(Chapter 3)

Vincent needed to get out of the park before being seen. He couldn't go back to Catherine's apartment, not after that nightmare he had and certainly not now. So the only other place he could think of was the Gentlemen's Club. With his hands trembling slightly, both bloody and stained the front of his clothes. He called out to the only person who can help in this situation. "J.T., I need your help, man."

J.T. stopped what he was doing, going ultimately still as he looked up from his computer. Quickly he got up, shocked by seeing Vincent's hands covered in blood. "What the hell happened?"

"It happened again," Vincent exclaimed while looking at his bloody hands again.

"What do you mean it happened again?" J.T. inquired, unsure what Vincent was referring to. Since the last time they handled the blackouts.

"After uh, you got that call earlier, I couldn't remember anything." Vincent's voice sounded uneasy as his brow wrinkled, and he gave an apprehensive look. He wanted to wash away the blood that had seeped through his black tee shirt and what was on his hands. It had reminded him of those times he couldn't control his inner beast before when he was in attack mode, and it frightened the hell out of him. That he finally found what gave him purpose: using his beast abilities for good. He can't go back to that again. Then added with an uneasy voice. "Look, man, I need to take a shower and figure out what the hell is going on."

"Okay, but why don't I test the blood and see if I get a hit or something while you take a shower," J.T. suggested while taking out one of the cotton swabs from his first aid kit and took a sample of blood from Vincent's hands. This scene brought to mind what happened last year. When he came upstairs to grab something from the fridge, he found Vincent's bloody clothes laid out on the warehouse floor while he was taking a shower. That's when he indeed witnessed what his best friend was going through. He watched Vincent head upstairs to the bathroom before heading over to his lab equipment, muttering. "Well, this is going to be an interesting night."

"It is terrifying how a good lair Gabe is," Catherine commented while watching the news played out on the T.V. in IL Cantuccio. She and Tess stopped in there before heading to work. She needed to figure out how to handle the situation with Vincent since he went MIA after last night.

"At least he's not saying who did it," Tess responded; she and Catherine grabbed their cappuccinos and followed her to one of the tables.

"Maybe Vincent didn't do it," Catherine remarked while putting her drink on the table and then took a seat. Hoping that it wasn't him, but knowing the possibility it could be, worried her.

"Maybe, Maybe a pack of rabid dogs tore apart the head of Muirfield snuck out of your apartment while you were blissfully sleeping?" Tess joked as she sat across from her, trying to lighten the mood, but the look on her partner's face wasn't a pleasant one.

"I'm serious, Tess. I just thought that I had him back." Catherine glanced over at the news on the T.V. and continued. "Now the entire city is looking for him, and I have no way to reach him; It's not like I have a phone number or an e-mail." remembering how hard it was last year to get in contact with him.

"So what, do you think that was Muirfield's plan to have him cut off communication with you?" Tess inquired as she took the lid off her cup, then stirred the cream and sugar inside before taking a sip.

"I don't know, it's possible. I'm just concerned that he'll lose control without knowing what's going on and could end up being a caged lab rat." Catherine said with a concerned voice as she took a sip of her drink.

"All right, the truth is, no one but Gabe knows who they're looking for."

"Yeah, and God knows what he wants to do with him," Catherine remarked as she remembered what he tried to do both with Vincent and her last year.

"Well, what do you want to do with him?"

"I just want to figure out what the hell is going on with him; one minute he's fine, and the next minute he's like a totally different person. A person that doesn't know who anybody is or what he did." Catherine said while tapping her finger on the table. "Maybe if I spend more time with him, I can….."

"Or maybe it is not the best idea for you to be alone with him right now," Tess suggested cutting her off.

"Tess, I saw him last night, and he was back to being himself," Catherine told her while sipping her drink.

"Cat, you said yourself, he doesn't remember what he did, and you?"

"No, I said he doesn't know what happened and does remember me." Catherine corrected her while rubbing her forehead. "It's just all too confusing."

"I'm just concerned for you, that's all." Tess leaned over, lightly stroking her forearm in a friendly gesture.

"I know, but trust me, Tess, he's not going to hurt me." She gave her partner a reassuring smile before getting interrupted by Gabe.

"Look, I can't man every city surveillance camera by myself in the hopes of finding….." Gabe complained while taking a seat between Catherine and Tess at the table after entering the cafe.

"My boyfriend?" Catherine finished for him.

"We need to work together, pull in J.T., do whatever it takes to find Vincent before he hurts anyone else," Gabe suggested.

"You make it sound like he's some out-of-control killer." Catherine's voice was aggrieved; how dare Gabe make that kind of assumption. Especially from the same jerk who tried to kill Vincent not too long ago.

