Author's Note: From here on out Walker will ONLY speak in sign or through somebody else.

Three Hours Later

It was very early in the morning when Walker stirred from a deep sleep, his body so stiff it ached. At first his mind was in such a fog that he didn't even remember why he hurt so bad. He tried to move which brought on such intense pain in his back he let out a hoarse scream.

"Easy." Came a voice to Walker's right. "Your back was badly damaged, giving you more morphine now." Walker quickly shook his head wanting to deal with the pain then the uncertainty of being drugged. "Gotta do it, or else your body won't ever heal."

Walker slowly opened his eyes to only find his left was swollen shut. Next to him sat a man in a white lab coat, a green mask covering the bottom half of his face. He turned around, picked up a needle then lifted Walker's right hand.

"This is an antibiotic to help fight any infection that comes up." Walker attempted to pull his hand away, but was too weak to fight back. "Don't worry, you will be taken care of from here on out. Your fight brought in millions of dollars for us." He patted Walker's shoulder. "Your room will get a radio which is a huge luxury in the ranch. Not only that, but they get several items for the kitchen. Rest up, I'll come back in the morning."

FBI Headquarters

After the FBI questioned Raphael Gonzalez it was now Trivette's turn. So far the man has remained quiet, only speaking in Spanish when prompted by Carter. Hopefully Trivette will have better luck, especially since he had another card up his sleeve. He picked up the folder he got ready then made his way into the interrogation room.

He sat down in front of the man, placed the folder to the side then laced his hands. "What do you know about the fighting ring?"

"No hable inglés." Gonzalez shrugged. "Arrepentido."

¿"Gonzalez, qué sabe usted del anillo luchador"? He cringed at his Spanish which wasn't the best since Walker usually was the one to translate.

Gonzalez's eyes got real wide as he dropped his head. "You speak Spanish?"

"Enough to get me by." Trivette took a deep breath then shook his head. "What do you know, Gonzalez?"

"I know nothing!" He shook his head. "I just cleaner!"

Trivette rubbed his face. "Any idea where they took the fighters?"

Gonzalez wagged his head no. "Not talk, unless family safe."

"Don't worry, we will make sure your family is safe." Said Carter as he approached the table. "We had agents get your wife and six children from their apartment in Wichita, Kansas. They are now in a safe, secure location."

"All right." Gonzalez took a deep breath. "I heard Montana."

Carter sat down next to Trivette with a nod of his head. "Okay, any idea where?"

"No, señor. Just Montana."

"Who is in charge of the new ring?" Asked Carter.

"All I know, he has name Señor Thompson." Gonzalez began to tear up. "Please, I am cleaner. I know nothing."

Trivette nodded. "I believe him, Carter." He opened the folder then slid a picture across the table. "Recognize him?"

"Sí, he is cero cinco tres cinco. Good man."

Carter nodded. "Thank you." He stood up and gave Trivette a pat on the shoulder. "Let's see what we can do."

Trivette shook his head. "Montana is a big state. Where do we start?"

Montana

Even with the morphine racing through his body, sleep didn't come easy for Walker. But thankfully he will have plenty of time to let his wounds heal. He let out a low moan then attempted to sit up, but the movement brought on too much pain. Boy, the next few weeks for him will definitely be tough.

Movement on his left made him turn his head to see who it was. A guard had stepped into the room and was now heading towards Walker's bed. In his hands was a bottle of water, several word search books and a deck of cards. He put the items on the bedside table while he sat down on a stool.

"Hey, 0535. Name is Miguel and I'll be your personal guard." He shifted his weight around to get himself comfortable. "I'm skilled in sign language." He said while signing the words. "Picked it up in college knowing I might need to use it someday."

Walker slowly nodded his head then signed: "But why the sudden good treatment?"

Miguel laughed. "0535, your fight netted us over three million dollars! That is absolutely amazing." He popped the cap off the water and pulled the nozzle up. "Here ya go, take slow sips." After Walker had three good drinks Miguel pulled the bottle away and put it back on the table. "Doctor Boyd told me because your back is so torn up, I need to have you sleep on your side." He put on a pair of rubber gloves then stood up. "All right, which side?" Walker pointed to his left. "Okay, this will hurt."

Very slowly Miguel began to pull on Walker's injured right arm till he had him resting on his left side. The move was so intense he nearly passed out, instead Walker remained wide awake and felt another pair of hands removing something from his back. This motion caused him to scream as his mind slowly began to fade out.

Two Months Later

The morning sun shone on Angela's face as she awoke for another day, her eyes wandering to her alarm clock. She let out a loud groan seeing it was nearing seven in the morning. Ever since school let out for the summer Angela found herself waking up early. Frustrated she sat up, rubbed her face then swung her legs out from the covers. After a quick stretch she stood and went to a calendar posted above her desk. Here she marked off the day which had a small number written in the corner.

