The only sound that could be heard throughout the dojo was the sharp thud of his hands hitting canvas. Kim had gone home, leaving Trent alone with his thoughts and the hanging bag. It felt good to be working out, getting rid of some of his frustrations. On one hand, he was definitely glad that Carlos was alive. However, he hadn’t told Sarah or Jessie that fact yet. How the hell was he going to tell Sarah that her boyfriend had no idea who he was, let alone, who she was? It was especially important now that she was carrying Carlos’ child. She hadn’t told Trent but he knew. Every time he saw her she was running to the bathroom. He just wondered if Jessie knew. Truth was, in the last two days he hadn’t had much time to say anything to Jess. And then there was the matter about this Gwen woman. Just what had she told Carlos? If Carlos was angry enough to pull a gun on him, what was Trent going to say to get him back? He had talked to Ryan at the police station and Ryan had given him all the information he had about Gwen. It wasn’t a big help. However, the police station was also where he got his first clue about who was trying to kill Carlos and he. All he needed was to see the pictures from Jessie and he would be sure. He just hoped he could find a way to get through to Carlos before they did.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Whoever it was had tried to open it quietly, but after owning the place for years, it was a familiar sound to Trent. Hearing the approaching footsteps, his body tensed for a fight. Wheeling around, he came face to face with Carlos.

"Carlos!" The name came out before he had realized it.

"So you say," the dark-haired man answered. He shuffled over to a chair by the desk, walking slowly with the cane in his good hand. "Mind if I sit down?"

"No," Trent said cautiously. He looked his friend over, seeing the extent of his injuries, the pain on his face. "Should I get you to a hospital?"

"No," came the curt reply. The two men fell silent as Carlos looked around and Trent waited for him to speak. Finally he did. "I don’t know who the hell you are, but you seem to know me." His eyes rested on the pictures hanging on the wall behind the desk.

Again, Trent waited.

"I don’t know….."Carlos stopped, obviously not knowing where to begin.

Trent sat at the desk, and asked gently, "Do you remember anything?"

Carlos ran his good hand through his hair. "Just little flashes of names and things. I knew you somehow but I didn’t know if I should trust you or not. I remember the name Hector."

"Hector was your brother, Carlos. He was killed when you were about 13."

Carlos nodded. "There was a lot of violence in my life, wasn’t there?" Without waiting for an answer he continued. "I remember being shot in the shoulder. I fell, didn’t I?"

"Out a second story window, with two bullets in your shoulder."

Carlos fell silent again, trying to collect his thoughts. He looked at the pictures again. "Who are they?" he asked, pointing to a picture of two boys.

Trent took the picture down and handed it to him. "That’s you and I when we were about 12."

Carlos’ sigh was almost palpable. "Nothing," he muttered. "It means nothing." Placing the picture on the desk, he struggled to get up. As Trent went to help him, Carlos waved him off. Taking a few steps away, he turned. "Who was Sam?" he asked, immediately noting how the name caused a change in Trent’s face.

Trent spoke quietly. "Sam was my wife and a very good friend of yours. She died a couple of years ago."

Carlos shook his head waiting a minute before he spoke. "So, why did someone try to kill me?"

Trent walked around the desk and sat on it. "They tried to kill me, too," Trent automatically scratched his stitches. "And I’m working on finding out who."

Carlos took another few steps, a sign of emotional struggle visible on his face. "Why would she lie to me? Why would she tell me my name was Rick? She saved my life and then she lied to me."

Trent stood up and walked over to him, placing his hand on Carlos’ good shoulder. "I might have an idea." As Carlos looked at him in surprise, Trent continued. "About 6 months ago, her fiancé, Rick Jergan, was killed. He was an undercover cop and he was killed in the line of duty. The cruelest part was the fact that while he lay bleeding, people just walked past him. If just one person had of stopped to help him, he might have survived. Somehow, to Gwen, you were him."

Carlos nodded then turned towards the door. "I’ve got to go back."

"Are you sure?" Trent asked.

"Yes." Carlos looked down at his hands, remembering how he had hit her, pushing her out of his way when he had left. "I hit her," he said quietly. Trent raised his eyebrows but said nothing. "I have to make sure she’s okay," Carlos continued. "She saved my life and I owe her that."

