“So, now that this tracking bracelet is no longer an issue, we will need to arrange a trip to Nasarawa,” I said.
“Wow, Nigeria?” said Chris.
“Yes, Chris. We can make a killing from erratanite. We can use it in some of the tech that goes into our armoury products. What’s even better is we can also act as a broker between the AU and the IST. These territories currently don’t have a trade agreement for buying or distributing erratanite. The Swiss are very thorough, and they haven’t been able to come to an agreement with the Africans regarding the health and safety issues. We need to take advantage of this while we can,” I said.
“Do you have a date in mind, Dom?” Alex asked.
“Nothing set in stone. I need to stick around, until the prosecution team, has laid out all the evidence they have on me. This will allow us to maneouver a lot easier, and we should know before the end of the month. I will be speaking to Dahiru to work out the logistics,” I said.
Dahiru Wali specialized in mining. His company was the only one licensed to mine erratanite in the Nasarawa region of Nigeria. This monopoly gained him a few enemies in the region. He had studied metallurgy and mineralogy at the Nasarawa Institute of Science. This made him an expert in the field, knowing exactly where to find high deposits of erratanite in the Nasarawa region.
Dahiru and I crossed paths in Tokyo back in 2021—he sat next to me during the men’s tennis finals. What was fascinating about how we met was neither of us were huge tennis fans. So, meeting him that day was simply being in the right place at the right time. He was at the event with a girlfriend who wanted to see the match, and I had just met
with a business partner, who had chosen a venue near the stadium as the meeting point. I was looking to set up a profitable business to act as a front for my drug dealing.
Zhang Heng, a young Chinese entrepreneur, was looking for investors for a project he had been working on. By the end of the meeting, we agreed to the terms of my investment. At the time, we were both in our mid-twenties and very ambitious. Our ambition led to him owning majority of the shares in the automobile company named after him, and to me being the head of Edom Group. After the meeting, Heng handed me a ticket for the match. Since my flight wasn’t till later that evening, I figured watching the match would be a good way to kill time.
Dahiru initiated the dialogue, wanting to know if I followed tennis, and I explained that I was given a free ticket to attend the event, but I wasn’t a fan. He thought this was ironic, because he didn’t really follow the sport either. I ordered drinks, and we discussed each other’s business ventures and exchanged business cards. As fate would have it, we did quite a bit of business in the years that followed.
Chapter 13
Treachery
Where: Guillermo’s Cabana, North Walnut Grove, Miami
When: 1630 hours, Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Currency: US dollar
Guillermo’s son would be graduating in the summer of 2012. Edwardo asked if he could have a car as his graduation present. Guillermo shut down the idea initially. He felt that ethnic minorities were constantly getting pulled over and harassed by Miami police officers, and he didn’t want his son to have to deal with that at a young age. Eventually, Edwardo convinced Guillermo that it would be a good way to learn about cars, because he had an interest in automotive engineering. It was in this field of study that he planned on enrolling, once he had decided which university he was going to attend. Edwardo made a valid point, and Guillermo could not deny the advantages of Edwardo being able to work on his own car engine as part of his studies. Isabel had graduated a couple of years prior, so he no longer had to pay for her tuition. This and the fact that he had some money saved meant he was in a good position to pay Edwardo’s tuition.
Regarding the car though, he told Edwardo that he would only be contributing half of the money. He knew that Edwardo had some money saved. He told him he would have to dip into his personal savings to come up with the other half. Edwardo had no objections to this. Like his father, he had been very prudent with his money. So much so that he could have bought his car of choice three times over. All through high school, the young man had been wheeling and dealing so much that he commanded the respect of his peers. He even loaned money to other students and charged them a small amount of interest. He was a true entrepreneur. The car he was looking to buy was a 1965 Rhinox, a beastly muscle car that had a V8 5.0 litre engine. The plan was to buy one that needed restoration, and he was going to restore the engine, body, and interior.
“So, Pops, thanks for agreeing to help me pay for the car, I am really looking forward to it. I’m not going to be graduating for another few months, is it okay if I get the car sooner? Can we shop around this weekend?” Edwardo asked.
“Okay, sure. Isabel has the weekend off. I’m sure your Mom and Isabel can hold down the fort, while you and I visit a
