Five Days Later

The afternoon was the hottest to date and all the men in the cabin took refuge inside to find any means to escape the heat. Walker however found himself in the stuffy gym getting ready for his big fight scheduled for later tonight. Though his back was still tense he pushed through the pain in order to prepare himself for whatever may come his way. He worked on kicks, punches and grappling with Zadok, his sparring partner.

After an intense sparring session Walker got a drink of water then sat down to stretch out his legs. As he leaned down the scars on his back began to stretch making it difficult to get his upper-body any lower to his leg. Wonder how that will effect his fighting?

Z sat down next to him and shook his head. "You are an amazing fighter, Nate. I am definitely honored to have fought you and lived." A rare smile spread across Z's face. "You will do well my friend."

Once Walker was done with the stretching he and Zadok made their way to the mess hall to see what the shop had for sale. Once every two weeks Mr. Thompson would allow any fighters with chore and fight tokens to buy things like deodorant, snacks and other products. It kind of gave a sense of normalcy in an otherwise bleak situation.

"How many tokens did they give you this time, Nate?" Walker showed Z a handful of blue tokens which only totaled up to three dollars. "They expect you to buy basic supplies with such little money?" He pulled out a gold token, worth five dollars in the compound. "Here, take it." Walker quickly shook his head. "I have another one."

Walker graciously took the token knowing he will be needing it to buy what he had on his list. He didn't like to take handouts but right now he really had no choice. Because he was injured he only got one blue token, worth fifty cents each a week. Hopefully his fight tonight will earn him enough to buy some new t-shirts and pants during the next sale.

Inside the large mess hall Walker could see men from the other cabins standing in line at their designated shop. Though the guards here allowed free roam it was only in certain areas according to which cabin a fighter lived in. Wonder too much and a fighter would be punished rather severely for disobeying the rules.

He made his way right up to the counter and took out a small slip of paper. The guard, Taylor took a look at it then turned around to get the items. Thanks to Z, Walker was able to get more shampoo as well which he had to point at. After he bought his items he had only a dollar left in his name. Thankfully he got what he needed, but he will have to start working again in order to earn more money.

"Hey Nate!" Z ran up to Walker with his bag of items and pulled out a miniature Snickers bar from his pant's pocket. "Here ya go." Walker stared at the candy knowing such a small piece cost Z three dollars. "Last night was very good to me. I beat my opponent in a style that made Mr. Thompson very happy. He gave me five gold tokens."

"Thank you." Signed Walker.

Z chuckled, a rarity for him. "I at least know that sign." He then did a sign himself, "You are welcome."

On the way back to the cabin Walker couldn't help but notice more of a guard presence. Wonder what had happened? Did he really see camera's in the forest that didn't belong to the compound? If so then maybe, just maybe he and every other fighter from the first ring could be rescued.

Conner came out of the cabin, a look of concern written all over his face. "Miguel and Hound have been looking for you two." He shook his head as he rested his hands on his hips. "Something is going down. They canceled your fight, Nate."

Walker quickly went into the cabin where he was met by Miguel. "0535 and 0220, pack a days worth of clothes and your bedroll. When you are done meet me in the den."

Walker Ranch

The atmosphere at the ranch was much different than what it has been for several months. Alex stood in the kitchen as Trivette and Carter had a nice, long talk in the living room. According to Carter a huge raid was planed for tonight that could possibly get Walker home. Unfortunately she won't know till almost ten hours from now if the raid was successful.

She poured two cups of coffee then made her way into the other room to see that Gage had arrived with Sydney and the kids. Since Gage had come home Joshua's outbursts have stopped and he was now putting all his energy into soccer. As for Meaghan she was excited about her twelfth birthday coming up in a few weeks.

Carter took a cup from Alex then sat down on the couch. "I'll be leaving in an hour to head up to Montana." He took a careful sip of the hot, bitter liquid then shook his head. "Just hope this raid goes as planned." His cell phone began to go off and he quickly got up. "I gotta take this. Be right back."

Alex gave Meaghan's shoulder a pat. "Why don't you go upstairs and see what Tavon and Jaxon are doing." As she ran up the stairs Joshua quickly followed her. Once the children were upstairs Alex fell into a chair mentally exhausted. "Angela should be home any minute from Taekwondo classes. Should make her a snack."

Sydney quickly shook her head. "You rest, I'll fix the snack."

Carter came back into the living room with a scowl on his face. "I gotta leave now. Apparently we've been made." He held his hand up as Alex began to ask questions. "The team is going to move in two hours early. Trivette, we need to find out who leaked the information."

Trivette nodded. "Got it." He gave Alex a hug then went to the door. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

After her friend left Alex shakily lifted the coffee mug and took a sip. With the confirmation of a leak just proved that there was a mole inside either the FBI or DPS. Hopefully Trivette could track down who it is, but Alex feared it could take awhile. Whoever the mole is he or she was incredibly smart and has eluded law enforcement for six months.

The front door opened and in walked Angela with Jackson right behind here. She took one look around, dropped her bag then went to Alex.

"Mom, is everything okay?"

Alex quickly nodded her head. "Yeah, everything will be fine Angie." She gave her daughter a reassuring smile. "How was class?"

"Went really well, Mrs. Walker." Jackson picked up Angela's bag and placed it at the foot of the stairs. "Angie is definitely ready for the tournament."

