Witness Protection: Hide and Seek (9 page)

Deputy Faith sat patiently at the table while he waited for
the prison guards to bring Castillo to him.

When a guard appeared alone, Faith asked what was going on.

"Where's Castillo?"

"You asking me?" The stocky guard folded his arms
and smirked.

Faith looked around. "Is there another guard in this
room?"

"He's in the infirmary. Someone beat him up pretty good
last night. I can't let you see him."

Even though the guard was larger than him in height and
girth, Faith stepped up close and demanded to see Castillo.

"I don’t care if he's on his goddamn death bed, I need
to see him. And might I remind you that I am a United States Federal Marshal.
Now, I'm pretty sure that supersedes any and all duties that you may have here
at this prison. So if you want to keep your job, I suggest that you take me to
him, and now. Are we clear on that or are we going to have a problem?"

The expression on the guards face was one of disbelief. He
was sure that the marshal would have backed down, but his stance was unwavering
and he liked his job at the prison. Finally, the guard threw up his hands in
surrender.

"I read you loud and clear boss," he said. His
tone holding a large dose of sarcasm.

"Right this way sir."

When they reached the infirmary, the guard flashed him a
told- you- so smile.

If the chart hadn't stated his name and inmate number, Faith
would not have recognized Castillo.

"Mr. Castillo, I need to speak with you." He kept
his tone light, yet professional. There was no need to get down and dirty, not
unless Castillo wanted to go that route. And if he did, Faith was ready.

I have nothing to say.
The beat up man scribbled the words on the paper attached to a clipboard.

"Jaw's wired shut." A nurse made her way over to
check on him.

Faith nodded his head and leaned in closer.

"You don’t have to say anything at the moment. All I
need for you to do is, listen, and listen good. When the time comes for you to
speak, or in your case write, I will tell you when to do so. And you will do
it. Because if you don’t, I'll make sure that you spend the rest of your
lengthy stay here at Riverbend in solitary confinement. Is that understood? Nod
if you understand me Castillo."

When he did, Faith told the nurse to step away.

He then turned and glared at the guard. "You can go
too. I'll call you if I need you."

Shrugging off Castillo's injures, Faith pulled up a metal
chair and sat down next to the bed.

Now, let's get down to business shall we?" He said and
ran his fingers along the oxygen tubing.

****

When Castillo got the call that a marshal had arrived at
Riverbend Prison, he knew that Hernandez's body had been found. He was sure
that by now, the feds had figured out that someone was going after witnesses
and he wondered if they would consider putting Madison West back into
protective custody.

Any attempt to hide her would be futile. Madison West was
his to do with as he pleased, and he intended on doing just that.

****

While she waited for Cole to finish up, Madison thought
about Donna. She wondered if she was going to be alright and thought about
maybe giving Hank a call. "Just to see if Donna's alright," she
mumbled and fished in her purse for her cell phone.

Before she could touch the last number on her cell phone,
Cole gently pried it out from her hands.

"Donna is fine. But Hank still doesn’t think it's wise
for you to contact them. Not even by phone. He still needs some more time to
process everything that's happened. He'll be in touch soon. But for now, for
your safety and for theirs, there is to be no further contact with the Hank or
Donna. "He gently cautioned her.

Madison cocked an eyebrow and cast a narrow eyed glance at
Cole. "How did you know who I was calling?"

"I know you and I know how you think," he said
softly and linked his fingers with hers as he handed her the cell phone.

"Now we better get going. We've got a long drive ahead
of us."

As he helped Madison into the car, Cole took one last look
at the bungalow and silently said goodbye. When he climbed into the truck,
Madison patted his hand. "On to your new life," she said. Their eyes
locked and for a brief moment, Cole saw the slightest suggestion of a lustful
smile curve her lips.

****

Two hours out of Tennessee, the conversation between the two
had been light, and there was none of the tenseness that she was expecting. In
fact, talking to him was easier than she expected and it scared her.

While talking to him, she could see his tensed features.
What happened last night still had a hold over him.

Cole stopped at a small diner. He pulled into the gravel
parking lot and when they exited the vehicle, he checked his weapon and told
Madison to stay close beside him. She wondered how, with the new move, new job,
and the info that his ex-wife shared with him last night, was he able to remain
so vigilant.

The whitewashed structure was backlit by bright sunlight
forcing her to squint when she looked at it.

"Want to borrow these?" Cole held out his Aviator
sunglasses.

She shook her head. "No thanks. I think I have a pair
somewhere in my purse. Besides, they look good on you," she shielded her
eyes as she smiled up at him.

A boyish grin spread across his face. "Thank you,"
he said and led her by the elbow into the diner.

Walking behind him, she let her eyes wander over his
attractive physique. He was dressed casually in cargo shorts and was wearing a
tee shirt that molded to his well-toned, athletic body. It was the first time
since she'd been back that she'd looked at him without feeling guilty and she
wondered why.

The waitress seated them by the windows and they both
ordered coffee before looking over the menu.

After the waitress brought over their coffees and took their
orders, Madison picked up the mug and took a long sip.

"That's good." She smiled at him and set the cup
back down.

Cole nodded his head in agreement and took another sip.

