Witness Protection: Moving Target

by Jet MacLeod

  “Where we headed now?”

  “Wyoming.”

  “Nice.”

  “Angie?”

  “I am alright, Del. I’ll be fine. We need to go. Let’s go.”

  “Alright,” Del stated as she pulled out of the gas station’s lot. “By the way, it looks like the Suburban is a silvery color. He changed it just enough that they wouldn’t notice.”

  “What about the sedan?”

  “I am sure that it has been destroyed. Cole wasn’t going to let them do any tests on it. He’ll make me pay for it later, but that is another matter.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “It’s fine, Angie. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. You understand that, right? You are the only thing that I am worried about. I don’t care what the Alphabets want. All I care about is your well-being, safety, and getting you to New York for your court date. I intend to do that, no matter the cost to me. I have the money. I can make things happen. Don’t worry about that. I will make sure that you are always safe no matter what,” Del pledged.

  “Del…”

  “Don’t, Angie. Just don’t. Let’s get something to eat. We can talk later,” she told her as they pulled into the parking lot for the Subway.

  They ate in relative silence. It wasn’t a big meal, but it was just enough to tide them over until later. When they were done, they got back into the Suburban and began to head down the highway. At first, Angie didn’t notice that they weren’t getting back on the interstate. She didn’t notice that they were taking a state highway until the passing farmlands on the two lane road.

  “Get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when we get to Wyoming. Just rest, Angie. It’ll help.”

  “Okay,” Angie replied automatically.

  Del knew that tonight would test Angie’s resolve. She could only hope that moving on further from Wyoming to Lake Tahoe as Cole suggested would help her deal with it all. She kept her speed within five miles an hour to that posted. Still not wanting to draw attention to them, Del wanted to get to Cheyenne as quickly as she could. It seemed that it would take them another four plus hours. She was okay with that.

  She purposefully didn’t call ahead to get a room. She would get something near the highway or inside the town. She knew that they would be looking for her, so the less that they had to go on, the better. She knew that Angie might fight her on it, but it really was for the best that they stay at a “no questions asked, low rent” place.

  The terrain passed them by. Del deftly made turn by turn, highway by highway, until she reached Cheyenne. She was glad that they were back on the Interstate System. It was only for a few miles on I 25, but it helped Del relax. Her hypervigilance was pushing her and she knew that she needed to calm down. She needed to think things through and not just react.

  She slowed to thirty-five as she pulled into Cheyenne. She was glad that they were back in civilization. At least, there were more comforts and places to stay in Cheyenne than had they stayed on the road. It was nearing nine PM according to her watch, but she knew that it was actually closer to eight o’clock local time.

  She found her way across town and to an establishment called Guest Ranch Motel. It seemed nice enough from the outside. It was just off I 80. It would put them in perfect placement for the next leg of the trip, once she figured out where she wanted to stop next. Tonight they would stay there. They would change their appearances and they would rest. Del told herself that they would stay there until Angie was ready to leave. She didn’t know if that meant one night or two, but she would give her the chance to make the decision.

  “We’ll stay here tonight,” Del stated as they pulled into the parking lot.

  Angie eyed the motel, but she didn’t say anything. Like nights before, she went in with Del and looked around the lobby. Tonight however, she stayed closer to Del, closer than normal. Del noticed it, but she didn’t say anything.

  She thanked the clerk, took their keys and took Angie’s hand. Angie gave her a look, but didn’t say anything. She just smiled at her. Del gave her a smile back as she intertwined their fingers. They didn’t have far to go, so Del made a quick stop at the Suburban before taking Angie to their room. She unlocked the door and ushered Angie inside.

  Angie went in and sat on the edge of one of the queen beds. Del threw their bags on the table and waited for Angie to have her break down. She knew that it was coming and she wasn’t prepared. Suddenly needing something to do, Del dug through the bags until she found the scissors and some clippers that Cole had given them before heading into the bathroom.

  Angie watched her. She stood up and went to the bathroom as Del knelt down before the tub. She had the clippers set out on top of the closed toilet seat. Angie leaned upon the door frame and watched. Del selected a guard and took the clippers to her hair. She let it fall into the tub for easier clean up later. Chestnut locks flowed down and the rich auburn that graced the upper layers of Del’s hair was gone. She ran her hands over her scalp to brush more of the hair into the tub. When she was happy with the length, she turned to stand up, still brushing hair off her head.

  As she stood, Angie backed up to allow her more room. She gave Del a smile as she hit the vanity. Del cocked an eyebrow and then smirked at Angie right before she took off her shirt. Angie’s eyes grew in pure lust as Del walked towards her, shirt in hand.

  Angie could feel the heat coming from Del’s body and she took comfort in it. Her eyes raked up and down Del’s lithe but scarred body. Del wrapped her hands around Angie and pulled her into her own body. She pressed Angie’s head into the crook of her neck.

  “It’s okay, Angie.”

  “What is?”

  “You can break down if you need to. I am not going to judge you for it. You’ve been through a lot in the last few weeks. I understand. This is a lot to take in,” Del explained.

