Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (16 page)

“
Even if Cyrus and company could manage to get up to twenty percent control,
they would have to get additional votes from other shareholders
to cause us much of a problem,
”
Will
replied
.
“
And right now I don
’
t see that happening
.
I think we
’
re okay as
long as the ore grades remain positive.
”

“
Agreed
. A
s long as our drilling keeps churning out good results
and
we keep adding to our reserves,
the share price will stay strong
,
”
I
replied
.
“
A
nd w
e
’
ll
have a bunch of happy
shareholders.
”

Bill Thorn
ton
received an e
-
mail from Mary Johnson
’
s home computer. New assays were attached. He called Cyrus on his land
line.

“
Cyrus, Thorny. Got a sec?
”

“
Always, Thorny
. W
hat
’
s up?
”

“
Just got some assays from our friend at the lab.
”

“
And?
”

“
Well, the
y
’
re damned good. No indication the grades are dropping off.
”

“
Good and bad, Thorny
. K
ind of like seeing your mother
-
in
-
law drive o
f
f a cliff in your new Maserati.
”

“
Sir
?
”

Cyrus laughed.
“
Good news is, as shareholders
,
we want a damned good mine. Makes our shares worth a lot. Bad news is, it
’
ll be harder to acquire more shares in any upcoming offerings.
”

“
Any ideas,
sir
?
”

“
What have
you
been able to find out about the other
shell
founder, Rosenburg?
”

“
Word on the street is, he
’
s in trouble. Turns out
Mr. Rosenburg
is a big
-
time Las Vegas gambler.
Word is
he
’
s into the Comstock Casino for about a mil.
”

“
The Comstock,
eh
?
The
Pantelli
family out of New Orleans are the dough behind th
e
casino
. Some very tough fellows.
I met one of the brothers
, Al
Pantelli
,
in the pen
.
I
’
ll give him a call and see what kind of trouble Rosenburg
’
s in. Might be a
n opening for us? A way to pick up another
half
mil
lion
shares?
”

Wally set up field trips for Canadian Uranium Group and MinUranCo
, a
nd I did my standard dog and pony show, right down to
the
Tumbleweed
Ale,
at the
W
. Both groups did their best not to drool all over themselves when they looked at the cores.

I told them we were looking for a proposal from a major to acquire around
20
percent of the
company
. Both said they
’
d prefer a
J
oint
V
enture
,
but I told them we had no interest in a JV
.
Each party said they
’
d
review
my proposal
with their respective board
s,
and
get back to me.

Winter kicked in
,
and it was tough going at the mine. Costs for drill camp supplies and road clearing were getting pretty high. But we were on the last drill location with just two holes left. I called Red and discussed the situation with him. He said they
’
d be able to finish in about four or five days.

The share price was holding steady in the two buck range
, a
nd we still had a fa
i
r amount of cash in the bank. All in all, a hell of a good year
, and i
t was about to get even more interesting.

Chapter 9

I
was looking over
assay results
on a very cold and overcast
afternoon when my office phone rang.

“
Trace, Cyrus McSweeny.
”

“
Cyrus, long
-
time no hear.
”

“
Yes, it
’
s been a
while. But I
’
ve been closely following your progress. Well done, lad.
”

“
Well, we
’
ve been lucky, Cyrus.
We m
anaged to get the drilling done before
the heavy snows hit.
”

“
Winters in the upper Methow can be damned tough.
”

“
Yes,
sir
.
Hell,
it
’
s pretty damned cold right here in Ellensburg.
”

“
Well, maybe I can do something about that, Trace.
”

“
How so?
”

“
As you know from your inquiries, I own Carib International.
”

“
My inquiries?
”

“
Don
’
t be modest, Trace. Dominic is quite effective
. B
ut when someone is checking me out, I usually get wind of it.
”

“
I see. We
’
ll it
’
s nothing personal,
Cyrus
. J
ust business.
”

Cyrus laughed
.
“
T
hat
’
s supposed to be my line.
”

“
You were saying,
sir
?
”

“
Ah, yes. I would like to invite you to come down to Grand Cayman for a long weekend as my guest. It would give us a chance to get to know one another
,
a
nd to discuss your future plans for Montana Creek Mining. As one of your largest
independent
shareholders, I think it would be time well spent for both of us.
”

I looked out my frozen window at the blowing snow.
“
Can I bring a friend?
”

“
Of course. What
’
s his
,
or her
,
name?
”

“
Tina Hart.
”

“
Excellent. Just call me back on this cell number
,
and I
’
ll make all the arrangements.
”

Immediately after I hung up with Cyrus,
I called Tina. To say she was excited
would be the proverbial understatement.
We worked out our schedules
,
and I called Cyrus back. In ten days, we
’
d be in
George Town, Grand Cayman. Guests of Cyrus
th
e Virus.

Later,
I called Will and Wally and filled them in. Will wasn
’
t too keen on the idea. But Wally loved it.

