Chapter 2 #2
The words feel like ice sliding under my ribs.
The situation is escalating faster than anyone predicted.
Someone didn’t just try to kill me, now they’re hunting the people protecting me.
My laptop screen suddenly feels obscene.
Witness protection statistics blink calmly back at me while real people are bleeding in the street because of me.
Harris looks at me carefully. “This changes things.”
“Yes,” I say.
“Federal protection command is recommending immediate relocation.”
“To where?” I ask, though I fear I already know the answer. Regardless, I won’t have a say in where we go or where our new home state will be.
“We will take you to an undisclosed location until WITSEC placement.”
In other words, disappear now and figure out the rest later. Run and hide. I lean back slowly in the chair, considering my options.
Jessy comes running back down the stairs, and I look over at her innocent face, the dinosaur toy hung forgotten at her side. Her small face turns serious. “Mommy?”
“Yeah, honey.”
“Did something bad happen?” she asks, her voice small like when she’s had a bad dream.
The truth presses against my throat. “Yes,” I say gently, getting up to hug Jessy and kissing her on the top of her head. I won’t lie to my child. “But it’s not something you need to worry about.”
“Okay.” She nods, trusting me completely. That trust feels weightier than any courtroom verdict I’ve ever carried. Jessy is solely my responsibility; her future is in my hands. She sits back down and resumes her game. I slump back into my desk chair.
Harris pulls out his phone. “They want an answer within the hour about whether you’re entering the program.”
The room feels suddenly smaller. A month ago, I was standing in a courtroom delivering closing arguments against a cartel money launderer.
I won the biggest case of my career, the turning point that was going to launch me to new heights and provide my daughter with the best life possible.
Now the federal government is asking me to erase my identity, to give up everything I’ve worked so hard for, and disappear.
To start over somewhere no one knows my name.
I stare at the stacks of research on my table.
Every legal instinct I have says the program is flawed.
Witness protection works when witnesses cooperate quietly and go into hiding without resistance, when they stop asking questions and accept the new identity given to them.
It works when they completely become this new persona and shed their old one like a snake shedding its skin, when they give up and hide.
That’s not me. It never has been. I’m not a quitter. I built my career by refusing to back down from people like Valentin Escar. I singlehandedly dismantled his entire financial network piece by piece, and now the solution is to run away?
My gaze drifts back to Jessy and I’m reminded again that this impact isn’t just on me.
Jessy’s entire world is here. Her school.
Her friends. Her life. If we disappear, she loses all of it.
She’s already suffered enough loss in her short life after her dad walked out without a backward glance.
Can I really take everything else she has away?
The anger I feel at the injustice of the situation rises again, slow and steady. I won’t be bullied or harassed. I close the laptop. The sound echoes in the quiet room.
Harris looks up. “Well?”
I take a breath. Then another. My voice comes out calm and certain. I’ve made up my mind, and I’m stubborn enough that once I’ve made a decision, nothing will change it. “No.”
Both marshals blink. “No?” Reed repeats.
I know they know exactly what I mean, but I calmly clarify. “I’m not entering witness protection.”
Harris stares at me like he’s waiting for a punchline. “You understand the situation, right?”
My response is clipped and sharp. “Yes.” I’m offended he’s acting as if he hasn’t witnessed me doing more research than anyone else over the last three days.
“Someone just killed a US Marshal,” Reed slowly states, as if he’s explaining it to Jessy, not a district attorney.
I fold my arms and raise an eyebrow. “I’m aware.”
Harris shakes his head, struggling to comprehend. “And you still want to stay here?”
I stand and start gathering the documents on the table, not meeting their beseeching gazes. “Yes.”
“Ms. Mercer—”
“If I disappear,” I say quietly, “the people behind this win.”
Harris rubs the back of his neck. “That’s not how survival works.”
“No,” I say. “But it’s how justice works. I won’t compromise my integrity or give up everything because of a bully. Besides that, you know the statistics. Even if I enter the program no one can guarantee our safety.”
The room falls silent again. Finally, Reed speaks.
“If you refuse WITSEC, you’re going to need another form of protection.
We won’t be able to protect you indefinitely.
” His sad expression and concern touch me.
In the short amount of time we’ve known each other, we’ve come to care for and respect one another.
My response is less barbed now, softer. “I know.”
I think about the research I’ve been doing.
I’ve not just been looking into witness protection.
I wanted to explore all of my options, even those that seem outlandish or crazy.
During my investigation, I remembered a name I hadn’t said out loud in years, a connection from my father’s past, a motorcycle club that once owed him a favor, Iron Vale MC.
I look down at Jessy, and she’s watching me with curious eyes. “Is everything okay, Mommy?” she asks, sounding far more adult than her six years.
In that moment, I realize something important, and I make my decision for good. If the system that’s supposed to protect me can’t do it, then I’ll find someone who can. Luckily, I already know exactly where to start.
I manage a small smile. “Yeah, all good, kiddo. We’re gonna go visit some of Grandpa’s old friends.”