Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (56 page)

Chapter
61

S
pecial Agent Beau Monroe was not one to wait and see. He
’
d piled up
a ton of bureau hours trying to nail the
Pantelli
s
,
and s
o far all he had to show for his efforts were two dead hit men.
Not exactly a home run
,
but maybe a solid double.

Monroe leaned back in his chair
and put his feet up on his desk. He looked over at Agent Wilson Allen
,
who was
finishing
up
the report on Sean Flannigan.

“
Wilson,
”
Monroe said,
“
I think we need to change course on the
Pantelli
investigation. I think we need to get those bastards the old
-
fashioned way.
”

“
We can
’
t just shoot
‘
em, Beau,
”
Wilson
said with a
smile.

“
No,
”
Monroe said,
chuckling
.
“
Although not a
half
-
bad idea. No, I mean the way
the government
took down Capone and some of the other
c
apos
. We need to
get the IRS involved
.
I know someone in the criminal investigation division. I
’
ll give him a call
. M
aybe we can get the
Pantelli
s on t
ax evasion.
”

“
Good
idea, Beau.
Listen,
one other thing has been bothering me. How the hell did the
Pantelli
s end up with
their
Montana Creek Mining shares
?
Rosenburg
’
s debt was to the Comstock Casino. So how
’
d
the shares
end up
with the
Pantelli
s?
”

“
Good question. Do the
Pantelli
s have a reported ownership in the Comstock?
”

“
Another good question.
”

“
Get the team on it. Also, see if Al or Crispino have any felony convictions that would preclude them from ownership in a Nevada casino.
”

“
Will do. What did old J. Edgar say
? ‘A
lways follow the money
.’”

Al and Pino were sitting in Al
’
s office
,
trying to figure out whether to take the money.

“
Damn, Al, it
’
s a hell of
a profit. Maybe we should sell to the fuckin
’
Chinks
.
”

“
Mixed feeling
s
, little brother
, like seeing my ex
-
wife drive off a cliff in my new Caddie,
”
Al
replied, with
a chuckle
.
“
If the Chinese want our share
s
bad enough to pay a premium, they must figure the shares are going to go a hell of a lot higher.
”

“
True, but remember what Pop always said
. ‘Y
ou never go broke taking profits.
’
Plus, as Trace told you, there
’
s always the unexpected.
”

“
What could happen that
’
d fuck up the deal?
”

“
Another Three Mile Island
,
or a
terrorist attack with a dirty bomb or a nu
ke
.
”

“
Yeah, that would fuck everything up, wouldn
’
t it?
”

“
It
would
.
”

“
You know the other thing that chaps my ass about this?
”

Pino laughed
.
“
No, Al, what?
”

“
Selling anything to the fuckin
’
Chinese commies.
”

“
Hey, we
’
ve sold shit to a hell of a lot worse.
”

Al nodded
.
“
Y
eah, I know.
But my
gut says we should let the
commies sit a bit. Hell, maybe they
’
ll raise the bid
.
”

Agent Allen dropped a pile of documents on Special Agent Monroe
’
s desk.

“
You
’
re not going to believe this,
Beau
,
”
Allen said.
“
The
Pantelli
s don
’
t have
any
felony conviction
s
. The
y
’
ve
been indicted for murder, extortion, drug dealing, the whole shiteree. But no convictions.
”

“
Unbelievable. What about the Comstock
? A
re they listed as owners?
”

“
Not directly. The Comstock is a private
ly held
company. The majority shareholder is an LLC named Black Chip Investments. You
’
ll never guess where the LLC is domiciled.
”

“
Cayman Islands?
”

“
Confirming once again why you get the big bucks,
sir
.
”

Monroe laughed
.
“
C
an we find out who
’
s behind Black Chip?
”

“
Maybe, but it won
’
t be easy.
”

“
Okay, good work, Wilson. Keep on it.
”

“
Will do,
sir
. Oh, and one more thing
. The IRS
is
going over the
Pantelli
’s’
individual tax returns for the past seven years
,
as well as the
c
asino
’
s.
Maybe
they
’
ll
turn up something of interest
.
”

“
I
’
ll settle for anything that keeps them
picking prison cotton for the next
twenty
years
.
”

Ch
a
pter 62

I
hadn
’
t seen Tina Hart in weeks
,
and
decided to
give
her a call to see how she was doing
,
and
hopefully arrange a date.

“
Tina, it
’
s Trace. Sorry it
’
s been so long
,
but I
’
ve been tied up with investors and operations up at the mine.
”

“
I understand, Trace. You
’
ve got a lot on your plate.
”

I knew from her tone
this conversation was
head
ed
south.

“
Listen, I was wondering if we could get together later this week. Have supper, take in a movie?
”

“
Trace, I can
’
t. I
’
ve met someone
,
and we
’
re getting pretty serious. He
’
s in education like me
,
and
he wants to get married and have a family. I know you
. A
fter the Sullivan project, you
’
ll likely be off on another project
to
God knows where. I care about you, Trace
, b
ut our lives are just too far apart.
”

“
I understand, kiddo. It
’
s not easy trying to hang with an exploration geologist
, an
d you
’
re right. I
’
m nowhere near ready to settle down and start a family.
”

“
Thanks for understanding, Trace. Good luck in the future and please be careful.
”

She hung up before I could say anything else.
Not exactly out of the blue
,
but still not a hell of a lot of fun
,
either
.

The next day I called Will and told him about Tina.

