Chapter 1: No More Ranger for Walker.

There was a time when a Texas Ranger, Cordell Walker, lived in Fort Worth, Texas. He lived at his ranch house with his wife, Alex, and their two daughters, Angela and Catherine. At the ranch, they each owned a horse. Cordell’s horse was a white stallion with brown splotches named Amigo. Alex had a white mare, and her name was Angel. Angela’s horse was a light brown mare named Princess and Catherine’s horse was a brown colt and Catherine named it Minnie Me, because the horse was small. They lived contently on the ranch. They all loved the country life and no one could ruin what they had.

One Monday morning, Angela and Catherine were helping Walker with the horses, getting them fed and their cages clean, when Alex came outside with the house phone, with a call for Walker. He accepted the phone call and Alex went to help her daughters finish up their jobs.

"Walker", Walker said as he thanked his wife and walked towards the house where he could hear the other person on the other end of the line. Alex watched him carefully and she fed Angel and Amigo.

“Walker, this is Captain Price. I would like to speak to you in private when you get to work, Is that possible?”, his boss replied being very discreet.

“Sure, boss, let me get the girls to school and drop off Alex at court and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thanks.”, and Captain Price ended the call.

Walker went back to the barn and told Alex about his meeting and that the girls should hurry with Minnie Me and Princess. While he was driving to Headquarters, he kept thinking of what his boss might tell him. Maybe a promotion? Or a raise? That would be great because I could get more hands on the ranch.

After hugging and kissing the girls goodbye, he watched for a moment as the girls went into their school. Angela was in sixth grade and Catherine was in the second grade. He pulled off back into traffic and the Texas Ranger went to the courthouse to drop off his wife for her preliminary hearing for a case that she had been working on. As she turned to open the door, he surprised her with a fabulous kiss and a smile.

“Meet for lunch, Darling? And uh you better finish what you started tonight, Cowboy."

“Sure. I’ll call you.” He blushed as she closed the door.

They parted and he watched her go into the courthouse safely. He parked his Ram around the back of Headquarters, which was a separate building, and went to see what his boss wanted. When he walked into the office, his boss was on the phone and waved him inside. A few minutes later, he hung up the phone and turned to Walker.

‘Walker, sit down please.”, Walker did as he was told and waited for what his boss was going to tell him, hoping it was good news.

“As, your boss, I wanted to talk to you alone, without Alex or Jimmy here.”

“Why? What’s going on?

‘Well, you know how the economy is really down right now and people are losing their jobs left and right. We’re very sorry but we have to let you go.”

Walker’s eyes grew big. He was in disbelief of what was happening. He was being let go. A million questions ran through his head but he decided to come up with the right one.

“Let me go? Charles, I’ve worked at the Ranger’s office for quite some time now and I think that has to count for something. Look at all that I’ve done. I put a lot of hard work behind this job and now I’m being let go? Why on earth would you want to let me go?”

“We’re very sorry to see you go. However, we wanted to give the new Rangers a chance to move up. Besides, you’ve been working here for a very long time. I’m sorry Walker. Take the rest of the day to clean out your desk.”

And with that Walker walked out of the office mad as hell. He couldn’t believe it. He was being let go because of the economy. He shouldn’t. This is a critical time for the economy and their best Ranger is being let go. He just didn’t understand. By then he gave up on being angry and started to tear up.

He figured he’d go tell his partner and wife before anyone else found out. He decided to talk to Alex first.

He arrived at the courthouse, just when the court case that Alex had been working on just got dismissed. He saw the look on her face as he came to greet her. Pure joy. How was he supposed to tell her this.

“Hi C cowboy, is everything alright?”

“Alex, I need to talk. Got a minute?”

She nodded and led him into her office.

“Alex, I am being……..”, he couldn’t say it. He just couldn’t.

“Being what darling? Tell me.”

“Let go. They are letting me go. They said with the economy coming down, it’s hard for them to pay me without leaving one of my fellow Rangers out.”

Alex knew he was heartbroken off of this. She was too. She was going to have to be the one to bring home the money for them. She hated this. Right then, there was a knock on the door and in popped James Trivette.

“Hey, pard, we’d better go, we've got a case out on 4th. What’s wrong?” Jimmy said as he noticed Alex and Walker crying.

“Jimmy, Walker’s being let go of the Rangers.”, Alex said as she wept once more.

“Partner, is this true?”, Jimmy said with an angry look on his face.

“Yes, Trivette, it is. Believe me, I don’t like it.”, Walker said as he told Trivette the story of the meeting this morning.

“We have to fight this. It’s unfair!!!” Trivette said and he punched the wall. He was very angry because he had known Walker for a very long time and he just couldn't imagine the Rangers without him. 'What would he do for the rest of his life, be a rancher?', Trivette had this and many other questions to follow. He sent Gage and Sydney to check out the events on 4th and walked out and straight into Price's office.

"Look, I know about what you are planning to do with Walker and none of the other Rangers will stand for it. He's the best we got and the Rangers would be nothing if it wasn't for him. Look at all he's been through already as a Ranger? He can't be let go." Trivette stated his position and three other Rangers followed.

"Walker's the best man for this job and if you let him go, we'll quit.", all the other Rangers including Sydney and Gage, who had just gotten back from a safety inspection gone wrong, said in unison.

"I have no say in this. The government officials have officially given me the order to release one of my older Rangers. I'm sorry all of you.", and with that Price exited his office.

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