Page 3 of His Witness To Save

The man went on berating him, telling him how much he had failed, while the rest of the officers in the room pretended not to notice what was going on.

The man was still talking. "If there's anyone to blame for thismess, it's you. No one else but you. If you'd only acted professionally like you were trained to do, this mad man would never have known of your connection to thatwoman,and none of us would need to be here today."

Mack's eyes glinted dangerously as he came perilously close to telling the older man off. The accusations were unfair, and the chief knew it.

Granted, he'd let himself get too close to Brie, something he'd been berating himself for since she'd been taken but still, it was no secret that Kamal had already had his eyes on her even before Mack came into the picture. It wasn't his fault she fit the profile of the kind of women The Brotherhood usually went for, and the deputy chief knew it.

There was no love lost between Mack and the deputy chief. Mack could remember several occasions when they'd clashed previously before. The deputy chief was one of the higher-ups who'd constantly tried to halt Mack's progress through the FBI.

Mack knew it was because the man’s own cousin had been upfor promotion the same time Mack had been, but he wasn't qualified enough, and so Mack had gotten the job as the team leader of Alpha Team One, a job he'd held for just under five years.

He could not stand the self-satisfied smirk on the older man's face. He knew the man was secretly pleased with his failure and was enjoying making him suffer this way. He wondered if the oldman was going to let his pride stop him from taking the opportunity to stop The Brotherhood.

He was trying to think of an appropriate response to give the man when he heard a voice cut through the tension, "I'll go with him."

The voice belonged to Dave, the leader of Omega Team Two.

"I'll go with him," Dave repeated, looking at the deputy chief now.

Dave was a strong man, a good man; possibly the closest Mack had come to having a best friend since he'd joined the FBI after his brother died.

They'd known each other since they were just trainee cadets hoping to get into the FBI. They'd worked together on one or two missions in the past, and Mack trusted him as much as he trusted himself. If there was anyone he'd want to have on a solo mission, it would be Dave, and he was grateful that he spoke up.

Dave could barely stand the deputy chief and had been waiting for a chance to defy the man openly. This was the perfect opportunity to do it without being accused of insubordination. Plus, he genuinely liked Mack, and he thought of him as morethan a brother. He knew the entire story behind the death of Mack's brother and understood the importance of this mission to him. He was willing to help in any way he could.

He wanted to nail The Brotherhood almost as much as Mack did because he'd lost a few teammates to them as well. He didn't mind risking his life to go after them, particularly now that innocent people were involved. There was nothing he hated as much as senseless violence.

Mack shot a grateful look in the man's direction as Dave continued, "I understand that this is impromptu, but we need to act now. Every minute we waste debating makes the odds of those women coming out alive even slimmer. I'll go with Mack to track down the bastard."

He turned to face Mack, "I have a team of five men ready on standby. They're good men, reliable; they should be enough to make a difference."

Mack struggled to keep the relief from showing on his face. He didn’t really want to go on his own, and he'd been wondering how on earth he was going to take down a group of terrorists on his own.

He nodded in Dave's direction, hoping his eyes conveyed the gratitude he felt.

He turned back toward the deputy chief, barely suppressing the smile that had risen to his lips.

"There you have it. I won't be alone. We'll be a team of seven men. Surely you can't say no to that.Sir."

The deputy chief’s small beady eyes flashed, knowing he'd been beaten.

"Fine. Take your men. Go on your suicide mission, but I expect you to take full responsibility if anything goes wrong. There's no way I'm taking the fall for your lot."

Mack locked eyes with him and smiled triumphantly. "You won't have to."

CHAPTER THREE

Outside the FBI office, Mack and Dave sat at a cafe discussing their strategy.

So far, the only thing they knew about The Brotherhood was that they were a US-based terrorist group that sold weapons and especially enjoyed torturing women. Beyond that, they knew nothing.

Their location, mode of operations, and their members had always been shrouded in mystery until Kamal.

They opened the file on him and skimmed through it, horrified by the history of violence it detailed.

Most of the stories from him had needed to be pried and pieced together slowly by people who'd known him throughout his lifetime.

Most of them seemed terrified of him, only agreeing to talk once they were sure that their identities would be kept secret.

---