CHAPTER 74: AROUND

Adam agreed to Kevin’s plan without hesitation.

The old factory was the perfect location. It was isolated and nondescript. As soon as the final school bell rang for the day he left the campus.

He saw Sophia waiting for him near the main gate as she usually did. He walked over to her.

He made a quick excuse. "I have to go somewhere for some work," he said vaguely. "It might take a while so you should go home without me today." Sophia looked a little disappointed but she did not ask Adam too many questions.

She had learned that he had a private life he did not share. She simply nodded and said "Okay be careful." Adam watched her walk away then he turned and headed in the opposite direction towards the factory.

He approached the dilapidated building cautiously. He saw two or three of Kevin’s men standing guard outside the front entrance trying to look inconspicuous.

They were a clear sign that Kevin was taking this seriously. Adam did not approach them. He circled around the back of the large structure. He found a rusted side door and slipped inside.

The factory was dark and smelled of dust and decay. Adam moved to the center of the vast empty floor. He took out his phone and opened the One-Click Billionaire app. He went to the summon cash function. He typed in the amount. One hundred billion dollars.

A soft glow emanated from the phone’s screen. Then a large pile of neatly stacked bricks of cash began to materialize out of thin air in front of him.

The pile grew rapidly until it was a small mountain of money right there on the factory floor. Adam checked his app again. He had now collected a total of eleven trillion dollars.

The one hundred trillion dollar mark still seemed far away. But he was making progress. He needed that system. It was the key to the next stage of his plan.

After doing this Adam left the factory the same way he came in. He took out his other burner phone. He sent a simple text message to Kevin. "The package has been delivered." Kevin received it and immediately gave orders to his men.

Adam’s idea was simple but effective. He needed to move vast sums of money from his country to the Empire. He would use the black market channels Kevin controlled.

The company he was having Kim set up in the Empire was designed to invest money. Adam would use Kevin to funnel his own black money into his own company. It was a perfect self-sustaining loop. He had thought of an initial amount of seventy to eighty billion dollars to start with.

But Adam would not stop at just that.

Once the first transfer was successful he would start sending more money continuously. He was doing this because he needed a lot of funding from within the Empire itself. That funding would eventually be necessary for Adam to achieve his ultimate goals.

He went back to his house. As soon as he closed the door behind him his phone rang. He saw it was Andrew calling from Solo City. He picked it up.

Andrew’s voice which was usually calm and neutral was filled with an uncharacteristic excitement. "Adam there is great news!" he said.

Adam was surprised. "Tell me quickly what is the great news?"

Then Andrew said "We have signed twenty-one contracts today. Not just any contracts. Long-term contracts. And out of those two are with government companies of our own locked-down country." Adam was stunned to hear this.

He knew exactly what it meant for his company to sign long-term contracts with government entities. It gave them legitimacy. It gave them stability. It made them an essential part of the national economy.

Adam was very happy. "Very good," he said. "What is the status now?"

"For now we can control all these things," Andrew replied. "Maria is very good at handling things. You helped her get set up and after that she has handled everything herself."

Adam asked "What do you think? Can the second phase of this whole operation start?"

Andrew was silent for a few moments. Then he said with complete confidence "I have full confidence in Maria. She can handle it."

Adam smiled. "Come back," he said. "Yes you come back. I have some work for you."

"Okay," Andrew said. "I will be there in the city by tomorrow morning."

Saying this he cut the call. He went straight to the oil company’s new office from there. He found Maria still at her desk working late into the night.

Maria looked up from the stack of contracts on her desk. She saw Andrew standing in the doorway of her small office. She was very surprised to see him. Andrew usually stayed outside.

He was a man of action who handled most things out in the field securing deals and managing their network of contacts. He rarely came into the office.

Showing a little respect for the man who had guided her through these first chaotic days Maria stood up from her chair. But her attention was still half-focused on the paperwork she was meticulously organizing. The numbers and clauses were still swirling in her mind.

Andrew waved a dismissive hand. "You don’t need to show me respect," he said his voice calm. "We are a team." Hearing this Maria reluctantly sat back down. She tried to put all her attention back on the papers but she could feel his presence in the room. It was unusual for him to be here so late at night.

Then Andrew spoke again. "Adam has called me," he said. "So I have to go back to the city."

Hearing this Maria’s attention immediately snapped away from the papers. Her head shot up and she looked directly at Andrew. She stood up again her posture tense. A sudden feeling of panic began to rise within her. "But I can’t do anything without you," she said. The words came out in a rush.

Andrew shook his head. "No you can do a lot," he replied. "In fact I haven’t really done anything here. You have dealt with most of the work yourself. You handled the contracts the logistics and the initial production runs."

For Maria these were not words of motivation. They did not sound encouraging. They sounded like an alarm bell ringing in her head. She did not want Andrew to leave here under any circumstances.

When she had first arrived in Solo City she had been scared. The task of setting up an entire oil company from scratch seemed impossible.

But with Andrew’s help and guidance that fear had slowly transformed into excitement. She had found a rhythm a confidence she never knew she had.