Writer's Note: When I have Walker talking later in the chapter he is actually writing things down. :)

Fort Worth, Texas

With Angela secured safely in one of the rooms, Trivette made his way towards Carter's office not believing that the case could be broken by a teenager's squabble. Could it really be that simple? With his mind on other things Trivette didn't see Agent Carter till he collided right into him.

Agent Carter shook his head. "Just the man I've been looking for." He held a photo in his hand. "A man showed up in Chama, New Mexico a small town right on the Colorado border." A smile crept across his face. "Colorado! We got a team right now searching that state high and low…."

Trivette took the picture from Carter and saw a very worn out, but otherwise healthy man. He could see the man's left eye drooped eerily like Walker's and his nose was badly crooked. Obviously a fighter, but how good?

"He wondered into the town with just boxers on." Carter shook his head. "Apparently he had been tranquilized and was still out of it when the sheriff attempted to talk to him. Tried to fight back, but had no energy to do so." Carter handed Trivette another picture, this one showing a very healthy male. "This is him, three months ago. Name is Brody Jenkins. Went missing out of Gallup, New Mexico."

"Did any more men suddenly show up in other towns?" Asked Trivette.

Carter flashed Trivette his trademark grin. "Sure did." He magically produced another picture, this one of a rather thin black man. He didn't seem as healthy as Jenkins and appeared rather pale. "Jerome Bates, went missing from Biloxi, Mississippi. Found himself in a hotel room in Springer, New Mexico." He led Trivette to a now very busy conference room. "What do you see?"

Trivette noticed the blue flags signaling where the men had been found and instantly spotted a pattern. "The towns all follow Route 25."

An agent appeared with yet another picture, this one of an Asian man. "Charlie Lin from Houston, Texas called from a hotel room in Trinidad, Colorado." He pinned a blue flag on the map. "A brief talk with lawmen from all the towns point to one connection; they were roommates."

"Roommates?" Trivette let the word sink in till all his fatigue and stress went away. "Of course! We suspected early on they were fighting in teams, this just confirms it! That would explain the colored shorts."

Another agent stepped up to Trivette with a disturbing photo. "The men were freshly tattooed with numbers." He showed him pictures of all three men holding their right arm up. "Inside the right forearm and nowhere else."

Trivette saw Lin had 0154, Bates 0150 and Jenkins 0152, the numbers were about an inch in diameter making them much bigger than what most Holocaust victims had tattooed on them. Why tattoo the men? Tattoos can now be easily removed, it made no sense. Wonder if Gage and Walker would be treated the same way?

He rubbed his face. "Okay, Carter go ahead and send your guys to those cities. Have them talk to the men and see if they remember anything about where they've been kept." His hand slapped his forehead as he remembered Angela's fight at school. "Carter, remember that body found in Littleton, Colorado?" The agent looked a bit confused. "Vincent Harvester was found in an alley near a motel, naked and soaked in bleach."

Carter snapped his fingers as his eyes opened wider. "You think he was connected?"

"Angela got into a fight at school with a gal named, Kelly Harvester." He took a deep breath as he placed his hands upon his hips "Kelly told Angela that her uncle had gone missing the same time…."

"I got it!" Carter quickly went to his desk, sat down and started to type away. "When Mr. Harvester was found, we knew nothing about him and when we did a search, he came up clean." He began to nibble on his bottom lip as he searched through AFIS. "He has to be connected somehow…."

"Things are starting to point to it. Let's just hope we find Walker and Gage soon."

Somewhere Near Vona, Colorado

The first thing that greeted Gage as he awoke was the deep throb in his head making him moan out in pain. He didn't really want to open his eyes, but knew he eventually had to. He licked his lips then slowly lifted his head away from the fabric underneath him. After a few minutes he finally got his eyelids to open and what he saw confused him.

Before him sat a side table with a lamp, an alarm clock and a white hotel phone. His mind swiftly cleared as he bolted upright from the bed he had been laying on. He was only dressed in the white boxers given to him by the ski mask men, however he was comfortably warm. His brain had a hard time figuring out where he was and he took several glances at his surroundings.

"What the hell?"

He slowly stood, grimacing at a sharp pain in his forearm. Taking a look he saw the numbers 0221 tattooed in bold, black lettering. This just added to his confusion and he slowly stumbled forward till his eyes caught sight of something on a table. Slowly he approached to see the picture of his kids, a manila folder and white business envelope with his number written on it.

