Free The Associate by John Grisham

phone while thinking
some bozo might be listening. You've just wrecked my life, Bennie, the least you can do is allow me some degree of privacy."
“We have no plans--”
“That's a lie and you know it. Here's the new deal, Bennie. We agree right now that you and your goons stay out of my life. You don't eavesdrop, you don't follow, you don't hide in the shadows or stalk or play your little cat-and-mouse games. I'll do what you want me to do, whatever the hell that is, but you have got to leave me alone.”
“Otherwise?”
“Oh, otherwise. Otherwise, I'll take my chances with Elaine and her bogus rape charge. Look, Bennie, if my life is going to be ruined, then what the hell? I get to pick my poison. I have Elaine on the one hand, and I have your goons on the other.”
Bennie exhaled slowly, cleared his throat, and said, “Yes, Kyle, but it is important for us to keep up with you. That is the nature of our work. That is what we do.”
“It's blackmail, pure and simple.”
“Kyle, Kyle, none of that now. That doesn't move the ball.”
“Please, can we forget about the ball? That's so tiring now.”
“We can't just turn you loose in New York.”
“Here's my bottom line--I will not be stalked or watched or followed. Do you understand this, Bennie?”
“This could pose a problem.”
“It's already a problem. What do you want? You'll know where I live and where I work--they're basically the same place for the next five years anyway. I'll be at the office eighteen hours a day, if not more. Why, exactly, will it be necessary to keep me under surveillance?”
“There are procedures we follow.”
“Then change them. It's not negotiable.” Kyle jumped to his feet and headed for the door. “When do we meet again?”
“Where are you going?” Bennie asked as he stood.
“None of your business, and don't follow me. Do not follow me.” Kyle had his hand on the doorknob.
“Okay, okay. Look, Kyle, we can be flexible here. I see your point.”
“When and where?”
“Now.”
“No, I have things to do, without being watched.”
“But we have so much to talk about, Kyle.”
“When?”
“How about six, tonight?”
“I'll be here at eight, and for only one hour. And I'm not coming back tomorrow.”

The Associate

Chapter 7
At the New Haven train station, Kyle boarded the 7:22 for Grand Central. He wore the better of his two suits, a plain white shirt with an utterly boring tie, and black wing tips, and he carried a handsome leather attache case his father had given him last Christmas. He also carried the morning's editions of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and he was indistinguishable from the other sleepy-eyed executives hustling off to the office.
As the frozen countryside blurred by, he ignored the papers and let his mind wander. He asked himself if he would one day live in the suburbs and be forced to ride a train three hours a day so his children could attend fine schools and ride their bikes down leafy streets. At the age of twenty-five, that was not very appealing. But now most of his thoughts about the future were complicated and dreary. He'd be lucky if he didn't get himself indicted and/or disbarred. Life in the big firms was brutal enough, and now he would have the impossible chore of grinding through the first years while stealing confidential information and praying daily that he didn't get caught.
Maybe commuting wasn't such a bad deal after all.
After three days and many hours of talking, haggling, bitching, and threatening, Bennie Wright had finally left town. He had receded into the shadows but, of course, would soon materialize again. Kyle hated his voice, his face, his mannerisms, his calm hairy hands, his slick head, his confident, pressing manner. He hated everything about Bennie Wright and his company or firm or whatever it was, and many times during the past week he had changed his mind in the middle of the night and told them all to go to hell.
Then, in the darkness, as always, he