“
Well, hell, amigo. What
’
d you expect
?
You
’
re on the road most of the time
, and
if
she
knew about all the shit going on with killers, the FBI
,
and the mob, you
’
d have been out on your ass a long time ago,
”
Will
said with
a chuckle.
“
Besides which, you
’
ve still got me, Wally
,
and the Virus to pal around with.
”

I laughed
.
“
Y
eah, you
’
re right. What in the hell was I
worried about
?
”

“
Exactly
. B
e at the
First Inn
at noon. Lunch and beers are on me.
”

I did paper
-
work in my office until around eleven thirty. I was just getting ready to head over to
meet Will
when Wally called.

“
Hey, Wally, how
’
s it hangin
’
?
”

“
Down
,
slightly to the left
,
a
nd
quite
large.
”

I laughed
.
“
Uh-huh.
What
’
s up?
”

“
Well, I just got off the phone with Jerry Sm
y
th over at Charter Engineering.
”

“
Yeah, how
’
s he coming with the
engineering report
?
”

“
Good. He
’
s sending you a zip file with the final draft for your review.
”

“
How
’
d the numbers look?
”

“
Awesome. Try five hundred twenty million pounds of drill
-
indicated uranium.
”

“
Jesus, we just hit the big leagues. What about gold and copper?
”

“
It
’
ll be in the report
, b
ut he said the values are damn good too.
”

“
Wow
! G
reat news, Wally. Let
’
s push to get this puppy on the Toronto Exchange and start trading with the
big boys.
”

“
I
’
ve got everything lined up. All I need is the final, signed, sealed
report
.
”

“
Good work,
compadre.
I
’
ll get on the draft like a duck on a June bug.
”

I called Cyrus on my way to the
First Inn
and filled him in.

“
God
-
damn, Trace. We
’
re peeing in the tall grass with the big dogs now.
”

I laughed
.
“
Y
es,
sir
, we sure are. Listen, I
’
m about to go have lunch with Will. I
’
ll call
you later
.
”

“
Okay, Trace. Say howdy to Will and keep up the good work.
”

I walked into the
First Inn
and spotted Will at a table. I looked around to see if Tina was working but didn
’
t see her
. P
robably a good thing.

“
She
’
s not working today, Trace,
”
Will said
, noticing me glancing around
.
“
L
ucky for you
.
”

“
My thoughts
exactly. By the way, I just got off the horn with Wally. The final draft of the
engineering report
is on the way.
”

“
Did he say what kind of reserves they
’
re giving us?
”

I looked around and rubbed my hands together, stalling.

“
Come on, Trace. It
’
s good
. . .
isn
’
t it?
”

“
Only if you call
h
alf
a billion pounds of uranium good.
”

“
Holy shit! Are you kidding me?
”

“
Not a pound
,
partner. Five hundred twenty million drill
-
indicated pounds. Plus the gold and copper values.
”

“
Jesus, when this gets out
,
the shares will go to twenty bucks.
”

I nodded
.
“
H
ow
’
s it feel to be rich?
”

Will took a big pull of his
Tumbleweed Ale
and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand
.
“
N
ot too
g
oddamned bad.
”

After lunch I went back to my office and called Jim Lee
’
s cell phone. With the time difference I figured he
’
d be in bed. The phone went to voic
e mail,
and I left him a detailed message. I was pretty sure
who
my first caller would be in the morning.

As I closed up shop for the day, I couldn
’
t help wondering what the
Pantelli
s would do if they knew about the results of the
reserve report
. The Chinese would have
about
as much chance
of buying their shares
as a fart in a whirlwind.

Al and Crispino wouldn
’
t know about the reserve report until I put out a news release to the Vancouver Stock Exchange and our shareholders. But they
’
d already made their decision.

“
Are you sure, big brother?
”
Pino asked.

“
Yep, I am. The Chinks smell money
,
and so do I. We
’
ll hold our shares and take the ride.
”

“
Okay, Al. Works for me. Besides, the casino
’
s already written off Rosenburg
’
s debt. Hell, we
’
ve basically got no cost basis in
his
shares. How can we miss
?
”

“
My thoughts
exactly
. As Rosy used to say at the crap table,
‘L
et it ride.
’
”

“
Beau, we may have turned up something,
”
Agent Allen said, looking at a fax from the
FBI
’
s
Las Vegas field office.
“
Seems our boys in the Vegas office have had an eye on the Comstock for some time.
”

“
Damn,
wouldn
’
t
it be nice if one hand knew what the other was doing
?
”
Monroe replied.

“
Be that as it may, we may have a lead. It
’
s the old disgruntled employee
shtick
. Seems the Comstock canned a
c
roupier for palming chips at the craps table.
In return, the gentlem
a
n filed a wrongful
-
termination suit. Somewhere in all the BS was a passing reference to
the
Pantelli
s possibly
pulling the old
‘
skimeroo.
’
”

“
Really?
”
Monroe said, now giving his full attention to Agent Allen.

“
Yep. One of our Vegas field agents picked up on the reference during a review of the grievance. If the Comstock hadn
’
t
already
been on their radar, it
’
s likely nobody would
’
ve noticed the ac
c
usation.
”

“
Get out there, Wilson. See what you can come up with. This could be the opening we
’
ve been looking for.
”

“
Color me gone,
sir
.
”

If there was a quality Lei Chang did
not
possess
, it was patience. He hadn
’
t heard a peep out of the
Pantelli
s. Lei cursed in Chinese and flipped open his cell phone.

“
Hey, Mr. Chang,
”
Al said
.
“
What can I do for you today?
”