J. Gonzalez - The Corporation

Ryan, Montana was chosen because it was out-of-the-way and in a remote section of the country. Rafael wanted them to relocate to a big city—Chicago or Los Angeles maybe. The cost of living was a big factor against that. Michelle had a desire to remain anonymous, and with a new identity it was easier to resurface in a small town. The move was choreographed so that Michelle moved to Ryan first, securing a small apartment by herself. Under her new identity, she was a widow grieving the loss of her husband and child in an auto accident. Tomas had even come up with a real case to model her story after, which Michelle committed to memory. When Donald arrived at the end of the summer and secured a nice little house in town and began making plans to open a medical clinic, Michelle responded to his employment ad to make it even more legitimate. Privately, they were reunited in the flesh forty miles from Ryan, in a little motel off the Interstate.

Things fell together quickly after that. Jay O’Rourke had undergone a transformation as well. His hair was now shoulder length and dyed blonde, and he’d gotten some new tattoos to cover up the ones he’d had before. Tomas had been unable to get Jay to quit smoking, which was understandable since Jay had a hard time dealing with having to leave his wife and son. It was the thought of never being able to see his son that affected him the most and brought him great anguish. Tomas and Michelle spent a lot of time with Jay in San Francisco in the months following the blast when he made the decision to drop out and have Tomas and Rafael help him obtain a new identity. Ballistics tests done on the bullet that killed the Corporate Financial operative in a truck stop restroom in Oklahoma pointed to a .45 caliber handgun owned by Jay O’Rourke, from El Paso, Texas. The feds were looking for Jay and had a murder warrant out on him. Jay was not going to prison under any circumstances, and he had to keep Julie and Danny safe, so he simply stopped communicating with them.

The last time he talked to them, the day after the blast, he told Julie that he loved her and to tell Danny that he would love him forever. Then, tears streaming down his face, he’d hung up. Forever.

Michelle insisted Jay come to Ryan, Montana with her. She also invited Rachel Drummond to come along. Rachel went into a funk in the weeks following the blast, and she admitted to Michelle one night that she and Alan had been lovers. The five of them—Michelle, Jay, Rachel, Tomas, and Rafael—spent a lot of late nights talking about love and loss in the weeks that followed. Michelle told them about losing Alanis and how, despite the fact that her daughter was a preemie, it was very much like losing a full-term child. Their conversations brought them closer, and when she left California for Montana she was eventually followed by Jay, who was now going by the name Bob Ford. Rachel came a few weeks later and moved in with Michelle briefly. She didn’t have to change her name; she wasn’t wanted by the government for anything.

The town of Ryan was coming up in the horizon and Michelle sighed. She had gone into Billings that day for some DVDs, some books, some things for the kitchen. The past eight months had been a rollercoaster but they were surviving. Jay had been a tremendous help in hooking up Donald’s computer network at the office and he was now working part-time for him as their resident IT guru. He’d also set himself up as a freelance computer repairman on the side, doing work for local farmers and businesses. Rachel had moved in with him and they now shared a small apartment in town. Michelle thought it was inevitable that Rachel and Jay hook up; so far the relationship seemed to be built entirely on sex, but they got along together great as friends as well. Maybe they could make something work. Both of them were still mourning over their respective losses, Jay more so than Rachel, but they were doing relatively well. They all were.

Michelle sighed as she drove through town toward the house she and Donald now shared. Financially, they were doing okay. The sale of the house in Pennsylvania, and the money from her life insurance had helped create a small nest egg for them, one they’d had to live on for awhile until Donald could build up his patient base. His practice was doing well, so far. He’d even hired a medical assistant. Michelle had gotten back into her art and was painting, mostly commercial work for local businesses. In time, she thought she might apply for a teaching position at the local community college. It would keep her busy.

As she drove down the street she and Donald lived on she realized she had come a long way in the past year. She had made peace with her past; she’d forgiven her mother for the emotional abandonment she’d felt as a child. Part of what helped her get over that was seeing her real mother in those few minutes at Corporate Financial and learning that Connie had never wanted any of this to happen—she’d loved Michelle deeply but was controlled by the force that was Corporate Financial. Knowing this gave her a new direction in life, one she felt when she first became pregnant with Alanis. More than ever, she would never live for a collective again, even for financial purposes. No amount of money would get her to do that.

And as for Alanis…

Michelle thought about her beloved first daughter and rubbed her pregnant belly. At five months, she was already showing. She had a good OB/GYN in the nearby town of Clifford who assured her that her pregnancy was coming along well. Michelle and Donald didn’t know the sex of their baby yet, and Michelle wanted it to be a surprise. Whether the baby was a boy or a girl, Michelle was adamant that her child would always come first. She’d had to go through a hellish experience in order to get to this place, but she’d made her decisions and she could live with them. They would be okay together, the three of them. And with Rachel Drummond and Jay O’Rourke living nearby, maybe they could have a nice support system in place. They’d have to look out for each other since, technically, the bombing of Corporate Financial Group was still officially open.

Michelle made a right on Hempland Road and headed to their home, a pleasant little cottage along the middle of the street. The porch light was on, and as Michelle swung the Jeep into the driveway she saw Donald’s silhouette in the window and she smiled, feeling genuinely more happy and fulfilled than she had ever felt in her life.

JESSICA WILLIAMS COULDN’T wait to tell Diana Early about her date with Micah Walters Monday morning.

Jessica stepped into Diana’s office quietly and closed the door. Diana looked up from the spreadsheet she was working on and grinned. “Well, how was it?”

“You won’t believe it,” Jessica sat down in one of the two chairs in front of Diana’s desk. She was a temporary employee Handy Supplies had hired to perform some general clerical work over the summer while she was on summer break from University. Diana was the company payroll administrator. Jessica had accepted a date with Micah Walters, who had been with the company as an Assistant Operations Manager for six months.

“So, what happened?” Diana asked, gushing to hear the news.

When Jessica told her Diana’s smile faded.

They’d gone to dinner and the only topic of conversation Micah seemed to want to talk about was work. How he’d saved the company x number of dollars by launching his new initiative; how his supervisor had recommended he be on the new committee for the redesign of the data warehouse; how he was working weekends and nights to facilitate his operation reorganization plans. Diana couldn’t believe it. “All he talked about was work ?”

Jessica nodded. Her pretty features bore a look of disappointment. Last week when she told Diana that Micah had asked her out she was excited. She thought Micah was handsome and she was very attracted to him. Now that enthusiasm was zapped. “It wasn’t what I would call a romantic weekend at all,” she said.