Blinking away the haze he opened the white envelope and pulled out the small note inside. It simply read: Call home. This got his curiosity to rise and Gage went to the phone and picked it up. His heart began to flutter at hearing a distinct dial tone. Was he really free?

Instead of calling his wife, he decided to dial Trivette's number however it didn't go through. Where the hell was he anyway? He pulled open the side table's drawer and found a very thin phone book. His head snapped up after he read the city he was in, not believing it was true. How could he be in Colorado?

Knowing where he was he tried again to dial Trivette's number and was successful. His friend answered the phone, his voice showing confusion.

"Hey, Trivette." Gage's voice was gruff from sleep. "It's Gage. I'm in a hotel room in Vona, Colorado. Not really sure how the hell I got here though."

"Gage!" Trivette's voice was so loud Gage had to pull the phone away from his ear. "Stay right there! I'm going to catch the next flight into Colorado."

Gage blushed as he looked down at his nearly naked body. "Can you bring me some clothes? I only have boxers on." His heart began to flutter once again. "Should I call Sydney?"

"Let me talk to the FBI agents here then I'll call you back. Man, it's great to hear from you, Gage! Are you all right?"

"I think so, though I have a tattoo on my right arm." His mind became even clearer as another thought came to him. "Walker! Is he back yet?"

"Not yet." Trivette's voice showed his concern. "Hopefully it'll be soon."

Compound

The lunchroom was quiet as usual, but the atmosphere was a bit more depressing. Walker slowly ate his meal which consisted of some fruit paste and something that tasted like grits. Though not the most disgusting thing he has ever had it was definitely the strangest. After painfully swallowing a scoopful of grits he glanced up at Joseph to see the young man had gotten the usual peanut butter sandwich meal. He too had been tattooed, but he wasn't branded like Walker.

Joseph glanced up from his meal, his hazel eyes showing deep sadness. He picked at his chips before popping one into his mouth. It seemed all the men's attitudes had turned sour after the tattooing as though the act had killed their hopes. He will need to have a pep talk with the guys once they get back into the cell. That is if he could still talk.

It took a bit longer to eat his meal, but once finished Terry gave Walker his three water bottles then unshackled him from the table. The ski mask men did the usual routine of handcuffing the men together before leading them back to the cell. For some reason the usually short walk seemed like a death march to Walker.

Once back into the room, the cuffs were taken off and the men dispersed to their bunks. Walker sat at the table making sure he didn't bump his arm. Currently it was wrapped tightly with shrink wrap, but that didn't stop the pain and the itching. However it was nothing compared to the agonizing burn above his right ear.

Joseph sat down next to him with a pad of paper and pencil. "What is with the burn?"

"I think some type of branding." Walker wrote.

The young man shook his head. "We're like cattle to them. Why you and nobody else?"

"I'm being taken away to another location." Walker took a deep breath then cringed as the action caused him slight pain. "Not sure where you all are going though. But I have a good hunch that you all might be going home."

Patrick walked up read Walker's note then shook his head. "And what about your throat? I saw you during lunch, you can barely get food down." A genuine look of concern crossed his face. "Boss, you've lost so much weight in the last few weeks, you honestly don't look too good. You need medical attention…"

Walker held up his hand. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Fine? You call not being able to talk or eat, fine?" Patrick lifted his right arm up to show Walker the 0533 tattooed on it. "My daughter will be five months old in a few days and I'm not there to see her grow up!" Tears started to fall from the young man's eyes. "How am I suppose to explain this to my family?"

Hector shook his head. "Hey man, relax! Boss will be fine and you read what he wrote, we all might be going home…." His voice faded. "Just wish Walker could go home as well."

"Let's not jump to conclusions. Let's see what tomorrow holds." Theo made himself comfortable on the bunk bed. "Just relax guys. If Walker says he's all right then he's all right. But just in case, keep an eye on him."

