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This is the second of three posts where you get to meet the main characters of Hunter Hunted so that you can learn more about them. These interviews are in their voices, not mine, which is crucial for making three-dimensional characters.  Enjoy!

This interview is with Jake Witherspoon, the leading man of the novel and an antagonist.

1. What are your basic statistics?

Huh? My stats?  Okay, like what?  All right, all right.  I’m a hair short of six feet.  Brown hair.  Brown eyes thanks to some Indian in my background somewhere.  I’m skinny.  Maybe slender, at least that’s what my sisters say.  I’m a guy, so I don’t think a lot about looks, and don’t even ask me about my best feature.  Though Tina, my oldest sibling, would say it’s my eyes.  She says she can see Christ in them.  Yeah, I’ve got three sisters and a brother and am smack in the middle of the birth order.  Maybe that’s why I’m such a cut-up sometimes.

2. What are your likes and dislikes?

Hah, that’s a good one. I’m southern, and I pretty much like anything southern.  “Like what?” you ask.  Sweet tea.  Pig pickings.  Country music.  Anything sports, be it playing or watching.  Sometimes when I’m at Xenith Securities Headquarters, my buds and I will play a game of pick-up basketball or football.  Sorry.  Xenith is where I work.  I also like anything outdoors.  Hunting, fishing, running.  I also love dogs.  One day if I settle down enough, I’m going to get myself a coonhound.  Maybe name him Duke after a hunting dog I had when I was growing up.

Dislikes? That’s easy.  Doilies.  For some reason, I can’t stand them.  Maybe because they’re too frilly and lacy.  And I’m not a sappy, romantic movie kind of guy.  I also don’t like cats.  It’s not that I’m allergic to them.  It’s just that when they stare me down, I feel like they’re plotting to tie me up and steal all of my stuff or something.

3. What is most precious to you?

Oh, wow. Good question.  Hmmm.  Let me think on that.  Probably the Bible I have.  My folks gave it to me when I graduated from college, and I’ve carried it with me literally all over the world as I travel for my work.

4. Who has impacted you the most?

You just keep coming with the good questions, don’t you? The Sunday school answer would be Jesus.  I’d have to say Abigail did.  You’ll read about her in Hunter Hunted, but let’s suffice it to say that she sent me to my highest highs and brought me to my lowest lows.

5. If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

Impulsive. Tina, my oldest sister, and Karen, my baby sister, would both say that.

6. What is your greatest strength and weakness?

I’m a very detail-oriented kind of guy.  I can thank my background as an engineering major for that and also my former occupation as a Secret Service agent.  When I entered the Service, I quickly learned to look for threat signs in a detailed way but not so much that I got bogged down.

Weakness? Sometimes, I can be like a hound dog on a bone.  You know, I get so wrapped up in pursuing something that I forget about other things.  Sorry.  I’m not being clear, am I?  Okay.  Here’s an example.  Back when I returned to the farm, toward the end of that first year before I joined Xenith, I had a date with this girl who was a friend of Sue Ann’s.  Sue Ann is one of my sisters.  Man, that girl was cute.  All blond with the prettiest blue eyes you’d ever seen.  Except that day, I’d pulled apart a tractor engine for Dad and got into rebuilding it.  I lost track of time.  Let’s just say we never went out.  I guess I can’t blame her.

7. What’s your biggest regret?

Boy, you don’t pull any punches, do you? I’d have to say letting my judgment slip like I did on my last detail with the Secret Service.

8. What drives you?

As in what motivates me? I know I’m a protector.  Heck, it’s what I did when I was with the Service.  I like knowing I can save a life.

9. What do you want the most?  What do you fear the most?

Wow. That’s a tough one.  When you get right down to it, I want to be married to a woman who’s my best friend, who loves the Lord and accepts me for who I am.  You know, it’s hard right now.  I mean, I’m pushing forty, and sometimes I wish that if God didn’t have that in the cards for me that He would take away that desire to be married.

What do I fear? Can we go back to what I like and don’t like?  Okay.  I fear someone losing a life because my pride gets in the way of my job.  Why do I say that?  You’ve got to read the book to find out.

10. What are three things you want people to learn from Hunter Hunted?

Good one. From my perspective, huh?  How about this?  Plan well rather than impulsively.  Why?  Again, you need to Hunter Hunted to find out.

Question: What more would you like to know about Jake Witherspoon?

The persons and events portrayed in this work are the creations of the author, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

I have not received any compensation for writing this post. The work mentioned in this post is of my own writing.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”