"I’ll take you back," Trent said, returning behind the desk to get his keys. "Just let me change and I’ll take you. You shouldn’t be driving." As he headed back towards the change room, Trent heard the door once more. As he heard the familiar gasp, he turned.

"CARLOS!!" Jessie ran to him, putting her arms around him. "I am so glad you’re okay!"

"Jessie," Trent started, but she immediately knew something wasn’t right. Carlos hadn’t hugged back and was now looking at her like a stranger.

"Are you okay, Carlos? Did I hurt you?" She quickly looked him over, taking stock of his bandages and cast.

"Jessie," Trent started again. "Carlos doesn’t remember anything."

She looked up into his mocha coloured eyes, seeing only frustration. "Nothing?" She regretted saying it as soon as it left her mouth. She had dealt with amnesia before and to keep asking them questions only deepened their frustration. "I’m sorry, Carlos. My name is Jessie and I am Trent’s girlfriend."

Carlos nodded but looked away. Trent saw the envelope in Jessie’s hands and remembered why he had asked her to come. "May I see that?" he asked, reaching for the envelope.

"Yeah, sure," Jessie said handing Trent the envelope as she watched Carlos move around the dojo. "Have you told Sarah?"

"Not yet," came the reply.

"Trent.." she started but was cut off.

"Not now, Jess. She doesn’t need to know this now. She has other things to worry about."

She was startled as she realized that Trent knew about the baby. "That’s exactly why she needs to know."

"Not now." His tone suggested an end to the conversation.

"I’ve got to go back," Carlos repeated.

"Okay. I’ll drive you and Jessie can follow in her car. She can give me a ride if you want to stay," Trent told him, finally placing the envelope on his desk without opening it.

"Go where?" Jessie asked, puzzled.

"Back to Gwen Gilmour’s place," Trent called as he once again headed for the changeroom.

**

She lay on the floor, sobbing, holding her cheek where he had hit her. She couldn’t believe he had been angry enough to strike her. Couldn’t he see she was protecting him? Complete hopelessness settled on her as she knew she had lost him. "Oh Rick, " she sobbed.

She was shaken from her position by the sound of the door opening. Scrambling to her feet, she ran to the door calling his name. "RICK!" she shouted, daring to believe he was back. A small scream escaped her when she realized it wasn’t him.

**

They had made the trip in silence, with Carlos staring out the side window the entire trip. Trent wanted to reach out to him but felt it best to let Carlos move at his own pace. Maybe Jess could even help with the amnesia. As they pulled into the driveway on Austin Lane, Trent heard Carlos sigh. "Do you want us to stay?" he asked.

"I don’t know what I want," came the reply. Carlos tried to lift himself from the car, shaking off any help from Trent who had come around to his door. As he slowly moved toward the door, Trent trailed him. They were both surprised to see the door slightly open.

"Gwen?" Carlos called, as he pushed the door open further. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw next. "GWEN!" he yelled, seeing the body crumpled on the floor. It was obvious that Gwen had been badly beaten.

Trent moved past him to the figure on the floor. "Geez, Carlos you didn’t do this, did you?" He felt for a pulse.

"NO! I just pushed her out of the way. GWEN!" His voice was desperate.

"She’s got a pulse but it is faint." Looking up he saw Jessie had now joined them. "Jess call 911 and then get Carlos out of here."

She nodded and left but Carlos was adamant. "I’m not leaving her."

"Dammit, Carlos. You have to. Whoever did this was looking for you. If they know you are here they will be back. Besides the person who did this, the world thinks you are dead and I just don’t want to explain it right now." His voice softened slightly. "I’ll stay with her and make sure she is okay. I promise."

Carlos was set to argue again when Jess returned. "They are on their way." She turned to Carlos. "Let’s go."

He turned to Trent. "Take care of her," he said before letting Jessie take his arm and lead him away.

Trent turned his attention back to the bruised and bloodied figure on the floor. "It’s okay Gwen. Help is coming." She muttered something and he had to put his ear close to hear her. "What was that?"