  “I don’t want to break down. I don’t want to cry. I want to go home. I want to wake up in my own bed and believe this all be an awful dream. But, each morning that I wake up, I know that it isn’t.”

  “Angie…” was the only think that Del could say as she wrapped her arms around her tighter.

  “It isn’t your fault, Del. I know that. You have been spectacular. You are constantly thinking of things that I wouldn’t dare to dream of and if you haven’t then Cole has. The whole problem with this is that I don’t want to be Emily. I don’t want to be someone else. I want to be me.”

  “There is nothing wrong with that, Angie.”

  “There is when it will get me killed.”

  “You aren’t going to be killed. I won’t allow it. You are going to be fine.”

  “You won’t always there for me, Del.”

  “You don’t know that,” Del offered.

  “Yes…yes, I do.”

  Angie leaned into her. She felt a safety with Del that she had never known with another person, save her father. She dug her head further into the crook of Del’s neck. She drew in her scent. It was somewhere between leather and sunshine. It was comforting. When she sighed and took a deep breath trying to calm herself, she accidentally breathed in some of Del’s shorn off hair.

  “Hey,” Del laughed realizing what Angie had done. “Let me take a shower. Then, we can talk.”

  “Okay,” Angie said walking back into the main part of the hotel room and sitting on the bed.

  Del watched her for minute. She didn’t want to leave her alone, but she needed to get the small, tiny hairs that didn’t brush off. She quickly grabbed some clothes and headed back into the bathroom. She took a hot shower, trying to allow her muscles to relax for just a minute.

  Angie sat on the bed. She finally realized everything. It had hit her like a ton of bricks in long term parking back in Sioux Falls. Her brain had been trying to process the last few days. It was hard. She hadn’t really been forced to be Emily and now the threat was real to her.

  It had always been real, but it wasn’t in her face until Del shoved those papers at her a
nd told her run if needed that it all clicked. She had been happy to pretend that this was some misguided vacation that Del was footing the bill for until then. Everything changed in that moment. Everything.

  Suddenly, she needed to move. She needed to do something. She couldn’t sit still anymore. She got up and crossed the room. She picked up the day pack that Cole had built her and decided to look through it. She dumped it out onto the table.

  She pushed the identifications and Canadian passport to the side. She was amazed at their quality and then wondered if they were actually from Canada. Then she noticed the two packs of currency, one in U.S. and the other in Canadian. It was when she found the pistol.

  It was a compact Springfield Armory XD .45. There were two magazines in the bag, both loaded. She held it gingerly in her hands. The weight was interesting. She had never thought to carry a weapon. She didn’t like them. Then, she thought back to the day she met Del and the gun she gave her. She shook her head as she put it back on the table.

  It was about that time that Del came back into the room. She was dressed in a wife beater and a pair of gym shorts. She was still toweling her head when she saw Angie with the pistol.

  “Be careful with that,” Del told her as she it back on the table.

  “I don’t want it.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you want. You might need it. It is small and light weight. You can hide it in your purse or a bag, even in your waist band if need be.”

  “I don’t want it,” she said with more conviction.

  “I am sure that if you look you have a conceal weapons permit for it as Emily.”

  “I do,” Angie replied, holding it up.

  “Told you: he thinks of everything.”

  “I don’t want it.”

  “Angie, I understand that,” Del told her coming closer to her.

  She pulled Angie over to the bed and sat her down. She sat down next to her, keeping her arm around Angie’s shoulders. Angie leaned into her.

  “Angie, I’ll teach you how to shoot it.”

  “I don’t want to learn.”

  “I know that, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

  “That is what I have you for, Del,” Angie reasoned.

  “Angie…”

  Angie turned into her, again. Del took her body gracefully and laid them back onto the bed. Once they hit the bed, Angie turned onto her side and cuddled up to Del.

  “Will you help me?”

  “With what?”

  “With my hair?”

  “You want to color it?” Del asked her.

  “It isn’t that I want to color, but I need to. Emily isn’t blond. I need to become Emily for real now. I can’t pretend anymore that I have this alter ego in my head. I have to really become her.”

  “Not yet, you don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because we haven’t found somewhere permanent yet.”

  “Del, that doesn’t matter. I need to be her. I need to focus on something.”

  “And, becoming someone that you aren’t, is going to help that?” Del asked.

  Angie sighed. Del started to rub her hands up and down Angie’s back. The intimacy of what they were doing wasn’t lost on either of them, but at the moment they didn’t care. They didn’t want to think about it. Del was more worried about Angie’s state of being than she was about the want in her body for the beautiful blond. Angie was just trying to not completely break down, thankful for the warmth and comfort of Del’s body, and wondering why her desire wasn’t slacking.

  “I need to do this.”

  “Angie, you’ll be fine for a couple of days. You don’t have to rush into anything. We can stay here until you are ready to move on. I doubt that they will even think to look for us here. They think that we are heading to Napa. Cheyenne isn’t really on the way. I’ve looked.”

  “Do you think that they have found out that we have the Suburban by now?”

  “I am sure that they do.”

