in Witness Protection, likely the real reason this team was assembled, utilized not to only quell fears and concerns, but to help head off potential misgivings once the witness is already in the program.
The process of self-analysis exhausts me. Once they’re done, have smiled and shaken my hand and patted me on the shoulder, they set me free. As I lumber away from the center of the facility, thoughts of all the repercussions of my actions arrive and stick in my mind. Right now Gravina is bleeding, begging for some form of mercy, confessing his wasteful mistake, confirming that my intentions are real and true.
And after eating a meal in my room, alone, I lie back on my bed and stare at the ceiling and wonder where Melody is, what she is doing, pray she made her way.
Days two and three: Relocation Coordination
Imagine visiting a travel agency and being given the option to journey anywhere you’d like for free, with one condition: It must be bland. You might think a few hours would do the trick here, except this station I’m told is the most critical component from Justice’s end—the core cost center of the program—for some witnesses have made the mistake of relocating to parts of the country that mismatched their true needs. Beyond obvious preferences, like climate, they cover things that might not occur when looking at a map of the country, like crippling allergies specific to a region, or arthritic concerns (the Southwest is highly recommended). After completing yet another survey, they determine I’d pretty much enjoy any part of the country, as long as I’m placed near areas that offer fresh produce, cheeses, and meats year round—which means the entire West Coast or the Deep South. They inform me that any of these choices are fine because they are outside of the swell—the circle whose center point marks the position on the map where the people who want to harm me most reside, whose radius extends three hundred air miles.
They show me videos of these different sections of the country, forty-minute DVDs that put each area on display, provide all the statistics for populations and school systems and major employers, show summer and winter scenes, offer profiles of quiet towns and villages. As I watch them, I can’t help but be amused; they’ve covered these places in chocolate and whipped cream. I’ve visited many small corners of this nation in my pursuits of Melody, and by watching these videos you’d think the most attractive places in the country are the ones I never visited. I’m sure they have appealing videos of Michigan and Kentucky, too, absent the depiction of Willie and his cafoni trying to assault a young lady in a public park.
Much of the following day covers my preference for a career. Eventually, Kirsten, the young woman who’s been assisting, asks me what I like to do, what my skills and interests and propensities are.
We stare each other down. What exactly would I say? I know how to launder money. I know how to manhandle information out of people. I’ve become fairly adept at tracking people down, breaking into buildings.
Eventually, with a shrug: “I like to cook.”
Kirsten raises her eyebrows and nods a little like I just made her workload a lot lighter, as if to say, Well, that’ll be easy.
Then back to my room, alone, with a meal, staring at the ceiling, wondering what Melody is doing, if she could ever know the best part of being in Safesite is that it distracts me from thinking about her every minute of every waking hour. And some of the nonwaking, too.
Days four and five: Legal
The legal team generates what they call a Memorandum of Understanding, the specifics of what was agreed upon with Justice—both ways—so that everyone knows what they’re getting and giving, but mostly so the witness can be certain of the details of his future, right down to the last penny of the monthly subsistence checks. My MOU confuses the legal team, has various members running in and out of the room to contact Justice to get broader details of what I’m giving back. They do not broaden much, pretty much stop at information against current dealings and relationships within the existing Bovaro organization.
On my end, I will receive: no advance bonus money; a full-time job that will be no less than a 65-percent match to one of my preferences as generated out of the meetings with the relocation coordinator; a guaranteed annual