Author's Note: Here is the next chapter! This chapter deals a lot with an original character I made for this fanfiction, Captain Brian McIntyre. Read on to see if he is a good guy or a bad guy. :)

Previously on "Indomitable Hope"

Tess strolled around the island of desks to give Cat a friendly goodbye kiss on the cheek when she briefly saw what Cat was looking at. "Hey Cat, what is this?" Tess questioned as the taller woman look at her tense friend.

"I think I might of seen another beast today."

Tess recounted Cat's words as she headed towards her car.

Wait, Cat saw another beast?

It couldn't be Vincent! It was too soon for them to be reunited considering that Vincent currently has no recollections his life before his kidnapping. There could be a possibility that there could be more than one beast roaming New York City, right? Just look at Gabe.

Once she found her car, Tess unlocked it and got in silently. The tall brunette reached for her cell phone buried in her coat's pocket and wondered whether or not her boy wonder texted her about dinner plans. It looked like that it wasn't the case as Tess noticed that there were no new messages flashing on her wide phone screen. She sighed, maybe it would better if she ordered Chinese food from a restaurant a block away from J.T.'s apartment. The detective had so much to tell and had many questions to ask that couldn't be revealed in a public setting. Perhaps J.T. would know more about this Curt Winsor that she had to interview tomorrow.

The brunette woman turned the car's key in the ignition to start it and drove off to the direction of J.T.'s apartment.

Brian McIntyre turned off the lights and locked the door to his office to commemorate the end of a long first day. The salt-and-pepper haired man didn't mind that he was chosen to be this precinct's temporary captain. However, there was a lot of work to be done since the former Captain, Joe Bishop, became reckless by abandoning his work to his obsession of hunting the beast. It was going to take a month or two sort out the mess that Bishop left.

Of course, the highlight of his day was when he was able to hear the firsthand reports from the team that ADA Lowren assembled for the jogger's murder case. Judging by what he heard and saw, he wanted to believe that there was an animal-like creature, probably a beast, that was running around the city. He saw the amount of blood, the claw marks that was running all over the body, and, most importantly, the puncture wounds near the victim's heart.

Grabbing a small, black briefcase that was lying against the carpet near his office's door, the older Captain walked towards the elevator, hopping on the first car that was available. It didn't take long to reach the first floor where he his Pontiac Mustang was parked in the employee's car park. He found it in the back section and unlocked the car manually with his set of keys. He popped in, put on his seatbelt, and drove off.

McIntyre noticed that the time was six forty-five on the radio's clock. Fifteen more minutes until I have to meet with Agent McCleary and Li Zhao, he thought as he looked for the best way to reach his destination, Maybe I need to take the back roads. They don't seem to be crowded. He searched for a perfect escape and instantly found it, a small alleyway nearby. He commanded his car to turn there and drove off.

It took the Captain about ten minutes to reach a small bar with no signs or notices. There was only one window that was partially covered by plywood as the sole glass pane was broken in one area. The lights inside were barely on, making the place seem eerily spooky and mysterious. It was next to a burned out store that looked like it hasn't been occupied for a long time as pieces of glass, graffiti, and other material were scattered around the former store's surroundings.

McIntyre began to search for a spot to park his car in this shady section of the city. He finally found one not long after. The location was in a tiny alley that had no sidewalk lights shining overhead and was a close walking distance to the bar. He turned off his car as the sun was starting to fade into the city's landscape. The police captain took a pair of license plates from the glove department and stepped out of the car to replace the existing ones. He looked around to make sure no one was watching. When he saw no one, he quickly exchanged the plates and placed the other set in the glove department. The salt-and-pepper haired man took the black suitcase out, closed the door to the driver's side, manually locked it, and walked to the bar.

McIntyre gripped the door's brass handle, hoping that fate would be kind to him tonight. He wished that the information he learned today was enough to feed Muirfield's appetite for knowledge on the whereabouts about Vincent Keller. Praying softly, the police captain opened the door and stepped into the bar. It smelled like alcohol, dust, and smoke all mixed together. It was a bit disgusting. He noticed that in the good size bar there were a lot more tables and chairs than people. At one of these tables was a group of three men who wore all black and had their heads lowered so their top hats were hiding their faces. This must be them, he gulped as he paced slowly towards the table.

