Chapter Eleven
The teleoperator from Malibu spent about half an hour getting familiar with the order processing system of the franchise. The meat ordering module for the fifty four locations of Mclannan's was centralized in the servers of Manalpan. Practically no one in the company knew that. Only some investors were informed of the operational procedures that the company followed to limit any leaks to other burger places. Mclannan's had several suppliers of meat, such as Millenson Foods, South Beef Industries, Garstecki meat packers, and Fothergill-Fohey meat supplies, which supplied all the meat to the various locations.
Mannen wanted to change the taste of the Ollie burger by replacing beef with horse meat. Clarity took out her smartphone and opened the pad that had a few notes written from her conversations with Perkins at Evanston. She searched for a contact recently added to her list, a provider of horse meat provided by Mannen. Mush Revving, the most secretive mobster in South Florida, exported old horses from New Mexico to Kazakhstan, where they were slaughtered, by a company called Kashgar Meat Industries. From there, the meat was then sent for sale to several places in the world such as Iceland, where horse meat was eaten as fondue, or stew, or to Kazakhstan, where horse meat was part of the diet, or to Norway, where horse meat was used in cured dishes, like vossakorv, and svartpolse. The meat was also sold in Italy, where horse meat was popular, in places like Lombardia, Veneto, Trentino, Parma, and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily. In many places, eating horse meat was taboo, and so the number of places to sell the meat was not large. In any case, Mannen wanted to turn that business activity of Revving in his favor.
Clarity used a phone web application provided by Mannen to call Kashgar Meat from the computer, asking the meat provider to deliver one month of ground horse beef to the Manalpan location where she was. She took the name of the logistics company delivering the meat in the US, and included it as part of the list of meat providers in the system. The phone from the front counter rang, disrupting her task. It was Maggie, one of the cashiers working with her at the cash register.
"Desmond is finishing his burger," said the cashier.
"Thanks Maggie."
She finished placing the order, closed the order processing system, and walked out of the room, to keep Desmond company while he finished his Ollie burger. Blanche came back from OBU after lunch, with a certificate of authenticity of the training program followed at OBU by Clarity. All the paperwork was in place, and Clarity could begin to work at Manalpan.
The meat arrived one week later to more than twenty locations, in pattys which looked just like regular burger pattys. Standing at the cash register behind the counter of the restaurant at Manalpan, Clarity began to notice the reactions of some customers, when they began to eat their Ollie burgers. Comments, like 'this meat is kinda strong, this aint beef', or 'you sure this is an Ollie burger?' or 'something's cooking, are you sure it's an Ollie burger', 'send the burger back to Ollie burger university', were slipped inside the suggestion box of the restaurant. A few customers complained outright to Blanche, that their Ollie burger did not taste the same way. After three or four days, word had spread that Mclannan's was serving horse meat in their burgers. A horse smiley replaced the regular Ollie burger logo of Mclannan's on social networks and on the main web page of the company, which was hacked. Damage to the franchise was being made. Blanche spoke with Desmond in private. The man checked the meat order module, and noticed there was a new supplier called Kashgar.
"Who put this in the system?" Asked Blanche, "we've never worked with this company."
"The new girl," said Desmond.
The following day, four days after the first meat fiasco, Clarity continued her job at the cash register, noticing burger sales had dropped. She lifted her eyes after the entrance bell rang, and noticed Ambrosio and Giacomino going through the door of the restaurant. Her daily companion at the restaurant, Maggie, was typing an order at the cash register.
"I'll be right back, Maggie," she said. Walking through the kitchen, dodging Blanche, and without stopping at the fry area, Clarity walked out of the restaurant through the backdoor. She took out her smartphone and called Baggio.
"I need pickup," she said.
The girl with light brown hair crossed the street and walked to a gas station to avoid the two retainers. A few minutes later, Baggio appeared and picked her up in Jaguar 73. She hopped in the back seat, and the car drove south towards Miami.
Clarity reached for a newspaper from the day before. An article had exposed the meat scandal of the franchise. Customers of Mclannan's have been experiencing a new burger, without being informed of the new taste by the company, its management, or by the mascot Ollie the clown. Customers have been comparing the taste of the Ollie burger to horse meat. One guy who went to Kazakhstan to taste horse meat, says the Ollie burger of Mclannan's is just like his uncle's burgers sold in the capital of the place, Almaty. The man requested horse ham in slices, to expand the new menu item of the franchise. Charlie Pan, the person in charge of training at Mclannan's University, says that horse meat is not the authentic patty, endorsed by Ollie the clown. The clout of the clown within the franchise, is being diluted by this horse meat scandal, unexpected by some of the shareholders, such as Mr. Di Laure, and Moe Alamy. Ollie the clown declined to be interviewed and refused to comment on the articulated clown at Ollie Burger University, which he said, was not prepared to comment on the issue.
She lifted her eyes and saw a sign on highway ninety five, which said Pompano Beach.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Miami East hotel, Mr. Mannen is back from Cayman. He wants to see you. Check the news on television, Mr. Mannen wants you to see the results of your work."