Vona, Colorado - An Hour Later

In the hotel room, Gage stood watching the FBI and Sherriff's department comb over the room wondering when Trivette will show up. He really wanted a friend right now, a link to his old life. Currently his mind still had problems adjusting to what was going on which put him a bit on edge. One minute he was living in a very structured life; the next chaos. Now if he had time to take things all in, he wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

An older gentleman with bright, white hair approached Gage with a gentle smile. "My name is Doctor Gillian." He shook Gage's hand then waved for him to sit down on the only chair in the hotel's small room. "I'm quite amazed that whoever took you kept medical records." He lifted Gage's manila folder and opened it up. "Says here, your last weight check was a week ago, along with some blood work. Everything came out normal, except you've lost twenty-two pounds."

Gage knew he had lost weight, but he never realized how much till now. He didn't say a word, instead he remained quiet, unsure of what to say next. Doctor Gillian scanned the entire file then gently took hold of Gage's right hand to study the tattoo.

"Seems to be healing nicely. Does it hurt?" Gage shook his head. "Okay, once your Ranger friend gets here, we're going to transport you to the nearest hospital."

A knock came at the door and a deputy quickly went to open it. "Come right in, Ranger Trivette and Agent Carter."

Trivette made his way into the hotel room and when he spotted Gage a huge smile spread across his face. "Gage! Oh man, it's so good to see ya!"

Gage's heart soared as he wrapped his arms around his friend. "It's so good to see a familiar face again!" He pulled back to get a good look at Trivette's face. "Any news on Walker?"

"No, unfortunately not." He took a deep breath then waved at the man next to him. "This is Agent Carter, he's been working with me for the last three months."

Carter shook Gage's hand with a smile. "Nice to finally meet you." He handed Gage a small, gym bag. "Trivette got these for you."

Gage peered inside to see a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and clean boxers. "Thanks, let me go change real quick."

He ran to the restroom and started to change into the clothes brought up by Trivette. As he put on his jeans the realization of his weight loss really hit him. The pants no longer fit and in fact he needed a belt in order to wear them. For the first time in several weeks, Gage decided to finally look in a mirror. And what he saw made his heart sink into his stomach.

The man staring back at Gage did not look familiar, there was no way it was actually him. Gage's once stocky frame was now rather thin, so much so he could actually count his ribs. He leaned forward to get a better look at his face and shaved scalp. It seemed strange to see him without his hair, wonder how his kids will take to it?

After a few more minutes of staring at himself, he put the t-shirt on then stepped out of the bathroom. Trivette seemed to have not moved from his spot and Gage could see sadness creep over his face.

"I need a belt, my pants no longer fit me." He slowly inched his way towards his friend with a smile on his face. "Don't worry, Trivette I feel pretty good. I've just lost some weight." His smile slowly faded away as his mind went to one thing. "Can I call Sydney?"

Trivette reached into his coat pocket then handed Gage his cell phone. "Go right ahead. I know she's been looking forward to it."

Fort Worth, Texas

Being back at home seemed strange for Sydney, however she couldn't stay at the Walker ranch any longer. She felt as though she was smothering Alex and had to get away in order to spend some time alone with her kids. Meaghan had returned to school and Joshua spent half of his day at a preschool located just down the street. In about an hour she will pick up her son and take him out for a treat before Meaghan came home. She needed to do something to get Joshua's mind off of that phone call.

Her cell phone started to vibrate and she quickly went to pick it up. "Sydney Gage."

Silence. "Hello? Anybody there?"

"Sydney, it's so good to hear ya voice."

Sydney collapsed onto the couch as tears streamed down her face. "Gage, is this really you?"

"Shorty, of course it's me." His voice slightly shook with emotions. "How are you?"

"I'm doing really good." Sydney let out a soft whimper as her hands shakily went to wipe away her tears. "Where are you at right now? Can you talk?"

"I'm in Colorado right now, near the border of Kansas." He took a deep breath. "I can't talk for long, FBI wants me to get checked out at a hospital. I just wanted to let you know I'm safe. Give Josh and Megs a hug and kiss for me."

Sydney slowly nodded her head. "I will. When can you go home?"

"Not sure, but Trivette said you can come up here." Gage paused for a long time then took a deep breath. "Don't bring the kids, they may not know what to do."

"Okay." Sydney took a shaky breath then grabbed a piece of paper and pen. "Okay, give me the information. Should I bring anything up for you?"

Gage chuckled, a sound that made Sydney's heart flutter as though she was hearing her husband's laugh for the first time. "Just more clothes." He took a deep breath. "Can't wait to see you again, Sydney."