Somewhere in Irving

The duplex was alive with sound as Raphael "Paco" Martinez walked in after having a few drinks at a friend's house. He shook hands with several Latino Gang members before he settled down on the sofa to watch the latest news reports. From what he heard the Texas Ranger and the police officer were only seriously injured and could be going home any day. As for Ranger Walker, he was still critical and will remain in the hospital for several more days. This made him rather angry, he had hoped the Ranger would have died from his injuries. Instead, Walker proved more stubborn than he had thought.

"Hey, Paco!" His friend, Snapple came up to him with a huge smile and a bottle of Vodka. "Man, the Consentinos are glad you got Walker out of commission for awhile! That means more money for us!"

Paco shook his head. "I didn't kill him, which means I owe the Consentinos." He cursed loudly and took a big swig of the Vodka. "Should have shot him in the head like I did with the others." He grabbed the remote and turned the volume up on the television. Apparently, a mother of one of the slain officers wanted to press charges against Walker for the decision he had made. "I hope she wins. Would love to see that Ranger in prison."

This got several laughs inside the room and Paco joined in as he took another drink of Vodka. Life right now was good, after all the only person who even saw his face was Walker and he was not in any condition to talk. He just hoped that nobody ratted him out. If one of his men did, he would surely make them pay the price.

"Just make sure you all keep an ear open for anybody talking about the riot to other people." Paco stood to his feet and shook his head. "When Walker gets better, I will finish the job!"

Four Days Later

The hospital room was kept slightly cool, but Walker didn't seem to mind at least it didn't appear like he did. Alex sat next to his bed in ICU watching as his chest rose up and down all thanks to the breathing tube surgically put into his throat. She glanced at his face to see the bruising caused by the last surgery and knew he must be in a great deal of pain. The doctor's had to reconstruct his nose which left it rather swollen. This caused Walker to snore sometimes, which he was doing right now.

She took hold of his right hand then gave it a gentle squeeze which he quickly returned. His eyes, though still swollen and black were now able to open most of the way and as he did this now, she could see they were still a deep red.

"Hey Cowboy." She lifted his hand and gave it a kiss. "How you feeling today?"

He swallowed hard then closed his eyes. "Thirsty." His voice was muffled from all the wires in his mouth.

"Hang on." Alex got a sponge stick, dipped it in water then ran it along Walker's chapped lips. "Remember with the tube in, you can't drink since it could drown you."

"Want tube out." His right hand reached for his neck, but Alex quickly stopped him. This, she could tell in his face irritated him. "Please…"

"Walker, just another week or two and it will be out. You had a lung collapse, leaving your other lung and your heart rather weak." She started to massage his hand as she spoke. "Doctor's put the tube in to give your body some help as it heals."

He shook his head and tried to pull his hand away from Alex. "I want out." He mouthed.

This was the first time Alex had seem him like this and it got her rather worried. Why was he acting this way? Did he not feel the pain that was in his face and chest? Walker tried to move once again, but this time winced loudly as his right hand went to his chest. As his fingers fell upon the stitches he quickly calmed down.

Walker rolled his eyes at Alex and she could see they were full of pain. "Easy, Cowboy. Things will get better, don't you worry." His fingers gently traced the line of staples, his face one of confusion. "Do you remember anything about that night, Walker?" And just like the other times she had asked him he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. "You will need to talk about it sometime."

Alex slowly got up, kissed her husband on the forehead then ran her hand through his hair. He once again opened his eyes, the blue darker than she has seen it before. What was he thinking right now? Her hand ran through his hair again and this time she could see him visibly relax. She did this till he closed his eyes once more and fell asleep.

"Hey Alex." Trivette came up behind her, gave her a hug then sat down. "How is he today?"

"I think he might be confused." Alex shook her head. "He wants to go home."

Trivette rubbed his face then took a look at Walker. "Hopefully things will connect with him and he will talk about that night." He sighed heavily. "Zeigler wants to visit him and so does Debbie."

"You can go ahead and say yes to them He sleeps most of the time anyway, but hopefully he'll be up when they visit." She traced his arm, making sure not to pull out any of the tubes that was connected to his hand. "Doctor Nguyen reassured me that he is doing much better and in fact his lung is healing nicely."

