Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (24 page)

VX
could be applied as a liquid or aer
osol
.
Odorless, tasteless, with just a slightly oily feel
,
i
t could kill from either skin contact or in
halation
.
D
eath
from VX
was
especially
violent
.

For two days
Manetti
surveilled
Rosenburg
’
s movements
. At noon on the third day
,
an opportunity presented itself.
He
’
d followed Rosenburg to a mall parking garage and parked two rows over from Rosenburg
’
s Jag.
Manetti
pu
lled
on a pair of
surgical gloves
and took
the
tubular
shoe polish applicator from his overcoat pocket.
Very carefully, he
unscrewed the
cap and examined the angled sponge applicator tip. It appeared clean and dry. Slowly, he twisted the applicator head in a counter
clockwise direction. Exactly one
-
quarter turn armed the device.
Manetti
replaced the cap and headed for Rosenburg
’
s Jag.

The Jaguar was an older model and lacked
an alarm system
.
Using
a
long, flat, metal tool, called a ‘Slim Jim’, that he’d
concealed up the sleeve of his overcoat
,
Manetti
popped the door lock in less than five seconds.
T
aking a last
glance around the garage
,
he
slipped
behind the wheel.
Taking a deep breath, he
carefully unscrewed the top of the applicator and gently pressed it to the steering wheel. He laid down a light coating of the agent on the
top
half
of the
wheel
then
carefully capped the applicator.
He
stepped out of the Jag and closed the door behind him. Only then did he e
xhale
.

On the way back to his car
Manetti
drop
ped
the
S
lim
J
im in a garbage can. He
then
drove
down
to the harbor
and parked in a lot near the
ferry landing
. He bought a round
-
trip ferry ticket and boarded the next ferry
to North Vancouver. About
half
-
way across the bay
,
he sauntered over to the rail
. The
shoe polish applicator
was cupped in his right hand
. Satisfied no one was paying any attention to him, he casually opened his palm and dropped the applicator into the deep harbor.
Disposal complete, Manetti
rode the ferry back to downtown, retrieved his rental car
,
and drove to the airport
.

Just before lunch, I called Malcolm in Vancouver.

“
Malcolm, Trace Brandon with Montana
Creek
Mining.
”

“
Yes, Trace, Cyrus said to expect a call from you. What can I do for you?
”

“
The board has approved you as our fifth director.
”

“
I am glad to hear it, Trace. I think we
’
ll all work very well together
,
and I look forward to the next board meeting.
”

“
Now that you
’
re a director, I
’
ll
can
tell you
one of
our
primary
goal
s
is to
achieve a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. As you and Walter
Wilkins
are our two Canadian directors, I would appreciate it if you two would work together towards that end.
”

“
Of course, Trace. I know several of the principals on the exchange
. I
’
ll
be glad to
work with Walter
. We
’
ll get you the listing
requirements
in short order.
”

“
I would like to shoot for a T
oronto Stock Exchange, T
S
X
,
listing this spring. Between now and then, we need to quantify our reserves and
contract for an
independent engineering report.
”

“
I have a relationship with a good engineering firm here in Vancouver. They
’
ve completed several
engineering reports fo
r Twisp River Resources. All of which were well received by
r
egulators
.
”

“
Perfect. Please
send me their contact info
,
and I
’
ll start the ball rolling.
”

Richard Rose
n
burg returned from
the
large
department store
,
where he
’
d purchased a bottle of
Midnight
Sin
perfume for his wife. She was due back from Europe in a couple of days
,
and it was her favorite.

He
started to
unlocked the Jag
and noticed he
’
d forgotten to lock the d
river
’s
side d
oor. Shaking his head
,
he placed
the gift box on the passenger seat and slid behind the wheel. He put his left hand on the
top of the
wheel a
nd
inserted the ignition key.

“
What the hell?
”
he said, taking his hand from the wheel and rubbing his thumb and index finger together
.
“
F
eels like some kind of oil
.
”

Rosenburg
suddenly felt nause
ous
and started to perspire
heavily
. He felt a
severe
tightness in his chest.
Thinking it must be a heart attack,
he reached for his cell phone to call 911
. He didn
’
t get past
nine
. The
contraction hit him like a sledgehammer
,
slamm
ing him
violently into the steering wheel.
Dropping the phone, h
e
grabbed the wheel with both hands to try and steady up. But this merely doubled his exposure to the nerve agent.
The
contractions continued
as t
he
VX
agent attack
ed
all his muscle
group
s
,
causing them to g
o into
a state of
paralysis.
As
the muscles in
his diaphragm
began to shut down, he
slowly
and agonizin
g
ly
died of
asphyxiation.

Chapter
13

A
s part of IUC
’
s agreement to lend technical support,
Jim Lee assigned a young geologist
, Tom Troutman,
to
help with
the winter coring program.
Tom
would log the core
,
send splits to the lab for assay
, a
nd be the
project
geologist.
I decided to drive up to Winthrop and
spend a little time with
the new guy.

The mine road was in good shape
,
thanks to Bob Malott
’
s crew and the constant truck traffic.
But
,
o
ut of habit
,
I
lock
ed
the hubs and engage
d
the
four
-
wheel drive.

