Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (38 page)

C
hapter
3
5

J
im Lee and I
pulled in
near Red
’
s drill and parked. Fish waved and walked over.

“
Damn, Fish
. I
t
’
s
so
cold
my dick
’
s gone into turtle mode
,
”
I
said with a
chuckle. I didn
’
t
bother to take my glove off when we shook hands.

Jim
nodded and
punch
ed
Fish lightly on the shoulder.
“
Bloody good to see you, mate.
”

“
Come on in the core shack, fellows. I
’
ve got something you
’
ll want to see,
”
Fish
said
, gesturing with his left hand toward
the small Quonset hut
-
type building
.

We walked into the warm exterior of the core shack. Fish had box after box of cores up on woode
n
saw
-
horses.

“
This is from last night
’
s core
from
hole
Ten-C
,
”
Fish said, pointing to a woode
n
core box.
“
We drilled the hole at a sixty
-
degree angle. Sort of split the difference between the forty
-
five degree and seventy
-
five
-
degree holes.
”

Jim and
I
examined the
mineral
-
laden
core with our ten
-
power hand lens
es
’
.

“
Bloody, hell,
”
Jim said
,
“
t
his is
some
damned fine
gold-c
opper ore.
By the way, Fish,
Trace hasn
’
t had a chance to tell you yet
,
but the manager of Mineral Valley labs called while we were driving up here. The assays from the first
gold-copper zone cores
are back.
”

“
What
’
d they run?
”
Fish asked
,
with a huge grin on his face.

“
Eight
-
tenths gold and two and a
half
percent copper,
”
Jim
said with a
chuckle.

“
Hot damn, I knew they
’
d be good,
”
Fish said
,
slapping his thigh.

“
I think these will be just as good, fellas,
”
I said, looking at a couple of specs of visible gold in the section of core I was holding.

“
Yeah, I agree,
”
Jim said
,
“
r
eally good
-
looking ore.
”

“
I
’
ll get a new
s
release out to the shareholders and the VSE as soon as I get the official results from the lab,
”
I said.
“
I think we
’
ll see a hell of a lot of interest in our shares.
”

Jim laughed
.
“
Y
ep, ought to drive the bloody chinks right up the wall.
”

Fish looked at us
.
“
Chinks? You mean the Chinese are
interested in Montana Creek
?
”

“
Yep, looks that way,
”
I said.
“
Cyrus has a contact in Hong Kong who
tipped us o
f
f to
buying by URAN-China
Nu
c
lear Corp. So far they
’
re just nibbling away. But th
rowing some
high
-
grade gold and copper
into the mix
,
will likely kick things up a notch or two.
”

C
hapter
3
6

M
y cell phone
sta
rted
vibrating.
I flipped the phone open and answered.

“
Trace Brandon.
”

“
Mr
.
Brandon, this is Special Agent Beau Monroe with the FBI. Have you got a second?
”

“
Yes,
sir
. What can I do for you?
”

“
I wonder if we might meet in
Spokane in the next day or two
.
”

“
Yes,
sir
, that shouldn
’
t be a problem. I
’
m up on our mining claims, northwest of Winthrop, Washington
,
at the moment. But I
’
ve got to drop one of our partners off at the Spokane airport day after tomorrow. Would that work for you?
”

“
That would be perfect, Mr. Brandon.
”

“
May I ask what this is all about?
”

“
We
’
re working with the Vancouver police on the murder of Richard Rosenburg, one of your shareholders. And on the attempted murder of Malcolm Trueblood, also one of your shareholders
,
a
nd until recently, one of your directors.
”

“
Jesus, somebody tried to kill Malcolm?
And
I thought Rosenburg had a stroke or something
.
”

“
Rosenburg was killed with a nerve toxin.
I
’
ll explain when we meet.
Spokane
terminal, day after tomorrow?
”

“
Yes,
sir
. I
’
ll be there.
”

“
Good.
Call me on this number, and we
’
ll link up.
”

“
Yes,
sir
.
”

I hung up. Both Fish and Jim were staring at me.

“
That was the FBI. Somebody tried to kill Malcolm Trueblood. And they want to talk to me
the
day after tomorrow at the Spokane airport.
”

Jim and I spent the next day with Fish and watched additional cores come up. So far
,
we were still hitting the uranium vein followed by the gold-copper vein.
The next morning we
said goodbye to Red and his crew
,
told Fish to keep up the good work
,
and headed back to Spokane. Jim had a flight to catch to Los Angeles
, a
nd I had a meeting with the FBI.

I walked with Jim to
security check
-
in
, said good
-
bye
,
and
called
Special Agent
Beau Monroe.

“
Agent Monroe, it
’
s Trace Brandon. I
’
m in the terminal.
”

“
Okay,
meet me at security between concourses A and B. I
’
m six one, salt
-
and
-
pepper crew
-
cut hair
,
and
I
’
m wearing a blue suit.
”

“
Got it
. B
e there in a couple of minutes.
”

Monroe was easy to spot. He looked like the prototype FBI agent.

