Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (6 page)

“
I
’
m
familiar with the Sullivan
, Trace
.
You have claims in there?
”

“
Just staked and filed thirty.
”

“
Who did the staking?
”

“
Ken Hodg
es
and Associates
,
out of Chelan.
”

“
I know Ken
. H
e
’
s one of the best.
”

“
I
’
ll
send you maps and a plan of operation. Can you take a look and give me a proposal?
”

“
I
’
ll
need to
get on
-
site and see what we
’
re looking at
,
work
-
wise.
”

“
Okay, Bob, today is Monday
. H
ow about we meet at your office on Wednesday
,
and I
’
ll
give you the grand tour. I
’
ll bring Will Coffee with me
to do the permitting.
D
o you remember
Will
?
”

“
Ugly as sin,
broken
-
down ex-center for Central
,
tu
r
ned law dog?
”
Bob replied
,
with
a
snicker
.

I laughed
.
“
Yeah, Bobby,
the
same
center who
's
team beat your team
’
s sorry ass four years running.
”

"
Okay, bring him if you must,
”
Bobby replied
,
with a chuckle
.
“
I guess I can put up with him for a day or two.
”

“
Thanks
,
Bob
. S
ee you at your yard on Wednesday.
”

***
**

Will and I rolled into Winthrop about ten Wednesday morning. We met Bobby at his office and
then
headed out to the claims
, dropping
Will
off
at the Forest Service
o
ffice
.

Bobby and I
drove up the rough road along Goat Creek, stopping where I
had
park
ed the
previous trip. Getting out
of the Bronco
, I noticed beer cans and sandwich wrappers on the ground.

“
Damn,
somebody has been here since my last visit
,
”
I said
,
pointing to the beer cans.

“
You
’
d think they could pick up their damn trash,
”
Bob
replied, shaking his head in disgust.

“
Tell you what, Bob, I think we
’
d better check some of our location monuments to be sure no one
’
s
messing with
our
claims.
”

“
Expecting some kind of trouble, Trace?
”

“
Do you know who
Cyrus McSweeny
is?
”

“
Oh, yeah, I know
t
he Virus.
”

“
Well
,
he c
alled me the other day
,
pumping me for information
. He
said he
’
d be seeing me.
”

“
I noticed you
’
re carrying a shooter
.
”

“
Ye
p
,
.357
Smith
&
Wesson
,
”
I said, patting my holster
,
“
l
oaded with 230
-
grain hollow points.
”

“
Good
. K
eep it with you when you
’
re up here, especially if you
're
up here alone.
”

“
Jesus, is
Cyrus
that dangerous?
”

“
In his line of work, he
’
s the top of the food chain. Miners I
’
ve worked with say he
’
ll take down or move claim stakes
and
pay off clerks in the courthouse to
pre
-
date his location notices. Hell, he
’
s the full
-
meal deal of trouble.
D
on
’
t underestimate him
,
or his
drones
.
”

“
Don
’
t worry, p
ard
. I won
’
t
.
”

When we got to
the mine, I showed Bobby where I needed the drill pads built
. I
left him
to
map out his work plan while I checked
the
location monuments. I walked down each of the claims, checking the latitude and longitude of each monument with my GPS.
All the claim stakes were up and matched the original coordinates.

Returning to the mine, I dug my hardhat and mine light from my backpack. Looking around
,
I found a sapling and cut a stout walking stick
. O
ne mine swim per year is my limit.

Slowly, I began working my way down the adit. It didn
’
t take long to
find what I was looking for
: a
number of
fresh gashes in the roof of the adit. Someone
had cut several samples from the exposed vein. It wasn
’
t too difficult to guess who. I just hoped
Cyrus
’
s
man
had
sampled far enough
down the adit to
step off into the
winze.

On the trip back to Winthrop, I didn
’
t mention what I
’
d found to Bobby. He
had
his hands full
building the access
road and drill pads. I dropped him at his yard
,
and he promised to have some costs to me in a couple of days.

I met up with Will back at the
W
.

“
How did it go at the mine?
”
Will asked.

