Route 12

Daniel Pham was good at his job in the way that nobody noticed, which suited him. He found a number that was wrong on a Thursday afternoon and the whole rest of his life started right there. Route 12 ran trucks from the depot out to a distribution point near the border and back. On paper it cost the company eighty thousand dollars a quarter and brought in nothing. No deliveries logged. No clients attached. A route that only spent money. Daniel was an accountant. He did not believe in routes that only spent money any more than a doctor believes in a heartbeat with no body attached. He opened a spreadsheet, the way other men open a door they have been told to leave shut, and he started pulling Route 12 apart line by careful line.