Chapter 6 - The Audit of the Neon Spoon
Arthur opened his leather briefcase, pulled out a thick, blue-backed legal portfolio stamped with a gold presidential seal, and laid it onto the Formica table beside Henry’s empty coffee mug.
"Mr. Vance," Arthur said, his voice crisp, clinical, and devoid of any human warmth.
Vance couldn't speak. He simply nodded, his eyes wide with blind panic.
"As of eleven-fifteen tonight," Arthur continued, reading from the document, "the federal commercial real estate trust that holds the master land-lease for this entire highway corridor has exercised its eminent domain reversion clause due to repeated municipal health and labor code violations."
Vance’s jaw dropped. "Reversion clause?! You can't do that! I have a five-year franchise operating agreement with the corporate parent company!"
"The corporate parent company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sterling Family Foundation," Arthur replied smoothly, not breaking eye contact. "And the Sterling Family Foundation takes a very dim view of managers who fire teenagers for buying soup for starving veterans."
Arthur tapped the bottom margin of the portfolio.
"You are relieved of your management duties, effective immediately, Mr. Vance. Your franchise operating license is revoked. Hand over your store keys, your safe combinations, and your security access codes to the duty officer waiting outside."
Before Vance could protest, two Secret Service agents stepped smoothly through the doorway, flanking the manager on either side. Without a word of warning, they took Vance by the arms and escorted him toward the office door to clear his desk, his legs dragging uselessly against the linoleum.
Arthur turned his attention back to the old president. "Sir, the motorcade is idling outside. Shall we return to the estate in Lake Forest? The medical team is standing by."
Henry Sterling sat quietly in the booth for a long moment. He looked down at the Formica table where Jake had slipped the two-dollar bill just twenty minutes earlier.
"Not yet, Arthur," Henry said softly. "We have unfinished business."
"Sir?"
"Find the boy."
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"The boy?" Arthur blinked. "The teenager who was fired?"
"Yes," Henry said, a warm, fierce light returning to his pale blue eyes. "Find Jake Miller. And bring him to the front. We are going to reopen this diner the right way."