“
Bobby got a good look at the work and will have a proposal for us in a couple of days
.
”

“
Everything copacetic at the mine?
”

“
We
’
ve had company, Will.
”

“
The Virus?
”

“
Got to be. Some
one
’
s been in the adit. I could see fresh chisel marks where they took samples.
Once Cyrus gets the assays back, he
’
ll know uranium is the play.
”

“
Do you think he is going to try something with the claims?
”

“
I don
’
t
think so.
The claims are legally located and filed and now in the BLM system.
When he finds out Ken did the staking, he
’
ll probably drop that idea.
My guess is
he
’
ll
come
at
us some other way
. M
aybe after we
’
re
public
.
He
could
buy up
a large block of shares and
demand a seat on our
board.
Or
h
e
could
just short the shit out of our stock.
In any case, we
’
re
going to have to be very, very
,
careful going forward.
”

Back in my office the following
Monday
,
Will and I
had
a conference call with Will
’
s attorney buddy, Walter
Wilkins
.
Wa
lly
told us he had a suitable
shell company.
W
e
agreed to meet in Vancouver
just
prior to
a
special shareholders
’
meeting
Wal
ly
would call. The shareholders
of the shell company
would
vote
to
ap
prove
vending
my
claims into the
shell
company
. In
return
for the claims, I would receive a
controlling share position.
The process was co
mmonly referred to as a reverse merger.

Will, Walter
,
and I would be elected directors of the
c
ompany.
As directors, we would appoint the officers of the corporation. I would serve as
c
hairman and CEO, Will as
s
ecretary and
t
reasurer. The name of the company would be changed to
Montana Creek Mining Corporation. The
new trading symbol on the Vancouver Stock Exchange would be
MC
M.V.

C
hapter
4

C
yrus McSweeny
’
s
Spokane office was on the sixth floor of the old
Inland
Empire Building
.
Built in
1900
, it remained one of Spokane
’
s historical architectural treasures.

Cyrus
’
s
o
ffice was plush
,
with lots of wood and leather furniture. Photos of various mining operations covered the wall
s
.
The only thing
s
lacking were diplomas.
Like his pal, Thorny,
Cyrus
had come
up the hard way
, f
rom working in the mines to investing
and promoting
penny mining stocks
.
He was s
treet smart and not afraid to bend or break a few laws
.
And
along the way,
h
e
’
d made millions.

Now in his
early
sixties, he was six feet tall, ramrod straight
,
lean and wiry with a shock of
unruly
white hair. His cobalt
-
blue eyes would
have made
Paul Newman envious. Women still sought his company
,
and he could still appreciate them.

This
particular
morning, he was
working
at his
gold
-
inlayed
mahogany desk
when
his
cell
phone rang.

“
Cyrus, it
’
s Thorny
. G
ot a sec
?
”

“
Sure thing,
Thorny,
I
’
m
just sitting here looking at
some
commodity charts.
”

“
Well, this may give you another chart to review. The samples I grabbed from the Sullivan came back
, a
nd I have
the
information
you wanted
on the
those mining
claims.
”

“
What did you turn up?
”

“
On the claim status side, they
’
re tight as a
sixteen
-
year
-
old virgin.
Ken Hodg
e
s & Associates over in Chelan did the staking. He
’
s not the expert witness you
’
d want
on
the stand. The SOB
has
never had a claim overturned.
”

“
Okay, so over
-
staking is out. How about the assays?
”

“
Gold and copper in line with reported assays back when the mine was in production. Those values alone will make a mine with today
’
s gold and copper prices.

“
Anything else?
”

“
Well, yes. The damned vein carries a
lot
of uranium. The assay
s
all
ran
eight to ten percent
."

“
Uranium, eh
?
Now I see young master Brandon
’
s interest.
”

“
Uranium
’
s been in the tank since Three Mile Island blew up. Do you think it will come back?
”

“
Already coming back, Thorny. All the reports indicate utilities are quietly buying up available stockpiles
,
and looking for more. Price is beginning to trend northward again.
”

Cyrus
paused,
drumm
ing
the fingers of his left hand on
the desk
-
top.

