Chapter 6
The Lexus veered across a bus that was dropping passengers by a stop as it surged to join the filtering lane. The Centurion priority roads which were given to robust traffic flow from time to time were not any better at that juncture as Trey hurried in response to her queen's request for a top-up of US dollars owing to a windfall deal that had come through while she was on her way from the errand that made her depart Pretoria Guest Lodge in haste. Both the two never trusted electronic transactions and often preferred cash, save for those situations that demanded that they do so. Trey would travel for more kilometres than Anable in a single day because his business calls usually came in quick succession. For his appointments, he strictly trusted strategic rendezvousing or taking to his clients as opposed to having them come to his known territory. On rare occasions would he invite clients to his home or Anable's office which he also had keys to. Should that happen then it would have been a trusted business partner, or a scandal involving very huge transactions. After all, he masqueraded as secretary Ann's boss to evoke any suspicion or curiosity from anyone around that building. The security details by the Centurion office addressed him as "Big Boss". He never really liked that attention hence his traditional quick check-ins and outs. He was a master of hit and runs, therefore, his cars became the preferred offices of his come and go briefcase dealings. He was not given to wasting time on the roads, so he always took advantage of the freeways' allowance for speeding so as to compensate for any delays that could have emanated from either congestion of other roads or traffic lights observation.
"Good afternoon Big Boss" the two security details on duty uttered concurrently as they stood up to pay homage to one of the few tenants who deserved such respect which was not mandated on their operational drills at all.
"Good and you gentleman" Trey briefly responded with humility as he walked upstairs to Anable's office.
Before 5 minutes elapsed, he was already descending the stairs. He handed a 200-rand note to one of them as he walked past the security section.
"You buy yourselves some lunch gentleman," he said as he continued walking off.
"God bless you Big Boss, you are a life saver!" shouted the other security guard with zeal and passion.
"We are together" he responded as he disappeared out of their jovial sights.
"The millionaire is humble," said the guard who had been handed the money.
"Exactly, it is usually the poor who make noise for giving you just 10 rands" responded his colleague while laughing approvingly.
"Thank God! I was starving to death, I did not eat anything in the morning, what can we have for lunch mate?" he inquired as he stretched the note out.
"I wouldn't mind rice and stew, don't know about you?" uttered the other colleague.
"I prefer pap and chicken mate, you can as well rush to Spar and do the onus, don't forget to buy 2 litres of coke" he registered his interest as he handed the money to his colleague who did not waste time before leaving.
As soon as one of the guards departed for Spar, Anable rang his colleague to inform of a certain gentleman whom they were supposed to admit in the coming 15 minutes. It was not long before a slender gentleman carrying a big black bag peached up and the guard did as Anable had instructed, but he had to inform her first before giving him the green light to ascend the stairs. The guards had never experienced a scenario where Anable and Trey would team up for such appointments inside the building. It was usually Anable with her guests, and on those rare occasions when Trey would be using the office, the case would be the same. Such standard operation procedures made them a unique solo combo.
"I hope you have counted the money correctly" she inquired as she asked the gentleman to bring the big black bag of notes close to the counting machine which was in the corner of the office for verification.
"You can as well confirm, but I don't usually get it wrong with money, I also used a counting machine, but you may never know" he responded assuredly.
The big black bag was all full of money. What was surprising is that they were all 50-rand notes. Where it was coming from was a matter of confidence, but what was vivid was the fact that the bearer was a Nigerian national.
"On point, the machine is saying 8 million rands exactly" she affirmed as she took to her trunk where she plucked stashes of brand new 100 US dollar notes.
"As I said, I am buying at 1:17 and selling at 1:20" she explained herself as she handed put the notes onto the table.
"No worries, allow me to also check them?" he rhetorically requested whilst taking an inquisitive look at the notes.
The Nigerian dealer verified the originality of the foreign notes before taking them to his counting machine for verification. In Pretoria, the Nigerians were known for intricate foreign currency swindling but were amazingly never headlined for falling victim in this regard. That man's double checks served as evidence of why they did not loosely get a taste of their own medicine. For them, it was win win win and win at the expense of others. Yes! Those West Afrikaners were proven deal winners. Trey had cautioned Anable to be extra strict and observant with them which she managed to follow through. He, however, trusted them for their discretion and enviable success in corrupting the law-enforcing authorities as they go about their contrabands. He had taken a leaf from such traits to augment his ability to dribble past the arm of the law in his own deliberations. It remains to be seen if Anable will also be able to operate in emulation.
Elsewhere, Trey who had left in haste was now busy with his Indonesian diamond buyer come casual partner at a private location. The wealthy Indonesian dealer was one of the many foreign ladies that Trey met at such locations for illicit precious stones and forex deals. Some of those business appointments would end up transcending to romance. The existence of a solo outdoor mutuality in their affair helped in keeping Anable in the darkness just as it was vice versa. On that day in question, the Indonesian had requested to be picked up from the airport upon her touch down. She often smuggled hot items that she would need to coldly liquidate upon arrival. That being the case, Trey$ would be roped in for his buying power and smartness in facilitating such dirty operations in an around Pretoria. He was a bankable risk as he had proven to them that he can easily handle terribly crumbling situations, above all, he was unbelievably influential to get away with even murder, which made him a pivotal figure with regard to breaching not only airport security protocols but other legal hindrances.