Share
Chapter XXI
Related chapters
The Syndicate Chapter I
It was then that she realized the world was never the same to everyone. The World was many different things to many different people. There was no clear definition of what constituted it. Its parameters were too complicated to be idealized. Many scholars attempted but could not even come close. The social-economical interactive forces were beyond anyone’s understanding. Some people turned to God for an explanation until faith became the only reasonable excuse. Her grandmother tried in her native and traditional way to make the young girl understand the world in which she lived by using songs and proverbs prevalent in the village in her quest to explain the complications of life and living. Even her education didn’t do much, the more she got educated the more she felt illiterate, the void was too deep and broad. The urge to fill it grew stronger each day; but with what? She didn’t know. She stood by the bank of river, Kafue with her hands akimbo, when suddenly, like a lighte
The Syndicate Chapter II
Kelly needed a new extensively educated accomplice to fulfill his task assigned by the Syndicate. She looked like the one; he knew it the moment the two chatted at the wedding reception at the Air Force Officer’s mess in Lusaka. She looked lonely but intelligent. She sat alone on a table for three making her his easy target. Maybe she placed herself in his line of fire on purpose. Whatever the case, she looked like what he craved for. She looked beautiful in the tight sleeveless red dress; any warm bloodied man would want her. For a second, it appeared that her loneliness was inviting him. Maybe he just imagined a lot. Kelly made Tamara believe he was from Ghana but shifted to Zambia for greener pastures. He had all planned it and it was his duty never to make the young woman doubt any of his tactics. He never owed her any apology because she would never confront him for an explanation.Each second mattered from then onward; he needed to rekindle the affection he once alight
The Syndicate Chapter III
Tamara was the Senior Manager in charge of the Vault room on the fourth floor of the Bank of Zambia Building along Cairo Road. The building’s entrances featured allegorical sculptures by Mpundu Chisanga, a famous sculptor in Zambia, representing security and integrity flanking the Cairo road while the chained hand faced the adjacent close. She reported to the Director of Corporate Affairs and National Debt Management on all matters related to the strong room. Her boss was the one directly responsible for the macroeconomic policies and indicators of the domestic economy. Of late, the director had pressure since the Kwacha had depreciated markedly amid increasing concerns over the state of Zambia’s public finances, which, coupled with rising inflation and deteriorating sentiments, likely bruised private consumption and investment activities. The economic growth outlook remained bleak amid concerns over macroeconomic stability due to soaring public debt, an increasing fiscal defic
The Syndicate Chapter IV
He crossed Katondo Street and walked towards the Kulima Tower bus station. It was getting late and he needed to get home before nineteen hours. The day was busier than usual and he did more transactions than ever before. The streets were becoming friendly and lucrative. For the past five years, he made Katondo street his office, though at first he was required to prove himself to those he found. It didn’t take him long, he settled down and made some friends in the streets. Crimes were committed on a daily basis and with time he learnt the technique of eluding the police. His friends called him Justin Rastaman Bwalya which he eventually accepted as a new middle name though not because he had dreadlocks or smoked weed. Though after a year in the streets, weed was inevitable. He joined the cartel and traded in everything including fake dollars. He had no specific merchandise to trade but considered himself a general dealer since business was dependent on what his hands found. He
The Syndicate Chapter V
General Zulu sat outside his Ngwerere farm house smoking. In spite of the 1997 coup attempt, he considered himself a successful man. He was trained to control the minds of the young soldiers and officers. To date he could not remember how many trainees passed through his hands in both combat and regimentation. His specialty in infiltration and espionage gave him an incomparable advantage in coming out clean even when it was inconceivable to do so. The court martial proceedings were fierce and expeditiously conducted. Soldiers were condemned even before trial. President Chiluba was afraid and wished every soldier enlisted seven years before the coup to be executed without the due process.He sat facing the western side watching the setting sun. Even though he was over seventy-five years old, he was as powerful as a recruit straight from MILTEZ. The young civilian recruit was impressive, he was more intelligent than he imagined. Kelly knew what he was talking about concerning th
The Syndicate Chapter VI
The kwacha notes were in excess of Seven Trillion making it more in circulation against the limited supply of the dollar. The economists and financial gurus were in limbo. Nothing seemed to be working out, inflation was escalating every day, and the kwacha was continuously losing value as well. The many textbooks on finance never seemed to offer solutions until the government resorted to the unconventional ways. The Syndicate was to induce an artificial shortfall of the local currency rendering the Kwacha powerful and gain its strength. The goal was to improve the perception of the government. It could not stand the condemnation coming from every sphere of the country. Instead of rebasing the currency as done by the previous government, the current one resorted to do it the smarter way. It was time to knock off from her busy schedule, and every bank employee was rushing outside the bank walls. Very few people outside the walls of the most powerful bank in the country knew how
The Syndicate Chapter VII
She left her luxurious office on the fifth floor and stepped out for a cigarette. She made it a habit to smoke from the spare office she rarely used directly opposite hers for the sake of non-smoking visitors. Very few people knew that the boss at the most prestigious bank in the country was struggling with tobacco addiction. She smoked anything that contained nicotine especially when under stress. The addiction could be traced back to the military days when smoking was a luxury and a practice for the minority rich. Those who smoked assumed a different seat in society and were viewed with an eye of admiration. However, she tried many treatments available for the addiction including the patch as a nicotine replacement therapy. This was a small bandage-like sticker that could be applied to the arm or back. The patch delivered low levels of nicotine to the body thereby gradually weaning the body off it. Further, she tried the Nicotine gum and spray or inhaler until she gave up the
The Syndicate Chapter VIII
Seventeen kilometers away east of Olympia a street boy sat in front of two supercomputers in an abandoned house in Avondale. The house was opposite the only old shopping complex in the area. Externally the house looked abandoned and unused meanwhile it housed two latest computers operating at supersonic speed whose hard drives were connected in series and measured up to five hundred zettabytes. The combined processing speed was faster than the speed of sound. No individual in the country could afford such expensive machines. They were procured on a government-to-government contract at an exorbitant cost. The purchase was one of the preconditions that the Syndicate had imposed on the government for the guaranteed success of the operation.Justin had all he required for the speedy execution of his tasks with high speed internet connecting him to every part of the world in a twinkling of an eye. The different printers he was supplied had the latest software enabling him to genera
Latest chapter
