“He was the only person who helped.”
Collins looked around.
The situation was escaping his control.
Richard remained seated.
He didn't need to raise his voice.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“If Collins hadn't suspended you, what would you have done?”
“Finished my shift.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Come back.”
“Even after this?”
Ethan gave a small shrug.
“I need the job.”
Richard studied him.
That answer seemed to affect him more deeply than Ethan expected.
“Why?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Family.”
Richard nodded.
No further questions.
He understood that word.
His phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
Katherine.
He answered.
“Yes.”
“Dad, where are you?”
“Airport.”
“The board is waiting.”
“I know.”
“Should I send the car?”
“No.”
“Are you all right?”
Richard looked at Ethan.
“I am now.”
Katherine heard something in his voice.
“What happened?”
“I met someone.”
There was a pause.
“Who?”
Richard smiled faintly.
“A young man who understands bridges.”
Ethan had no idea what that meant.
Katherine did.
Her father had spent fifty years building them.
Not only physical bridges.
Transportation networks.
Rail systems.
Airports.
Hospitals.
Infrastructure.
Bennett Meridian's first major project, completed before Richard was thirty, had been a bridge in western Pennsylvania.
“What are you going to do?” Katherine asked.
“Change tonight's agenda.”
Richard ended the call.
Collins had heard enough to become nervous.
“Mr. Bennett...”
Richard looked up.
Recognition was beginning to form on the supervisor's face.
“Bennett,” Collins repeated.
Then his eyes widened.
Richard saw the moment it happened.
“You're not—”
Richard raised one hand.
“Don't.”
Collins stopped.
Richard did not want the terminal turning into a spectacle.
Not yet.
He turned toward Ethan.
“Do you know Bennett Meridian?”
Ethan thought.
“The construction company?”
Richard smiled.
“Close enough.”
“My school applied for one of their scholarships.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“My grades aren't good enough.”
“What are they?”
“Mostly Bs.”
“That's not bad.”
“The scholarship is competitive.”
Richard nodded.
“And you're working four evenings a week?”
“Yes.”
“While finishing high school?”
“Yes.”
Richard leaned back.
“Perhaps the numbers don't tell the whole story.”
Ethan smiled awkwardly.
“I don't think scholarship committees work that way.”
“Perhaps they should.”
The private phone rang again.
This time Richard didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Collins.
“Reinstate him.”
Collins blinked.
“I don't have authorization to—”
“You had authorization to suspend him.”
“That is different.”
“Then find someone with more authorization.”
Collins said nothing.
Richard's gaze became colder.
“And while you're doing that, find me the incident reports for every passenger-assistance complaint in this terminal from the last twelve months.”
Collins' face went pale.
“Why?”
Richard stood slowly.
Ethan instinctively moved forward, but Richard steadied himself.
Then he picked up his worn briefcase.
“Because Riverside International is operated by a company whose controlling infrastructure partner is Bennett Meridian Holdings.”
Silence.
Collins stared at him.
Ethan's mouth opened slightly.
Richard continued.
“And I'm Richard Bennett.”
The woman with the suitcase whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Ethan didn't.
He simply stared.
Richard looked exactly the same.
Wet coat.
Worn shoes.
Messy hair.
No entourage.
No luxury watch.
Nothing about him had changed.