Chapter 7
It was a hot Monday afternoon; his first time seeing her since the attempted robbery incidence three weeks ago. She came directly to his house in a cab. They had kept in touch on the phone and gotten closer over the weeks. He didn’t know if he was falling in love or lust, all he knew was that seeing her made him feel great. It definitely wasn’t just sex, because they hadn’t even had sex that day. They had been in bed talking, till she fell asleep in his arms.
Work with Fatai Lion had started already, and he had started going to radio stations to enlighten people on the upcoming grant program by the Fatai Mohammed foundation in Lagos. He had spoken at three radio stations so far, and the man had been with him during all the interviews.
Ademola, Frank’s agent had made sure he got paid six months in advance because he wanted his own ten percent share to come in a lump sum. The man had no problem paying up, and Frank’s share was two million, seven hundred thousand Naira. It was a like the beginning of a new life for him.
He didn’t have to use his car during the radio runs; Fatai Lion designated one of his Volvo SUV’s to pick him up and drop him off every time they had appointments. They moved around Lagos in a three car convoy; three black Volvo XC90. Everything was random with Fatai Lion; sometimes he would be in the middle car in the convoy, sometimes, he would be in the one at the back. Sometimes he would ride with Frank in the SUV assigned to him, and sometimes, he would ride in the one designated for his bodyguards. He kept switching at last minute, and Frank felt the man was being paranoid. This wasn’t the movies, and they weren’t in Columbia where drug kingpins took out rival cartel heads to get their territory.
On one of their trips to a radio station, in the crazy Lagos traffic, Fatai Lion had opened up to Frank about where majority of his wealth came from. He had a real estate company, a plastic making company, a bottle water company, and various poultry farms around western pats of country, but the business that brought him his most income was his marijuana sale business. He had a 20 acre Marijuana farm somewhere in Eruwa, Oyo state. And he exported hundreds of kilos of marijuana out of the country twice a month. He was able to do this without hassle with help from his friends in high places. Of course every one of those friends got a cut of his profit, but he was still raking in $3 million monthly income. In Naira, that was close to a billion a month. Frank couldn’t wrap his head around that kind of money.
From the farms, the weed was compressed to the size of a Bible, which measured a kilogram of weed. The kilos were then packed in boxes, and then loaded into trucks, which would transport the products to the rail station in Ibadan. Fatai Lion had his own train coaches that usually transported the goods down to Iju station in Lagos, and from there, he had boys who would drive the cargos across Seme border, into Benin republic. From this point, his distributors in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Liberia picked up their packages, and wired him payment within 24 hours. “Frank, Marijuana is a naturally growing plant. I don’t sell drugs.” He had told Frank during their long discussion.
“What’s on your mind?” Kiki said, distorting his train of thought. They had been laying in the spooning position and he had thought she had fallen asleep.
“I was about to ask you the same thing. You’ve been awfully quiet.” Frank said and held on to her tight. “You can tell me whatever is on your mind.”
“Oh, so you can write a book about me?” She said and he laughed lightly. The room went quiet again for a while before she finally said, “I need to tell you something Frank, but promise you won’t freak out.”
“Try me.”
“Okay. I…” She was saying and got distracted by a ringing phone. Frank rolled over in bed to get the phone on the bedside stool by his side. He looked at the phone screen for a while before picking up. The conversation lasted just a couple of seconds and he jumped off the bed afterwards.
“I’m sorry Kiki, I have to go somewhere.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. They are already outside waiting. I have a radio interview today that I totally forgot about.”He said as he combed through his wardrobe for what to wear.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Umm! I’m not sure; maybe a couple of hours; maybe like 3 hours.” He said and she buried her head in the pillow. “I’m so sorry. I totally forgot.”
“And I really made plans to be with you throughout the day.”
“I’ll be back before you know it. Just watch Zee World or something.” He said and she rolled her eyes at him. He was fully dressed now and he leaned in to give her a quick kiss. He was about to make a dash for the door, but she pulled him back and gave him a deep kiss. When he pulled away, she had her signature smile on her face. “I have to go Kiki.” He said and started walking backwards out of the room, and then he stopped like he just remembered something. “You wanted to tell me something, right?”
“I’ll tell you when you get back.”
“Okay. See you in a few hours.”