Angela blushed. "I still have a lot of work to do." She gave Sydney and Gage a hug each. "How are you two?"

Gage innocently shrugged his shoulders. "Doing all right, still adjusting." Alex could see a flash of anger flicker in his eyes. "I'm going to take a walk."

Once on the back porch Gage rested his hands on the wooden railing and took in a deep breath. He didn't know why he felt angry, but he had to control his emotions. Ever since his return home he had severe ups and downs causing him to worry. He thought he was mentally much stronger than this. Maybe if Walker comes home things might change.

"Daddy, are you okay?"

Gage quickly wiped his eyes then turned to his son. "Yeah Josh, daddy's fine." He went to the porch swing and sat down. "Thought you were upstairs with the other kids."

Joshua climbed onto the swing and snuggled into Gage's side. "I'm so glad that you're home, dad."

"Glad to be home." Gage wrapped his arm around Joshua and pulled him into a hug. "Are you ready for kindergarten?"

"Not sure." Joshua pouted as he played with Gage's right shirt sleeve. "I'm small, kids make fun of me."

Gage's left hand gently ran circles on Joshua's back to comfort him. "No kid will make fun of you. Look at your mom, she is one of the best Texas Ranger's out there."

"I hope you're right." Joshua pointed a finger at Gage's right forearm. "Why do you still have the tattoo?"

The simple question shook Gage to the core and he quickly cleared his throat. Should he tell his son, would Josh even understand? Though he was smart for his age Joshua may not quite get the meaning behind the numbers. Maybe Gage could tell his son now and then go into more detail when Joshua got older.

Gage unwrapped his arm from Joshua's shoulder to roll up the sleeve on his shirt. Large, black numbers began to appear, a reminder of Gage's time in the fight ring. Joshua traced the tattoo with his fingers calling out each number as he did.

"Joshua, do you know what these numbers mean?"

"No, what?"

"You know those bad men that took me?" Joshua nodded. "These numbers are so they can find me."

Joshua wrapped his arms tight around Gage's waist. "Then remove it."

Gage took a deep, shaky breath then tightly hugged his son. "Unfortunately I can't. If I do the bad men will take me away again." He quickly wiped a tear from his cheek so Joshua wouldn't see. "Don't worry though, I won't leave you again."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Gage lifted Joshua and sat him on his lap. "How about I take you out for some ice cream? It's been awhile since you and I just had a day to ourselves."

A huge smile spread across Joshua's face. "Honest!" Gage nodded his head. "Yay! I'm going to tell mom!"

Montana

Things had changed and now Walker found himself sitting on the floor of his cabin with Zadok and three other men. Miguel stood in front of the group, his rifle cradled in his arms. He kept pivoting his head as though expecting something, but what? Why the sudden change in the guards? And who were these other men with Zadok and Walker?

Miguel took a deep breath then sat down in a chair across from Walker. "Looks like we'll be here for awhile. You five just relax and talk amongst yourselves."

A small man, probably no taller than five feet stretched his arms above his head as he let out a loud yawn. The numbers, 0153 could easily be seen on his right arm telling Walker that he too had been a fighter at the other ring. Wonder if he also had the brand?

The man turned his head to Walker and smiled. "My name is Toby. What's yours?"

Walker took out his notebook so he can write his responses down. "Name is Walker, but they call me Nate here."

Toby pointed a finger at Walker's notebook. "What's with this?"

Another man, this one black with several tattoos on his arms smirked as he gave Walker a hardy slap on the shoulder. "He's mute." He then smiled. "Name is Steven." He pointed to the man next to him. "This here is Mr. GQ."

"Bradley is my real name." The man shook Walker's hand. "I've heard about you, Nate. You're one amazing fighter. Glad I never got a chance to see for myself." He let out a hearty chuckle. "I know one of my cabin mates sure did and he's still limping."

Walker quickly went through all the fights he had since his arrival to the ranch and knew who Bradley was talking about. There was a stocky man that Walker had to fight two weeks into his arrival here and it ended with him nearly breaking the guy's knee. It was a brutal way to win but it garnered respect for Walker.

A loud commotion made all the men to snap their heads towards the front door. In ran Conner with several other men from the cabin and what was unsettling most carried weapons. Miguel quickly stood up, a look of shock obvious on his face.

Conner pointed at Walker and the other men while walking up to Miguel. "They need to be put into the back room. Another guard will be here shortly to help you out."

Miguel waved for Walker and the other men to get up then led them down the hall. Once inside the room another man, an unknown face to Walker came in with several pairs of handcuffs in his hands.

"Okay, everybody get a bunk and sit on it!" The guard snapped his head to Walker then pointed to the floor by the door. "You will sit right here!"

Walker quickly obeyed unsure as to what would happen if he didn't. The guard pushed Walker to his stomach, forced his arms behind his back then secured them with the handcuffs. Without his hands Walker will not be able to communicate to anybody in the room. He pulled at the cuffs causing the guard to slam his rifle straight into his shoulder.

"Don't move!" He whipped his head around to look at all the other men. "That means all of you!"

Miguel shook his head. "0535 cannot communicate with his hands behind his back."

The man pointed to Walker as he let out a harsh laugh. "He is a pig! A filthy, dirty cop who would have locked your ass away if you had come across him!"

Miguel flexed his jaw then nodded his head. "Okay, so what do we do now, Harold?"

"We just wait. If the FBI makes it here, kill all the numbered men. We leave nobody alive."