Free Witness Protection: Hide and Seek by Ursula Dukes Page B

she must be
stupider than I thought. Listen, here's what I want you to do…"
    Castillo quickly explained his plan to Manny and by the time
he was finished, Manny told him that the party was winding down and some of the
guests were leaving.

 
    "That's even better. Now put me on speaker, I need
Carlos and Reggie in on this too."

 
    After the instructions were given out, Castillo demanded
that Manny call him.

 
    "Now go take care of business and remember, call me the
moment it's done."

 
 
    Castillo grinned in anticipation of what was about to
happen. He could hardly contain himself. He only wished that he could be there
to see the look on Madison's face. "All in due time," he whispered.
"All in due time."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    ****

 
     

 
 
 
    As the party dwindled, Madison sat on the back deck talking
to Hank, Deputy Faith, his wife Jessica, and Cole. Donna was inside the house,
wrapping up plates of food for her remaining guests to bring home. When Hank
asked her to join them, she refused. She told him that it had been hours since
she'd had a moment to herself and now welcomed the solitude of the quiet
kitchen.

 
     
    It was dark out and soft outdoor lighting illuminated the
sourwood trees in the backyard. Madison purposely sat down between Hank and
Jessica. She feared that sitting any closer to Cole would cause her to do
something else that she might regret.

 
 
 
    "Madison, we're all happy to see you, but I'm not sure
you made the right choice by coming here," Hank said.
    Madison frowned. "If I thought that my coming here
would put anyone in danger, I wouldn’t have come. But so far, everything has
turned out fine. Besides, Castillo is in prison and his number one guy is in
the program, so I would think that if anything, Castillo would want Juan's head
on a platter, not mine."

 
    "What does that feel like? Always having to look over
your shoulder?" Jessica asked. She was intrigued by the entire situation.
To her, being in the witness protection program was like something out of a
movie. But then her husband told her that all was not as it seemed when one
enters the program.

 
    "At first, it was scary, and then it got to be
terrifying. But after I was sent to Maine, I felt safer than I ever have."
She smiled at her.

 
    Jessica smiled back. "But isn’t it true that they
kicked you out of the program? I mean, why would they do that?" Jessica
leaned in closer. "Did you do something wrong?"

 
    "No, it was nothing like that," Madison chuckled.

 
    Cole interrupted. "Jessica, when it comes to the
government and witness protection, if they really need a guy, they can get away
with anything. And in Madison's case, they really needed Juan Hernandez."

 
    "Yes, but didn’t you witness the guy murdering
people?" Jessica looked at Madison.
    Before Madison could respond, Cole spoke for her.

 
    "Yes she did, but Madison knew nothing of the ins and
outs of Castillo's many operations and Hernandez did. And to the government,
that took precedence over anything that Madison witnessed."

 
    "So they just threw you out of the program just like
that?" Jessica was flabbergasted. Sure, she was married to a marshal, but
she never understood exactly what it was her husband was allowed to do on
behalf of the government.
    "Yes they did. When they told me that they were kicking
me out of the program, I agreed wholeheartedly. At the time, I was married to a
marshal, so I figured, why waste anymore of the government's money you know. Of
course I didn't know that he'd be killed…" Her voice trailed off.

 
    The small group grew quiet then. It was a sobering moment.
Jessica closed her eyes and squeezed her husband's hand. He was a marshal too
and there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t pray for his safe return
home.

 
    "I'm so sorry about your husband," Jessica whispered
softly.

 
    Through the soft light, Cole could see that she was upset.
The conversation had gotten