Pinchbeck does have a schedule to keep," Rio smiled at the reporter who was looking decidedly unhappy."Thanks for the ambush, Dale," I stood up. "I wo...'t forget it." Hey, nothing personal, Jen..." he said, but I was already walking away."If Time Magazine ever calls..." I looked at Rio, " ... for anything? Tell them to fuck off and die." No problem," she frowned and Rio was a little unhappy with Watersman herself.Tempest was secure, I knew that anyway, but still ... It would be bad if any trace. He hadn't smiled. He hadn't needed to. She knew the smile was there, behind his inscrutable face. He read the awareness in her eyes and sought the inevitable frustration she must feel after having made her strongest argument and failed. There was none. Only a faint glimmer of sympathy."I pity your task, assassin," she had said. He hadn't smiled at that either. He had been pitied before too. It was one of the most predictable responses, apart from self-righteous rage.The corridor curved one. Once I had something I wanted to sell though, I wasn't against the idea of someone else handling all the negotiations with prospective buyers. I could set a bottom price that an item could be sold for. Usually, the hardest part of any sale was finding someone who could use what you wanted to sell. I bought things cheaply enough that selling at a good price wasn't any problem.The only real problem I was having in trying to get someone to handle sales for me was in finding someone I could hire. ." He drew a deep breath and let it our slowly while we stared at each other."I'll do it," I told him. "One time and that's it. I'll prove it, okay?" Bullshit." He grinned at me."I'm serious. What do I gotta do?"I was pissed because I couldn't let him be right. I couldn't be a little girl, no way. And yeah, I know it shouldn't have mattered what he thought. I should have just walked out and never looked back. But I wanted to prove it. I wanted to spit it back in his face. That I could do.