Page 11 of His Witness To Love

This was a soldier, not some mediator. Mack’s guard went up.

“Relax, agent, I’m not here to fight you. You’d feel it if I was.” The man lazily strolled his way up to around six feet away from where Mack stood.

“What do you say, agent? It's an easy enough exchange. Haven’t enough people suffered? You could be done with this case.”

“And watch it go cold?" Mack snarled.

“Cold cases don’t claim new victims, agent. Think really hard about your decision here.”

Mack had to remind himself that not a single part of the conversation was important; all he had to do was keep them there. If he could give Team Six enough time to inch across, he could finally close the net on this guy. Finally, they’d have a solid lead on everything – a well-deserved step in the right direction.

The explosion came as Mack thought up his next retort. A quick thing a few steps away, around the road leading to the bridge.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, agent. I told you to come alone; it seems you’re not so smart after all.”

The suspect whipped out an army knife and lunged at Mack, aiming to cut at his neck. A quick dodge and roll reclaimed the space between them – enough time for Mack to whip out his gun.

“Don’t move,” Mack pointed the muzzle straight at him.

“No, agent. I think I will; there’s not much you can do with that here.”

The man was right. It was a semi-closed space with weird protrusions and angles; he couldn’t afford to pop a bullet into something to tamper with the bridge’s structural integrity.

“Don’t move,” was all Mack could manage.

“A bit slow, aren’t we, agent?” The man sounded smug as he lunged again, and this time, Mack fired with a groan, and the bullet lodged somewhere in the wall behind them.

As his vision came back, Mack could see the damage he'd dealt the other man. The bullet had grazed his arm, ripping the Kevlar gauntlet apart. Blood flowed from a bleeding forearm and the knife laid on the floor. There was no way he was picking that back up.

“Well played, agent. Unfortunately for you, I can’t be taken here. There’s still so much to do.”

An explosion let loose behind Mack, flinging him toward the suspect who couldn’t care less. The man sidestepped and dove out the way Mack had come, leaving him to deal with the rubble and smoke.

Mack felt like his entire back had been burnt, and he could taste burning rubber.

Team Six rushed in not too long after to execute what had become a rescue mission. Mack could swear he saw Brie running with them, but he knew that couldn’t be the case. He was sure he was hallucinating and drawing up his own selfish desires.

Everything faded to black.

***

Mack woke up in a ward, a few bandages clung to his arm and his back, and IV snuck its way up from his wrist. The room was empty except for monitors and a woman that had come in once, surprised to see him awake. Now the doctor tested his visual reflexes with a small light while Pete Rodery hung around just outside, no doubt to talk about the mission.

The nurses took blood samples, and the doctor guided him through understanding his process of recuperation, then they left. Leaving just him and Pete, who came in on the cue of the last exiting nurse.

“Hello, brother.”

“Peter.”

“Rest easy," Peter said gently, “Fine mess you were in; doctors say you should have lost a lung at least.”

“You’re a shitty liar, Rodery,” was Mack's weak reply.

“But it gets you going every time, doesn’t it?” Peter replied with a grin.

The shared chuckle faded into silence, and Peter spoke again in lower tones.

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