Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (13 page)

“
I
’
m glad to hear it, Malcolm,
”
I said.
“
I
’
ll get back to you.
”

I
managed to get
Will and Wally
on a
conference
call
and
briefed them on my conversation with Malcolm
.

“
He hasn
’
t got the shares to elect him to the board,
”
Wally said.
“
Even if he managed to get enough votes to call a special shareholders
'
meeting, we
’
ve more than enough votes among us to keep him off the board.
”

“
Of course
,
the flip side,
”
Will added
,
“
i
s the fact Twisp River and Carib International
,
do own seven percent of our company. A fact not to be taken too lightly.
”

“
Duly noted, Will,
”
I said.
“
Here
’
s my suggestion
,
fellows. At some point Montana Creek Mining will qualify for listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. And at that point we
’
ll need a majority of independent directors. Let
’
s
turn Malcolm down for now
,
but suggest the possibility of a directorship down the road.
”

Will and Wally
both
agreed.

“
In the interim,
”
I said
,
“
w
e need to find out a hell of a lot more about Twisp River Resources.
And
more
importantly,
find out
who
controls Carib International.
”

“
I can put the word out around Vancouver,
”
Wally replied
.
“
I
’
ll
find out all there is to know about Twisp River. Carib International
, however,
is a horse of a different color.
A p
rivately held Cayman Island Corporation
will be
tough
. However
, I may know someone on the
i
sland who could help. It will cost a few bucks for her time
,
but she gets results.
”

“
She
?
”
Will asked.

“
Ye
s
, her name is Domini
c
Rinquet
,"
Wally replied.
“
She
’
s a French
-Canadian
ex
-
pat
living in George Town on Grand Cayman
.
She d
oes corporate development work and knows everybody on the
i
sland.
And
did I mention
she
’
s a knock
-
out?
”

“
Even better.
Put her on it, Wally
,
”
I said.
“
I would really like to know who the hell we
’
re dealing with.
”

“
You got it,
”
Wally replied.

“
Okay, fellows
,
”
I said
,
“
I
’
ll call Trueblood in the morning and give him the bad news. Afterwards, I
’
ll head back up to the mine and check on the coring.
”

The next morning I packed my gear in the Bronco and then called Trueblood.

“
Malcolm, Trace Brandon here.
”

“
Good morning, Trace.
”

“
Listen
,
Malcolm, I did talk to the other two directors
,
and we all feel you
’
re highly qualified to sit on our board. However, for now
,
we
’
ve decided to keep the board as is.
"

“
I see. Well, I am disappointed, Trace.
”

“
Malcolm, we feel it would be more appropriate to bring on independent directors
, such as yourself,
once we
’
ve
qualified for
a listing on a major exchange.
We would like to
re
-
consider your offer
a little further down the road.
”

“
I understand, Trace
. A
nd
,
yes, you will need a majority of independent directors on your board
for a major exchange listing. Well, good luck with the drilling
,
and I look forward to renewing this conversation at a later date.
”

“
Thanks, Malcolm. We
’
ll be putting ou
t news releases to keep all the shareholders up to speed.
T
hank
s again
you for your support.
”

I arrived at the drill site a little after lunch. The high
-
country air
now
contained a hint of fall. It wouldn
’
t be too long before the snows came.

“
Howdy, Red,
”
I said
,
with a wave.
“
How
’
s it going?
”

“
Good, Trace
. We
’
re three hundred fifty feet down on a sixty
-
degree angle. We
’
ll start coring at three ninety
-
five. According to your cross sections, we should hit the vein around four hundred feet. You
’
re just in time.
”

Bill Thorn
ton
and Cyrus McSweeny
sat in
the
Columbia Resources board
-
room in Spokane. Malcolm Trueblood was on the speaker
-
phone.

“
Mr. McSweeny, I didn
’
t have much luck with Brandon
,
or his board member
s
.
”

“
Well, fellows,
”
Cyrus replied
,
“
w
e had to start somewhere. At least we
’
ve planted the seed
,
and it looks like we
’
ll have a shot at getting you on the board when they go for a Toronto listing.
Here
’
s how I would like this to play out
,
until then. First, Malcolm, I want Twisp River to
continue
accumulating shares in the open market. Carib International will do likewise. Up to ten percent
each
, if we can get it. As Twisp is one hundred percent owned by Carib, we may have
to
report our joint ownership if it exceeds ten percent. I
’
ll run it by our legal eagles.
”

“
In any case, we
’
ll shoot for
just under
twenty percent ownership of Montana Creek Mining between our two entities.
If the cores continue to be high grade, we hold our
positions
.
I suspect at some point one of the big mining companies will propose a joint venture or will
tender for control of
Montana Creek Mining.
”

“
If
,
on the other hand, the ore grades drop a bit, we can either dump our s
hares
or short
the stock
.
In either case
,
we profit.
”

“
What we really need, Cyrus,
”
Thorny added
,
“
i
s someone on the inside. Someone to tell
u
s how the cores and assays look before it
’
s public knowledge.
”

“
I believe
that
’
s
called inside information
,
”
Malcolm replied
,
coldly
.

“
If you have a problem with the concept, Malcolm
,
”
Cyrus said
,
“
n
ow would be the time to bow out.
”

Malcolm hesitated, knowing he was about to cross the line.

“
N
o,
sir
.
No problem.
I came on your team because I knew you played hard
-
ball
.
I am merely point
ing
out a possible legal issue.
”

“
Duly noted, Malcolm,
”
Cyrus replied.
“
Now
,
if there are no further issues,
does
anyone have an
idea on how we could get on the inside?
”

“
We could bribe o
ne of the driller
’
s helpers
,
or better yet
,
someone at the lab,
”
Thorny suggested.

“
I like someone at the lab,
”
Malcolm said.
“
They would have access to the assay data, not just a look at the core. And they are a bit removed, less likely to be suspected.
”

“
I agree,
”
Cyrus said.
“
Thorny, find out which lab is running the
ir
assays. It
’
ll be in their Vancouver Stock Exchange filing
s
. Hell, it
’
s probably listed on their website along with the assay results.
Check
out
the
lab
employees
. Find out who
’
s got a mistress, is behind on child support, is an alcoholic or on drug
s
.
You know the drill.
Find somebody with a weakness we can exploit
,
a
nd
hammer them
.
”

Red
hit the vein at
403
feet
.

“
She
’
s cutting smooth and easy, Trace,
”
Red said, adjusting the pull
-
down weight on the drill
string.

“
Steady as she goes, Red,
”
I replied.
“
I need as close to one hundred percent recovery as you can get.
”

“
Third run coming up,
”
Red yelled.
“
This
one
should be all ore
.
”

And it was. Five feet of dark
,
black pitchblende band
ed with
brassy
c
hal
copyrite
copper
. Solid pay rock.