CHAPTER 76: SOMETHING HAPPENED

Morning came early. We see Adam. He is leaving his apartment building. It is only 6:00 AM still dark outside. It is not yet time for him to go to school. But Adam leaves his house very early today.

As soon as Adam steps out of the main entrance he sees a familiar face. Mr. Gold is standing by the gate looking up at the sky.

Mr. Gold sees Adam and says "You are up very early today. I have seen you this early after many days. Is everything alright?" Adam just smiles a polite but distant smile.

He walks past him saying "I have some important work to do right now." Mr. Gold is very surprised that Adam left so quickly. He is also surprised by Adam’s curt reaction. He watches Adam walk away down the street until he disappears from view.

Adam does not go towards the school. He goes straight to the same quiet coffee house where he had first met Kevin. When he arrives he sees that Kevin is already there.

He is sitting in the same booth as before waiting for him. Adam walks over and sits down in the chair across from him. He does not waste any time with pleasantries. He gets straight to the point. "Tell me what’s the matter," Adam says his voice low and serious.

Kevin leans forward his elbows on the table.

"When you first told me that you wanted to transfer money not in millions but in billions. I thought you were talking about maybe four or five billion dollars at most. That’s a big number but it’s manageable. I did not know that you were talking about one hundred billion dollars." The number hangs in the air between them.

Adam is a little surprised that Kevin is bringing this up now. He looks at Kevin his expression unreadable. "Does this mean you can’t do this job?" he asks his voice flat.

Hearing this Kevin quickly raises his hands in a placating gesture. He looks around the empty cafe. The whole coffee house is completely deserted. It is clear that he has once again bought out the entire place for this meeting. So that he could talk to Adam in complete privacy.

Kevin looks back at Adam and says "No it’s not that I can’t do it. In fact I am very happy that I got such a big and historic order. But there is one problem."

Hearing this Adam lets out a deep breath. He already knows what the problem is. "You are talking about the Empire’s security right?" he asks.

Hearing this Kevin nods his head gravely. "Yes," he says. He explains the situation to Adam.

"Actually I don’t have that many people right now. I don’t have the network in place to be able to send such a massive amount of your money to the Empire so quickly. It’s too risky. Their financial systems are the most advanced in the world. They have eyes everywhere. Moving a hundred billion dollars without getting noticed is a monumental task. Although I can still send one or two billion dollars at a time. I can move smaller amounts safely. But a hundred billion all at once is a different story."

"But even with that there is a little danger," Kevin continued his voice low and serious. "In one week I am trying for five billion dollars. That’s the safest maximum I can push through the network as it is right now." Hearing this Adam shook his head slowly but firmly.

He said "No. This rate is absolutely useless. It’s too slow. I will not accept something so low at all."

Hearing Adam’s blunt refusal Kevin looked at him with a mix of frustration and helplessness. "But for now this is my capability," he insisted.

"Even if I want to I can’t do anything more. The Empire’s financial surveillance is no joke. You have to understand my situation." Then Adam smiled a small confident smile that seemed to dismiss all of Kevin’s concerns.

He reached into the bag he had brought with him and took out a thick file. He placed it squarely on the table between them and said "This has everything you need. I want to send at least fifty billion dollars to the Empire by next week."

Hearing this Kevin stared at Adam with very surprised eyes. Fifty billion. In a week. The number was absurd. He picked up the file his hands feeling a little unsteady.

He started looking through it.

He thought fifty billion. Even if I do mass hiring of people within a week I am still not confident. Because it takes a lot of time to build trust. And I can’t just trust any random person whom I am choosing for this kind of work. One mistake could bring the whole operation crashing down.

Then Adam spoke again his voice calm and commanding. "And the company name I told you. You have to invest all the money I am giving you into that company. Remember you have to do it from many different sources to avoid suspicion." Kevin became very frustrated. Adam’s demands were ridiculously big.

And he was just a small-time broker who moved things from one place to another. He specialized in moving small amounts of money not this kind of fortune.

But as he started reading the many names listed in the file and saw them with their detailed descriptions and their photos he was very surprised. He looked up at Adam his eyes wide with disbelief. "What is this?" he asked his voice barely a whisper.

"These are your people," Adam said simply. "The ones you have to recruit. These people will be useful to you." Kevin was very surprised.

He read through the profiles. He saw their personal details their private phone numbers their home addresses. The file listed what they mostly do what they like all their habits.

It even listed all of their weaknesses their debts their vices their secrets. He was completely stunned.