“
Listen,
Thorny,
I may have underestimated
our
young geologist
friend
,
just a tad. Get with your contacts in Vancouver and
see
who
’
s snooping around for a decent shell company.
He
’
s going to have to go public to raise enough dough to get rolling.
”

“
Will do,
s
ir
. I
’
ll be back to you when I have something.
”

Cyrus knew a grade of
8
to
10
percent uranium
, with any kind of reserves,
would
put the Sullivan
Mine in
rarefied air
,
r
ight up there with the big dogs like Cameco and Rio Tinto.

Will and I drove to Spokane and caught a
commuter
flight to Vancouver
. We
met up with Walter
Wilkins
at the Harbor
View
Inn
,
in downtown Vancouver.

“
There he is,
”
Will said,
waving to catch
Wilkins
’
s
attention.

Wally waved back and joined us near the
hotel
’
s
front entrance.

“
Hi, fellows
. G
ood flight?
”
Wally asked.

“
Yeah,
smooth as
a bar
-
maid
's
butt,
”
Will replied.
“
Wally
,
this is Trace Brandon, my client, partner
,
and friend.
”

“
Trace, really good to meet you. Will
,
here
,
has told me a lot about you
,
”
Wally said, extending his hand.

“
Walter
,
g
ood to meet you too, and don
’
t put too much credence in what Will told you about me,
”
I said
,
with a laugh.

“
Call me Wally, Trace
. A
ll my mates do. And don
’
t worry
.
I take all
Will
’
s fabrications with a grain of salt.
”

We grabbed a quiet corner table in the bar, ordered some beers and got down to business.

“
So, Wally, you
’
ve
locate
d
a good vehicle to merge with
?
”
I asked
.

“
Yes, I have. The company is a B
ritish Columbia
numbered company, incorporated specifically for a reverse merger.
One of my
associates
, Richard
Rosenburg
,
and I
control
one hundred
percent of the
five million
founder
’
s
shares.
T
he
re
’
s
an additional
million shares on the street held by investors who bought the
i
nitial
p
ublic
o
ffering
.
Richard and I
will give up
eighty
percent of
our
shares in return for your vending in all the Sullivan Mine claims.
”

“
So, we
’
ll have
about seventy percent control
?
”
I
asked
,
to confirm.

“
Correct, Trace.
You
’
ll get four million founder
’
s shares
.
Richard
and I
will keep one million
shares
,
half
a million
each. A
nd there will be one million shares of free trade in the float. So a total of six million issued and outstanding.
”

“
W
hat about any funds from the IPO
?
”
Will asked.

“
The IPO went out at five cents per share. Netted about forty
-
five grand
,
after expenses. Most of the balance
has been
used to pay
small
management fees
,
accounting, legal,
filing fees,
et
cetera
,
to keep the company current and in good standing. There
’
s thirty
-
five hundred in the company checking account that will transfer,
”
Wally answered.

I nodded
.
“
W
hat do you think, Will?
”

“
It
’
s about as tight as you can get and still be a publicly traded entity. It leaves little room for others to gain a significant position
.
”

“
True, unless they are able to acquire a significant percentage of the thirty
-
plus
percent
we won
’
t control
.
”

“
True enough, Trace, but it would take a pretty shrewd trade
r
to do that,
”
Wally replied.

I looked over at Will.

Wally saw the look of concern
in m
y
and Will
’
s eyes
.

“
Is there someone you
’
re
specifically
worried
about
?
”

“
We
’
ll
,
there is one guy
,
”
Will replied.
“
Y
ou may have heard of him
.
Cyrus McSweeny
.
”

Wally s
et
his beer mug back on the table
.
“
T
he Virus is interested in your deal?
”

“
Well, h
e called me,
”
I
replied
,
“
a
nd pumped me for information
, even
offered to be our partner.
”

“
I see
,
”
Wally
replied
.
“
Cyrus is well
-
known on the street up here. And he can play pretty rough. We
’
ll need be very careful not to leave him any openings.
”

“
Agreed and understood,
”
I replied.
“
But, f
irst things first.
We need to
get through the special shareholders
'
meeting
and complete the merger.
Remember, there
’
s no serum once you
’
re
infected by
t
he
Virus.
”
I
added
,
with a laugh.