by Chris Thelen

Created on: June 13, 2009

"You wanted to speak with me?" I asked my boss Tom as I sheepishly opened his door.

"Yes, Greg. Please come in," he motioned to the plush chair in front of his desk.

I acknowledged his hand movement and sat in the chair. I tried to hide my nervousness, wondering if I he had found out that I was leading a double life. Could it be that he knew that I was working for his company and for his competitor at the same time?

"What did you want to see me about?" I asked in a relaxed tone.

"Greg," Tom started as he reclined in his office chair. He held a pencil in one hand and tapped it lightly on his other hand. "Terra in purchasing tells me she saw you going into our competitor's headquarters the other day."

"What?" I showed the appropriate amount of surprise. I was about to use all of my theater skills from my younger days. "Why would I be there?"

"Well, that's kind of what I was hoping you could tell me."

"Come on, Tom. They're our enemies. You know, the 'Dark Side' of the 'Force' like in Star Wars. Remember our sales meeting last year where you called their CEO Darth Vader and said that we are like Jedi Warriors?"

"Sheesh, Greg, you don't really believe all of that, do you?" Tom leaned forward in his chair and set his pencil down. "That was just a bunch of hype to motivate the sales team."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow. "It's not true? They're not our enemy?"

"Well..." Tom hesitated. "To a point. You can't take it too seriously. We just need to pump up the sales team."

The distraction was working well. I was controlling the conversation. It was much easier to hide my nervousness when I had Tom on the defensive. I wondered why Terra was at our competitors and I wondered if she suspected I was also working for them. I couldn't afford to have her blow my other identity.

"But Tom, wouldn't our enemy Darth Vader, want to make you suspicious of your sales manager?"

"Sales manager?" Tom rubbed his chin. "You're talking about yourself?"

"Of course I am. Come on, Tom. We've worked together for five years. We've doubled our sales in that time. Who else would I be talking about? Doesn't it make sense that I would be a target? I think the real question here is why would Terra say she saw me over there? I think she is a plant."

"A plant?" Tom raised an eyebrow. "You mean like a house plant?"

"No, no. Not like that." I shook my head surprised by his density. "I mean what if she was put here by our enemy to disrupt our sales team. Wouldn't it make sense that I would

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