No Hesitation by Kirk Russell

Author:Kirk Russell [Russell, Kirk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781734314601
Publisher: Strawberry Creek, LLC
Published: 2020-04-02T16:00:00+00:00

33

August 10th

It was a beautiful morning, cooler, with a clear blue sky that made me remember how much I love the desert. No heat advisory warnings today, no late-season monsoon talk or flash flood warnings. I hurt as usual and felt burdened over stupid decisions I’d made with Potello, but not the criminal ones I was suspected of.

Jo was right. My honor was everything to me. I’d sell my house and use that money to fight if I needed to. I bought coffee, took a call from Jace, and then one from Sylvie Ralin, Matt’s estranged wife.

“I have to tell you something,” Sylvie said. “It’s not your problem, and I’m sorry to bother you with it, but I can’t take this anymore. I can’t handle the way it makes me feel. I just can’t do it any longer. I wanted to save my marriage and it’s very hard to say I’m giving up. I made a mistake eight years ago that Mark has never forgiven. He never will, and I’m done trying. I’m filing for divorce today.”

I heard sadness in her voice. I heard defeat.

“I’m sorry I have to bring it up, and I know I shouldn’t be calling you.”

“It’s fine to call me.”

“I don’t want to burden you with personal problems.”

“That’s okay, you can talk to me.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the project. The idea that Mark has to be watched is ridiculous. After we moved here from Palo Alto, I was ready to leave the marriage. The head of DARPA convinced me to wait. She talked to me about her own marriage and the mistake she made splitting up with her husband during a difficult time.

“She said give it eighteen months. Make sure he agrees. If it doesn’t work after that, leave him and never look back. That advice made a real impression on me. Maybe she was just protecting the Indie project, but I think she meant it. It rang true then and still does, but for us it’s over. I’m done.”

“Has it been eighteen months?”

“More,” she said. “It’s been too long.”

I heard her stifle a sob. She was quiet, then took me through her move to Vegas with the kids, loading the car, finding a house, getting the kids into schools and settled while keeping her business going. Then she told me something that happened yesterday that she called the last and final straw.

“I got a call from a young woman, a grad student at Stanford,” she said slowly. “I don’t even know how she got my phone number. She said Mark isn’t returning her calls, and she wanted to know if Mark’s visits to my house were more than just to see the kids.”

She stopped there a moment.

“We aren’t even divorced yet. We’re separated and supposedly trying to salvage our marriage, and here’s this young woman in tears asking me if Mark is cheating on her. She asked if he was at the house and if she could talk to him. I said he’s not here and that he’s in London with his girlfriend there, and she hung up.

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