  “What are you going to do when you call in to Gregor?”

  “I don’t know. I am probably going to give him a piece of my mind. But, that doesn’t matter right now. You do. I promised everyone that I would keep you safe and I will. Do you trust me?” Del asked her.

  “Yes.”

  “Then, let me do this my way. I don’t know what it going on back in D.C. or in New York as it pertains to your case, but I am going to find out. Don’t look at me like that. And, yes, I saw you just roll your eyes at me. I have my ways, but I will figure it out.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, I want to know why you are being targeted besides the fact that you refused to back down. There has to be another reason. It doesn’t make sense that they would send me to protect you and give me free reign over the mission only to question me later. What that tells me is that someone above Gregor doesn’t like the way things are being handle, and I want to know why.”

  “Why does this bother you so much?”

  “You are honestly asking me that?” Del asked her.

  “Yes, I am,” Angie replied.

  “You pissed off a cartel and ended up in Witness Protection. You weren’t exactly a model person for the program. You are strong willed and head strong. They should have known that you would rebel some. But, the points where you did rebel against the system, didn’t seem to be that troubling. They just moved you. No questions, no investigations, they just moved you. That isn’t normal procedure. Then, after the last time, they called me on what was supposed to be my last assignment. They called me back Stateside and gave me your case,” Del told her.

  “Is that not a normal procedure for your unit?” Angie questioned.

  “No, it isn’t, but then again we don’t have a normal SOP to follow. We kinda go our own thing, but we always get the job done. That is why we are the best at what we do. We aren’t afraid to do something that the big wigs in the suits are. Sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it is a bad thing. Right now, I don’t know which it is,” Del explained.

  “But, you still took my case.”

  “I did.”

  “Why?” Angie asked her.

  “Because, Gregor owes me. He figured that this would be a simple task and then I could retire. I don’t think he realized how deeply involved I would get. I am wondering if I wasn’t supposed to take it. I think he figured that I would tell him ‘no’.”

  “But, you didn’t.”

  “I didn’t think I really had a choice. I want to retire. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  Angie sighed deeply. Del lightened her grip around her. She could feel the worry growing in Angie, but knew it would do no good to continue talking about it. She needed to process it her way and then and only then would she be able to handle the situation.

  “Angie?”

  “Yes’?”

  “Are you sure that you want to do your hair?”

  “I should do it, right?”

  “I’ve already answered that question tonight,” Del reminded her.

  “Then, yes, I want to do it. I just don’t know how I will look as a brunette. Do you think it will look good?” Angie asked her.

  “You’ll look fine. I promise. It might take me some getting used to seeing you like that, but you’ll look line. Don’t stress about it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Angie, you are a beautiful woman. It isn’t going to matter whether you are blond or brunette. You are still going to be beautiful. If people treat you differently, then that is their problem and not yours. You can be Emily as at brunette. I promise that I will get you bleached back out to be Angie before we go back to New York, if that will help,” Del offered.

  “It does. I don’t know what they would think of me if I came back different. I won’t be Emily anymore and I am sure that most of my friends wouldn’t understand, either.”

  “Then they are fools. Don’t worry about it. We’ll deal with it as time goes on. Hell, if you don’t want to be a br
unette, we can go get a different color in the morning. I am sure that I can find a store nearby that sells hair dye. If you don’t want to do that, we can find at shop and take you there. I’ll let you decide on that one, okay?” Del suggested.

  “You really don’t care, do you?”

  “I want you to stay as happy as I can keep you considering everything that is going on.”

  “I appreciate that. Thank you. Do you think that we can wait until tomorrow?” Angie asked her.

  “That’s fine. I’ve already told you. We can stay here for a couple of days. I am sure that it will take the Alphabets awhile to figure out that they don’t have a tracking device on us. I want to keep moving, but we can wait at least a day or so. That’s all I can give you right now.”

  “I understand.”

  “Angie, just stay calm. I promise that I am going to take care of you, but I don’t know that we are going to make it to Napa. I’ll do my best, but right now, I can’t promise anything,” Del explained to her, turning her head down to Angie’s hair so that her lips were resting on it.

  “I know,” Angie replied and then snuggled deeper into Del.

  Del held her and stroked her back. She didn’t know what else to say to her. She hurt for her, but she knew that Angie could handle it all once her brain processed the situation fully. She knew that Angie had three years to process it, but she had been sheltered by the Alphabets during that entire time. Being with Del was a new adventure for her and she had to process the problems that her choices had caused her. She had to face the consequences of her decisions to pursue justice in everything.

  “Del?”

  “Yeah?” Del asked her as Angie pulled her head up to look into Del’s eyes.

  “I just…thanks…I mean…oh, hell,” Angie stated as she leaned up into Del and kissed her.

  Chapter 22

  Del’s arms instinctively tightened around her, but it didn’t stop her from moving. Angie had managed to lean up and use her feet to push up against the bed. She aligned herself further with Del as she continued to kiss her. She could feel the softness of Del’s lips and it gave her a thrill. She wanted to taste her, to know her, to make Del feel things that they had both only dreamed about with each other.