Chapter 194: Chapter 194

"Charles Anderson is missing. I mean, I cannot find him…." Jack Foster answered hesitatingly.

Jack was not sure how B was going to receive his words, but he was also well aware that hiding anything from her doesn't really mean she won't find out. With Brianna on the list of concerned and should-be-told people, it would be more chaotic for Jack to deal with if Brianna finds out later than sooner.

"Tell me what happened," Brianna answered calmly.

It was not unusual for Brianna to respond this way, but Jack noticed a bit of difference. The tone in B's voice wasn't pressed or controlled. It was as if she was as calm as the sea without a wave or without the wind blowing on its surface.

"I'm in a good mood, so I suggest you don't ruin it. Just tell me now. How can he be missing in his condition?" Brianna spoke again.

"Donde said Charles borrowed his phone to make a call. Donde wanted to ask you or Blake first. I am still pissed he did not remember to contact me first, but Charles told him you were on a mission, so Donde shouldn't make a call, lest one of you gets shot and ends up injured; useless, like him," Jack stated with slight agitation. The man tried his best not to let his emotion agitate him to deliver his report clearly and without error to Brianna, who would mostly bear the responsibility on how to deal with this matter.

"I am guessing you have tried every possibility to trace him, am I right?" Brianna asked, taking a deep breath as she looked blankly at the ceiling in her sight's direction from where she was seated.

"I even tried to hack into the network company, hoping I could find even the location of the call's recipient but nada," Jack replied with obvious frustrations.

"Maybe we just have to wait. I am sure Charles will not let what I did to him pass without collecting payback," Brianna scoffed. "Had I known he had been fooling me earlier before I took that shot to his chest, I wouldn't have left an inch and shot him right into his heart!"

Jack cleared his throat. He was not sure with what he was about to say, but since Brianna had said those words, it seemed to confirm his assumptions.

"I guess he had started," Jack said.

"How? What makes you think so?" Brianna asked, still calm like she was earlier.

Brianna was no longer surprised to hear that Charles had started to make a move. Ever since Jack said that old fart went missing, these circumstances happening already crossed her mind. Yet, she was curious to know how Jack thought Charles had started to attack. The people who were after her and Lucien the previous night called, but Brianna did not get the hint that it would be anyone with a personal hatred towards her. In other words, even after hearing from Jack that Charles had run away and had started to move against her, the call they got last night did not sound like it was from Charles. Not only the voice, because it was changed by using an audio processor, but because the content of the words the caller had said did not make Brianna feel it was from someone she was familiar with.

"When I sent Blake and the team to assist you, they were ambushed on the way. It was a route not many people knew because they were supposed to get to you from your backyard. Unless it was someone familiar with our move, there was no way Blake would have been taken by surprise," Jack narrated. He sounded so convinced that Charles was behind the attacks.

"You have a point to nail Charles to it, but we cannot be blinded by such bait. After all, we have a lot of enemies. Or, to say it more accurately, I have made so many enemies over the years. But I am also sure they will not only focus on me because they might also consider my friends and companions as their enemies as well. That includes you and everyone on the team," Brianna sighed deeply.

"What do you suggest we do about this?" Jack asked eagerly.

"I will have to tell the Old Michaelson about all of these because his grandson might get caught in the crossfire if we do not have enough men to protect Lucien," Brianna answered.

Jack Foster agreed readily.

"But I have to ask you one more thing," Brianna added with slight hesitation.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

Jack could tell Brianna was having a troubled heart to say what she was about to say. He knew her too well to miss such a sad tone even though they were just talking over the phone.

"I hope I am not creating a misunderstanding if this truth comes out that I want you to check everyone in our team for any chance of having a mole among us…." Brianna softly uttered.

The words and thoughts she had in mind felt too painful to release in her lips as if by doing so, the fear of those words becoming true terrified her greatly. But the fact that her team wouldn't betray her without good reasons consoled her heart. However, Brianna was also aware that once a person is pressed on their weak points, they might be left with no choice other than to do whatever they are demanded and asked to.

And Jack understood Brianna's sadness.

"I will check every one of their family, from the closest to the farthest that they had contact with. I hope they would just come forward before I find anything that would confirm your suspicions," Jack sighed. He was referring to the men in the team along with Blake. Whoever is being threatened by their enemy should try to communicate with Brianna rather than let the enemy make use of him to set a trap on his teammates.

"Let's hope I am wrong because I am more prepared to apologize than to forgive. Besides, if the Michaelsons decide to dip a finger into this to protect Lucien, the decision won't be mine alone to make," Brianna sighed.

"You're right," Jack seconded. "I am even convinced that no matter if Lucien does not get involved in this, the Michaelsons will not stay idle if your life is being threatened. Whoever is after you should know that they are not going to face you alone in this."

"Honey…?"

Lucien's voice was heard in the background. Even Jack's ears did not miss hearing the endearment sound so sweetly. Brianna and Jack paused as if waiting for the same sound to reach their ears again. Brianna did not move from her seat. She did not even turn her chair around to see if she was right to know that Lucien was standing by the door of her monitoring room as she spoke to Jack over the phone because she could see the man on one of her screen monitors.

"Honey, I knew you'd be here," Lucien gently said as he smiled brightly, looking at Brianna's head from the back. "Breakfast is ready, and I am sure you are starving…" he added with a teasing laugh.

"Honey?!" Jack asked with the same tone as Lucien.

"Shut up! I will call you later. I am dead hungry right now to deal with your childishness!"

Brianna did not wait for Jack to respond and pressed the call end button right away. Then looking at the screens in front of her, Brianna unplugged the main switch to all the surveillance cameras in and out of her property.

Lucien heard how Brianna said those last words with suppressed annoyance, so he walked closer to her side. But before he could reach her, Lucien noticed all the screens turned black.

"What happened to them?" Lucien asked worriedly.

"Technical error, maybe?" she answered while shrugging her shoulders as she stood from her swivel chair. "Where is breakfast?" she asked to divert the conversation.

"Where would you like it eaten?" he asked cheerfully, the issues about the black screens of the security monitors already forgotten.