She stopped and turned around. “Conditions?”
“The things you said you’d need before you’d commit to joining Everest full time.”
“Oh, right. Why are you so interested?” she asked, moving to where he stood.
“I think you’re good at this,” he said honestly. “People naturally listen to you.” He took a deep breath. “You could be chairman of this place someday. Especially now that David’s not around.”
Allison’s eyes went wide. “Wow.”
“I’m not kidding. I’ve thought about it a lot. I can’t promise anything, but you have a lot going for you.” He held up his hand. “And think about this. You’d be doing this on your own. No family help. More respect.”
“Yeah.”
“So?” he pushed.
“I really only have one condition,” Allison said after a few moments, her voice still subdued.
“What?”
“You don’t get married for six months.”
He leaned back, caught off guard. “Why?”
“I don’t have to tell you why, I just have to tell you what.”
Gillette shook his head. “We’re business partners. That’s all it can ever—”
“Will you meet my condition or not?” she cut in.
Gillette thought about it for a second. “Okay.” He had no intention of getting married soon anyway. Commitment was one thing, marriage another. “But that’s it, right? I agree to that one condition and you’ll sign a contract to join here.”
Allison turned away and headed for the door again.
She stopped at the door. “As long as you put in the contract that you agree not to get married for six months. As long as that clause is in there.” She winked, then disappeared through the doorway.
Gillette stood in the middle of his office, staring after her. Allison wanted the clause in there so she could show Faith. So she could demonstrate to Faith her ability to manipulate.
He shook his head as he headed back to his desk. There it was again, that tendency to always suspect there was a hidden agenda. Maybe Allison simply wanted him focused on the business. Or maybe it was her way of politely saying no, certain he’d never actually put anything about his personal life in a contract.
He eased into the chair and started reviewing a prep file Debbie had dropped on his desk earlier. He focused on it for a few seconds, but then looked at the doorway again and smiled, thinking of Allison, thinking of Faith.
There are always issues, he thought, but most men would kill for problems like mine.
WRITER’S NOTE ON NANOTECHNOLOGY
I first heard of nanotechnology from a great friend of mine, Matt Malone, who is a top middle-market private equity professional. He reads more than anyone I know, and he’d recently seen an article in a popular national magazine on nanotech related to potential military applications—i.e., creating super-warriors who would be able to do physical things that even the strongest men and women of today couldn’t dream of doing.
After Matt alerted me about it, I did some research and found the subject absolutely fascinating. I then called another friend, Teo Forcht Dagi, who is a neurosurgeon turned venture capitalist. Teo provided excellent technical assistance and introduced me to other specialists in the field; and soon I was off and running with the book.
It’s incredible to think about it from a biological perspective (which is really all we can do right now), but if nanotechnology will ever be perfected to become available and allow us to live decades, maybe even centuries, longer, it will pose some terribly traumatic social questions. The weightiest of them will be: Who gets to take advantage of it? Only the wealthy? Because, like any technology, it will be extraordinarily expensive at first. Or will the government try to make it available to everyone? That, of course, would be incredibly costly. And what will happen when nanotechnology gets cheap and nearly everyone can afford it? Will funeral homes and cemeteries go out of business and beachfront property get really pricey?
If you’re inclined to delve further and do some of your own research on the subject, here are some excellent websites to start with:
www.nanotech-now.com
www.nano.gov.com
www.nsti.com
www.nasatech.com
Enjoy!
—Stephen Frey
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STEPHEN FREY is a principal at a northern Virginia private equity firm. He previously worked in mergers and acquisitions at JPMorgan and as a vice president of corporate finance at an international bank in midtown Manhattan. Frey is also the bestselling author of The Chairman, Shadow Account, Silent Partner, The Day Trader, Trust Fund, The Insider, The Legacy, The Inner Sanctum, The Vulture Fund, and The Takeover.
ALSO BY STEPHEN FREY
The Takeover
The Vulture Fund
The Inner Sanctum
The Legacy
The Insider
Trust Fund
The Day Trader
Silent Partner
Shadow Account
The Chairman
The Protégé is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2006 by Stephen Frey
All rights reserved.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Frey, Stephen W.
The protege : a novel / Stephen Frey
p. cm.
eISBN 0-345-49096-7
1. Wall Street (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction. 2. Capitalists and financiers—Fiction. 3. Investment bankers—Fiction. 4. Corporate culture—Fiction. 5. Fathers—Death—Fiction. 6. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title
PS3556.R4477P76 2006
813′.54—dc22 2005048139
www.ballantinebooks.com
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