Witness Protection: Hide and Seek Read Online Free

danger.
    They were so convinced in fact, that they’d refused to come
to she and Tristan’s wedding, and his funeral. They told her that they didn’t
want to take the chance of being followed from Memphis up to Maine.
    “Castillo’s thugs are like cockroaches, they hide from the
light, but crawl out of every dark corner and crevasse when it gets dark. You
cannot underestimate him for a second. He’s got people all over the world who
work for him and for the right price; they’ll hunt you down in a minute
Madison.” Hank told her one night during one of their telephone conversations.

 
    There would be no changing her mind though. She needed to
get away. See Hank and Donna and spend some time with them. And if they weren't
available, well… she'd simply wait until they were.
    The past year had been the closest thing to hell that she’d
ever experienced and although she was going back to where it all began,
anything was better than staying in that empty house.

 
 

Chapter Five

 
 
 
 
    Juan Hernandez was now living under the assumed name, “Paulo
Antunez.” And he was supposed to keep his mouth shut and his profile low.   But, being in the Witness Protection program
for so many years was beginning to take its toll on him.
    Life in the small town of Redmerrow, Oklahoma had gotten
boring and mundane. The only good thing about living there was that he’d met a
decent woman. Maria was a woman he could see himself settling down with. But he
wasn’t quite ready to settle down, not yet anyway.
    Not even in his job at the post office could he find some
sense of happiness. Schlepping bags of mail around all day wasn’t exactly what
he had in mind. When he’d first arrived in Oklahoma, he thought he had it made.
The government gave him a monthly stiffened of over 2,500.00 and extra money to
purchase a used car. He received the stiffened for 20 months, but then the
government abruptly stopped sending him the money.
    His contact told him that his life was stabilized and that
it was time for him to go out and start earning his own money. That’s when he
got the job at the post office and where he met Maria.

 
    Some days, her love for him was the only thing that kept him
going. He didn’t dare tell her about his past life, about how he ratted out
crime boss, Ricardo Castillo. Not only was there no reason to tell her, but he
wasn’t allowed to tell her. So he kept his mouth shut and invented the story
that the feds told him to invent. His name was Paulo Antunez and he was born
and raised in Oklahoma.
    Besides Maria, there was nothing. His assigned contact, Dane
Spear, down at the marshal's office, telephoned regularly. But rarely came to
check up on him.
    That all changed when Juan, a.k.a. Paulo started complaining
about his surroundings.
      “Listen Antunez, this
isn’t some kind of Hollywood movie. You’re not living the life of some kind of
mafia gangster in hiding, so stop thinking that you are. You were placed here
for a reason. It’s been three years, if you haven’t gotten used to it by now,
you never will. But that doesn’t mean a thing is going to change for you, so
you had better make the most of it. There are three ways you’re getting out of
the program, either you get caught violating the laws and get kicked out, you
leave on your own accord, or you get carried out in a body bag.”

 
    Having just graduated from the Academy last year, Marshal
Dane Spear was still new at his job. But taking on a witness who'd testified
against well-known drug and sex trafficker, Ricardo Castillo was his chance to
prove to his superiors that he could get the job done.
    Besides complaining a lot, his witness wasn’t that much of a
problem. But still, he'd tried his best to let him know, that under no
circumstances was he going to get away with trying anything shady.

 
    Juan released a frustrated breath, narrowed his eyes, and
turned his attention towards the window.
    He wondered then, if being a