Chapter 12
Police cars lined the street in front of the huge mansion, their lights strobing eerily into the moonless night. Walker, Trent, and Barker stood, leaning on the hood of his truck while Sydney paced anxiously behind them.
"Walker, it's Antunez, says he'll only talk to you." One of the detectives said as he handed him a cell phone.
"Ranger Walker! So nice to finally put a voice to the face I have seen all over the news, and the local papers." Antunez' smooth voice floated through the speaker like a deadly poisonous gas.
"Why don't we slip the pleasantries and get right down to what you want." Walker said, wording his sentence as a statement, rather than a question as Sydney stopped pacing to listen with bated breath.
"You know what I want, Walker. I want my freedom and the shipment of drugs you took from me." Antunez said.
"Ain't never going to happen, Antunez." Walker heard the FBI negotiator say over the frequency. Walker motioned angrily for him to be quiet as Antunez spoke.
"Oh, I think you will make it happen, Walker; if you ever want to see your young Ranger … alive that is, you will make it happen. Oh … and tell your FBI friend to turn on that laptop of his." Antunez said as he cut their connection.
Walker stared at the phone, the silence it emitted was deafening and his hands balled into fists as he struggled to suppress the overwhelming urge to smash it into a million useless pieces.
"Walker … what's happening?" Sydney said her eyes searching his face for any information.
"Agent Donaldson!" Walker barked as he pushed passed them.
"Antunez said to turn on that fancy laptop you have in that van of yours." He said as he, Sydney, Barker, Trivette, and Trent followed him inside.
There was a brief standoff between Walker, and Donaldson, who was under the illusion that he was running this shindig, before he complied and turned on the surveillance equipment.
Sydney gasped and covered her mouth as tears stung her eyes. "Gage!" She said, her voice sounding uncharacteristically small and frightened.
Gage was tied to a large, squashy arm chair, his eyes fluttered and his head lobbed to and fro against his chest, and his face was pasty, the face of someone who had lost too much blood. Walker could see a large blood stain on his shirt, he knew that if he didn't get help soon, he would bleed to death. He was amazed at his long he had lasted.
The cell phone Walker was holding suddenly rang and he answered it as Antunez came into view of the camera.
"See what I have, Walker?" Antunez said as he pulled Gage's head up by his hair.
"He doesn't look so good, no? I don't think he has much time left. You have until sunrise to get me what I want, or you will watch your young ranger die." He said as he held his dessert eagle to Gage's temple and clicked the safety off.
"Until sunrise, Ranger Walker." He said as he suddenly pulled the trigger.
"NO!" Sydney screamed frantically before she could stop herself, and her breath caught in her throat as a choking sob as the hammer of the empty gun clicked hollowly through the laptop's speakers. She grabbed the phone from Walker's hand.
"You son of a bitch! If anything happens to him, I swear to god I am going to make you pay!" She yelled at the computer screen, tears beginning to stream down her face.
Antunez's sharp laughter stung her like a nest of angry hornets as he cut the connection, Sydney turned her back one everyone as she tried to get a grip on her emotions. This wasn't her; she was the cool and collected one, the one who always kept her head. She had to get a grip on herself, Gage's life depended on it.
Walker turned to Donaldson.
"You're going to get that shipment of drugs here, I have a plan." He said.
"Walker, it's almost dawn … where the hell it!" Sydney demanded as she paced back and forth.
"Sydney! I know how you feel, believe me, I do. But hysterics is not what Gage needs right now, you need to pull yourself together and be a calm, calculated cop. That's what he needs." Walker said as he put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his eyes.
Sydney took a steadying breath and nodded at him. Walker's eyes held such assurance, such wisdom that people couldn't help but trust him. Suddenly, the surveillance van's doors opened and Donaldson stuck his head inside.
"It's here." He said.
Walker nodded as he hit redial on the phone.
"Ah, Ranger Walker! I see my delivery has arrived, now listen very closely. One of you is going to drive the van through the gate; pull the truck up to the front of the house. And I warn you, Walker, if you or any of your officer friends try anything funny and your young ranger will suffer for it." He said as he cut the connection.
"I'll drive the van in. Let me do this, Walker. I have to do this, I can't just sit around on my hands and wait for something to happen." Sydney said, her face full of a newfound, steely resolve. Walker sighed, he knew that he wouldn't change her mind.
"Agent Donaldson, just how much vantage does Antunez have?" Walker asked.
"He has security cameras all around his home, but I don't know his much of a vantage point he has." Donaldson replied with a weary sigh.
"Well, then I guess we're going to have to take a chance on this, now let's hurry before we lose the cover of darkness." Walker said as he crept to the back of the van.
"Ready?" He asked Sydney, who nodded.
"Let's go." He said as he slipped into the back.
Sydney pulled up to the massive double iron gates and they slowly opened for her. The vast mansion seemed to loom in front of her as though it has its own life force, every bit as sinister as its owner.
Antunez strode out, his dessert eagle in hand.
"Ah! The lady ranger! I was hoping they would send you." He said as his eyes flashed with sinister excitement.
"Be careful what you wish for." Sydney said as she faced him, her dark eyes burning with hatred.
Antunez moved so fast that her head spun, in an instant he was inches from her face, he grabbed a fistful of her hair as a smile of pure evil spread across his face.
"You handle yourself like a man, but I wonder if you can fight like one?" He said as he pressed his nose against her hair and inhaled deeply of her scent.
"She might not, but I do." Antunez turned just in time to have his face met with a powerful front kick from Walker, he stumbled back, his gun falling to the ground.
"Walker!" He growled as he pointed his dessert eagle at Walker. Sydney didn't hesitate, she put two shots into Antunez and he fell where he stood, dead before he hit the ground.
Walker's ears picked up the distant sound of a helicopter, he knew that must be the medivac chopper, he looked around for Sydney, but she was nowhere to be found.
He cursed under his breath as he drew his gun and bolted into the mansion as he heard the SWAT team breaching the front gate.
Sydney didn't know how she knew which way to turn in the massive, maze like mansion, it was like her intuition was pulling her, she stumbled through two large wooden doors and her breath caught in her throat.
"Gage!" She said as she ran to him.
"S-Syd?" He said as he drifted in and out of consciousness.
"Don't Worry, Gage, it's over." She said as the SWAT team filed in, led by Walker, followed by a slew of police from all jurisdictions. As soon as the area was declared clear, the paramedics were called in.
Sydney sat next to Gage in the medevac chopper, holding his limp hand.
"S-Syd?" He said, his voice barely audible over the drone of the chopper engines.
"Shhh, rest, don't try to talk." She said as she gently stroked his hair back from his forehead.
"No … I want to, in case I don't …. Make it. Syd, I'm sorry … for everything." He said as the last of his strength finally left him and he slipped into unconsciousness as the scream of the heart monitor flat lining filled the small space of the chopper.
One of the paramedics rushed back and began attempting to resuscitate him.
"We're losing him!" He yelled to his partner.
