Page 16 of His Witness To Love

They seemed to hold extremely similar qualities, and the rest was lost in fine print he had to figure out for himself.

***

A white van sat alone on the left lane of a blocked street. It was not empty; passersby would remember a series of military-type men pouring out from its side. Men on a mission.

It was so dark, everywhere was so dark.

Brie couldn’t understand what had happened; they had struck her. Someone had snuck up on them and knocked her out. She felt so stupid; her selfishness had pulled Benneth into everything,

Benneth!

She couldn’t feel or hear him anywhere near her. She tried to push the thoughts of him being killed out of her head, but the tears had already begun to build.

Footsteps echoed from somewhere above her as she tried to calm her crying. She wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of breaking her promise. She struggled at her bonds even though it felt useless. The steps got closer and faster, causing her heart to pound in trepidation. They eventually hit the stairs just above her. She could tell from the click of shoe soles against the wood.

They became softer, slower, the sound of someone creeping around. It had to be Benneth; he was much too bold for his own good. She was relieved he was alive, but carelessness would get them nowhere. She groaned through her gags to let him know where she was, and the steps got quicker. Eventually, she could make out a shape coming from the shadows, but it wasn’t her brother…It was Mack!

She had never felt such a clash of emotions before. She was grateful for his presence, but it made her worry all the more about her brother. Could he truly be dead? He could have been dead this whole while she struggled, already a memory, something to be forgotten. At that thought, she broke into tears, sobbing as her lover reached around to free her from her bonds.

“You’re fine, you’re fine, I’m here,” was all Mack could muster at the moment. His blood pumped faster than ever, pushed by an adrenaline-drunk heart. He was glad he had caught up to them.

“My brother, they have my brother, Mack. They’ve taken him away; he could be dead; you have to help him.”

Mack was confused. He hadn’t seen anyone bound with her when she was carried away, but the fear in her eyes was real, and that was all he needed. Her safety came first, and after that, he would come looking for said brother.

As the sounds of her sobs lessened, Mack became aware of another sound slowly making its way toward them, the shuffles of a creeping thing. It was good, moving in time with her sobs and inhales to mask itself. Mack feigned ignorance until it got right about them, and then he dove out of the way, pulling Brie’s bound body with him.

“You have to be quiet, Brie,” Mack whispered.

“Mack, he’s my brother,” Brie said agitatedly.

“Listen to me,” he took hold of her. “I was there, watching; there was no other person. A few people came out of nowhere, knocked you out, and grabbed you. I stayed on their tail all the way here. If you think your brother’s here, I’ll look for him, but for now, I need you to shut up, so we don’t die.”

“Agent!”

They both turned in response to the voice

“Come now, agent! Why the cat and mouse game?”

Brie’s eyes widened, and she began to shake her head through tears. Mack refused to let him get to them. He stood up and walked out of their darkened corner.

“Ah, there you are, agent.”

It was the same man Mack had fought before; he had abandoned the mask and the voice undulator. It was no stalling mission this time around; Mack couldn’t afford to waste time on this criminal. He reached for his gun, confident that he could get to him before the man could react.

“I see you’ve found my sister.”

Mack froze, turning back to look at Brie. She had rubbed herself raw trying to escape her bonds, and he suddenly understood why she continued to shake her head and cry.

It was the grief of someone who had been betrayed.

“Unfortunately, agent, this will not be a repeat of last time," he heard Benneth say as everything went black.

Mack woke up tied next to Brie in a different room that felt even lower than the last one. He struggled through his gag and exhaled through his mouth. A faint red glow came on and off a ways from them, and he needed to survey the area. Mack shuffled to his feet and stood over the wrapped bundles that had blocked his view, and stared in horror.

The glow came from synchronized LED lights that had a countdown mechanism in play.

They’d been bounded and abandoned, next to an active bomb.

To be continued…