“
It
’
s going to be a two
-
way pump, Trace,
”
Wally said
,
with a laugh.
“
Just get all the info you can about his
plans without giving away too much about ours.
”

“
Exactly
,
”
I agreed.

“
Also,
” Wally continued, “y
ou
should meet with
Dominic
and give her a
heads
-
up about Cyrus.
Tell her he knows she
’
s been looking into
Carib International.
”

“
Will do,
Wally.
”

“
Too bad you
’
re taking Tina. Dominic is single, uninhibited
,
and really ugly.
”

“
What?
”
I said, laughing.

“
Just kidding
. S
he
’
s a ten and a
half
.
”

“
Well, I
’
ll give her your best.
”

Wally laughed
.
“
On your best day, you couldn
’
t give her my best
.
”

“
Uh-huh.
I
’
ll keep you posted.
”

It was snowing hard in Spokane when Cyrus called Al
Pantelli
’
s
New Orleans office.
Al
’
s secretary put him through.

“
Al, it
’
s C
yr
us McSweeny
,
up i
n Spokane
.
”

“
Cyrus, you
’
re not back in the can
,
are you?
”
Al asked
,
with a rumbling laugh.

“
No. I
’
m clear and clean.
”

“
Good to hear it, my friend. So what can I do for you?
”

“
It may be what I can do for you. What do you know about a Canadian
promoter
named Rosenburg? Word on the street in Vancouver is he
’
s into the Comstock for some serious dough?
”

“
You heard right. The little creep plays craps like
he
’
s
jerk
ing
off. He
’
s in
to us for a mil
.
”

“
Is it getting serious on your end?
”

“
Cyrus, what
’
d you think?
It
’
s a million fuck
i
n
’
dollars.
”

“
How much time has he got?
”

“
Not very
g
oddamned much. You got something in mind?
”

“
What would you take
,
cash money
,
to assign me his
gambling
debt?
”

“
This
jerk
got something you want?
”

“
Let
’
s just say he
’
s screwing up a deal I
’
m in. I
’
m going to make him an offer he can
’
t refuse.
”

“
Corleone style, eh?
”

“
Something like that.
”

“
Okay, we
’
ll knock it down twenty percent for a fast, all
-
cash
,
buy
-
out. You in or out?
”

“
I
’
m in, Al. Draw up an assignment of
his
debt
,
and I
’
ll have my associate,
Bill
Thorn
ton
in New Orleans
,
in forty
-
eight hours.
”

“
With the cash?
”
Al asked.

“
Eight hundred thousand.
”

“
Always a pleasure
,
Cyrus. Listen, if it should get to the point where you need some outside help to solve your little problem
, w
ell
. . .
we
’
re in the problem
-
solving business.
”

Forty
-
nine hours later,
Bill Thorn
ton
left Al
Pantelli
’
s office with a document assigning Richard Rosenburg
’
s gambling debt to Cyrus. He called Cyrus from the New Orleans airport.

“
Did everything go okay?
”
Cyrus asked.

“
Yeah, no problems, Cyrus,
”
Thorny replied
.
“
B
ut Mr.
Pantelli
is very interested in your interest in Rosenburg.
”

“
I
’
ll bet.
”

“
Cyrus, I
’
m a little concerned about this deal.
”

“
How so, Thorny?
”

“
Well, we
’
re out eight hundred thousand for a million
-
dollar
note. On the face of it, a damned good deal. But how do we collect the mil from Rosenburg?
”

“
We get his five hundred thousand shares of Montana Creek Mining in return for the note. The share price is steady at two bucks. So we
’
ll
ma
ke
our eight hundred K back
,
plus two hundred thou
sand
-
profit.
”

“
If we sell the shares.
”

“
Correct. Which we are not going to do, at least not yet.
”

“
What if Rosenburg won
’
t assign us
his
shares?
”

“
Well, Thorny, you
’
re going to make him an offer he can
’
t refuse.
”

“
How tough do I get?
”

“
Well
,
you can
’
t kill the bastard, but short of that, whatever it takes.
Understood?
”

“
Yes,
sir
.
”

“
I
’
ll have the lawyers draw up a
stock
-
power
agreement for Rosenburg to sign. He assigns Carib International his shares
,
and we cancel his debt. Paid in full.
”

“
I
’
ll be in your office in the morning.
”

“
Good. I
’
m leaving for the Caymans in a couple of days
,
a
nd I want you to wrap Rosenburg up
,
w
hile
I
’
m
offshore.
”

“
Understood. I
’
ll see you in the morning, Cyrus.
”

Red and his crew
finished
plu
g
g
ing
the final drill hole
for this phase of drilling.
I figured we wouldn
’
t
resume drilling
until
early
spring
. I
finished
putting together a summary of the drilling and core results for the Vancouver Stock Exchange.
And s
quar
ed
things away so I could leave for the Caymans.