I pulled into the drill site and parked the Bronco.
Troutman
saw me
pull up
and
walked
over
.
He
’
d been logging cores in
the
heated
core shack Red
’
s crew had constructed for the winter operation.
I got out and met him
halfway
.
I knew from talking with Jim
,
and from Tom
’
s resume
,
that he was an American and worked mainly in eastern Canada. He was twenty
-
eight years old, tall
and
slender
,
with
a scruffy
beard all young geologists feel is requisite
.
He
’
d earned his BS and MS at the University of Montana
,
in Missoula.

“
Mr. Brandon?
”

“
Yep, that
’
s me. You must be Troutman?
”

“
Yes
,
sir
. I figured it had to be you. All the drillers talk about is your Bronco.
”

I laughed
.
“
Yeah, they appreciate a
truly
fine piece of machinery
, and please
call me Trace.
”

“
Thanks, Trace. Most of my friends call me
Fish
,
for the obvious reason.
”

“
Okay, Fish, how
’
s the coring going?
”

“
Damn good. This is some might
y
fine
-
looking ore, Trace.
”

“
Ain
’
t it though,
”
I said, heading in the direction of the core shack.

“
I
’
ve seen grades like this in the Athabasca Basin
in eastern Canada
and in a couple of mines in Africa. But never anything like this
in the US
.
”

“
This old mine actually
started out as a gold and copper mine in the late eighteen hundreds. The uranium was a pain in the ass to them,
”
I said
,
with a chuckle.
“
Boy, how things change, huh?
”

Fish
nodded his head and picked up a section of high
-
grade ore
.
“
I
t
’
s a miracle they didn
’
t all die of radiation poisoning.
”

“
I
’
d bet the rate of cancer was pretty high for the old boys who worked in the mine
,
”
I replied.

“
Yeah, and back then they wouldn
’
t of had a clue what was making them sick
,
”
Fish
said, putting the length of core back in its slot.
“
Truly a
deadly lode.
”

“
Yep,
”
I replied
.
“
They couldn
’
t see it, smell it
,
or taste it, but it
attacked
them just the same.
”

I spent a couple of days on site with
Fish
. He was a damned good geologist
,
and I was glad to have him on the project.

On my way back to Ellensburg, Wally called me.

“
Trace, you
’
re not going to believe this.
”

“
Hell,
Wally,
Cyrus
the Virus has
one of his minions on our board
.
I
’
d believe damn near anything.
”

“
Yeah, well, believe this
—
Rosenburg was found dead in a downtown Vancouver parking garage. They think
he had
some kind of a seizure
,
but they
’
re doing an autopsy just to be sure.
”

“
Jesus,
first he shoots
Thorn
ton
,
then
he
sells his shares to cover his gambling debt
,
and a few days later he
’
s dead?
”

“
Yeah, makes you wonder, doesn
’
t it
?
”

“
Don
’
t it though?
”

Al
Pantelli
picked up the phone in the Presidential Suite
of the Comstock Casino
and called Cyrus.

“
Cyrus, it
’
s Al. I
’
ve got
the dough Rosy owed you.
When can you come down and pick it up?
”

“
I
’
ll call my pilot and have him get the Lear ready.
I
’
ll be there first thing in the morning.
How
’
d it go with the principal?
”

“
No problems
. Hi
s account is closed.
”

“
I
’
ll see you tomorrow for a late breakfast. And thanks
,
Al
.
I owe you one.
”

Cyrus hung up and called his pilot and told him to file a flight plan to Vegas and then on to Grand Cayman. He then called Lisa Miller and told her he
’
d be in George Town late tomorrow evening and asked her to meet him at the airport.

The next morning at
10:00
a.m., Cyrus
’
s
Lear
-
jet landed in Las Vegas
. The pilot taxied to the
McCarran
corporate terminal. Cyrus spotted the Comstock
’
s limo parked and waiting. Forty
-
five minutes later he was in Al
Pantelli
’
s office
,
which
overlook
ed
the main casino floor.

“
Eight hundred
-
K
,
”
Al said, handing Cyrus the black brief
case,
“
I took out the two hundred
grand
you owed me for the proxy
.
Please check it.
”

Cyrus laid the brief
-
case on a coffee table in front of Al
’
s desk and popped the latches. He riffled several random bundles of hundreds and closed the case.

“
That wasn
’
t necessary, Al. I knew it would be correct.
”

“
I like everything neat and tidy,
”
Al replied, moving to his
desk chair.

“
Any problems in Vancouver?
”
Cyrus asked.

“
No
,
n
o problems
,
”
Al said, clasping his hands over his stomach and swiveling his chair to check the action on the
casino
floor.

Cyrus watched him surveying the
action
.

“
How
’
s
the casino
business?
”

“
T
his is the real gold mine,
”
Al said,
spreading his hands out in the direction of the casino floor.

“
Well, anytime you want to get rid of your
Montana Creek Mining
shares, just let me know.
”

Al
turned to Cyrus and
smiled
.
“
Not just yet
,
my friend.
You just be
sure to vote
my
proxy in our best interests.
”

“
Don
’
t worry, Al. Your best interests are my best interests.
”