Page 16 of Witness Security Breach

This full disclosure couple’s session was making it difficult to concentrate on doing the primary job. Getting them to the SSPC was the priority. Not counseling them through this unmitigated disaster.

There were marshals with specialized training for that.

Sharon turned to her husband. “But I have no idea who you really are, Edgar, who I married.” Her voice was soft and forlorn.

“Yes, you do. You know me, sweetheart,” Edgar pleaded. “We met in church because I became a born-again Christian. We fell in love because we share the same passions. Charity work and dancing and visiting vineyards and trying new wines. I love you. I love your kids. And the grandchildren.”

Sharon burst into tears again. “Oh, the grandbabies. How can I leave them behind? And Cindy. She’s due next month. I’m supposed to be there for them. They mean everything to me,” she said, her voicing breaking. “My children are my life.” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

A sudden stab of envy hit a sore spot in Charlie that she kept buried. There was an emptiness in her, a terrible aching void that’d never be filled. She’d never experienced what Sharon offered her family—the unconditional love of a mother.

Charlie’s mom was a heroin addict, loved her next fix more than her children. Charlie and her sister, Britney, were shuffled in and out of foster care. Sometimes placed with different families. Sometimes in group homes.

Growing up that way had left her with a longing, a hunger and a pervasive fear of love.

As soon as Charlie was legal, she’d enlisted in the military branch that’d take her the soonest. She’d never gone back to Roanoke, Virginia. While Britney had never left. She became a stripper and married the first drunk loser to propose.

The only time Charlie heard from Brit was when her ball and chain was fired from another job and they needed money.

“I’m so sorry.” Edgar wrapped his arms around his wife. “If I’d thought it was possible for this to happen...” He dropped his head along with his voice.

No one in the DOJ thought it possible. Why would Edgar?

It was one thing when a person entered the program, preparing to testify. All newbies understood the risks and gambled that the government would protect them, since the alternative was far worse.

Edgar’s story was a cruel anomaly. He’d crossed the threshold into a brand-new life, spent the past two years establishing roots and had finally stopped looking over his shoulder.

Believed he was safe only to find that he had to start all over again.

“I can’t bear the thought of never seeing my family again,” Sharon said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “My children. My grandchildren.”

Family. Children. Grandchildren. Charlie’s heart ached at the phantom pang inside her body. After suffering from endometriosis and failed rounds of medication therapy, she’d found herself unable to take the agony anymore. She’d been recommended a full hysterectomy by the doctor.

When Charlie woke up in the recovery room, she’d been surprised to find her mother had made the five-hour drive to the Naval Medical Center at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Charlie had been even more surprised at how glad she’d been to see her, clean and sober at her side.

Then her mother spoke, and the little miracle turned into a nightmare. “The doctor says you’re going to be fine. Surgery went well. I can’t believe you let them take out your lady bits. You should’ve held out until you had children. Now you’ll never be a real woman.”

The bruising reality of those callous words had seared Charlie’s heart like acid, scarred her soul in a way that she had never recovered from.

What Sharon had, four children, six grandkids, the love and warmth and security of a big, happy family, Charlie never would.

The unhealed wound she carried inside had grown bigger, deeper over the years as she tried to fill the emptiness with her career and ambition. With SOG. A unit that demanded the very best from her and the ability to drop everything and respond in six hours.

Old pain, still very sharp, sliced through Charlie. She gritted her teeth, cursing this assignment.

Being shot at and almost killed was part of the professional package, and she could handle it. But facing her personal demons was the worst torture. She’d choose waterboarding over this, no contest.

“You still haven’t given me an explanation about how my new identity was blown,” Edgar said, keeping an arm wrapped around Sharon. “I have a right to know.”

“I’m afraid that’s classified,” Aiden said. “We’re not authorized to share specifics.”

“Then what guarantee do I have that it won’t happen again?” Edgar asked.

Giving reassurances while holding their hand wasn’t in their lane. At the SSPC, the other marshals would make it clear that he’d be relocated to a region in the program that was still secure and should never have to look over his shoulder again. More or less.

“You’ll be briefed at the—”

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! The jarring sounds came from under the car. Tires exploding. A deep rumble. The slapping thud of rubber as the vehicle swerved. The shriek of metal grinding against asphalt.