wanted to give a little moral support to Chris," she innocently answered her heart beginning to pound with a fear of the unknown rising in her. Catching Alex's face along with the faces of everyone else she questioned her mother, "What is it? What's wrong? Where's Chris?"
"Angela," her mother had gone to her side her arm going round her daughter there was no easy way to say this. "Honey it seems Chris got a phone call this morning, we think that it was concerning his mom and dad. Anyway he left under the assumption that he was going to ranger headquarters… nobody has heard from him since."
"Mom no," the words were coming out in disbelief Angela's head was shaking no. "There has to be some sort of explanation. Where's Daddy? I have to speak to Daddy," she distraughtly cried.
"Your father is out with the others doing his job you know he'll find them," Alex was soothing Angela who was sobbing now against her mother's shoulder.
"This is just so surreal," she whispered trying to compose herself.
"I know Honey…"
"But what if…"
"Don't even think it Angela, they are going to all be found and everything will be fine," Alex answered the unfinished question with the blind faith that she had, had for years when it came to the abilities of her husband. "This is the hard part," she continued encouraging Angela as she looked into her eyes, "The hard part where we wait and are strong for each other."
Swallowing hard Angela shook her head yes and with the Walker determination coupled with the Cahill tenacity she steeled herself to the same faith that her mother had demonstrated over the years.
Just Outside Ranger Headquarters
"That was a complete and waste of time," Chafe had muttered as they left the Talos' mansion, even before he had the door closed on Walker's ram. "I'd give anything to able to mop the floor with John Talos both senior and junior," he continued to rant his thoughts wholly with his wife and her family, no his family too.
"It wasn't a complete waste of time we learnt for sure that they are behind it," Walker acknowledged.
"Am I missing something here?" Chafe's attention was on Walker.
Captain Walker sat silently in thought looking through the windshield, a slight frown on his face finally answering with what his Cherokee upbringing had taught him. "The old man is the better actor but even so you could see he was preoccupied. Laying the truth out before them shook both of them up especially John junior. I'm sure he's the one who orchestrated things under his father's direction of course. I'm quite sure he felt that he was very clever and above the law so clever that we would never guess it was him.
"You got all that from that simple interview?" Chafe asked amazed at the astuteness of the seasoned ranger.
"It wasn't what was said it was what wasn't said," Walker had answered putting the truck into gear.
Both men lapsed into their own thoughts until they reached headquarters where Walker pulled to the curb. As Walker threw the truck into park Chafe pushed open his door to jump out, but before his foot could touch the pavement a round of shots were fired into the passenger side of the vehicle.
"Chafe, Chafe," Walker shouted as he crouched down, gun drawn, eyes trained on the skyline where the shots had come from. "Chafe," again he shouted with still no answer.
The Abandoned Cellar
"This waiting is killing me," Chris complained bitterly to his parents as he paced their prison.
"Chris come sit down," Gage commanded as if Chris was as young as Cody still.
"Man how do you two do it? How can you be so, so calm, unworried? " he questioned his eyes going from Sydney to Gage and back to Syd again thinking both were awfully calm and cool about their predicament.
"Oh we get upset all right," Syd replied her own eyes travelling to her husband.
Gage didn't have time to respond their jailers were back and the bar was being pulled away unlocking the door, opening the prison that held them.
"Rollins, answer me Rollins," a voice from above called down to them.
"Rollins?" Syd hissed the question at her partner who shrugged back.
"I don't know who you are or who you think you got down here," Gage answered for them, "But you have Rangers Gage and Cooke down here with our son."
"Oh I know full well who you call yourselves, but I also know the truth, you're Rollins," the voice above snarled.
Seeing he was getting no where Gage tried a different tactic, "You seem to know who we are why don't you tell us who you are?" he questioned.
"Who am I?" the voice sounded in amazement as he repeated himself, "Who am I? As if you don't know."
He paused for only a moment before flying into a tirade of angry words condemning Daniel Rollins. "It was your father, Daniel Rollins, who sent me and my father into a living hell. My father Amos was old, he had a bad heart, he gave your mother a job at his factory and your father repaid him by sending him to jail just for protecting what was his. Your father sealed my father's death by testifying against him for a crime he didn't commit."
Again Gage looked at Sydney and Chris shrugging his shoulders to indicate he had no idea what the man was ranting about. Once again Gage tried, "Like I said before we don't know any Daniel Rollins and our name is Gage."
The once vicious old man began to laugh a hysterical, maniacal, evil laugh suddenly stopping to shout down. "Now you see what kind of a man Daniel Rollins is, see what kind of a liar he is! The man lied to his own son, went to the grave with knowledge that his son wasn't really a Gage, he was a Rollins, a lying, cheating, son of a bitch Rollins. Now Rollins you're going to pay for that!"
With that a cardboard shoe box was hurled through the opening the top flying off and an array of newspaper clippings and papers came raining down on them. Then with the loud slam of their prison door they were left to wait once more.