"You look exhausted, why don’t you let me drive the
rest of the way."

"I'll be alright," he said and sighed heavily.

Even though the diner was practically empty, she leaned in
as far as she could and released a deep breath before speaking. "I
overheard you and your ex talking last night."

Cole raised a suspicious dark eyebrow.

"Madison, I really wish you wouldn't…" He stopped
when the waitress delivered their food.

Their waitress was about to ask if they needed anything
else, but Cole cut her off and told her that they were all set. When she turned
abruptly and walked away, he continued.

"You didn’t overhear anything, you were
eavesdropping."

She could see his blue eyes turn cloudy with anger.

"Cole, I don’t know why you're getting so upset. I just
wanted to tell you that I understand. That, even Tristan and I…"

He held up a hand and stopped her. "Please don’t try
and compare your marriage to mine, because there is no comparison. In fact, I
can pretty much guarantee it. Unless of course, Calloway strayed, or maybe you
did."

His tone was derisive and Madison once again leaned forward
as far as the edge of the table would let her. "I understand that you're
upset, I do. But, I wasn't going to compare my marriage to yours. I was simply
going to tell you that I could relate because Tristan and I often argued about
the fact that I wanted children and he did not. And if you honestly think that
I would stray from my marriage, well then," she leaned back against the
bench seat. "You don’t know me as well as you think you do." She glared
at him.

Cole nodded. He didn’t mean for the words to come out so
sharply. Madison was just trying to comfort him and he'd taken her words out of
context.

Cole leaned back against his seat and pushed his plate to
the side. All of a sudden, he was no longer hungry.

He remained silent for an instant, then met her gaze.
"I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I just don’t like the
thought of anyone, you especially, eavesdropping on my conversations. I would
have rather you come out of the room and introduced yourself. I've got nothing
to hide and neither do you."

"Then why'd you get so angry?"

"I don’t like it when people eavesdrop on my
conversations. Lisa used to do that all the time. And you have no idea how many
things were misconstrued because of that. It didn’t matter to her whether it
was work or personal, her eavesdropping was the subject of many
arguments."

Madison noticed the worried look on his face and tried to
offer reassurance.

"I understand. I wasn’t doing it to be malicious. I was
just worried about you, that's all. And you're right. I should have come out
and been there for you, but I wasn’t thinking and I apologize for that."

Cole seemed to cool down and return to his old self.

He reached over and took her hand in his.

"Again, I'm sorry that I snapped at you. Lisa's
surprise visit last night, along with her news, threw me for a loop that's all.
But I'll get over it. I'll be okay." He smiled at her.

Madison smiled back and squeezed his hand. "Of course
you will."

There was a new level of comfort that was developing between
them and neither one could deny it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

Cole shrugged his shoulders. "There's really nothing to
talk about." He reached for his plate and took a bite out of his toast.

 
"She and I are
divorced. She's obviously moved on with the man she'd been cheating on me with
and now they're expecting a baby. End of story."

Madison looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. "I
know how badly you wanted to start a family," she said and took a sip of
coffee.

"I did, but it just wasn’t meant to be. At least not
with her it wasn't."

"Is she part of the reason why you've taken on this new
job? Did some of what she said about needing you home to help raise a child
push you towards giving up your job as a marshal?"

He'd been looking at her, paying attention. But now, his
gaze was more intense. Three years had gone by and still it would appear that
she knew him just as well as he knew her. He thought it uncanny that she could
read him like no other.

"That was part of the reason, the other being that I
was getting tired of the job."

"Tired huh? I thought you marshal's loved catching the
bad guys?" She smirked.

"Oh, I still do. But when I say tired, I mean tired of
the government corruption, especially in the program."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for instance, just look at your situation."
He looked around and leaned in closer.

"You were removed from the program because the feds had
gotten a hold of Hernandez. The moment they realized that they had a top guy,
they no longer cared about your safety."

"Yeah, but I withdrew from the program. I didn’t think
that I needed to live like that anymore."

Cole shook his head. "You withdrew on your own, but the
feds are at fault for authorizing it and I bet they didn’t bat an eyelash
either. No, what they did was wrong. The entire purpose of the witness
protection program is to keep the witnesses safe, so that they can testify at
trials that will hopefully convict members of organized crime, drug and sex
traffickers, gangs, and other major criminals.

But when the feds want to make the big cases, they don’t
care about the everyday, non-threatening, innocent witnesses. No, they'd rather
spend an insane amount of money to protect a rat."

The waitress hesitated before asking if they'd like a
refill. But when both Cole and Madison smiled at her and held out their empty
mugs, she smiled and refilled them.

"Surely not all of the witnesses are rats."

"Some aren’t, but a large majority of them are. You
see, most of the people who snitch, or are witnesses to a crime are protected
by the U.S. Marshals Service and relocated. But, protection of incarcerated
witnesses is the duty of the federal Bureau of Prisons.

There are WITSEC prison units all over the country and those
are the places that house some of the most notorious gangsters in
history."

Madison was eating while listening intently. Tristan never
liked to divulge too much information about his work. He'd told her that it
wasn’t as interesting as it sounded. But, hearing what Cole had to say made the
job sound incredibly intriguing.