Chapter: One
For once Charlotte Givens blended into the crowd. With her cowboy boots and hat she actually looked like everyone else while she walked towards the Texas Rangers headquarters. It had been three months since she found herself in the state of Texas and it was now that she had made it her new permeant home.
Charlotte had mostly moved into her new apartment thanks to the fine people at the United States Marshals service picking up the bill. When she had been here helping on a case she had fell in so easily with the Austin department that a request for transfer was put in, which for Charlotte could not have come at a better time. Needing an escape from her estranged family and her ex who had been promoted to her boss, left things quite complicated for her in Lexington, Kentucky.
She was not set to start officially working for a few more days, so she had decided to pay a visit to Captain James and his Rangers. With two large boxes of donuts in hand she approached the entrance to the building and made her way inside.
In a sea of white Cattlemen's moved around the room making her tan Carson finally stand out in the crowd. Making her way down the familiar hall and was just about to turn the corner to Captain James's office when a moose of a man bumped into her.
"Oh, no! I'm sorry." Came the mans voice as he reached out to help steady her and the boxes as she almost tumbled to the floor. Her hat wasn't so lucky, falling from her head once it had collided with the chest of the man in front of her. It left her mousey blonde hair and landed upside down on the floor with a thud. "Are you alright?"
Scanning her green eyes up the strangers chest she found a Rangers badge pinned at the breast of a cream colored button down, a standard of the Rangers service. The next thing she saw was a hard jaw line and a well kept five o-clock shadow and kind hazel eyes look at her from below his Cattlemen. "Yeah. Thanks for the save there." Charlotte spoke as she glanced to where his very large hands where held onto her biceps.
The man gave a chuckle. "It is the least I could do, considering I tried to bowl you over."
Pulling her eyes back to his she gave a smile. He had really nice eyes she thought to herself as the two of them continued to stare at one another.
"Deputy, you okay?" Captain James's voice broke their trance and the mystery man quickly pulled his hands back before reaching down and grabbing her Stetson for her.
"All good Captain, just making friends with one of your Rangers here." Charlotte said with a light laugh. "Also, I come baring gifts." Holding up the boxes slightly, Larry James moved forward and took the boxes from her.
When her hands were free the man next to her offered her her Stetson once he'd brushed off the invisible dust. "Here." He said as he presented her the hat.
"Thanks." Taking the hat in her hands, Charlotte brought it up to place back on her head and in turn pulling open the pink jean jacket she had been wearing and revealing her Marshal's badge and side arm that were both tucked her her right side.
"You're a Deputy U.S. Marshal?" The mystery man asked.
"Against my daddy's wishes." Charlotte replied with a tip of her hat and a smirk and the twang of growing up in Kentucky.
"Ranger Cordell Walker, meet Deputy Charlotte Givens." Larry introduced the two.
Charlotte stuck out a hand to Cordell, "pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise." Cordell replied, before taking Charlotte's hand in his for a firm shake. "You don't sound like you're from around here?"
"The Deputy here is out of the Lexington, Kentucky branch. Helped us out on a joint case while you were still undercover."
"I am from Kentucky, but I actually belong to the Austin branch now. I officially transferred, I'm even all moved in and everything." Charlotte placed her thumbs into the back pockets of her jeans as she looked at Larry and tipped back on her heals.
Larry's head nodded with a sad smile. "Why don't we talk in my office, I'll go drop these off real quick. Walker, you mind showing her the way?"
"Of course Captain." Walker replied. He then extended an arm out in the direction of Larry's office. "This way."
Charlotte followed Cordell in silence as they made their way into the Captain's office. She entered the room and sat herself down in one of the chairs in front of Larry's desk and farthest from the door. Cordell stood himself in the doorway till Larry came up behind him and directed him to sit as well, before the Captain himself sat down at his desk. "I take it this means, things didn't go well when you went back?"
"We both knew separating was for the best. It's hard to be with someone when you are both broken. The best thing for us to do was to find the people we are now on our own, instead of using each other as a crutch." Charlotte slapped the arms of her chair and looked at Larry. "So after I impressed so much the last time I was here, they asked if I would want to transfer, and I said yes."
"Sure, I can't interest you in becoming a Ranger? I'm sure the Governor's offer still stands."
Charlotte side eyed Cordell, "and wear that outfit, no thank you. Besides, I much prefer this hat." Reaching up Charlotte pinched the brim between her two fingers and dragged it down the felt. It was her father's hat, he had gifted it to her about a year ago after her own received a bullet hole, in her closest brush with death she had ever had while serving. Surprising not because of shot itself, but what had happened prior to the hole in her favorite hat. That moment changed her, and sadly her relationship with her husband.
