FBI Headquarters
The cool outside air is what Trivette needed to clear his head and he slowly paced the front of the building while talking to Tavon. His son had his first encounter with a bully today and had gotten attacked. Thankfully Tavon's only physical injuries was a black eye and a few bruises, but mentally he was a wreck. Hopefully he can get home to comfort his son…
"Trivette!" Carter skidded to a stop next to Trivette, his face showing deep concern. "We found another fight! It's Walker."
Trivette shook his head. "Thanks." He stuck his hand in his pants pocket and turned to head back inside. "Tavon, just hang in there. When I get home later tonight we can talk about this…."
"I wish you could come home right now."
"I'm sorry, Tavon but something just came up. I'll be home later tonight." Trivette flipped his phone closed with a loud curse then bolted through the building till he got to the conference room. "Where is the fight?"
Hess pointed to a screen in front of him. "Nearly got his arm broken again, but somehow got out of it."
Trivette sat down to get a better look at the fight taking place right now between Walker and a very large, white male. He glanced over at Carter's notes to see the man's name was Benjamin Ericson, a white supremacist leader from Little Rock, Arkansas. Ericson has spent several years in jail for allegedly killing a man in a bar fight. Which told Trivette he used his size as an advantage, to take down men much smaller than him.
A deep, dark bruise could be seen forming on Walker's right side and judging by his breathing, he must have broken a rib. Trivette bit his lower lip as his friend lunged with another attack, but instead of coming in with fists flying, Walker brought his leg out. Walker's right shin connected with the man's thigh, bringing him to the ground.
"Filthy Half-Breed!" The man scowled as he attempted to put weight on his injured leg. "You will pay for this!"
Not allowing the man to get back up Walker came in and started to pound on the man's face with his left hand. Blood splattered on both men as Ericson's nose and jaw broke with the force of Walker's hits. Walker appeared to have the upper-hand, but as he went in for another punch Ericson powered himself forward and managed to wrap his hands around Walker's neck.
"NO!" Trivette leaned on the table as he urged his friend to fight back. "Walker!"
Compound
Tats' grip was so tight, Walker knew he would snap the hyoid bone in his neck and possibly kill him. Walker tried desperately to pull the man's hands away, but only managed to claw at Tats' skin. His vision began to fade and he knew he was just seconds away from dying. Walker gathered all the strength he had left and reared his leg up to hit Tats in the groin. He hit so hard it actually lifted Tats off of him as tears began to stream down the man's face. Air rushed back into Walker's lungs so fast he actually puked up his dinner.
"Enough!" The referee pulled a wobbly Walker to his feet and held up his bloody right hand. "0535 is considered the winner!"
The lights in the room turned on as a Doctor Galloway ran up to Walker while another man went to Tats. Walker wavered for a bit then collapsed to his knees, his body and mind completely spent from the brutal fight he just had.
Galloway shook his head as he examined Walker's neck. "Any stiffness or pain?"
"Yeah, but I'll be okay." Walker slowly sat up with the doctor's help, his ribs screaming at him with each breath he took. "What are you going to do?"
"Take you to the infirmary to make sure you have no broken bones and send you back to the cell." He shown a light into Walker's eyes. "You've popped a few blood vessels so your eyes will appear bloodshot for some time." He gently pushed against Walker's right rib cage causing him to nearly scream in pain. "Good news, don't feel any breaks."
"That is good news." Walker allowed the man to pull him up to his feet. "Will my team be rewarded for this fight?"
"Most definitely." Galloway slowly helped Walker out of the ring then motioned for Nathaniel to come forward. "Tie the blindfold on loosely."
FBI Headquarters
The computer screen went blank and Hess sighed rather heavily as his hands laced behind his head. Neither of the men in the room spoke, none really had to. Trivette slumped into a chair knowing what he just saw wouldn't help them in the case. Whoever ran these fights made sure not to let any clue slip through.
Carter took a deep breath as his shoulders slumped forward. "The men have been missing for over a month. How can we not find them?" His hand ran down his face as he sat down in an available chair. "Hess, have you found anything at all on Joseph Case?"
Hess shook his head. "He's relatively clean except for the tax evasion warrant." He typed away till he found a file specifically for Case. After he brought up Case's bank statement his head leaned closer to the screen. "Odd…" He flipped through them as he started to jot information down. "He's pulling a lot of money out every week…."
Trivette's head snapped up. "Really?" He glanced up at the screen to see an even twenty-thousand dollars was pulled out weekly. "That's a lot of money."
"Why hasn't this been spotted before?" Carter let out a few curses as he pounded his fist on the table. "He's the man all right." A loud beep on the computer signaled that an email had come through. "Hess, see what that is."
"Right." Hess clicked the email open and saw it had two attachments. He saved them to a new folder, made sure they had no viruses then opened them up. There, staring at them was an image of Gage whose face showed fresh abrasions and bruises. "Must have taken these right after the fight." He clicked on Walker's image then sat back with a grimace. "Wow, he really looks bad."
