He drove his car slowly down the service alley behind 'Something Fishy', killing his headlights as he approached. He parked in deep shadow, positioning the car so, through a narrow gap between an overflowing dumpster and a stack of empty crates, he could just make out the bulky, humming form of the rival shop's walk-in freezer compressor unit bolted to the back wall under a flickering security light. Perfect. He took several calming breaths, focused his gaze on the compressor, ignoring the stench of stale grease and refuse. Freezer Compressor Unit. +1 Efficiency/Cooling Power. He felt the ping connect. Then, immediately, Un-Enhance Timer: 48 Hours. The subtle thrum confirmed the timed reversal was set. (Charge 3/10). Let's see how they like rock-solid fish fillets tomorrow morning, he thought with cold satisfaction. And let's see how they handle the thaw when it suddenly reverts after they've cranked the thermostat down.
He drove away smoothly, circling the block. Phase two required a different angle. He parked on the main street opposite 'Something Fishy', finding a spot partially obscured by a large parked van. From here, he could see the water main pipe entering the building near the front corner. He waited until a gap in the sparse late-night traffic, then focused. Water Main Valve. +1 Flow Rate. Ping. Un-Enhance Timer: 72 Hours. Thrum. (Charge 4/10). Enjoy the boosted water pressure for a few days, he mentally addressed the oblivious owner. Hope none of your old pipes decide to give out when it suddenly drops back to normal.
Phase three was still being worked on, but Theo wanted to somehow impact the food that would be served to the customers directly, the ultimate sin in the food business – to serve customers terrible food. He had a few ideas, enhance and unenhanced the oil, or perhaps the cooking tools and utensils to cause havoc, but he needed more details to decide what worked best. "That's OK", Theo thought, he'd be back later to gather more details, he can play the long game, particularly against pricks who blatantly tried to sabotage him. No need to play nice whatsoever. A vicious little smile playing on his lips as he walked briskly away, melting back into the suburban night. The seeds of chaos were sown. Now, he just had to wait and watch them sprout.
Week 24 - Tuesday
Tuesday morning at Maria's. Theo arrived feeling a dark undercurrent of satisfaction beneath his usual operational focus. He greeted Henry and Olivia, who were already starting prep.
"Morning boss," Henry said cheerfully. "Supplier called, potato prices are up five percent this week, something about transport costs. I told them we'd take the usual volume for now but want to lock in pricing for next month. They said they'd get back to me."
Theo nodded, impressed. "Good work, Henry. Exactly right. Push back where you can, get commitments." He saw Olivia listening intently nearby. This was perfect on-the-job training for Henry's impending promotion.
Later, during the mid-morning lull, Theo observed Henry showing Jenny, who had arrived for her shift, a more efficient way to portion the chips using the scoop, ensuring consistent serving sizes. "See? Like this," Henry demonstrated patiently. "Faster, and less chance of overflow." Jenny watched intently, then tried it herself, her movements becoming smoother under his guidance. Olivia chimed in from the counter, "Yeah, Henry showed me that last week, total game changer during the rush!" The easy camaraderie, the mutual respect, Henry naturally falling into a teaching/leading role. It was exactly what Theo wanted to see.
Around lunchtime, Olivia flagged Theo over, pointing to her phone displaying the shop's Google review page. "Hey Theo, another weird one popped up."
The review was three stars. "Food was great, chicken amazing, chips perfect. But the guy behind the counter (new owner?) seemed really stressed and maybe overcharged me? Felt a bit rushed."
Theo frowned slightly. He remembered being stressed on opening day, but overcharged? Unlikely, the +1 POS was reliable. This felt less like sabotage and more like a genuinely flustered customer's perception.
"How should I respond?" Olivia asked, looking uncertain.
Theo paused. His instinct was to dismiss it, or write a curt correction. But he saw the opportunity. "How do you think we should respond, Olivia?" he asked, deliberately turning it back to her. "You're handling the front-of-house, the customer interaction. What feels right?"
Olivia looked surprised, then thoughtful. "Well… maybe apologize if they felt rushed, acknowledge we were busy opening week, but gently correct the overcharge part? Reassure them the prices are on the menu and the register is accurate? And maybe offer a free drink next time as a goodwill gesture?"
"Sounds perfect," Theo said immediately. "Professional, empathetic, corrects the record without being defensive, offers a small incentive. Handle it exactly like that." He met her gaze. "Part of me stepping back means trusting you guys to handle these things. You've got good instincts. Run with them."
Olivia beamed, clearly pleased with the trust and empowerment, and immediately started drafting the reply. Theo felt a flicker of satisfaction. Delegating wasn't just about offloading tasks. It was about building competence and confidence in his team.
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Author: Hi All, thanks for reading and hope you are all enjoying the story.
I'm hoping the novel gets a bit more traction this week, please vote some power stones! I'll try and increase the release speed if the novel gets a bigger audience!
Help leave a review, or comments on how you think the story is going. In particular how the +1 could be used by Theo in smarter ways to achieve what he wants. Would love to see all the great ideas people can think of! It would be great to incorporate people's idea into the novel.
Finally, a lot of advanced chapters are already available on patreon. If you want to read ahead, please join my patreon, it would really mean a lot to authors like me. Thanks everyone.
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