She raised her eyebrow in amusement. “Isthat so?”
“But not today,” said Varya.
“But not today,” echoed Kir, a serious frownon his face. He perked up suddenly. “But maybe tomorrow!” And thenhe rolled away again.
“So, what happens now?” asked Marisasoftly.
“I don’t know. I never thought this farahead.”
Marisa nodded and inhaled deeply. She movedover to the couch and sat next to Varya, squeezing her handsbetween her own knees.
“Your mum did, though.”
“How did she find Reg? That was you, wasn’tit?”
Marisa watched Varya’s face carefully,trying to assess whether she was looking to allocate blame, orsimply trying to understand.
“Yes, that was me. We were both worriedabout you, and Kir.” She paused, bracing for a backlash. Varyaremained silent. “We never meant for the technology to fall intothe wrong hands.”
“I know.” Varya smiled weakly. “You’re notthe first to wreak havoc with the best of intentions.”
“The path to Hell…”
“Yes, paved with good intentions.” Varyaturned to Marisa. “Daniel’s fine, by the way. Zoe called thismorning. They pulled the life span restoration procedure offwithout a hitch.”
She sighed in relief. “Good. That’s greatnews. What happens to the thieves now?”
Varya bit her lower lip hard and repliedbitterly, “Death. Sebastian just called with the news. He says theevidence is clear and an example will be made of them. If theyplead guilty, they’ll be allowed an early Rest Time. Painless. Ifthey don’t, and they’re found guilty at trial…”
“Hanging,” said Marisa.
“Or firing squad.”
“Any of those would be too good for them.Hanged, drawn and quartered would be what I’d go for.” Marisasurprised herself at the venom in her voice. “And Reg? What willhappen to him?”
Varya grimaced. “Sebastian’s working onhaving the charges reduced. The powers-that-be are keen to chargehim as an accessory. He thinks they’ll be satisfied if the realculprits plead guilty, though. Reg should be able to fly under theradar and slip away fairly quietly. Especially as Sebastian intendsto point out to them today that if they charge Reg and it goes totrial there’ll be mud that sticks to Rest Time Corps. They’ll beeven more keen to avoid that, I imagine.”
“That sounds like everyone else taken careof, then. Now you need to get yourself and Kir out of reach as soonas possible.”
Varya frowned at her. “I know. But notwithout Sebastian. I’m thinking Canada. Maybe New Zealand. We’vetravelled to both before, he liked them.”
Marisa’s voice was strained. “For a holiday,he liked them, not to live. And what if he doesn’t want toleave?”
“I can’t separate him from his son again,”said Varya lightly. “I was wrong to do it the first time. I shouldhave known I could trust him.”
“You did what you had to do to keep Kiralive,” said Marisa firmly.
Varya looked at her blankly then, as thoughshe didn’t see her. Marisa sighed softly, recognising quickly—fromlong experience—that she wasn’t going to be able to get through toher today. Varya had made up her mind and there would be no budgingher.
“If he won’t go, and if you change your mindabout leaving without him, look inside Kir’s closet, up the top, ablue shoebox towards the back. Everything you need is there.” WhenVarya didn’t respond, Marisa stood and rolled her shoulders, tryingto release some of the tension. “I’ll get dinner started and thenleave you to it. You must be exhausted.”
Varya reached up and took Marisa’s hand inhers. “Thank you,” she said, staring into her eyes intently. “Thankyou for everything you’ve done for us.”
Marisa looked down at her hand in Varya’s.She squeezed it gently, then let go. “Just doing my job, boss.”
Chapter fifty-three
Varya
That evening, Varya sat with Kir until he fell asleepin his old bed back in their apartment. With each stroke of herknuckle down Kir’s soft cheek his questions became slower andshorter.
“Can I download nine-years-plus games now orstill only ones for four-year-olds? ‘Cause that’s not fair if Ican’t ‘cause really I’m sort of nine even though I look four.”
“Can I watch television again tomorrow?”
“Is YouTube still a thing?”
She answered a few of the questions—no, yesand yes—and hushed others. In her own mind she picked off theissues underlying each query that she would now need to deal with.Her brain started to ask itself questions that she couldn’t evenfind the answers for. “How will you explain Kir’s suddenreappearance? Which year will he start in school? Will you need tomove to another city? Or another country?”
Kir’s eyelids were almost completely closedand he’d started to snore softly now. He shuddered in the throes offalling asleep and opened his eyes halfway again.
“Mum?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“You’ll be here when I wake up?”
“Right next door, in the next room.”
“And Dad? Is he going to stay too?”
Varya hesitated mid-stroke. Just a smallglitch before she smoothed it over and kept moving. She felt,rather than heard, a presence behind her left shoulder.
“I’ll be here, little man,” saidSebastian.
Kir’s eyes flew wide open for a moment as hesmiled and shifted his eyes from one parent to the other and backagain.
“Okay, good.” He gathered up Yappy Dog inhis arms and rolled over to face the wall. Varya laid her hand onhis back and waited for his breathing to deepen. She tensed as shefelt the warm pressure of Sebastian’s hand on her shoulder. Thesmell of his cologne brought back so many memories. And so muchguilt. Sebastian patted her gently and left the room, closing thedoor halfway behind him to block out the hallway light. Varyacontinued to watch over her son. Tomorrow he would be a day older.In three months, it would be his birthday. But which year wouldthey celebrate?
Now the Minor Miracles Foundation’squestionable—okay, illegal—method of funding was exposed. She wassure Sebastian wouldn’t turn her in, but now that her ownbackground was common knowledge, there would be higher scrutiny onthe Foundation. Returning to selling time tabs was far too risky.She could put pressure on previous donors to continue the stream ofcash in return for her silence, but that would put herself andthose close to her in great danger. Safety and peace were what shecraved now. A small house in a small neighbourhood with a smalljob. Maybe moving cities wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Varya shifted and