Clarity turned the knob of the tv set of the Jaguar, an old set from the fifties, made by Crosley. She tuned the knob to channel five, and saw the face of a dog, Lord Moorehead III, a resident of the Cayman Islands, looking into the camera. A few feet away from the dog, a woman was packing its 'dog trolley', getting various large bones in the small suitcase, preparing the dog for a trip to Florida.
She turned the knob of the tv set one notch, to channel four, for more relevant news. Channel four showed Di Laure with Moe Alamy being interviewed by an anchorman, regarding the Mclannan's fiasco. Di Laure was downplaying the issue, simply saying that an order for meat had been misplaced, and that an investigation was being carried out, to rule out an intentional disruption of the business.
"Considering your strategy is disruption, does this come as a surprise? Is this putting in danger the policy of diet disruption of the company?" Asked the anchorman.
"No, people who like to be chubby, will be able to do so. Our diet disruption policy will remain in place."
They reached the East hotel in Miami, on Brickell Plaza, about three hours later. Mannen liked the place because of its magnificent pool deck, the unique experience, and the personalized luxury service. She reached the deck and sat on a lounge chair. The chubby banking agent showed her a list of people, about twenty meat packers, meat producers, and local distributors in South Florida. All those people were meeting him the following day, in an undisclosed location in Miami. Eiesland showed Clarity another piece of paper, from a man known in Florida as Judge Alridge. Mannen let Clarity hold his smartphone, to listen to a phone message left by the secretary of Alridge the day before. Alridge had received a call from Senator Grover asking him to close the Gladeview pawnshop, due to irregularities in the statutes, and also due to its possible link with Lofty Bank. The secretary of Alridge was suggesting to Mannen to turn over the statutes of the pawnshop to Alridge, or the judge would send police officer Kerrigan with an injunction to stop the pawnshop from staying open.
"Grover is friends with Di Laure. He is a shareholder of Mclannan's," said Eiesland. "Di Laure spoke to Grover to kick us out of Florida." Clarity turned to Mannen.
"We are friends with congressman Collins," said Mannen. "He favors some banking changes in Florida, and one
of his companies owns shares of my cocoa import business. Cocoa drinks are going to be part of my new venture."
"Do you import any cocoa now?"
"Yeah, one pack." Mannen showed Clarity a pack of cocoa powder, placed under his lounge chair. The chubby guy received a text message from Baggio, telling him that Collins was in a room on the fifth floor, waiting for the banking agent. They went to room five zero three, to speak with the congressman. The politician was watching local news on television.
"You need to talk to all the meat packers of South Florida," said Collins. "Grover is pressing me to throw you out of Florida."
"I'm calling the meeting tomorrow with them, Clarity is going to lead Di Laure and Moe somewhere else. Talk to Grover, I want to avoid an appointment with Alridge, ask him if he wants to be part of the cocoa business."
Clarity drank a glass of mineral water, seeing that she was being thrown right in the middle of more heated business meetings. She wanted a bit of rest after going to Evanston and Manalpan, and the East hotel in Miami was not a bad place to do that.
"Can I replace my name with Baggio for this task?" She asked.
Mannen shook his head, and told Baggio not to replace Clarity, telling the driver of the Jaguar instead, to call Ambrosio, in order to lure him and Giacomino to the pawnshop, telling them he was yielding to Moe and giving to her the statutes of Lofty. He wasn't doing that, but wanted Di Laure to think he'd accepted to leave Florida. The phone in the room began to ring, and no one picked it up, although everyone looked at it ringing. Mannen suggested to Clarity that she pick up the phone, because she was about to leave in any case. The teleoperator picked up the receiver, finally doing something that was familiar to her.
"Two people are in the lounge waiting for Mr. Mannen, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Marville," said the receptionist.
Clarity took the elevator and walked to the reception area to meet the officials from the Cayman monetary authority. She led them to the rooftop bar of the hotel, a place called Sugar, for some drinks and tapas.
"Mr. Mannen cannot be here. Is there anything you'd like to report or tell him?" She said. Taylor checked his chair, to ensure it was solid like his brain.
"We have informed local authorities here of the problems that Mr. Mannen has with his bank license renewal process," said Taylor. "We suggest that he leave Florida in the next few days, to avoid further problems." Clarity nodded and offered no resistance to the argument.
"I'll ensure he knows, and I might leave myself in a few days. This place is nice, but I feel there's other places out there which are not bad."
Taylor approved of the idea, and Marville asked Clarity whether he wanted to go on vacation with him for a few days. Clarity declined the invitation and led both men to the hotel entrance, calling a cab for them. Shortly after, Mannen sent her a text message on her smartphone, through What's Mobbing, the texting app Mannen used for delegating tasks, or gossipy things which had nothing to do with business. Stay here at the East for the night, same room, we're through. Take a cab tomorrow at ten to the Siena Club of Greater Miami. You'll meet Di Laure and Moe there. You'll receive additional instructions when you get there. Clarity checked the place on the web from the backseat of her cab. The Siena Club was a kennel club in Miami on South Dixie Highway, hosting an event for dogs on that day. Why did Mannen want her to meet Di Laure and Moe there? Letting her thoughts go, she reached the room paid by Mannen, and fit snugly under the quilt of the Urban King bed of the elegant hotel.