"Good evening, Captain," a deep voice came out from one of the members as McIntyre approached the table, "Please sit down. Care for a drink?" McIntyre replied in a light tone, "No thanks, I think I will pass." The police captain took a seat next to the man who was speaking to him.

"Suit yourself. Let me introduce you to everyone around this table. Fellows, how about we greet Mr. McIntyre, hmm?" he spoke warmly as he used eye contact to signal to the two other men to raised their heads and reveal their faces, which they did without any hesitation.

"You know whom I am, I take it. I am Agent McCleary as you know," the white-haired man introduced himself first and then the others, "Next to me is Li Zhao, the son of Muirfield's partner business that supplies most of our funds. And, the guy next to you is one of our agency's most prominent scientists. He has been working on the cross-species DNA project since the beginning. This is Antonio Reyes. Gentleman, let's get friendly and greet each other." McIntyre looked at the Latino man who had a petite body, a clean-shaved face with some wrinkles scattered about, and eyes that were dark as chocolate. The scientist extended his hand out to the police captain as the two shook hands briefly before turning their attention back on the much older agent.

"Now you know why we are here, Mr. McIntyre," the agent began with a stern voice and unfaltering glare at the guy sitting next to him, "We elected you to seek any information about that attack on the jogger's death at Riverside Park a day ago. What did you find out?"

The salt-and-pepper haired man wondered how to better explain the small but significant progression on the case. "You see, the investigation was carried out by four various members of Precinct 44. If I may note that Catherine's best friend, Detective Tess Vargas, is working on the case but it is unknown if they are communicating to each other about it. However, they appeared in a briefing today at four o'clock pm with various other members of the police force from around the city and Gabe Lowen. Each one of them took turns reporting their side of the case. I compiled the information in these notes I wrote down and the photos I saw during the presentation."

He reached down to pick up the briefcase that was lying besides his chair. He opened it, taking out a few pieces of paper with neat writing scribbled all over and a few screenshots of the slides from the briefing that were taken by a phone and printed off. Agent McCleary picked up the notes first and passed the photos off to Li Zhao.

The older agent read the notes while questioning McIntyre on the contents, "It says here that one of the detectives said that there were various claw-like marks present all over the body and puncture marks near the woman's heart. Also, it says there that you think she was killed from either organ failure due to the punctures or from a vast amount of blood lost. Do you have anymore information?" He passed the notes along to the others as he looked McIntyre straight in his eyes.

"I don't have any more information at the moment. Everything is too new. Gabe and one of the woman detective, I don't know her name but she isn't Vargas, said that they are trying to speed up the medical examination. We could learn the true cause of the jogger's death by tomorrow. However, it's a possibility that the body might not be seen for a while because this isn't a top priority in the system right now."

That information didn't go over well with Agency McCleary as his face began to clearly express anger. He reached over and grabbed the police captain's shirt, instructing him in a strict tone on McIntyre's next job, "That isn't good enough! You have to go in there and use your rank to get that body examined by the medical examiner by tomorrow evening. I don't care about the other bodies in the queue, this case is more important as we have to know for sure if this was done by Vincent Keller or not.

We have to know about the results before anyone else does. Apparently former Agent Reynolds is trying to pursue this case too, according to other agents who are keeping a close eye on him. If he finds out this information before us, we are screwed. He wants to use Vincent for his bloody revenge on us."

Li Zhao interrupted him, "I am sorry to interrupt you, however it might be your best interest if you could get Agent Reynolds back on our side. I know that he used to be in the organization when Dr. Vanessa Chandler was still alive. I think if we can bring him back to our side, Muirfield could invincible with the experiences and resources that we all hold."

The white-haired man sighed as he turned his head to look at Zhao, "It looks harder than it sounds. But, I think it could be a possibility. I might get a chance to have a nice little chat with Mr. Reynolds somewhere in the near future." The lead agent turned to look at McIntyre again, instructing him further, "I want more information about the case. I need more than what I got today. We didn't pick you to play around. Muirfield picked you because you have shown us in the past that you can get the job done and that you have the skills and rank in the police force to help us out. Do not fail us, do you understand?"

The police captain just briefly nodding his head in a yes motion.

"Good, now scram and get your work done. Remember what you promised," the agent briskly ended the conversation as he refrained from using any type of eye contact with McIntyre. Instead, he drank his glass of scotch as he gazed at the semi-large crowd coming in. McIntyre took the hint as he said he goodbye to Zhao and Reyes and left the bar quickly.