In the edge of Charlotte's vision she saw Cordell's eyes narrow as he looked at her, obviously in thought as his eyes raked her up and down. She turned to Cordell and locked eyes with him. "My husband, and boss had to make a call to take my life in order to save others. I was dying anyway, took a pretty bad knife wound. I told him to do it, thing was he already had some bad PTSD from his time as an Army Ranger, and that didn't help. Thankfully he never misses, my hat suffered the consequences. Near death does something to a person, and having to shoot your wife, I don't think that is something you can ever unsee."
There was a long silence, there usually was when she told her story, it was hard for most people to understand. However Cordell did something new and raised a hand to point at her Stetson with a smirk. "You're hat must have made a full recovery too. You'll have to tell me who your Surgeon was."
It was a joke, a bit of humor to release the tension building.
A smile rose on Charlotte's lips. "Actually the hat sadly passed, there was no saving him. This was my fathers." She poked a finger into the bottom of her brim. "Gave it to me while I was in my comma. Said he found a new one that fit better, but he knew how much his hat meant to me growing up. He likes to joke it is the thing that woke me up."
Cordell opened his mouth to speak when there was a knock on the Captain's door. "Come in!" Larry called out.
"Captain, Clint West has escaped from the prison transport." A Ranger spoke as he entered the room, his eyes glancing between Captain James and Ranger Walker.
Standing Cordell looked to his Captain. "You know he is going to come for me. Permission to find him first?"
"Cordell, I can't let you go out there alone, Ramirez is still out of town. But, I know you won't listen to me anyway so..." Larry began as he looked to Charlotte. "Feel like babysitting? Probably best if I have a Marshal on board at this point. Missing fugitives and a threatened Ranger."
"I'd be glad to help Captain James." Charlotte stood up and craned her neck to look at Cordell. "You're driving." She said with a smile.
Cordell threw up his hands. "I don't need..."
"You are driving Ranger, consider me your shadow until I'm told otherwise." Charlotte placed her hands on her hips, intentionally pushing back her open shirt so her badge and standard issue Glock were in his view. "And, don't try to lose me. I literally find people for a living."
His eyes in response narrowed as he stared down at her.
"If you want to leave this office Walker, you are taking Deputy Givens with you."
"Fine." Ground out Cordell.
"Trust me Ranger, you want me on this side of you because I am very, very good at my job." Charlotte spoke matter of fact. "So Ranger Walker, would you like to be my new best friend, or would you like to see just how good I am at my job?"
"I think I have someone who might know where he would go."
Charlotte smiled and tipped her hat. "Well you are driving Ranger, lead the way."
"Come on." Cordell said. He motioned for Charlotte to follow, and she did, till they arrived outside and at a large black truck, with a large bull-bar on the front.
Getting into the passenger seat of the truck, Charlotte removed her hat before pulling a hair tie from her wrist and haphazardly tying her hair back at the nape of her neck. Then the hat was placed back on her head. It was at this time that Cordell had finished reversing from his spot and had taken off the road. "Well Ranger, wanna tell me what I'm walking into here?"
"Clint West, was the ring leader for a group called the Rodeo Kings. Him and his group were able to rob a series of banks before we were able to take them down. I ran undercover with the group till we took them down. Unfortunately my cover was compromised and Clint knew who I was. He blames me for the death of his wife, which means..."
"If you don't put him back behind bars, he's going to even the score. Now this is a story I'm use to dealing with. If not you, who would he go after next."
Cordell turned his head slightly to give Charlotte a quizzical look, then his eyes grew wide. "His son became friends with my daughter..." Quickly Cordell reached forward to the console of the truck tapped a few buttons and 'CALLING STELLA' appeared on the screen.
The line rang till a voice mail kicked in and a young girls voice filled the truck. "This is Stella, you've missed me. Leave me a message, or send me a message."
A few seconds passed before a beep sounded. "Stella Blue, I need to you to call me. Please, if you are out you need to go home. I'll explain when I get there." Then he hung up the line.
There was an awkward and thick silence in the cab of the truck. "So, you have a daughter?"
"Now isn't really the time for small talk Deputy." Cordell snapped.
"Yes it is Ranger. If you grip the steering wheel any harder you are gonna snap it in two. So your daughter..."
A sigh escaped Cordell's lips and his shoulders and hands relaxed. "Stella, she's sixteen. I also have a son August he's fifteen."
"Man that is pretty close together. Your wife must have her hands full."
Charlotte noticed Cordell's shoulders tense again. "She uh, would, but she was killed just over a year ago now."
"I'm sorry for your loss Walker." Charlotte said softly. "Do you have a photo of your kids?"
"What?" Cordell shot Charlotte a narrow eyed look.
"If your daughter might be where ever West is, it would be nice to know who I am looking for. Remember I'm going into this blind, the more information the better."