It has been almost six months since her father had disappeared and the chances of finding him alive was getting slimmer by the day. What really worried her was the recent news about the fighters that did come home. Out of the twenty-four men, eight were killed after they had their tattoos removed. This caused her Uncle Gage to be fearful of his own tattoo. There were moments that Angela saw him rubbing his arm as though the ink still burned.

After she gathered up her clothes for the day she went down the hall to take a shower. As she passed her parents room she heard a soft cry. Her poor mother, for so many months she had put up a strong front for Angela. How much more can her mother handle?

Angela shook her head and was about to make her way into the bathroom when a knock on the front door caused her to stop. She knew that knock, it was Uncle Jimmy. Quickly she made her down the stairs wondering what brought him here this early in the morning.

"Angela, who is that?" Came her mother's voice from up the stairs.

"It's Uncle Jimmy." Angela quickly pulled the front door open with a smile. "Uncle Jimmy! What are you doing here so early?"

"I need to talk to your mom." He gave her a smile then a hug. "How are you?"

Angela nodded. "Doing pretty good." She waved for her uncle to come inside then shut the door behind him. "Mom is getting ready." She sat down on the couch with a huff. "Any word on my father?"

Uncle Jimmy gave her an innocent shrug. "Me and Carter are getting close. Still have several satellite images to sort through." He took off his cowboy hat and placed it next to him on the couch. "Why are you up so early, Angie?"

"My mind is still on school time." Angela laughed as she went to the stairs. "Mom should be down in a bit. I'm going to jump in the shower."

Once Angela was up the stairs he took a deep breath then pulled out a small envelope from inside his coat jacket. Inside was four satellite images, all of locations that had the highest probability of holding a fight ring. Currently the FBI had small teams watching each location for any suspicious behavior. Let's just hope something comes out of the week long surveillance and Walker will be found.

He put the envelope down on the coffee table then leaned back into the couch. For the last few months he and Carter have been going nonstop in hopes they will find Walker. Unfortunately this strained Trivette's relationship with his son, Jaxon. Though Jaxon has not hacked in several weeks he still kept himself secluded inside his room. Will their relationship ever be the same after all of this?

"Hey Jimmy." Alex gave him a hug, sat down next to him then picked up the envelope. "What is this?"

"Satellite surveillance photos." He leaned forward as Alex pulled out the first picture. "So far all we have are four locations, two of which are run by some religious organization." He raked his fingers down his face. "If they are run by some church, we can't touch them."

Alex studied the pictures very closely with a frown on her face. "Most of them are in wooded areas. What are the odds that Walker might be in one of these locations?"

"Forty percent." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "We have teams right now surveying the area. Hopefully they will come up with something useful."

Montana

The morning sun shone into Walker's eyes waking him up from a light sleep. He rubbed his eyes then slowly sat up, grimacing as the movement pulled at the scars on his back. Even though his body had several weeks to heal, Walker still felt the stiffness in his muscles. He gently messaged his lower back then swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Conner jumped down from his bed and turned to Walker. "Nate, how's the back this morning?"

"Still very stiff." Walker's sign language has improved immensely in the last month and he was now rather fluent. "Don't worry about me though. You have a fight tonight."

Walker slowly stood up, grabbed his t-shirt from a hook by his bed then put it on. With it being early summer it was now extremely warm in the cabin, only getting cool enough to sleep comfortably at night. He slipped on his flip flops as he grabbed his shower bag from the same hook that his shirt was on. Since his last fight Walker was able to take it easy, only doing light chores and workouts to give his body time to heal. Hopefully today will be one of those days, but he wouldn't know till after breakfast when he looked at the chore sheet.

William let out a loud yawn as he stood up from his bunk. "Man, I'm sore." He rotated his neck as he stretched his arms above his head. "Who wants to go to the gym with me?"

"Yeah, I should go to the gym. You should come, Nate." Conner gave Walker's shoulder a slap then started to box in the air. "Been too long since I've seen ya kick Hunter's ass."

"May not be able to just yet, but give me time." Walker smiled as he nodded his head. "But a good stretch will be good."

After gathering his workout clothes and putting them in a bag Walker made his way out of the cabin. As he made his way across the courtyard several fighters nodded their heads at him. Ever since his fight with Bulldog many men at the ranch now respected Walker. Only a few, like Hunter still harassed him for being a lawman.

Conner gently nudged Walker as he pointed to the gym. "Doctor Boyd is here."

