Page 132 of The Session

“I think so. Did she tell you I wanted Max’s job?”

“More or less,” Mark admitted.

“She’s projecting. I just want to see Summit handled by people who have its best interests in mind. I hope she can see that,” Tru explained. “What else did she say?”

“That I need to focus on earning a spot in Summit if I want to be useful. Starting here. But it’s kind of hard to focus on sales right now.”

“She’s right. You have to learn to compartmentalize. We can keep a watch on Nathan, but we need to get you into some kind of role here other than mascot.”

“So I sell.”

She nodded. “You sell.”

“But what exactly am I selling?” He tried to focus on her answer, but his mind was on Kevin’s phone in his pocket.

“I’ll point people out to you and tell you what they need. It’s your job to figure out how to casually work it into the conversation. Now, everybody here knows what the real purpose of the retreat is. But don’t go in guns blazing to close a deal.”

“Okay, who’s my first victim?”

“See the gentleman over there in the corner with the black horn-rimmed glasses and the maroon sweater vest? His name is Siravan Nasir. He owns an It firm that’s been picking up struggling customer-support centers.”

“And I assume we want to sell him a training contract?”

“Yes. He is a guest of one of our larger clients,” Tru confirmed.

“How much does one of these contracts go for?” Mark asked.

“That depends upon the size of the company and their revenue goals. But, you know, seven, maybe five,” Tru replied.

“I take it that’s in the millions.”

“Look, just getting our foot in the door with him is what’s important,” she instructed. “Now get to it! Go!”

“Okay.”

The last thing Mark wanted to do was sell anything when the man who’d had his half brother killed—and who’d likely put a bounty on him—was in the vicinity. But he understood he had to channel that energy.

Mark nodded to Siravan as he noticed him approaching.

“Hi, I’m Mark. You must be Siravan.”

Mark reached out to shake Siravan’s hand and got a low-effort grip in return.

“I didn’t know they brought in influencers,” Siravan said.

“Um, not sure I am one,” Mark replied.

“Yeah, you’re the guy on TikTok. I’ve seen the memes. So is there, like, an agency or something where they just call up and say, ‘Send me somebody who’s had a million views’?” he asked.

“No, actually I work for Summit Strategies.”

“Oh, but you’re the guy . . .”

“Yeah, that was me,” Mark admitted.

It felt like ancient history, but it had only been a few weeks, and the way social media worked, new people were discovering it all the time. Mark, however, still didn’t find it all that noteworthy.

“So what do you do for Summit? Are you, like, an EMT here?” Siravan asked.