"That's good to hear." Trivette took a deep breath then pulled a newspaper out from within his suit coat. "Mrs. Gibson is pressing charges against Walker. When he's well enough, they want him in court."

Alex took the newspaper from Trivette to see Walker's face on the front page and underneath it was pictures of the officers that were killed that night. The headline read: Texas Ranger Charged with Two Counts of Manslaughter. Alex was so infuriated she nearly crumpled the paper in a ball, but instead kept reading it. Apparently Mrs. Gibson got the family of Sergeant Roy Simmons to press charges as well. It's a shame, once Walker does get himself better, he will have to face a jury for the decision he had made that night.

"Why is she doing this?" Alex's voice told Trivette her true feelings on the matter. "He had no other choice. If he did, then he would have made it."

Trivette shook his head. "She wants somebody to blame for her son's death and Walker right now is the easy target. But, Debbie is on our side, which is good. And," He patted Alex's shoulder. "Every officer thinks this is just a cry for attention on Mrs. Gibson's part. Who the officers want to see prosecuted for this is the man that pulled the trigger, killing those men. Not Walker."

Alex glanced at Walker once again then at the machines by his bed. The sound they made was, in a strange way comforting to Alex since it showed her that Walker was still alive and fighting. Her hand absent mildly began to rub his bruised arm up and down. This got him to twitch his fingers then moan as his whole body began to move.

"Walker, settle down." She quickly got up and started to run her hand through his hair. "Was I hurting you? If so, squeeze my hand." When he didn't she kissed him on the forehead. "You need to stop moving."

Doctor Nguyen came into the room and went to the other side of Walker's bed. "Walker, you need to stop moving." He sighed heavily then called in a few nurses. "I'm going to have to sedate him." He shook his head as he injected some liquid into Walker's iv. "If this keeps up, we may have to do something more drastic." Once her husband was sound asleep he began to check the surgical site on his chest. "I'm going to take him to get some tests done, see if he has pulled any of the stitching inside his body."

Alex slowly stepped back from the bed so Doctor Nguyen and his team can do their jobs. She turned to Jimmy who stepped up to her and gave her a friendly hug.

"Let's get something to eat. You know the tests will take awhile to do."

Later That Day

Because of her father being in the hospital and her mother visiting him nearly every day Angela was stuck staying at the Carter's. Today though, her mother had called her up and wanted to have just a mother and daughter day. This excited Angela and she waited impatiently for her to arrive. Hopefully they will be able to do something fun today.

A knock came at the apartment door and she quickly went to answer it, but was stopped by Carl. She sighed heavily then waited as Carl checked to make sure it was indeed her mother at the door. When he was certain he opened it up and allowed her mother inside.

"Mom!" Angela ran up to her mother and gave her a big hug. "How's dad?"

"He's doing pretty good. He's staying up now and trying to talk." She rubbed her hand through Angela's blond hair. "When we get done today, I'll take you to see him."

Angela beamed at the thought of seeing her father. "I would love that!"

Her mother smiled down at her. "Okay, let's get going then. We got some shopping to do."

An hour later Angela found herself walking around the Grapevine Mall with her mother as they went into several stores to shop around. As they walked into Angela's favorite store, a feeling washed over her. She glanced up at her mother to see she to must have felt the same thing. Wonder what it was? Whatever it might be, it didn't go away. Her mother's cell phone started to ring which she quickly answered with a worried look on her face.

"Oh Jimmy. Are you sure he's okay?" A long pause which got her mother to lean against a nearby clothing fixture for support. "Okay, thank you so much for letting me know. I'm going to finish shopping with Angela and we'll be right there."

When she closed her cell phone Angela pulled at her mom's hand. "Mom, what happened to dad?"

Her mother wiped away a few tears then knelt down to get a better look at Angela. "The doctor found some bleeding in his lung. In order for dad to be able to heal himself, they will paralyze him till he gets better."

Angela didn't fully understand what her mother was telling her, all she knew was her father was still fighting for his life. She quietly nodded her head as her mother embraced her in a warm hug. Right now, she didn't feel like shopping anymore, she just wanted to be by her father's side.

"Do you want to continue here or head to the hospital?"

