Last Chapter:

Syd opened her eyes and looked him right in the face as he got ready to shoot her. This was the end . . .

She held her breath as his finger moved to the trigger, and then . . . her phone rang, again.

This caught him off guard and he forgot that he was about to shoot her. Sydney took this time to stall,

"That's my phone again, if I don't answer then people will come looking for me. Please! Just let me answer it!"

He glared at her, but his voice came out softly as if her was uncertain,

"Fine, make it quick."

Syd was surprised, she had not expected him to give in so quickly. She had been sure that by asking him to let her answer the phone would be the last thing she ever did. He held the phone up to her ear and she said,

"Hello?"

"Sydney Cooke?" said an unknown voice from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, who is this?" she asked.

"This is Brian, don't you remember me?"

Sydney thought for a moment, then gasped.

"Brian! Why the heck are you calling me?!"

"Sydney, I know ya hate me, but listen to me for a second will ya?!"

Sydney frowned, wondering why Brian was calling her. He was her x-boyfriend from about five years ago. Not even a boyfriend. They had only gone out on two dates. The first date hadn't been that great, the second was horrific. He was a drug addict and a criminal. On the second date he hit her when she refused to let him have his way with her.

"Sydney, I know you're a ranger and at some stupid convention thing."

"How do you know that?!" she gasped.

"I know stuff, kay? Get out of there now! Some buddies of mine are planning an ambush there."

"Too late." she muttered.

"Put their leader on." Brian ordered.

Sydney spoke to the leader, "He says he knows you, he wants to talk to you."

He angrily spoke into the phone,

"Who the hell is this?"

There was a pause then the man gasped,

"Brian?!"

Then he moved further away so that Syd couldn't hear what he was saying. She remained in shock. Something was definitely wrong here. Why did the leader let her answer the phone in the first place? Syd guessed that he wasn't a self assured as he appeared. And why on earth did Brian try to warn her? More importantly, had he been spying on her all these years? It had been two dates for crying out loud! A few minutes later the leader returned and growled at her,

"You're lucky little lady. I won't kill you, but only because my buddy seems to be so fond of you. Don't know why though . . ."

He then turned around to face the large crowd of nervous women,

"Okay, forget the little speech. I'm going to end this as soon as my pal gets here. Who cares we were hired to make the speech and kill ya. We've already been paid anyway. Say your goodbyes ladies."

There were a few moments of silence, then the room went into panic. They started out as whispers, then evolved into yells and screams. Some people were sobbing uncontrollably, others were failing in attempting to escape. Next to Sydney, a panicked looking Caitlin whispered,

"Do you really think we're going to die?"

Even though Syd was losing hope, she answered,

"No, we'll get out of this. All of us."

"Who was on the phone?" Caitlin asked.

Sydney replied, "My X from like five years ago, he knows these guys. And it looks like he still wants me."

She shivered when he remembered him. When they had first met, she had liked his strong and mysterious appearance. Their first date hadn't been too bad, just kind of weird because she couldn't shake this bad vibe about him. She had decided to give him one more shot, she said yes when he asked her out for their second date. Sydney thought about it as the chaos in the room continued . . .

Flashback:

Sydney looked in the bathroom mirror and frowned. She was beginning to wish she hadn't worn such a low cut dress. Brian was not the guy for her, that much she was sure of. He was pushy and rude, he always smelled like beer, and she could tell he hung out with the wrong crowd. She sighed, and left the bathroom to return to their table.

"What took ya so long?" Brian asked.

"Sorry." Sydney smiled, trying to be polite.

"Come on, we're out of here." he said as he grabbed Syd's arm.

"What are you talking about?" Sydney asked, "We haven't finished eating or even paid!"

But Brian continued to tug her along out the door and towards his car. Eventually Sydney was sick of it, she pulled her arm back and said firmly,

"No Brian."

He slowly turned around and said,

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said," Syd replied, "no. It's bad enough the way you're acting. If you want to go, fine! Go! But I'm going to stay and enjoy dinner and more importantly, pay before I leave."

Sydney began to walk back the restaurant when Brian grabbed her arm again. She opened her mouth to protest when he slapped her on the face hardly.

For a moment Sydney just stood there, mouth open wide in shock. Brian continued to pull her towards the car. It wasn't until Brian had pushed her into the car did she respond.

"Brian! I've leaving now! Got it?!"

But as she moved to open the car door she found it was locked. She turned to unlock the door when she realized Brian was already in the car, and he was blocking the keys.

"Brian!!" Sydney yelled, "This isn't funny! I swear! If you don't unlock this car right now I'm screaming at the top of my lungs!"

Brian acted as if he hadn't heard her and turned on the car. Sydney cursed silently as she realized that she had left her purse, with her cell phone in it, in the restaurant. And so Sydney screamed, screamed like she had never screamed before. But by that time Brian had driven to a poor, crime infested, secluded, area of the city. No one was there to hear her, and even if there were people around, they probably wouldn't care. Brian pulled into his house and began to open the door. As he walked over to the other side and opened Syd's door she roughly kicked him in the face. She silently made a deal with God that she would take some self-defense classes if He would just help her get out of this mess.

Sydney jumped out the car and ran, ran as fast as she could. But considering she was in heals and a dress, she didn't get far. A few moments later Brian came up behind her and grabbed her.

"You bitch . . ." he muttered as he dragged her back to his dirty house.

By the time they were both in the house Syd was in full panic mode. They didn't even get to the bedroom when Brian threw her harshly onto the floor. Sydney tried to crawl away, but was stopped when Brian sat on top of her and punched her several times in the face until she stopped struggling. She watched him as he began to pull of his pants and shirt. Soon he was just in his boxers.

Sydney screamed again, she refused to give this man what he wanted. He slapped her and then ripped the straps of her dress off. Sydney kicked and struggled, he didn't even seem to notice. He pulled off her dress, revealing her strapless bra and underwear. He leaned in to kiss her harshly when she bit his lip. He pulled back and Syd used the moment to scream again. He punched her and leaned back down again to undue the clasp on her bra. It was then that the front door was busted open by a police officer who had been doing the daily rounds around the neighborhood and had heard Sydney's cry.

Brian instantly jumped up and ran to the back door. The officer had run after him, but Brian has mysteriously disappeared without a trace. By the time the officer returned to Sydney, she had her dress back on and was wiping her tears as she held back her sobs. She never heard from Brian again . . .

End Flashback

Sydney shivered as she thought of that day. It was shortly after that, that she had taken martial art classes and discovered her talent in fighting. She had always wanted a job in law enforcement, but didn't think she would be tough enough to handle it. After learning how to fight, she was even more sure that she wanted to become a Texas Ranger. And when Syd was determined to do something, she never gave up.

Syd was drawn out of her thoughts by a sudden yell, it was one of the men.

"Hey boss!" he yelled.

Suddenly the whole room fell silent.

"Someones outside." the man continued.

Syd's eyes widened, she had only one question. Was it Gage? Or was it Brian?