"Catherine, Muirfield had Vincent for three months, and they changed him. He is clearly more dangerous than before, especially when he can't remember what he did." Gabe declared, trying to convince her how dangerous he might be now than before.

"And he did it with a different M.O.," Tess also commented while noticing the scowl expression on her partner's face. It was then she continued with the comment. "It's just; Vincent used only to attack when it was to intervene or save someone. And this looks premeditated."

"I told you, Tess, he was fine last night after I took him to my place," Catherine informed her again.

"And then he went and killed someone," Gabe said accusingly.

"Yeah, The Darth Vader of Muirfield!" Catherine gave Gabe an offense look before saying to him. "I'm going to spend a little more time alone with him to undo what Muirfield did."

"No way. He is too dangerous." Gabe ordered her, thinking about the talk Reynolds and he had the night before.

"Vincent would never hurt me." Catherine insisted as she got up to leave the cafe before getting stopped by her boss.

"This could be just the beginning," Gabe told her while blocking her from leaving and then continued. "We need to hold and assess him until we know more."

"In like, what, a cage or a cell?" Catherine inquired, looking at him with her brow lowered and narrowed her eyes at him. How the hell is that supposed to help Vincent? By treating him like some animal.

"I'm not looking to prosecute this crime," Gabe lied, wanting her to believe like he was helping Vincent somehow when he wasn't and then added. "I told you, I took this job to protect Vincent; that also means protecting him from himself."

"No, you didn't; you just wanted to find him, so you can just use his internal organs for your personal gain." Catherine pointed out with a resentful voice, remembering the reason Vincent was probably kidnapped in the first place. Before either one of them had a chance to respond, she left the cafe and was on her way to J.T.'s.

"We've lost him, sir." Agent Tucker commented to Reynolds as they headed down the corridor coming from the conference room. They just down another meeting on some of America's most wanted criminals and who about Zhao's killer.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"He's not at the safe house, and he's not set to execute his next assignment till 2100," Tucker remarked concerningly.

"Could he be with my daughter?" Reynolds asked the obvious question from what's been going on recently.

"We don't know, Sir."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Reynolds stopped to look at Tucker, confused and then said. "I thought you were monitoring his actions."

"We were, sir, but…." Agent Tucker wanted to inform him of the misinformation that was given to them by Agent Maxwell in a failed attempt to keep tabs on Vincent.

"Does he have all the necessary documentation?" Reynolds asked with a strain in his voice, not wanting to know the outcome of this conversation. He started to head in the direction of his office.

"He does."

"Okay, then, he's probably preparing." Reynolds stopped, turning to look at Tucker again. "Look, he just took care of Zhao for us. There's no reason to doubt his programming now. Keep me posted."

"Got it." He heard Tucker's response before heading into his office and closing the door behind him. Then pulled out the burner phone and called the number listed under contracts saying the one word. "Condor."

"Please tell me why I can't remember what happened last night," Vincent commented as he stood by J.T., wearing a new pair of jeans and another clean shirt. He watched him check the blood sample and then entered the DNA sequencer machine before matching it against the computer. Feeling a little more at ease after taking a shower, he was still worried about who the DNA belonged to and needed some answers. He needed to know who did what to him, and Catherine was right. The scar that had occupied the right side of his face disappeared for some reason. Maybe whoever did this to him didn't want him to be noticed by people that knew him. Whatever the reason was, it didn't matter right now, and he needed to figure out what the hell was going on with him. He knew how annoying this must be for Catherine. Her just finding him after what it felt like three long months, he then goes to kill somebody, and on top of that, he couldn't remember a damn thing. He knew it wasn't the blackouts this time; it was totally different and confusing in his gut. Now it was like he had no control over it. He already felt guilty when he left her earlier that night, but it was for the better.

"I don't know, but just like you had the blackouts before. Everything's normal."

"I woke up in Central Park." Vincent pointed out upsettingly while slipping his hands into his pants pockets.

"I'm not saying that could be a problem, but what the hell were you doing there in the first place?" J.T. inquired, wondering how he wound up there and why?

"I don't know, man, it hasn't happened in a while. The blackouts, you know." Vincent remarked, remembering the last time something like this happened, and it took some time to figure out the cause.

"Okay, let's trace the steps back. What were you doing before that?"

"I was just with Catherine a few hours ago, spending the night….." Vincent stopped to think about the events that unfolded. "I remember uh having this, this nightmare, and the next thing I knew, I was in Central Park."

"Nightmare?" J.T. swallowed hard; he was afraid to ask the next question, so with concern, he cleared his throat and inquired it anyway. "What kind of a nightmare?"