“
Agent Monroe? I
’
m Trace Brandon,
”
I said, extending my hand.

“
Mr. Brandon, thanks for coming. There
’
s a wine bar slash restaurant just past security. Follow me.
”

Monroe showed his badge to security
,
said a few words to the supervisor
,
and gestured toward me. I went through the security screening
.
Monroe didn
’
t
.

We grabbed a table in a quiet area
of
the
small airport
restaurant and ordered soft drinks.

“
Mr. Brandon, I wanted to chat with you a bit as we have one homicide, one attempted homicide
,
and a dead assassin on our hands. Not to mention an unlucky Vancouver police officer who tried to render aid
a
nd is also a fatality.
”

“
Call me Trace, Agent Monroe. And you think ownership of our
shares
is somehow related to these killings?
”

“
We do. So far it
’
s the only common denominator. Both Rosenburg and Trueblood own
ed
,
own
, s
hares in your company
,
e
ither directly or indirectly through their compan
ies
.
”

“
That
’
s true. Rosenburg
was co-
owne
r of
the public shell we did a reverse merger with. As part of the transaction
,
he kept a significant number of
founder
’
s
’
shares. Trueblood is CEO of Twisp River Resources
,
which took down part of our initial private placement.
”

“
We understand Twisp River
Resources
is a wholly
-
owned subsidiary of a Cayman Island
holding com
p
any
.
”

“
Correct
. We did some research
on Twisp River
to see who
actually owns or controls our shares.
O
ur findings indicated
Carib International, out of Grand Cayman, control
s
Twisp River.
”

“
Do you mind telling me how you were able to ascertain that information?
”

“
We employed a local, Cayman Island, securities analyst to do some digging.
”

“
I see. All legal and above board, I presume.
”

I just smiled
.
“
I
t
is
the Cayman Islands, Agent Monroe.
”

Monroe ex
haled
through his mouth
and nodded
.

“
Y
es, and thankfully out of my jurisdiction
.
Are you also aware
the
Pantelli
crime family in New Orleans are shareholders in your company?
”

“
We
’
re a publicly traded company
, Agent Monroe
. Anybody with a brokerage account and access to the Vancouver Stock Exchange can buy our shares.
”

“
The
Pantelli
s got their shares from Rosenburg.
”

“
Look,
I know Rosenburg used his shares to pay off a gambling debt
he
owed to a Vegas casino. I don
’
t know which casino or who actually holds his shares,
”
I said, omitting the fact
that
Cyrus
had
managed to get a proxy to vote those same shares
,
a
nd would know exactly who owned Rosenburg
’
s shares.
I figured it was a two
-
way street. Monroe was trying to see what I knew
,
and I was doing likewise.

“
You should get an updated shareholders
’
list from your transfer agent. You might be surprised who some of your shareholder
s
are.
”

“
I
’
ll do that. Do you think the
Pantelli
family is behind Rosenburg
’
s death
,
a
nd the attempt on Trueblood?
”

“
Well, they do fall in the realm
of
usual suspects
.
”

“
But why would they want to kill Rosenburg after he squared his debt
?
Hell, the shares are worth more now than when he transferred them. And there
’
s a damn good chance they
’
ll be worth a lot more in the future.
”

“
With the
Pantelli
s
,
it doesn
’
t take much to get whacked. Maybe Rosenburg
said the wrong thing or threatened to go to the authorities. Or maybe they just flat
-out
didn
’
t like him. These people are stone
-
cold killers. If there
’
s a profit to be made by whacking someone, that someone usually gets whacked.
”

“
What about Trueblood
? H
ow the hell does he fit in all this
?
He
’
s about as straight as they come.
”

“
Maybe, maybe not. We
’
re just now digging into Mr. Trueblood. I
’
ve got to say, Trace,
”
Monroe
said with
a
smile
,
“
y
ou sure have one eclectic bunch of stockholders.
”

“
Yeah,
”
I
replied
,
thinking
to myself
. J
ust w
ait till
you
find out Cyrus the Virus owns
17
per
-
cent of our company.
And holds a proxy to vote the
Pantelli
’s’
shares.
“
Well, Agent Monroe, when you hatch a company on the Vancouver Stock Exchange
,
you
’
re apt to end up with some rather colorful
shareholders
.
”

“
No argument there, Trace. Listen, I appreciate your taking the time to see me. I
’
d also appreciate it if you
’
d get an updated shareholders
’
list and send
a copy
to my office,
”
Monroe said, handing
me
one of his business cards.

“
No problem
,
Agent Monroe.
Do you think
any o
f
our
other shareholders are possible targets?
”

“
I don
’
t think so. Rosenburg and Trueblood had direct dealings with the
Pantelli
s. I think something in those dealings got
Rosenburg killed
,
and Trueblood nearly killed
. I don
’
t think they
’
d
do anything to jeopardize
the company
’
s management
,
and thereby
,
their investment
,
in Montana Creek Mining. But if we turn up something that suggests otherwise, I
’
ll let you know immediately.
”