Page 39 of A Light in the Dark
“It’s pretty high. They ambush men in SUVs just for driving through. If you make the mistake of informing them that you are single, you will become prey. Until there are no single women left in town, you are nothing more than fresh meat to them. Then you are at high risk of assimilation, as they do not like letting their single women leave town.”
“How, precisely, did you escape their town?”
“Top percentile government grant,” I replied, allowing myself a smug smile. “I’m a woman with dangerous levels of intellect. I might infect them with my bookish ways.”
“We have a bookstore and a library,” he informed me.
“Well, shit, Joel, why didn’t you just come to town telling someone that? I would have found out and run through the woods for however many miles was needed.”
“Approximately thirty-five as the bird flies.”
I grunted at the distance, which would be a great deal longer when dodging trees. “It would have been worth it.”
“I suppose I better take my kidnapped victim to the bookstore. There’s just one problem with this plan, however.”
“What problem?”
“The bookstore is next to the craft store.”
I checked my phone for an internet connection, pleased to discover I had four full bars. “You weren’t joking about the internet. I seem to have reception even from here.”
“We love our internet here, and we paid good money to have cell towers installed the entire unpaved route. That wasmore for safety, but we can pull off and goof off on the internet if we need a hit, too. The internet issacred, Valerie.”
After logging into my bank account, I discovered that I’d been paid, and there was an extra zero compared to what I had been expecting. Frowning, I tapped into the account to review my deposits to discover my work had paid me a thirty thousand dollar bonus on one payment and a fifteen thousand dollar bonus on a second payment the next day. Flabbergasted, I hit up my company’s online corporate directory, hunted for my boss’s cell number, and dialed.
“I see you have finally gotten around to checking your bank account,” my boss said instead of a proper greeting. “As I know you’re a stickler for enjoying your time off, as am I, I’ll give you the brief; those are your first payments for your bonus. The thirty thousand dollar bonus was the one I issued after checking your performance report and confirming our pay scale for the year. That was the standard bonus. The fifteen thousand dollar one was my boss pitching an absolutefitbecause there was no way your bonus was only thirty thousand for your personal contributions to the business’s prosperity. The next bonus—or bonuses—will be after he talks with the other folks at the top and in accounting to get a better feel for how much your practical contribution has been. As that bonus covers numerous years of your work, and he’s confident your profit increases for the company have been at least five times that amonthsince you’ve been here, he is not letting that slide. I had wanted to warn you on Friday, but the payroll hadn’t included the bonus, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to run separate transactions.”
“I’ll be damned,” I blurted, my eyes wide. “I was expecting…” Spluttering, as I had no idea how to tell him I had expected the removal of two zeros, I waved my free hand around in an effort to gain better control over my vocabulary.
“You were expecting maybe a thousand dollars because you do not have a degree,” Mr. Accor supplied.
“Yeah. That.”
“If you would like a degree, the company will pay all costs of tuition including overtime for the hours you spend in class. I know there’s some things that happen in accounting that confuse you.”
An accounting certification would make my job a great deal easier, as I wouldn’t have to guess about some elements of my work. “Yes, please.”
“I’ll look into your education options and put together a proposal. I recommend no more than one or two nights a week; there’s zero rush for your education. It’s clear you’re intelligent and skilled. It’s purely for your enrichment.”
I wanted to squeal, throw my phone, and clap my hands. “Since I have you here anyway, there’s a job fair coming up. Are we, as a company, going?”
“I know of it. Would you like to?”
“I think we would be able to get excellent employees who are motivated to work hard, and if we’re in a position to house them, we could really take advantage of the opportunity.”
“Can you train someone to do your exact job? That would let us open a location in Darkbend.”
Most of the time, I forgot Darkbend existed; located on the edge of Stonecreek, the small city served as the city-state’s import hub. Unlike Stonecreek, its river didn’t attempt to kill everyone yearly, and it enjoyed many of theperks of Stonecreek. However, due to its close proximity to Mountain Ridge, everyone who lived in Darkbend needed to hold either dual citizenship or dual residency.
Mountain Ridge’s border was right across the water, and the river could be easily crossed without benefit of boat or bridge.
Refugees could readily get dual citizenship.
“Yes, I can, especially if they’re anywhere near as smart as Madeline.”
“Would three people with less experience working together match one of you?”
I laughed at the absurdity of needing three people to do my job. “I would hope so!”