"Well……" Vincent began telling him about both his arms and legs were strapped to a chair, and every time he would try to shrug against the straps, they would only get tighter. Then his body started shaking uncontrollably with jerky movements. Simultaneously, images of war, destruction, both men and these horrible looking creatures flashing before him on this screen. He told him about the man in the navy blue suit who got into his face and gave him orders to kill. Then the injections started again. "I don't get it, man." He shook his head and continued. "So what the hell is triggering it this time?"

"I don't know what to tell you V, everything seems normal like before, but you're showing signs of dissociative amnesia again," J.T. explained to him, confused by what has been going on. Now his friend was having nightmares. "and this time, it's different because you're on like a mission on something."

"On a mission?" Vincent looked at J.T., a bit confused.

"When I threaten to tranq'd you from keeping you from leaving. You were like possessed, telling me you were late for something, and the next thing I know, you shot me in the shoulder." J.T. explained to him again and saw the uncertainty on his face.

"I tranq'd you?" Vincent still couldn't believe what J.T. told him was right; he knew he would never do that to his own best friend. "Come on, man, why would I shoot you with the tranq?"

"I rest my case." J.T. declared while throwing his hands up in the air, trying to make his point known. He saw the annoying look on Vincent's face as he clenched his jaw and pressed his lip together. "Okay, let's not forget the bigger problem on your hands. If that was blood, whose was it this time?"

"I don't know, man," Vincent responded while rubbing the back of his neck. "It's like before I would be at one place and then show up somewhere else, with no regulation on getting there." He told him while looking at the computer screen again.

"J.T., I need you to….." Catherine hesitated before going any further with what she was going to say. She stopped at the Gentlemen's Club entranceway with a sample in hand and noticed him standing by J.T. and looked up from their computer screen. "Vincent."

"Hey. You okay?" Vincent approached her with his eyebrows drawn together and saw the confusion on her face. He could tell by the racing of her heart something was bothering her.

"I was about to ask you the same question." Catherine looked up at him with concern saying. "I woke up, and you were gone."

"I couldn't sleep," Vincent told her honestly, with that awful nightmare still playing in his head and feared that he would hurt her.

"And Zhao?" Catherine asked, seeing the uncertainty on his face like he wasn't sure how to respond, and she needed more answers, so she accused him. "Vincent, Zhao was found dead mauled like some animal. You killed someone in Central Park."

"I knew it." Vincent sighed, looking over at J.T. and gave him an apprehensive look. After finding the blood on his hands, seeing and hearing them, the police lights. He knew now it wasn't a good sign.

"It could've been him; he was here when it happened," J.T. remarked while looking up the computer trying to defend his friend.

"Was he J.T.?" Catherine asked him, pressing her lips together and narrowed her eyes at him. How could he just assume that with everything going on? So she continued. "With all the crap that's been happening."

"Uh, I….."

"I get why you did it…." Catherine cut him off as she saw the confusion on his face before continuing. "you were exacting revenge."

"It's a little more complicated than that," Vincent said to her, glancing away still trying to figure out what the hell the nightmare.

"Complicated how?"

"Look, Catherine, I…..." Vincent stammered, trying to figure out how to explain it without concerning her more when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket—pulling out of his pants pocket and looking at the restricted number on the screen. Who the hell is calling him? Not a lot of people knew the number to his burner phone except for J.T. and Catherine. So with a cautionary voice, he responded. "Who is this?" Then he heard that digitized voice again answer with 'Condor,' which triggered something inside of him, and then remembered his next assignment. How the hell did he show up here, again? He was supposed to be at the houseboat and check in with the commander.

"Maybe J.T. can pull up and hack into the security cameras……" Catherine started to suggest to him but noticed Vincent's personality changed once again as his expression hardened. "Vincent?"

"I need to go," Vincent announced with an emotionless tone as he grabbed his jacket off the barstool and stalked quickly for the door.

"Vincent, please don't," Catherine begged while approaching him as he headed for the exit, trying to stop him, but it was too late as he was already out the door. "Vincent!"

"Here, we go again." J.T. sighed, rolling his eyes. He didn't think the blackouts would happen again after they figured out the problem and took care of it already with the serum from her mother. It would have been simple if she just kept him in one spot, so he asked the obvious question. "Why didn't you tranq him?"

"Me? you could've done the same thing," Catherine answered while narrowing her eyes at him like she was thinking about that right now.

"Really? After what happened the last time." J.T. pointed out, and he wasn't going to take another chance and have Vincent tranq him again.

"Right, sorry." Catherine apologized; she realized then how incentive that was for her. "Listen, we need to figure out where Vincent went before Gabe and Tess do. So can you pull up the security cameras you hacked into?"

"Before Gabe and Tess do?"

"They want to hold and assess him, like some kind of criminal," Catherine told him, thinking about the conversation Gabe and she had earlier.

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it," J.T. commented from what happened the last time they wanted to capture Vincent's ass.

