Marketplace Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn’t get
anyone to train me the way you need,” Sharon protested, trying to
keep the whine out of her voice. “I asked everyone I knew, and they
never even heard of you! You wouldn’t believe what I had to do to
just get your names!” She sat back, trying to regain her composure.
Be humble, she said to herself. Be like a slave. “All my life, I’ve
wanted this, master. All my life. But I keep running into guys who,
like, do it on the weekends, you know? I want to live it. Like in
the books.” She nodded toward the papers. “Like I said in the
letter.”
    “So you stole information
about this house from the office of a friend of ours,” Grendel
noted.
    Sharon visibly trembled.
Did he really know that? Or was he bluffing? This wasn’t going the
way she planned. What was going to happen now? Was all this for
nothing?
    He leaned back in the chair
and watched her. She would fetch a high price if she were gagged,
he thought. But the minute someone got her home, her flaws would
become as apparent as her physical appeal. He remained impassive as
she bowed her head (very prettily) and said, softly, “Yes,
master.”
    “I’m not your master, Ms.
Brosa. And frankly, your behavior isn’t impressing me. I train
people to act like that. It’s nothing new to me. If you wanted to
impress, you might have tried it with genuine contrition for your
inexcusable tardiness, and swift admission of your felonious
behavior.” He suppressed the incredible desire to grin at his own
pomposity, but it had the desired effect. She withered a little and
then became angry.
    “What do you want me to do,
Mr. Elliot?” she shot back. “You want me to say I’m sorry? It
wasn’t my fault, but OK, I’m sorry. You want me to say that I took
the stuff about you and this place from what’s her name’s house?
OK, I did. But that was the only way I was gonna get in. All the
people who know about you keep you a secret. Like you’re the
president, or something.”
    “There’s a reason for that.
When someone comes to us untrained and unprepared, it wastes time.
For us and them.” Grendel pointed at the papers and photos. “This
is a good attempt at faking our file format. And I have to admit
that you would make a nice decoration in someone’s hallway. But you
have no idea what you might be getting into.”
    “I know exactly what I want
to get into, Mr. Elliot.” She picked up her pocketbook and pulled
out a folded sheet of paper. She smoothed it out and placed it on
his desk. “OK, so I need some real training, maybe. But I can be
the best thing that ever happened to you. Everyone who ever knew me
says I was the best pleasure slave they ever saw. Take a look at
that and tell me I don’t know what I’m doing!”
    Grendel picked the paper up
and read it through. It was an excerpt from a contract, written in
proper Marketplace jargon. He read it through once and then scanned
it again. Then, he placed it carefully on the stack of papers in
front of him.
    “Who wrote
this?”
    Sharon looked down. “I
can’t tell you that.”
    “Well, at least you didn’t
try to claim that you did. This interview is over. Chris will call
you a cab.”
    “What?” Sharon’s voice
scaled up in genuine surprise and anger. “You can’t... I mean,
why?”
    He closed the folder with
the contract inside of it. “Because how could I ever expect you to
be trainable if you are incapable of telling a simple truth to the
people you might be training under? Ms. Brosa, this isn’t a game.
But never mind. I’m sure you’ll be happy with someone outside the
Marketplace. You might even find a situation like the one outlined
in this contract. But for now, investigating who exactly wrote this
document has to take priority.”
    Sharon panicked. “No, wait!
Wait. I didn’t know it was so important to you. It’s just, I
promised I wouldn’t tell anyone about him, OK? But I won’t let it
screw up my chances to get in here. Could you promise that you
won’t