Chapter 12

"Catherine"

"Vincent…..what are you doing here? You're going to get yourself killed."

"Never mind that, how is this happening?"

"I have a gem, but seriously you have to get out of here, if they catch you they will kill you….Vincent please you have to leave."

"I am not leaving without you, where are you?"

"I am in an observation room, they are watching me, and pretty sure there are cameras in my room too. They don't want to hurt me Vincent, they want my help. Please I will explain later, just go….I love you, please don't put yourself at risk for me."

"Catherine"

"Vincent please….trust me."

And that did it, those words….trust me. Not trusting her in the past had torn them apart and he swore they would not go through that again.

"Fine, I will go. But I am not going far, you keep talking to me Catherine….I mean it if I don't hear from you, I am coming in. I can't do this without you. I love you, stay safe."

"I promise Vincent, I am in no danger….please get yourself safe. I love you."

Vincent moved back up the vent, once he got outside he reached out to Catherine. "Can you still hear me?...I'm safe love, I'm safe."

Catherine let out a big exhale, relief flooded her system. She dropped her head, letting her hair cover her face. Thank God he made it out OK. "Yes I can still hear you, you're faint, but I can hear you."

Vincent closed his eyes, this was going to be harder than he thought and focused on Catherine. "What in the hell is going on and what is your plan, cause I am not going to sit here while you're in danger."

Catherine was careful not to smile. "Long story less long, there are beasts here, and there are different gems here and different gems have different properties, this one makes it possible for me to hear others thoughts and sometimes communicate….Oh I almost forget, Ray/Pammy Sue is here and there is one more I recognize from that picture too." She mentally prepared herself, Vincent was going to freak.

"WHAT" and she is right.

"Dammit! Catherine they are dangerous."

"I'm being careful….Someone's coming I've got to go….love you."

And just like that she was gone. Vincent could feel her absence from his mind. No matter how hard he concentrated he could not reach her. It must only work one way. She was the one maintaining the contact. He felt her loss like a punch to the gut. He reached out to JT….he was going to freak.

"Are you kidding me…Ray? Who is the other one? Telepathy whoa man I did not see that coming, that's really cool."

Cool…..Cool, my girlfriend is being held captive underground and I can't go rescue her because she asked me not to and to top it off there are at least 2 guys from my old unit down there with her, not to mention God knows how many other beasts, and your telling me cool?

"Yeah sorry, not cool."

Barnes came back into the room. "How is it going in here?"

Catherine not wanting to give him any reason to be suspicious…."Good, it's confusing but with concentration I could tone down all the noise. I couldn't just pick out one voice, yet, but I feel like I could given enough time."

Barnes seemed pleased. "Good, I am glad you seem to be accepting the situation."

"Well I don't have much choice at this point and I can admit I am curious as to how you think I would fit in here. I'm a cop and you kill people so we are going to have some issues." Catherine is being sarcastic, but she is not sure he gets that.

"Hopefully you will understand what we do here and why sometimes killing is necessary. We are essentially fighting a war here Catherine and sometimes there are casualties. I think we are done for today, let me escort you back to your room."

As they left the observation room and went through the facility, Catherine noticed that Ray and the other guard were trailing them."

Cat saw this as an opportunity to try and jog their memory of Vincent and also she still had the gem…

"You say you want my help, but what about Vincent?" She reached out but sensed nothing from either of the soldiers. "I love him and he loves me, he is not just going to let me go. Not after everything we have been through, he will come for me. I can't work with you if he is not part of the deal." She reached out and got a hit. Ray was thinking about Vincent!

Barnes did not answer her right away….He appeared to be thinking, afraid to say the wrong thing and alienating her. "Why don't we talk about Vincent at a later time? I think we are safe enough now from him."

They had reached her room and as she walked in, she glances at Ray, she catches his eye and she would swear he made eye contact. As the door closed, she unclenched her hand; she still has the red gem.

Vincent is starting to get cold. JT is on the way with camping equipment, Dana took the copter back for him, but while he was waiting all he could do was sit here, and he was not happy about it, he is talking to himself…..Damn woman, trust her…I trust her, but she just expects me to sit here…..she has another thing coming I will rescue her whether she likes it or not.

"Vincent?" He almost falls off the log he is sitting on.

"I'm here Catherine….are you ok?"

I'm fine, I still have the gem, and I am back in my room. Vincent I think I can get to Ray, I purposely talked about you and he reacted….I could hear him, he said your name. I am going to try and get him to help me."

Vincent thought about this…..could she trust Ray…the old Ray she could, but this guy….. "Catherine tell him that Pammy Sue never cheated on him. He will know you're in contact with me, if the old Ray is in there he will respond, if not…"

"I think it's worth the risk Vincent."

"You are killing me Catherine, asking me to stay out here and wait. I would come in there with nothing but my bare hands to get you out."

"I know Vincent and I am sorry, but you have to trust me….they need me here, I have the upper hand and with Ray's help I can get out and I will need you out there to get me home."

Vincent voice softens. "I will be here, I am not going anywhere, not without you, not ever again."

