Chapter 136 Cleaning the Firm
Chapter 136 Cleaning the Firm
Adrian’s POV
The noise from the hallway outside the main office fades away as the last of the board directors leave the floor, and I walk over to the table where Sofia has her laptop open alongside three big folders full of legacy contracts that my father signed over the last ten years. Damien steps into the room carrying a stack of files from the accounting department, dropping them right next to my bag while Maya sits nearby to check the updated bank balances on her tablet.
"Sofia, did you finish deleting those offshore routing codes from the central server, because I want to make sure my father's old accountants in Geneva cannot touch a single dollar from the dock workers' pension fund when the banks open tomorrow morning?" I ask, leaning over her chair to look at the numbers on her screen.
"I removed the Geneva access codes twenty minutes ago, Adrian, and I locked the primary pension account so only two signatures from our local committee can move those funds from now on," Sofia answers, her fingers typing a few last commands into the black window on her monitor.
"Damien, what did the port union manager say when you told him that we are restoring the full health insurance coverage for the terminal workers in Lagos and Port Harcourt?" Maya asks, looking up from her tablet screen to join the conversation.
"The union manager was so relieved he almost dropped his phone, Maya, because Silas hadn't paid into their health fund for eight months, so the workers were planning a massive strike for next Monday," Damien replies, pulling a chair up to the table and setting his pen down.
"Well, the strike is officially canceled, because Sofia just transferred two million dollars back into the local health fund to cover every single missed payment from this past year," I tell them, sliding the fresh contract cancellation sheets across the table so Damien can read through the list.
"These twelve shipping service contracts on this list belong to companies owned by Minister Ade's relatives, Adrian, so are we canceling all of them today or leaving two for the river transport?" Damien asks, holding the top sheet up to the light.
"We are canceling every single one of them today, Damien, because we are not keeping a single corrupt contract on our books, and we are opening those river transport slots to local independent operators who actually own their boats," I answer, taking my pen out to sign the master termination order right on the spot.
"That is going to free up at least three hundred thousand dollars every month in operational costs, Adrian, and we can put that money directly into upgrading the safety gear at the Port Harcourt terminal," Sofia notes, her fingers moving across her keyboard as she updates the budget projections.
"Speaking of the Port Harcourt terminal and the main Lagos operations, Maya and I talked about this yesterday, and we want to offer both of you permanent executive roles to run those two locations for us," I say, stepping around the table so I can look at Damien and Sofia at the same time.
"Are you asking me to leave the field work behind and sit behind a desk as the chief operations officer for the Lagos port, Adrian?" Damien asks, looking at me with a surprised expression on his face while he sits back in his chair.
"I am asking you to run the entire Lagos terminal operations, Damien, because you know every single dock worker and security guard by name, and nobody else can keep those facilities secure like you can," I tell him, reaching out to shake his hand across the table.
"I will take the position on one condition, Adrian, which is that I get to hire my own security team from the local community instead of using those outside contract guards that Silas brought in," Damien says, a wide smile spreading across his face as he shakes my hand firmly.
"You can hire whoever you want for the security team, Damien, as long as they pass the background check with Commander Balogun's office," Maya adds, turning her head to look at Sofia with a smile.
"And what about you, Sofia, because the Port Harcourt terminal needs a director who can oversee the digital logistics and stop secondary fraud before it even starts?" I ask, turning my attention to her as she stops typing for a second.
"I have spent the last four years hiding behind fake names and running encrypted networks from small apartments, Adrian, so taking a real corporate position in Port Harcourt sounds like a great change of pace for me," Sofia answers, nodding her head as she looks at the official job offer sheet I place in front of her.
"Then it is settled, because with Damien running Lagos and Sofia managing Port Harcourt, this company will finally run cleanly without any interference from my father's old network," I say, taking a long breath as I look around the room at the team that helped us survive this war.
"Look at this screen right now, Adrian and Maya, because I just ran the final security audit across all sixty-four company servers from London to Lagos," Sofia says, gesturing for us to come closer to her laptop.
"Is there any hidden secondary account left in the system, or did we manage to clear every single offshore connection?" Maya asks, leaning over the back of Sofia's chair to read the text on the monitor.
"Every single offshore connection is severed, the legal threats are cleared, and the system is completely clean," Sofia confirms, reaching out her hand and closing her encrypted hacker terminal for the very last time, leaving us with a totally secure company ready for the future.