Walker definitely did look worse than Gage, especially since both his eyes were bloodshot and nasty finger like bruises were forming around his neck. With this clearer image, Trivette can definitely see that Walker's left eye was indeed much paler than his right. Not only that the lid drooped more than usual giving him a strange appearance.
Trivette shook his head. "There is something really wrong with his left eye." He pointed to where the eyelid appeared to sag in the middle. "Wonder why that is?"
"Why did they send us pictures of them?" Carter leaned forward to look at the email again. "It says simply: 'Last image for awhile'. What does that mean?"
Hess blew through his lips as he started to rock the chair. "It could mean a lot of things." He printed the images off then resumed his search on Case. "At least now since it seems we limited our search to only one person, that will make my job so much easier."
The Next Afternoon
After lunch Gage slumbered into the room with the other men knowing the time before dinner was always the most tedious part of the day. The ski mask men always did things early in the day which included training in the small gym and showers. After his cuffs were taken off he went over to the table and sat down to play a game of solitaire.
Aiden sat down next to him and picked up one of the magazines given to the room after Gage's win last night. In fact the room was given five magazines, two notebooks with pencils, several decks of cards and another water bottle for each man. Amazing how the smallest things in life can uplift anyone's spirit. He remembers very clearly coming back to the room with the bag full of items and all his roommates cheering him on in victory.
Truman sat down on the floor with Zadok, Eric and Nathan with a deck of cards and several tokens made out of ads from the older magazines. Gage, knowing the men were starting a game of poker gingerly sat himself down onto the ground. Truman dealt five cards to each man then gave them ten tokens each.
"Thanks for the goods, Gage." Truman glanced up with a smile on his face. "Should keep us busy for awhile."
Eric took a sip of water from his bottle then studied the number on the side. "It's strange how I'm actually responding to 0225. How about you guys?"
Nathan slowly nodded his head. "But it's a way of life now." He threw a few tokens in the center of the circle then drew a new card while putting down an old one. "What's strange is how I've started to adapt to this life."
"I hear that." Gage took a deep breath, read his cards then threw in a few tokens himself. "But we will be found. Just wait and see."
XXXX
In the infirmary Walker sat on the examine table allowing Doctor Galloway to check his left hand which was swollen, but not broken. Turns out his injuries were considered severe and he will have to take a week off to heal. He never found out what happened to Tats, but he learned the hard way that asking questions only led to more pain.
Doctor Galloway pressed on Walker's pinky and shook his head. "Nothing is broken, but your hand has suffered a great deal of trauma." He grabbed four instant ice packs and put them into Walker's bag. "Ice it right before you go to bed. I'll check on it when I x-ray your right hand at the end of the week." He then told Walker to lift his chin up. "How is your neck? Any problems swallowing or breathing?"
"I have problems swallowing." Walker's voice was very raspy and it hurt to talk. "Breathing is fine for now."
"Well, from what I can see your throat is rather swollen and it will take some time to heal up." He wrote something down on Walker's folder. "I'll let the cook know about making you special meals till the swelling goes down." He smiled as he started to pack things into Walker's gear bag. "The fight last night gave us a lot of money. People really like it when you go ballistic like that."
Galloway handed Kyle his workout bag full of supplies for the cell then shackled Walker's ankles together. "Okay, take it easy for the next six days and let the guards know if anything changes in your hand or throat."
Once the blindfold was tied around Walker's eyes, he was led out of the infirmary and towards his cell. With the shackles it was a bit harder to walk, but at least he didn't have to carry his bag. Strange how such a small gesture of kindness actually made him happy. Wonder what he had won for his team?
"Okay, you're at the room, stand still 0535." The shackles and blindfold were taken off giving Walker a view of his current home. "Fighters, keep an eye on him. Anything happens, let us know immediately."
After the door was locked behind him Walker gingerly made his way towards his bunk. Through gritted teeth he climbed up the side, the pain in his side and hand making it hard for him to move. Once on the bed, Walker fell onto his back completely spent and near to the point of passing out.
"Walker!" Joseph ran to Walker's side, his eyes really big. "Are you okay?"
Walker would have nodded his head, but right now any movement caused him pain. "Yeah, just need to rest up." His voice however betrayed him and he could hear several footsteps heading towards his bed. "What did I win?"
"I'll check it out." Came Theo's deep voice. "Wow! Guys we got candy bars!"
Ever so slowly Walker turned his head to get a look at Theo and Hector as they dug through his bag for the items he had won for them. Out came several drawing pads, one more board game, two novels, spare water bottles, and five candy bars. Good, so he did have a good fight after all. Wonder how Gage faired?
Patrick appeared next to Walker, his face showing his concern. "Walker, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just a few bruises." He gave the young man a reassuring smile. "Is there a Snickers bar in there?" His voice was harsh and it hurt for him to talk.
Theo stepped up to Walker with a Snicker bar in his hand. "Here ya go, boss." He held up the remaining five bars so all the men can choose their own. "Been a long time since I've had this much sugar."
Walker took the candy bar, put it by his locker then closed his eyes. "Glad to help you all out."