Cordell stayed silent as he shifted in his seat and retrieved a wallet from his back pocket. He handed the worn black leather to Charlotte and she gently took it from him and opened it. Peaking inside she found the slightly frayed edges of a photo poking out from between a few paper bills. Pinching it between her fingers Charlotte pulled it out and stared down at the photo of a typical happy family. Cordell was standing in the back, cowboy hat on his head and his arm around a beautiful woman with deep brown hair. She was smiling warmly towards the camera. On either side of them were two children, both appearing to be in their teens. A boy was tucked in next to his mother, and a girl with red hair was leaning against Cordell.
"You have a beautiful family Ranger." Said Charlotte as she scanned over the picture taking in the kids details before putting the picture back in the wallet and passed it back over.
"Thanks. You uh, have kids?"
"No." Charlotte began as she turned herself to look out the window. "When you and your Husband are both Marshal's seems pretty selfish to try and raise a kid. Plus, I proved my own point by almost dying. I saw what it did to Tim, I couldn't imagine doing that to a kid."
"Tim is...was your Husband?"
"Yeah."
"And he was a Marshal?"
"Is, he runs the Lexington office now. He worked with my father first, then once I was finished my training I joined at the Lexington office. Daddy hated it when he found out we were seeing each other." A chuckle left her lips as she thought back to the moment her father had caught them making out like teens in Tim's truck. He used his Glock to knock on the window gaining their attention, and treated them like children as he made each of them step out and separate. He paced back and forth like, well, a disappointed father about to dole out a grounding.
Cordell relaxed once again and turned to look at her. "So your daddy was a Marshal too?"
"Yup, hated it when I joined the service. He'd watched it destroy his marriage. Not with my mother though, daddy only knew I existed after she passes away. So he really liked to over parent as I grew up. Didn't want me in law enforcement, really didn't want me to be a Marshal, he honestly locked me in the locker room of the office my first day trying to get me and I am over sharing."
It was time for Cordell to let out a laugh. "It's nice to know you aren't as rigid as a lot of Marshal's I've met over the years."
"We are rigid aren't we?" Said Charlotte with a smile. "I've heard it takes a broken person to become a Marshal, but it seems you already know me so well Ranger." Charlotte watched as they came towards a local correctional facility. Turning Cordell looked at Charlotte in question. "I transport criminals as half my job, jail's are like my second home, my cozy place..."
Cordell just stared at her in response.
"And I'll stop talking now."
"You uh, wear you watch like you were in the service, but I have a feeling you didn't serve."
"No, it's always just been the Marshal's for me. It's a habit I picked up from my husband." Charlotte, looked down at her watch and rubbed her thumb against it's face.
"He served?"
"Sniper, in the Rangers."
"Wow. Remind me to stay on his good side."
It did not take long with their chatting to get into the women's correctional facility and then Cordell had one of them brought to a room for questioning. Charlotte stayed outside of the room and watched through the window as she listened.
Charlotte swiftly found out that yes, it was general knowledge that Duke, Cordell's alias had been discovered and spread through the group via written communication. The next thing she learned from observing through the glass was that Cordell and the woman Twyla definitely held feelings for one another. She easily gave up where Clint would most likely be and in return Cordell promised to come visit her.
It was not till they were on their way back to the truck that Charlotte spoke up. "Tell me a secret Ranger."
"What?" Cordell stopped in his tracks in front of the truck.
"I can tell there is a lot on your mind, and you and I don't know how to work together. I learned a trick if you tell a stranger a secret that you would never tell anyone, a secret to never be repeated it creates a bond. It creates a bond between two people, a subconscious trust. So I need you to tell me something no one would know, that you would never tell anyone you love, and I will do the same. I'm good at reading a situation, it's why I'm so good at my job, and something about all this is feeling off. We need something to connect us, make us a team, create that bond."
"That makes no sense." Cordell began as he made to turn and walk away, but he was stopped as Charlotte's hand grabbed at his wrist.
She looked up at him from under her Stetson. "See, you don't trust me. My Spidey senses are tingling Cordell, I need to know you have my back and you need to trust that I have yours. We don't have months and years of being partners, we have right now, in these minutes." Charlotte released his wrist and took a small step forward. "For your daughter."
Cordell cleared his throat and dropped his eyes from Charlotte, he looked anywhere but her. "A part of me. A big part of me didn't want to come back from being Duke. I wanted to forget my family, my kids and just continue to live a lie with that women in there. I wanted to forget it all including who I was."
"When I was taken, when I almost died and fell into a comma. I was pregnant. I didn't even know till the Doctor told me I had lost the baby, my baby. I never told my husband, I never told my dad. Everything was so broken, and I needed everyone to stop treating me like I was a pane of glass with a crack in it. So I told no one, so that that pain could be my own."
