Page 22 of Arrivals & Assets

“Yes.”

“I’ll see you at one, then. I need to air out the place and clear my head.”

I closed the door again before he could respond and listened for the lock before striding away toward the air conditioning panel.

I couldn’t explain why, but something deep in my soul insisted that there was more than money on the line.

I had to hold out for the right tenant.

Chapter 7 - Dylan

“Good morning, Dylan,” Linden said from his end of the video call. “I’m ready for your Monday morning progress report.”

I nodded and glanced at my notes. “Unfortunately, Connie only had three locations—well… four, but two were so similar we only toured one—and none were good. The first I rejected outright; it was an old bank with the vault still intact. Combined with a bad floor plan, I decided it wasn’t going to work.”

“And the other two?”

“Potentially workable, but I’m holding out a little bit for a better option.”

“Talk to me.”

“One was a former cubical farm. There was a good spot for a small server room, and while there wasn’t fiber to the building, they had last-mile copper.”

“Ok…”

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, when I went through the permits for the area, it looks like it’s infested with NIMBYs who flood the public comments, no matter what permit is requested. I saw one where a bike rack was being held up, and another fora replacement awning for a building that already had one; it’s just old and needs to be replaced. I think we could easily tack on another three to four months for anything requiring a permit, if not longer.”

“Damn. And the other.”

“It’s not in the best neighborhood. Violent crime doesn’t seem to be an issue that I could find, but it’s a low-income area and does seem to have increased property crime over the cubicle farm. Permits seem easier. And the building itself is lovely…” I sighed.

“Go on.”

“It’s an old bakery. Even walking around, we kept disturbing dust that I couldn’t easily see. Pests are probably an issue, but I have no idea how much cleaning it’ll take to get rid of the flour that’s probably embedded in every surface. I don’t know if itcanbe thoroughly cleaned. The former dry stock area is perfect for a server room, but that’s where the flour was stored. And right now it’s only got coax upstairs, and fiber is not as close as in the other building.”

“I’ll give you a bit more time, but if you had to choose today, which would it be?”

I rubbed my chin as I thought about it. “Honestly? The bakery. Get a few pressure washing crews in for a deep clean before sealing off the floor drains, then use an epoxy paint wherever possible to hopefully seal away any remaining flour residue. We’d still be fighting it and would have to be careful, but morale would be better. The space is open with good lighting and high ceilings.”

“Interesting…” he murmured as he turned to make a note on his end.

“Hmm?”

“With other things being close to equal, you defaulted to morale.”

“Umm…”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. It’s a good thing. We told you that we wanted to know what you’d prioritize, and you picked your people. It’s a leadership quality we thought we saw in you.”

“Oh.”

“Alan did say you might have trouble finding a location. He said that if it comes down to it, he can spare a few conference rooms on the top floor for a month or so.”

I grumbled. “That seems like an absolute last resort.”

“Agreed.”

“I take it you have the same hesitations about those buildings?”