Catherine smiles to herself, knowing what being out there is costing him. "Thank you Vincent."

"Get into bed….you have to be exhausted and if you're going to escape you're going to need rest."

"I'm in bed, but don't leave me, having you in my head, makes all this easier."

"You're doing all the work sweetheart, you are keeping us together and believe me it guts me when you leave."

"Talk to me Vincent."

And he did, he talked about the life they were going to build together and how much he missed her, how his arms ached to hold her. He was about to tell her what he was going to do to her when he got her back when he felt her leave. She had fallen asleep and although the loss of her was painful, he was at peace knowing that if he could not be in there with her, he could at least make her feel safe enough to sleep.

"Sleep tight Catherine." He whispered out loud to himself. He tried to get comfortable and waited for JT.

It was a long night. JT arrived and dropped off the camping equipment. Vincent sent JT and Dana back to NY there was nothing they could do from here. He promised to contact them as soon as Catherine was out. Dana promised to have a chopper on standby.

Vincent waited for Catherine to wake up and reach out to him.

Catherine woke up and the first thing she did was reach out to Vincent.

"Hey"

He woke up with a start. "Hey, everything ok in there?"

"Yes, just waking up, the lights in here seem to be on some sort of automatic cycle, what time is it?"

Vincent looked at his watch. "7am" he answered her.

"Don't worry if you don't hear from me much today. I am going to try and make contact with Ray and then try and get as much info as I can out of Barnes."

"Catherine", Vincent's tone of voice left no doubt that he was not happy, but he was trying to respect her wishes. "Please be careful or at least let me come in there and help."

"I'm sorry Vincent and I know this is hard for you, but there is nowhere to hide here and I can do this! I will talk to you later."

"Wait! What if they take the gem from you and you can't reach out. I will make you a deal. 12 hrs, if I don't hear from you by then, I am coming for you."

"Deal…I gotta go, love you."

"I love y"….but she was already gone. All he could do was wait.

Barnes came to get Catherine after breakfast. Apparently they did not trust her yet, as breakfast we served through the slot at the door. As Barnes knocked on the door, Catherine slipped the gem into her pocket.

"Sleep well?" He asked, she could tell he did not really care whether she did or not.

"Just fine, although a clock would be nice."

After the pleasantries were exchanged, Barnes got down to business.

"Catherine you saw what we do here and you can help. There are beasts here that could benefit from your abilities, there are beasts out there." He gestures vaguely to the outside. "That could also use your help. We have the resources here to train you to be the best version of yourself. This is your destiny, you were born for this."

"My destiny….what do you mean?"

Barnes was only too eager to explain, thinking he has found a way to convince her.

"Your ancestor Rebecca Reynolds worked for us, well an earlier version of us. We were just learning about the gems and their different properties. She and her father were tasked with recovering gems and artifacts related to beasts. She tracked down a green gem and rescued the beast, Alistair who was being enslaved by the man who owned it. Alistair was the muscle for this man's empire. Rebecca set him free, she worked with him, rehabilitated him and eventually fell in love with him. A common problem for your family it appears…." He continued. "Rebecca eventually managed to free Alastair from his beast form. There were unexpected side effects to this and tragic results but that is a story for another day. It's the main reason your father did not want you involved with us or with Beasts. My point is we do good work here."

Catherine was stunned, Rebecca freed Alastair from his beast, what did that mean and what were the side effects he referenced? He said they do good things here, could she really believe that?

"I'm sorry, I can see that you believe that but you are keeping me against my will, and you tried to kill Vincent, kinda hard to see your side here."

Barnes hung his head. "I am not sure what else I can say to convince you, we did not try to kill Vincent. Your Father brought him here and yes we upgraded him and wiped his memory, again at Bob's request and then sent him out to track and hunt down rogue beasts. Your Father tried to kill Vincent, he has his own personal agenda here."

"You attacked Dana and kept Sam a prisoner for 5 years."

Barnes shook his head.

"As I said we are fighting a war, sometimes there are casualties. But you know too much now, if you don't find your place here, we will be forced to terminate you."

Catherine tried not let him see her fear.

"Vincent?"

A rush of relief surged through Vincent at the sound of her voice.

"I'm here"

"I can't explain much, but you need to talk to my Father about Rebecca and Alastair, there may be a way to cure you!"

"Catherine I am not leaving you here!"

"They won't let me leave, I can play along for a while…go talk to my Father….this is important, this could be your cure! I will find out all I can here, but my Father knows Rebecca and Alastair's story. Please Vincent!"

Exasperated Vincent caved in.

"Fine, I will go, but when I get back you are either coming out of there on your own or I am coming in for you."

The sound of relief was clear from Catherine.

"Thank you, I love you Vincent."

"I love you too, stay safe."

With that he felt Catherine leave his mind. He got in touch with Dana, recalled the helicopter and notified JT to meet them at Rikers. He wanted JT's science brain if there was talk of a cure.

Catherine was determined to get Ray's help and determine to find out more about the cure for Vincent.