Toby stood upright, meeting his superior's venomous stare without flinching. "I couldn't leave him out in the cold, Mr. Sterling. It's below freezing out there. He wouldn't survive twenty minutes in that sleet."
Julian took a menacing step closer. "Then you're fired. Turn in your keycard and clear out your locker. You're done."
The old man looked up at the teenager, his weathered blue eyes wide with sorrow. "Son... you knew this could cost you your job. Why did you do it?"
Toby looked down at the shivering man with a quiet, calm smile. "You were freezing, sir. A job can be replaced. A human life can't."
The lobby fell into an eerie silence.
Slowly, the defeat and trembling in the old man's frame vanished. He pulled his hands from beneath the blanket, sitting up with remarkable poise and dignity. The feeble hunch in his shoulders disappeared, replaced by the commanding presence of a man who had commanded thousands.
He reached into the inner breast pocket of his drenched overcoat. Instead of crumpled tissues or loose change, he withdrew a sleek, top-tier black smartphone with an encrypted corporate skin.