"Yes, that's why I'm still suspicious. The last time Gabe was with Vincent, he tried to kill him." She recalled that awful night Gabe kidnapped her so he could lure Vincent and kill him.

"And you wanted to bring him back to life." J.T.'s voice was critical, remembering when she came back to the Gentlemen's club crying hysterically about Vincent being taken and her decision to bring Gabe back. Just so he could help find the big guy, but that was a waste of time. Without Gabe's beast sense, he wasn't much good in tracking where they took Vincent. And now they had to deal with him being in their lives since he was now head of the precinct until they could find another captain.

"Can you not criticize me still about that?" Catherine remarked, she already felt guilty about that decision, and she didn't need J.T. to keep reminding her about it. "Here." She handed the sample she got from the crime scene and gave it to J.T., saying. "Analyze this and see if it matches what Vincent brought in." She then headed for the door. "See if you catch him on one of the traffic cameras."

"Hold on, it looks like he got into a cab, and now he's taking the Hazen Bridge," J.T. remarked while he watched the traffic cam and saw his best friend hailing a taxi. What was so important that he had to take that bridge. He was mainly going to prison.

"But that goes to Rikers. What's he doing there?" Catherine gave J.T. a confused look; she questioned Vincent's actions as well; there wasn't any reason for him to go there in the first place.

"I don't know, but Rikers isn't an experience you guys used to experience." J.T. pointed out while looking up from the monitor screen and noticing Catherine heading towards the door. He was a little concerned about the situation with Vincent recently and suggested. "Maybe you should call Tess for backup."

"Right now, Tess means Gabe, and that's not the kind of backup I need. And your best friend, Vincent, doesn't either." Catherine responded while leaving the Gentlemen's club.

"I'm the doctor on call," Vincent announced as he showed his fake badge to the security guard and made his way inside of the infirmary. After meeting Agent Tucker in the back of the building to get the phony I.D. and the necessary information needed for this mission. Then took to a nearby roof with the rifle in hand; he looked through the scope waiting for the perfect time and took the shot when Carlos was in the clearing. Now he stood in the infirmary playing doctor, looking over to where his target laid out on the gurney the international cartel leader Carlos Hernandez. Asking the guard how long he was out for before getting the tranquil and causal told him he would have this analyzed. Then said to the on-call nurse that he needed 25 of the diazepam, 70 phenobarbital and to set up the inhibition tray. This was the only thing he could come up with to getting her to leave the room. He still needed to get the information from Carlos about the whereabouts of the next beast he was trained to kill. So he applied pressure to his throat, hoping it will give him some answers and when that wasn't working. He removed the oxygen mask, asking one more time where his asset was and how to find him. Carlos managed to utter Randy Velazquez's name; the name assassin hired to go after Joe Garolo's niece Gina. She's having a party at a club later on tonight to celebrate mid-terms from nursing school in Miami.

After getting the information VIncent needed from Carlos, he applied more pressure to his throat, killing him; he couldn't just have him go and warn his asset. He left the infirmary making up an excuse that whatever was in that dart was too deadly and that Carlos couldn't be saved. Telling them the possibility of maybe one of his rivals could have targeted him to get him out of the way. Once outside, he ditched both the I.D. and lab coat in one of the dumpsters behind the prison. And then carefully made his way towards the front. He needed to be careful with a few guards lurked about in the distance as they checked the area. He waited in the shadows and watched a motorized garage door roll open as a car drove up with a suspect inside and entered. That's when he heard her heartbeat again, Catherine was interfering in his mission, and he caught her talking to someone about tracking him down the last time she almost got herself killed. Maybe her partner? Telling them she was Rikers, and she was by herself. He had to try and stop her from messing things up more. To do that, he had to use his superspeed to appear behind her and covered her mouth with one of his hands. Right now, he needed answers and, with frustration in his voice, asked. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm trying to help," Catherine mumbled an answer into his hand before hearing another female voice replied. "Cat, look, just wait for me. We'll track him together."

"It doesn't sound like help to me," Vincent whispered to her while grabbing the phone and ending the call, putting it in the pocket of his pants. He needed to get the hell out of there before getting caught and take this Catherine woman with him. She questioned his actions before taking the fingertips, grabbing the middle muscle of the back of the head to her shoulder. Then he applied the pressure on it and caught her as she went limp in his arms; he was lucky to find the doors of the car were unlocked as he quickly placed her in the passenger seat. Then he went around to the driver's side and got in, sitting there for a moment pondering his next move. With the keys still in the ignition, he started the car and headed in the only place he could think of his houseboat. The question now was what to do with her?

To be continued………...

Author's Note: Thanks for kind reviews everyone, please keep them coming and let me know how you guys like it.