"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 be their number one target?"
"Well, uh, maybe." Tom frowned. "So you would be like Luke Skywalker who they want to take down."
"Actually, I thought of myself as more like Han Solo, you know, Harrison Ford."
"Then who do you think I am?"
"Well, I think you're like Yoda. You're the Jedi Master who everyone underestimates, but who holds the true power of the Force."
"I can go along with that," Tom smiled. "So I would know when someone was on the dark side of the Force."
"Exactly, Tom. You're the type that could out-smart our competitors. You instinctively know what their next move is before they execute their plan."
"Yeah."
"And you know Terra is out to get me because I am your Han Solo. The guy who has your back covered."
"You're right Greg," Tom stood up and extended his hand. "I'm sorry if I mistook you for working for our competitors."
"The real mistaken identity is Terra," I added as I shook Tom's hand. "We're an unbeatable team, Tom."
"That's right, Greg. We're unbeatable. Now get out there and kick some Empire butt," Tom laughed.
"Yeah, off to the Millennium Falcon," I laughed. "Oh, and will you handle Terra?"
"Yeah, I'll handle Terra."
"Great, Tom. See you later."
I left his office content that my cover was still intact. The fact that Terra had been spying on me told me I needed to start to think about implementing my exit strategy. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hide the truth about my working for both companies at the same time. It was time to take my millions and flee into deep space.