NEWARK – 4 MAY
‘I’m sorry, Takar, but this was never the plan.’ Milly Davis was distraught and frustrated.
‘I’m sorry too, Milly, but please just give it a try,’ pleaded Takar.
‘No way, I’m out. If I wanted to run a fast food burger joint, there’s a whole lotta places I can work.’
‘But we’re going to keep the quality up, Milly; we’re just going to add in beef burgers. And we’ve got to sell much bigger volumes if we’re gonna keep this business growing.’
‘It’s selling out, Takar,’ said Milly, wiping away a tear. ‘I wish you luck, but I won’t be part of it.’
Takar el Sayden was not a happy man. That morning he had called a meeting of his five hundred or so staff at manager grade at the Newark Clarion Hotel and, with the assistance of Arlene Thomas from Dynamic Communications, had made a PowerPoint presentation on the rebranding of his restaurant chain to BurgerFantastic. The official line to staff was that they would be undertaking a big expansion programme. The plan was to increase their market share and the number of restaurants to four hundred within two years. This would create a whole new level of Area and Regional Managers and the best performing restaurant managers would be promoted to that grade. Then Arlene Thomas took over and went through a mini version of the plan that Dynamic Communications had presented to Takar a few days earlier.
‘Guys, this is our new storefront and logo,’ said Arlene as a selection of computer-generated images of newly branded BurgerFantastic outlets appeared on the screen. There would be “supersize me” offers and toy giveaways. ‘Best of all,’ said Arlene, ‘we’re going to launch with a “buy one, get one free” deal.’
Most of the managers were thinking the same thing. How the hell is Takar going to make money outta this?
Takar took over again for the finish. He knew that he had to appear confident in front of the sea of faces before him.
‘Guys, I know you will all support me in this. I rely on you folk to keep up the standards in your own restaurants. This is a big strategic move; it opens up massive opportunities for all of us. The most important thing is that, while all your restaurants are going to be way busier, all you managers stay on your same percentage cut of turnover. So, you’re all going to be much better off.’
This brought an enthusiastic ripple of reaction from his audience.
‘So, the more you can sell, the more you’re gonna make.’ A spontaneous round of applause. ‘So, let’s go kick McDonald’s ass.’
A cheer.
‘Let’s kick Burger King’s ass.’
A louder cheer.
‘Let’s knock Wendy’s and KFC outta the park!’
An even louder cheer. They were beginning to enjoy this.
‘Let’s go put BurgerFantastic all over the Big Apple,’ finished Takar el Sayden with reasonably convincing passion.
There was a roar of approval, and a standing ovation from the managers.
*
Takar el Sayden sighed as he sat back in his chair in the quiet of his office later that day. Milly had been the first of four of his longest-serving managers to resign that day. They had joined up with him because of their interest in freshly cooked, wholesome food and had seen his move today as selling out, joining the burger bandwagon. He couldn’t blame them.
Well, at least the rest of them seemed happy enough, in the end. But what about me?
Takar el Sayden absentmindedly rotated the gold rings on his left hand in turn. These al-Qaeda guys were messing with his business. Messing with his life. The contractors had already started fitting the new red and yellow BurgerFantastic plastic signs to his storefronts. And, tomorrow morning, that motherfucker was due to come back with his bags of powder. Takar slammed his fist down hard on a paper clip on the desk.
Goddamn it. Where would this nightmare end?
*
THAT EVENING
‘Hey, John.’
‘Oh, hey, Anna.’ John Wyse was on the couch in his neat two-bed apartment on Eldridge Street, picking out some blues chords. He was on the eighth floor of a red-brick 1970s block. Most of the detectives from the Fifth lived on Staten or in Brooklyn, but Wyse felt it was worth the extra rent to be closer to the action. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Anna’s voice. ‘Didn’t expect to hear from you for a while. Everything okay?’
‘Yeah, sure, John, but I am, like, buried in work. Never been busier. I’m still at the damn office.’
‘Wow, sorry to hear that,’ said Wyse, glancing at his watch. Jeez, 10 p.m.
‘Nah, it’s okay, just suffering from sleep deprivation and cabin fever.’
‘You’re jiggered then, I guess?’
She laughed.
‘We’re working on this huge presentation to these Japanese clients. Only five days to go – so it’s manic. It’s big stuff though, I’m enjoying it.’
‘So, any chance I can take you out and offer a distraction?’
‘Well, I’d love to, John, but not till after this presentation’s done. Actually, that’s why I’m calling.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah – you see, the company’s taking these clients out to dinner, night of the presentation. And I’ve been asked along. I guess we’re hoping we’ll be celebrating winning the contract.’
‘Great.’
‘Yeah, it is. It’s the two partners, plus my boss, Mark, and just one other associate, so it’s kind of a big deal to be asked.’ She sounded excited.
‘Wow, that’s great.’
‘Yeah, thanks. Anyway, we’ve been asked to bring along our partner, or whatever. So, I’d love if you’d come along with me?’
‘Yeah, I’d love to.’ John’s heart fluttered. ‘When is it?’
‘The tenth. Thursday evening. Drinks at seven. Dinner at eight. Posh place called Le Cirque.’
‘Cool – count me in.’
‘That’s great. Hey –’
‘Yep?’
‘You got a good suit?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ he said.
‘How good?’
‘’Bout as good as my Japanese. And my karaoke.’
Anna laughed.
‘But don’t worry, I’ll rise to the occasion.’
A broad smile spread across John’s face as he picked up his guitar again.
‘You hear that, Glenda,’ he said. ‘Hot date.’
Glenda cocked an ear, looked at him with one half-open eye, grunted and returned to sleep.