"I knew he would come back to me."

**

He sat on the bluff, behind the old farmhouse. There was no way he could get his car out to follow Sandoval without Malloy seeing him. He had been all set to leave when he had heard the cars approaching. By the time he was in position, they were both in the farmhouse. Now, as he heard the sirens in the distance he knew he would have to wait to get Sandoval. However, he might just get lucky with Malloy…

**

"Don’t worry, Carlos. She’ll be okay." The words rang hollow, even to Jess.

Carlos just kept looking out the window, his body tense. Finally he spoke. "I have a girlfriend, don’t I?’

Jess glanced over at him, seeing the pain and confusion on his face. "Yes, Sarah."

"Have we been together long?"

Jess thought for a moment. "Off and on about 4 years, I think."

"I saw her picture in my wallet," Carlos sighed. "But I just don’t remember."

"Carlos," Jessie whispered, "I might be able to help you."

"How? Can you bring my memory back?" The tone was laced with sarcasm.

"I might be able to. Carlos, because you have little bits of memories, they can probably be retrieved. I am a psychologist and I think hypnosis might help. It would be worth a try."

"Right now, anything would be worth a try. Although with some of my memories, I’m not sure I want them back."

Jess smiled. "We’ll see."

**

"You okay?" Ryan asked, as they stood watching the ambulance pull away.

"Yeah, Just mad as hell. You have leak in your office, Ryan. You were the only person I told about Carlos."

"Hey, someone else could have found out about Ms Gilmour there." Ryan said defensively.

"Who did you tell?"

"No one." Realization came to Ryan. "Except the chief," he said quietly.

They both pondered this. "Does the chief have ties to Dan Yates?" Trent asked.

"Yates? I know they are friends. Yates works for the Senator on the Police commission and is the liaison with the chief. Do you think this is his work?"

"I saw Yates at the office today and it triggered something. We were working a case involving him. His wife wanted us to see if he was cheating. We took pictures of him and his mistress at some fancy party. Jess brought me the pictures but I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet but there is something there. I’m sure of it."

"Hmmmm. I can’t believe the chief would be involved in this."

Trent remembered something. "You did say he warned you off this case, didn’t you?"

Ryan looked as if he had been struck with a baseball bat. "Yeah." Pause. "But why?"

Trent never got a chance to answer. A shot rang out, striking Ryan in the arm, sending him spinning backwards. Trent dove for the ground, trying to look around for cover. As a second shot hit the dirt beside him, he gauged the distance to the car. He could make it but it would be tough pulling Ryan. He had no choice.

In an instant he was on his feet, grabbing Ryan by the armpits and dragging him towards Ryan’s car. Another shot rang out, kicking up dirt immediately to the left of them. Trent kept on going, until he was safely behind the car. "Ryan," he asked breathlessly, slouching down. "You okay?"

"The son of a bitch shot me!" he muttered, grabbing his blood-soaked arm.

As Trent took off Ryan’s tie, his ear detected the quiet chirp of his cell phone. Grabbing it, he punched the key and wedged the phone between his ear and shoulder. "Yeah?"

"HI Trent, it’s Jess. Is everything okay?"

"No, Jess. Call 911 and get cops sent out here to the farmhouse on Austin Lane." Ryan bit off a scream as Trent tried to stop the bleeding by pulling the tie tight around the wound. "Ryan’s been shot and we’re pinned down out here. Hurry Jess!" Letting the phone slide off his shoulder he turned his complete attention to Ryan. "How’s that?"

"Hurts like hell," Ryan muttered.

Motioning to Ryan to stay down, Trent poked his head up slightly from behind the car. "Okay Yates," he yelled. "Let’s bargain."

The sound of laughter echoed across the openness of the farmyard. "Why should I bargain? Seems to me, you’re the one in trouble right about now."

Trent felt something cold against his arm. Looking down he saw Ryan holding his service revolver out to him. He shook his head, but Ryan thrust the pistol at him again. Again, Trent shook his head.

"It may look that way, Yates, but I think I have something you want. Even if you kill me you still won’t get those pictures. And I know that’s what you want, isn’t it?"