Cordell's eyes flew to Charlotte's and the two law enforcement agents stood in silence. Eventually Cordell's mouth opened but Charlotte quickly threw up a hand. "No, we don't ever speak of it again." Lowering her hand she let a smile take over her face. "Now Ranger, where is this cabin?"
When they reached the cabin, night had fallen and smoke was billowing out of the cabin. Tactical vests on, guns drawn and mouths covered they entered the cabin. "Stella!" Cordell called out as he looked around the building through the haze. "That's her backpack." He spoke as he picked up the bag, and once they determined there was no one in the building they made their way back outside in a fit of coughs.
"You go left, I'll head..." Cordell began to say just as a gun shot echoed out from his right. "STELLA!" The Ranger took off towards the woods and Charlotte was hot on his heels.
It was a good thing she was in good shape, Cordell's long legs and wide strides quickly created a distance between the two as they ran into the darkness. "STELLA WALKER!" Charlotte gave a shout as she paused her steps to listen for an answer. Cordell paused in his search too, and when he heard nothing, shouted out her name once again.
Finally this time a reply came. "DAD!"
Charlotte watched as Cordell took off in a sprint towards his daughter and she struggled to keep up as his figure disappeared in the dark. When she finally caught up Charlotte found herself next to a young woman hiding behind a tree and Cordell and an unknown man swapping punches. Giving a minute to see what the outcome of this fight might be, Charlotte stood gun ready and aimed. When the two broke apart, Cordell fell to the ground in a heap and the mystery man's right hand dropped to his side. "U.S. Marshal's! You move that hand anywhere but up and I will put you down."
"If you're a Marshal, why you wearin' a Ranger's vest?" The man said snottily as he eyed Charlotte.
"You caught me on my holiday. Now I know you don't know me, see I am new to these parts, but if there is one thing you should know about me, it's I don't miss, so if you wanna stay on this side of the dirt, I would put those hands up." Charlotte said with a sweet smile as she holstered her weapon.
The man eyed her as he slowly began to raise his hands in the air, and Cordell quickly stood up and placed the mans hands behind him and handcuffed him.
"Stella you okay?" Cordell asked as he began to push the cuffed man forward.
"Yeah." Stella relied with a shaky voice.
"Hey Stella, my name is Charlotte. Do you want some help getting out of here, the grounds pretty rough, I would hate if you got tripped up." Charlotte said slowly and with a smile as she looked the young women over for any signs of injury. When she saw the girl was uninjured she extended a hand to her.
Looking to her father Stella eyed him before he nodded to her that it was okay. Reaching out Stella took Charlotte's outstretched hand and the Marshal wrapped an arm around her shoulders before they followed Cordell out of the woods. When they emerged the cavalry had arrived, and after a few questions to Stella and the man from the woods, they determined that Clint had taken off with his kid, and a few other men.
Charlotte had taken Stella to sit on the tailgate of the truck while they waited for Cordell to finish up.
"Do you work with my dad?"
"We just met today, and it seems like your daddy needed a little help finding you, so I volunteered my services."
"Why didn't you shoot him?" Stella asked and the question made Charlotte turn tilt her head. "Dad always said Marshal's shoot first and ask questions later."
A light laugh escaped Charlotte's lips. "If I'm shooting I'm shotting to kill, and doing that in front of a kid is something I try to avoid whenever possible. But now, I have a question for you. Was your daddy always that tall, like did he come out of his mamma as a giant, or do you Walkers hit some weird growth spurt late in life?"
Stella smiled and laughed, and Cordell who was approaching let a small smile appear on his lips, having obviously heard. "Deputy Givens, can I ask another favor of you tonight?" Cordell asked once he was next to her.
"Of course Ranger Walker, what can I do for you?"
Cordell held out a set of keys to her. "Would you mind following us back to the ranch in the truck. I'm gonna take Stella back in her car."
"Of course. Although I should probably call into the office and let them know, I've been on duty before they catch wind of all this, make it all official, I might be a bit." Said Charlotte as she took the keys.
"I trust you, and the GPS has the ranch route labeled as Walker Ranch. It should get you there without gettin' lost."
"Okay then, I'll see you in a bit Ranger." Charlotte moved to put the tailgate up as Stella hopped off and made her way over to a red convertible. "Oh and Cordell, remember she's just a kid so don't be to hard on her. I'm sure tonight was scary enough for her, and you got her back safe and sound."
Cordell's eyes flickered from hers to her stomach, where Charlotte's hand had gone of its own fruition. "I'll have a cold one waiting for you, when you get to the house. That is if you drink?"
"That sounds like a great plan. I'll see you in a bit."
