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Back The Desert of Glass Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. BY MICHAEL C. GRUMLEY
  2. Prologue
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
  49. 47
  50. 48
  51. 49
  52. 50
  53. 51
  54. 52
  55. 53
  56. 54
  57. 55
  58. 56
  59. 57
  60. 58
  61. 59
  62. 60
  63. 61
  64. 62
  65. 63
  66. 64
  67. 65
  68. 66
  69. 67
  70. 68
  71. 69
  72. 70
  73. 71
  74. 72
  75. 73
  76. 74
  77. 75
  78. 76
  79. 77
  80. 78
  81. EPILOGUE
  82. II
  83. III
  84. IV

“True.  But most are well known to a lot of people.  This man Saad appears to be a mystery to everyone.”

“Did your friend know who he was?”

“No,” Omar answered.  “No one I’ve asked does.  This guy keeps a low profile.  Very low.  Not just personally, but professionally, too.  Considering how opaque his companies are, I’m guessing few people know how much this guy is really worth.”

“Exactly how much are we talking about?”

“I can only guess—not just based on numbers but the level of complexity involved in these businesses.  His net worth could easily be in the billions.”

“It goes that deep?”

“A lot of companies have complex structures, Mona.  Either to spread out their risk or minimize their tax base, or both.  But I’ve never seen a structure that goes this deep.  We’re talking many, many levels.  Dozen more into which I didn’t even have time to look.”

“Do you think it’s some kind of criminal organization?”

“Surprisingly, no.  I haven’t found any red flags.  Granted, I couldn’t get a heck of a lot of detail, but normally, things don’t pass the smell test pretty quickly if something is off, even without hard evidence.”

“So, nothing with Mido Saad?”

“All I’m saying is I didn’t smell anything.  So, either this guy is one of the smartest guys on the planet, or his companies are clean. But–” Omar clarified, “just because a company is clean doesn’t mean they’re not hiding something.”

“Like what?”

“It could be anything.  I may not have smelled anything, but the level of complexity this guy has gone to is weird.  This amount of distribution and decentralization would have to result in a huge amount of inefficiency.  And I mean huge.  So, the question is, who would do that on purpose?”

“And why?”

“Right.  And there’s something else.  I can’t prove anything without more data, but it feels like Saad made his money rather quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t feel as if this money goes back all that far.  Not like aristocracies.  Sure, he’s made more over the years, but it seems like most of it happened in the 60s or 70s, which was much harder before Big Tech.  And he’s Egyptian, yet none of us have ever heard of him?  Very strange in my opinion.”

“You can’t find anything on him?”

“I can search and find some stuff on him, but it’s not much.  At best, articles that are infrequent or sporadic.  What little I did see talks mostly about his philanthropy.”

“Philanthropy?”

“He’s big on that.  And you’ll never guess where the guy spends a lot of his money.  And I mean a lot.”

“Where?”

“How about orphanages?”

“Really?”

“Yep.  He spends a lot of money building and supporting private orphanages all over the continent, from South Africa to Egypt and everywhere in between.”