Silence hung over the space between them. "Well, how about this? You give me the pictures and just maybe I let that pretty little girlfriend of yours live?"

A harsh laugh. "You kill her and you still won’t get the pictures." Trent braced his back against the car. He just had to wait until the cavalry arrived.

**

"Let’s go, Jess."

"But Carlos, we’re unarmed," Jess sat at the wheel of the car. They had pulled in to the farmhouse a couple of miles down Austin Lane so Carlos could make sure Gwen got out. Now, they were close enough to help Trent and Ryan at the farmhouse before the police. But they were unarmed.

"We have to do something. Trent needs our help."

Jess smiled. "Sounds like the old Carlos. Let’s go. We’ll think of something."

**

"C‘mon, Malloy. You’re stalling. Throw out Ryan’s gun now and I might just let him live."

Trent laughed. "Who are you kidding? You can’t let either of us live. Not if you want to protect yourself. Or maybe it’s that boss of yours. If you don’t kill us, I’m sure he would. Something tells me he has friends who wouldn’t be afraid to kill you, either." The response to Trent’s comments was a hail of gunfire.

"That stupid bitch! If she hadn’t gone to you about a divorce, you never would have got pictures of George with Big Tony."

So that was it. Trent and Ryan looked at each other. George Dennis was a ‘law and order’ senator who had gotten into power with a promise to get tough on crime. Being seen meeting one of Dallas’ biggest mobsters wasn’t something he would care for. This might be bigger than they had thought.

"Now I know Dennis will kill you. You’re a liability. You’ve screwed up a few times, haven’t you, Yates? You missed me and even Carlos isn’t dead yet." Another hail of bullets rang out. Trent laughed. "Am I getting to you, Yates? You know it’s true. You are better off just getting out of here, out of the state, maybe even the country. Canada is nice this time of year."

"He won’t kill me, he needs me."

"Doesn’t sound too convincing."

"JUST SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!!

As he fired at he car for a third time, a car raced up the lane to the farmhouse. Trent and Ryan glanced up, seeing it was Jess’ car. "What the hell is she doing?" Trent yelled.

The car screeched to a stop behind Yates as he turned and fired at the windshield. Ryan had his gun up and aimed in an instant, spinning Yates as the bullet struck him in the shoulder. As Ryan squeezed off 4 more shots, 2 more bullets found their mark, leaving Yates lying in a pool of blood.

Almost instantly, Trent was up and headed towards the car. "What the hell did you think you were doing? I told you to send the cops, not come back here and get yourself shot, Jess!"

"Your welcome, Trent," she said with a smile. "It was Carlos’ idea."

His first thought was to yell at them more but Trent held his tongue. "Thanks guys," he finally said. "I guess we owe you one."

**

"How is he doing?" Trent had just taken up bar stool beside Jess at Uppercuts. Across the room, Carlos sat at a table with Sarah.

"Not bad, considering. He is getting some of his memories back but it is going to be a slow process. Sarah is being wonderfully patient. She even agreed to let him see Gwen in the hospital. "

"I hope Gwen gets the help she needs," Trent said. Looking over at Sarah, he asked, "Has Sarah told him yet?"

"No. She doesn’t want to spring it on him but I think it’s only matter of time before he notices. Carlos isn’t that blind," she said with a wink. She turned her attention away from Carlos and Sarah and looked at Trent. "So what is happening with Dennis?"

"He is keeping a low profile. The FBI has the pictures now and is deciding what to do with them. The irony of it is that it isn’t illegal to have dinner with a mobster. But because of all this the FBI are investigating all his dealings."

"What about the Chief?"

"There is no evidence the Chief had any idea what was going on so he is in the clear. Yates may have found out about Gwen by eavesdropping on the chief."

A cloud came over Jess’ face. "Are you and Carlos still in danger?"

"I don’t think so. We’ve handed over the pictures and negatives so even if anything happened to us, the investigation would still continue. In fact, getting rid of us would only make it look worse for them."

"I hope so," Jess said as a shiver went down her spine.

‘I hope so, too,’ Trent thought as they both turned their attention back to the couple across the bar.