Page 3 of His Witness To Have

"I need to see him and thank him," she confessed. "God knows I would've died if he didn't risk his life to rescue…"

"Rachel, what's your health status? Are you still sore?" Brie cut in, trying to put off every discussion about Mack.

Rachel paused for a while. "Yeah, it still kind of hurts. Mostof the swelling on my face has gone down, but I'm fine regardless."

"That's great! I'll come to take care of you personally when I get there," Brie said, continually attempting to stray away from the topic. "I'll see you tomorrow," she finished in a softer tone.

"I'll be expecting you," Rachel answered before ending the call.

Holding the phone close to her chest, Brie heaved an obviously heavy sigh. It's going to be fine.

***

The road back to Chicago was practically empty and unusually quiet. News flying around was that most of the residents fled the city after they heard about the kidnapping of Rachel and Brie. Nobody felt safe, and it was understandable because nobody could tell who would come to cause mayhem again.

The taxi arrived at her apartment, and it was in the worst state. She hadn't been there in almost two months, and she knew shehad to brace herself for the worst when it came to the Brotherhood of Blood – and in cleaning her apartment.

She plopped on her couch, and her phone lit up. What she saw on it sent her heart beating uncontrollably. It was a text from Mack and it read.

I miss you.

CHAPTER THREE

Brie stared at her phone as though she had seen a ghost. A mixture of anger and anxiety formed in her stomach as she read those three words repeatedly to herself.

Mack texted her? After abandoning her? Anger started dominating the other things she felt, and she switched off her phone.

Screw you,she muttered under her breath.

After hours of cleaning up and sorting out her stuff, her stomach rumbled hard. She hadn't eaten since the morning before when she had the tussle with her parents about traveling back to Chicago. She took her coat off the hanger and decided to go out to eat.

She walked past many familiar places. Places she didn't think she'd miss, but she did. Arriving at a nearby diner, the sudden recollection of the incident that happened with Bryan and his wife at the diner in Destiny Falls surfaced in her thoughts. She remembered how Mack had pulled her out of that dire situation, and she began to miss him even more. Everything she saw, said or thought about always found a way to link itself to Mack. She couldn't take it anymore.

Settling down to eat, she placed her order and waited patiently for her food to arrive. Then out of the blue, she heard her name being called from the other end of the diner. It was a short, plump middle-aged man with a stomach the size of a soccer ball or two. He was with a couple of other guys, but he excused himself to walk toward where she was seated.

"You're Brianna Miller, right?" the man said swiftly. Scared, Brie figured she shouldn't give out her identity so easily to prevent her from being a victim again.

"Who are you?" she responded instead.

He quickly dipped his hand in his breast pocket and brought out a folded wallet, which he opened to reveal a badge. "I'm Deputy Chief Daniel Rodgers. The Head of the FBI, Chicago department."

Brie wore a confused look.

"I know you were connected to Agent Mack, and I am so sorry about what happened to you. I never got a chance to visit you because you didn't check into the hospital here."

As soon as Mack's name was mentioned, Brie didn't listen to anything else the man said. "Where is he now?"

"Agent Mack?" he asked. "He hasn't been to work in days. The last time I heard from him, he told me he was going back to Destiny falls. Nobody has heard from him since."

Brie's heart sank.Where could he be?She thought to herself as she flashed fake smiles to Deputy Chief Rodgers, who was busy chattering away about something she wasn't listening to. She pulled out her phone and stared down at the text from Mack.

"How are the members of the Brotherhood of Blood that were captured that day?" she blurted out as soon as she snapped out of her trance.

The Deputy Chief sighed. "We interrogated them, and they were reluctant to talk – very reluctant. So, we had to resort to other means."

"What kind of means?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't disclose our techniques," he paused and then continued, "Let's just say two of them are currently singinglike a canary while the rest of them are still holding out but refusing to talk. It's like they swore some sort of oath of silence…" he said as his voice trailed off.

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