Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (30 page)

“
What now, Malcolm?
”

“
I just tendered my resignation to Montana Creek Mining
’
s board.
”

“
Why in the hell would you do that?
”

“
Because, Cyrus, they know everything. They know I called you when they lost the vein
.
T
hey know it had to be you short
ing
the stock
,
and they know
you
’
ve
got someone on the inside at the lab. It was either resign or they
would
turn everything over to the CSC, SEC
,
and the FBI.
”

“
Okay
, d
on
’
t panic
. Y
ou did the right thing. They obviously don
’
t want their shareholders
,
or the investment community
,
to get wind of th
e situation
.
Otherwise,
they
’
d have gone straight to the authorities. Bad news is,
you
’
re
off their board
.
Good news is
,
I
made two hundred grand on the short sale
,
and
Twisp River and Carib still own seventeen
-
plus percent of their company
.
And best news,
they
’
re back in ore. We took a shot and we fucked up. But we
’
re still in the game, big time.
”

“
What about my reputation?
”

Cyrus laughed
.
“
What reputation
? Y
ou work for Cyrus the Virus, rem
e
mber?
”

Before Will
, Jim
,
and I left Wally
’
s office
,
I called Cyrus at his Spokane office.

“
Cyrus, it
’
s Trace Brandon. I
’
m in Vancouver but headed back to Ellensburg via Spokane. If you got some time tomorrow, I
’
d like to have a quick meeting with you.
”

“
Sure
,
Trace
. H
ow about eleven at my office
?
I
’
m on the sixth floor of the
Inland Empire
Building.
”

“
I know it well
. S
ee you at eleven.
”

Will wanted to come along, but I asked him to let me meet Cyrus one
-
on
-
one. I
’
d developed a bit of a relationship with Cyrus over the past months and while in the Caymans. He played hard
-
ball and mainly by his own rules. But I sensed
I could deal with him
.

At eleven sharp I entered the lobby of
one of Spokane
’
s architectural jewels
,
t
he
Inland Empire B
uilding
. The office building
was built in a V
-
shape with the sharp end of the V truncated to form corner office
s
. Naturally, Cyrus
’
s office was
on the sixth floor. Top of the V.

The sign on the door said
Columbia Resources LLC
.
I opened the door and walked in. Cy
r
us was talking to his secretary and turned to greet me.

“
Trace
,
good to see you again,
”
Cyrus said, extending his hand.
“
T
his is Sally Friesen
,
my office manager.
”

I shook hands with Cyrus and then Sally.

“
Let
’
s go into my office
,
”
Cyrus said, patting me on the shoulder
.
“
Can we get you anything?
”

“
Bottled water would be great,
”
I replied.

“
Sally, would you mind?
”
Cyrus asked.

Sall
y
fetched me a chilled
C
ascadia
,
and I followed Cyrus into his office.
His office was as I expected
. . .
p
lush.

“
Cyrus, I asked for this meeting because I knew you and I could level with each other.
”

“
Fair enoug
h. W
hat
’
s on your mind?
”

“
I expect you already know this, but I kicked Malcolm off our board.
”

Cyrus
’
s eye
’
s didn
’
t even flicker.

“
Yes, Malcolm called me. It
’
s an unfortunate affair.
”

“
Cyrus, I don
’
t have a problem with you or anybody else making money off our shares. Hell, if you
’
re smart enough and have the balls to short a stock and make some cash, more power to you. But I do object when you use insider information from one of our directors to do it.
”

“
That
’
s a pretty strong charge, Trace.
”

“
Look
,
all bullshit aside, we both know what went down. You made some money,
Malcolm paid the price
,
and we
all
move forward.
Currently, y
ou
r companies
own more than seventeen percent of
Montana Creek Mining. J
udging from all the mining
deals
you
’
ve been involved with,
”
I said,
g
estu
ring
to the
photos
of various mining projects on his office
wall
s
,
“
y
ou
’
re
smart enough and experienced enough to know a good deal when you see it.
”

“
And your point is?
”

“
My point is, get on the
damn
team. Work with us on
building this company
. Hell, you
’
ll make millions on your shares
,
and you won
’
t end up like Thorny.
”

“
Are you threatening me, Trace?
”

“
Not at all
. I
f I
wanted a piece of your ass
, I
’
d be at the SEC
right now
instead of here in your office.
Hell, you came up through the mines and used your brains
and guts
to
get to where you are now.
Not unlike what I
’
m trying to do.
I
’
m just
saying
,
there
’
s
a
better
way to do this
. We can
all come out ahead
,
and you won
’
t be looking over your shoulder the rest of your life.
”

“
I appreciate your candor and the fact you have the balls to come to me like this. And I appreciate
you’re
not running to the damn regulators. Not that you could prove any of this
.
B
ut it
’
s
how I
would have
handle
d
it
,
if our roles were reversed
.
”

“
Okay, so
we
’
re in agreement? You
’
re on board?
”

“
I hate to admit it, but I
’
ve grown kind of fond of you
, Trace
. You remind me of me when I was starting out
,
and not so jaded. Okay, Trace.
Let
’
s declare a truce. No more dirty tricks on my end
,
and I
’
ll vote my shares and proxies in the best interest of Montana Creek Mining.
”

“
So, I could say I have your word on it?
”

“
Yes, you could say you have my word.
”

I extended my right hand
,
and we shook
hands
.

“
B
y the way,
Cyrus,
you remind me a lot of my dad. He was a c
a
nta
n
ker
ou
s, hard
-
headed SO
B,
b
ut he always made money for his partners
.
”

Cyrus laughed
.
“
V
ery good, Trace. I think we
’
ll leave it at that.
”

I
smiled at Cyrus
,
and got up to leave
.

“
Oh,
there is one more thing you should know, Cyrus. Y
our contact at Mineral Valley Labs is kaput. Save your money. You
’
ll get the assay results same
time
as the other shareholders.
”

“
I
,
of course
,
have no idea what you
’re
referring to. But I do look forward to timely progress reports.
”

When I got back to my office in Ellensburg
,
I contacted the other directors and told them
we wouldn
’
t have any more problems with Cyrus.
About ten minutes after the call
ended
, Wally called me back.

“
Trace, I didn
’
t want to spook Jim Lee
,
b
ut I heard
some interesting news
.
”

“
What
’
s up?
”

“
Remember the papers up here saying
Rosenburg
died of a stroke or seizure?
”

“
Yep, I guess the guilt over popping Thorn
ton
got to him.
”

“
Not quite.
A contact of mine in the
c
onstable
’
s office
says
it was a professional hit. And get this
,
Rosenburg
was
killed
w
ith
some kind of
nerve agent.
”

“
What?

“
You heard me right.
Some kind of toxin supposedly only the militaries have.
”

“
Jesus,
we have shareholders shooting shareholders, and now we have a pro killing
them too?
What in
the
hell is going on?
”