Doctor Boyd gave Walker a smile as he held up a small ointment bottle. "0535, got you a refill on your eye drops."

Walker nodded. "Thank you." He took the drops from Doctor Boyd then put them in his pocket. "When do I need to see you for checkup?" As he signed, Conner interpreted for him.

"Probably in another day. I'll set an appointment up and let Hound know." He patted Conner on the shoulder. "Take it easy on 0535. He's got a fight in a week."

Once inside the gym Walker dropped his bag and took out his eye drops. Ever since his fight with Bulldog his left eye hasn't been the same. His eye had already suffered greatly from Z and after the pounding it took from Bulldog Walker was very fortunate to even keep his eye. However, his vision, which was already very limited was reduced to complete blindness. Not only that but his tear duct was damaged, leaving him with a frequently itchy eye.

"Man, you're falling apart, Nate." Conner sat down on the floor and began to stretch his legs. "But the eye just finishes off the whole assemble."

Walker squeezed a few drops into his eye then put the small bottle in his bag. "What do you mean by that?"

Conner let out his usual bark of a laugh as he shook his head. "Nate, you're all scarred up from who knows what and people like that." He waved a hand at Walker's head. "The Mohawk, tattoo and now the eye makes you look less like a lawman. That's why you're getting so popular. That and you killed Bulldog."

The near mention of the man that Walker killed caused his shoulders to slump forward. "Conner, what I did isn't something to be proud of."

"How many times have I got to tell you this, Nate. Bulldog is a rapist and murderer from some hick town in Nevada. You did the world a favor by killing him."

"Wish I could think that way." Walker sat down on the floor and began to stretch out his legs, but as he bent forward to touch his toes he had to sit back up. The pain in his lower back was still there frustrating him even more. "What would you do, Conner if given the choice?"

Conner shrugged. "I would probably kill my opponent." A big smile spread across his face. "Then I'll be a celebrity, just like you."

Walker quickly shook his head. "I'm not a celebrity."

Z let out a loud snicker. "Nate, the guards even respect you now." He sat down in front of the two men and began to stretch. "Conner, who are you fighting tonight?"

"Some guy who rarely fights, so should be easy." He let out a deep breath as he stood to his feet. "Lets get started. Breakfast is in thirty minutes and I don't want to be late."

Fort Worth

The streets were nearly empty as Gage drove his car towards C.D.'s Bar and Grill. For the first time in four months he will be meeting up with his old roommates. Wonder how they were doing? He knew Aiden changed his life drastically and had even gone back to college with money donated to him by several businesses and private contributions. Who would have ever thought a druggy from Houston could actually get his act together?

He pulled into the near empty street leading up to the stockyards then turned into a communal parking area. After several minutes of controlling his emotions he got out and headed up the street. It still felt a bit strange to have so much freedom but he was slowly adjusting himself back to normal life.

Once inside C.D.'s Gage took a look around till he spotted Nathan's thin frame sitting in a far booth. Gage quickly made his way over to the table then sat down across from the man. Though it would get warm today both men wore long sleeve shirts to disguise the tattoos on their right arm.

Nathan took a sip of orange juice then gave Gage a smile. "How's the family?"

"Doing good." Gage glanced at the door as Aiden and Eric came in, the former looking small walking next to the latter. "Joshua's birthday is coming up in a few months. Need to figure out what I'm going to do for him." He scooted over so Aiden can sit next to him. "Hey you two. What's going on with ya'll?"

A huge smile spread across Aiden's face. "Doing excellent. Been sober for six months and counting." He took a drink of water then chuckled. "Hell, I haven't had any stimulants like caffeine for several weeks and I feel great."

Eric laughed. "And I'm getting use to city life." He shook his head. "But I'm glad to be away from my little farm town. Too many questions and nosey old ladies."

"How is it like to be roommates?" Asked Nathan.

"Doing good." Aiden ordered his meal then laced his hands on the table, a frown going across his face. "Did anybody go to Truman's funeral?"

Gage shook his head. "I heard that only his close friends and family were allowed to attend." His left hand began to rub his right arm as his eyes drifted to Aiden's visible tattoo. "Can't believe they're watching us."

"They aren't the only ones." Nathan pointed to a couple sitting several seats away from them. "I'm getting real sick and tired of people staring at me like I'm some sort of freak show." He gave Eric's shoulder a good nudge. "Let's go."

Aiden's jaw dropped as he stood up from the table. "And I just ordered my food."

Nathan gave Aiden's shoulder a pat. "Don't worry, we'll go to another restaurant…."

Mabel, the owner of C.D.'s quickly went up to the men shaking her head. "Sorry about that fellows. Follow me there's a place in the back that you can eat."