"I want to see dad." Angela's voice was quiet as she held back her own tears.

Her mother slowly nodded her head as she gave Angela a big hug. "Okay, we'll go see him, sweetie."

XXXX

The streets were nearly empty as Gage drove through them to get to the next lead in the riot case. So far, thanks to Isaiah Young the Rangers and the FBI got several good leads which have resulted in seven arrests. However, Raphael Martinez still remained at large. This frustrated several of the police in Texas and a manhunt was started which quickly extended into neighboring states. If Martinez was truly out there, he will be found to be persecuted for his heinous crimes.

Gage's hands wrung the steering wheel as anger filled his heart once again. They weren't any closer to solving the case, which appeared rather baffling to several of the veterans, including himself. According to Young, six local gangs have decided to fight three of the biggest mafia families in the Metroplex. Unfortunately, the gang member in custody still couldn't clue in as to why this was happening.

As he pulled onto an off ramp his cell phone began to ring. Quickly he pushed the send button, knowing it was on speaker so he could talk while still being able to drive.

"Gage here. What's up Trivette?"

"Hey, how's it going with the new lead?"

"Going there now. How's Walker?" He could hear Trivette heave a sigh then a long pause followed. "Trivette, what's wrong?"

"He pulled some stitching in his lung, it began to bleed. Doctor's stopped it, but they had to paralyze him so it won't happen again." He took another deep breath. "They had to put a bigger breathing tube in so he won't be able to talk for awhile."

Gage sighed heavily as he pulled into a store parking lot where two unmarked squad cars sat. "But he's going to be okay, right?"

"For now, yes. Hopefully this will help Walker heal quicker." Trivette talked to somebody then returned to the phone. "He's coming out of surgery right now. I'll update you in a few hours. Hope you find something."

"I hope I do to." Gage turned his car off and opened his door. "Keep me posted." He slapped his phone closed then approached one of the FBI agents. "What do we have?"

"One of the men we've been tailing sold some riot gear." The FBI agent handed Gage several photos. "We're going to question him now."

Gage flipped through the photos and gave the men a nod. "Let me get my vest on and I'll join you guys." He went to the trunk of his car and was stopped by the FBI agent. "Please don't stop me from doing this."

The agent shook his head. "It's not that. We heard this man we are about to question hates Texas Rangers. You'll be able to come, but," He tapped Gage's captain badge. "We're going to give you an FBI jacket to wear."

Twenty minutes later Gage found himself standing on a small wooden porch, right behind Agent Montgomery. In his hands was his service pistol which he hoped not to use.

Agent Montgomery pounded on the door. "Michael Johnson, open up! FBI!" When he didn't get a response, he slammed his fist once more onto the wood. "Johnson, if you don't open up now, we will force entry!" He turned to Gage. "Get ready, Ranger."

The door suddenly opened and out walked a tall, black man. "Just hang on! Impatient mother…"

"What are you doing inside, Johnson?" Asked Montgomery once he stepped up to the man. "You do know we have a warrant to search your house, right?"

Johnson cursed then put his hands on his head. "Go ahead, officers."

Gage quickly followed Montgomery inside the house where another agent named, Manny checked the living room and kitchen for any suspects. As Gage carefully made his way through the house he kept an eye out for any evidence that may be laying around. After the all clear was called out, he holstered his weapon and went back to the living room.

"Where are the weapons, Johnson?" Asked Agent Manny, his hands on his hips. "What did you do with them?"

"Nothing, check over there."

Gage followed the man's nod to a bookshelf and quickly spotted a weapon hiding behind a ceramic dog. "I have something over here!" He dug into his pocket for a rubber glove, put it on then took hold of the black gun. "Sig Sauer P226 Pistol. Could be any one of my men's." He checked the barrel to see it had been fired. "Might be Sergeant Zeigler's."

Manny stepped up to Gage with a brown paper back. "You Rangers have good taste."

"We'll see who it really belongs to." He turned as Montgomery stepped up to him with several evidence bags in his hands. "Two Texas Ranger badges and three police badges."

Gage quickly took the Ranger badges to see that one was gold. "Walker's." He fingered the badge then gave a nod. "Search this place, up and down. I have a feeling we'll find something rather important here."