Two days passed before Bruno and Nii could get together again to smoke. Hoping to loosen Nii’s tongue, Bruno let him take most of the hits.

“The police people no beat you in the jail?” Nii asked him, his eyes narrowing against a plume of marijuana smoke.

Bruno shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Good.”

“Why they no take you to jail?” Bruno asked. “The lady policeman—Madam Damptey—do you know her?”

“Yah,” Nii said, as if in a pleasant dream. “For long time.”

“Ah, okay,” Bruno said. “Then that’s why. Did you tell her about me?”

Nii took the dwindling stump of weed back and inhaled. “Yes. That’s why they released you first from jail.”

“Ei!” Bruno exclaimed, clapping his friend on the back. “Then you have power, oo!”

Nii smiled, but only briefly. “There are plenty people with more power than me. It’s time for me to tell you everything about how it works, but don’t talk to anybody about what I tell you. It’s a secret you must keep if you want to be successful. You understand?”

“Yes, my brodda.”

“I’ve waited to see if I can trust you, and it seems I can.”

“Thank you.”

“Okay,” Nii began, “I pay Madam some money just like other sakawa boys pay her and other officers. If I get in trouble, whether sakawa or another thing, she protects me. That’s why she told her officers not to arrest me.”

“Won’t the officers suspect?”

Nii shrugged. “And so what? They can’t say or do anything. If she’s in charge of a raid, she’s highest in rank. Even, she might have dashed some of her officers something small so they don’t say anything.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Even when she takes us to police station, they will release us maybe after one night or just a few hours because these raids are just for show. They take pictures of us for the papers and TV just so that the IGP and the president can say they are fighting against sakawa.”

“I see,” Bruno said. “But what will happen if Madam’s bosses find out she is doing this?”

Nii laughed. “Oh, but some of them know already. Even, they are taking money too. Like, her boss, Mr. Quaino. Madam gives him something out of the money she gets from the sakawa boys. Quaino too, he has someone above him he also pays. And it goes on like that to the top.”

“Who is at the top?”

“They call him ‘Godfather,’ but not many people know who he is. It’s better we don’t know, because if Godfather falls, he will take everyone with him. The less you know, the more innocent you are.”

“Have you met him?”

“That one I can’t tell you. If I’ve met him, it’s a secret. If I haven’t met him, it’s also a secret.”

“So, Godfather and Kweku Ponsu, who is more powerful?”

“Godfather, of course,” Nii answered. “And he’s richer than anyone because he controls everything and gets money from police officers who support the sakawa boys all over Ghana.”