No. Nothing in writing. Nothing that can be reported to anyone.

She got in the car and drove to the grocery store. On the way in from the parking lot she took a cart that someone had left blocking a parking space and pushed it into the store. Helping keep the parking lot clear of abandoned carts proved that she wasn’t vindictive. She was a civilized person who wanted to help Bob do well in his business and his ordinary, ordinary, ordinary life. It would help him not to have such an extraordinary woman and child in that life.

He was out on the floor and instead of waiting in his office, she went in search of him. She found him supervising the unloading of a truck that was late because of a breakdown on the highway, making sure that the frozen foods were at a low enough temperature to be safely offloaded and shelved.

“Can you wait just a minute?” he said. “I know it’s important or you wouldn’t have come down here, but…”

“Oh, Bob, it won’t take more than a second.” She leaned close to him. “I’m pregnant and it’s not yours.”

Being a two-part message, it didn’t entirely register right away. For a moment he looked happy. Then his face started to turn red.

She leaned in close again. “Don’t worry, though. I’m leaving you. I’ll let you know where to mail the divorce papers. Now, you get back to work.”

She started to walk away. “Randi,” he called after her.

“Not your fault, Bob!” she called over her shoulder. “Nothing was your fault. You’re a great guy.”

She felt liberated as she walked back through the store. Her mood was so generous and expansive that she bought a little container of lip balm and a bottle of water. The tiny amount of profit from the sale would be her last contribution to Bob’s life.

Then she got into the car and drove south, because that way was a right turn coming out of the parking lot, and traffic was too heavy to wait for a chance to go left. She’d drive wherever the currents of the traffic led her. She wouldn’t try to hide from anybody. She’d let Bob know where she was as soon as she decided she was there, and she’d divorce him in a perfectly ordinary way. But she wouldn’t bump into anyone she knew or anyone who knew her. She would become effectively invisible, not like someone trying to hide, but like someone who had nothing to hide at all but who never became important to anyone.

Except to her beloved son.

3

COUP

From: JulianDelphiki%[email protected]
To: Volescu%[email protected]
Re: Why keep hiding when you don’t have to?

Look, if we wanted you dead or punished, don’t you think it would have happened already? Your protector is gone and there’s not a country on Earth that will protect you if we lay out the facts of your “achievements.”

What you did, you did. Now help us find our children, wherever you’ve hidden them.