Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (29 page)

“
Okay, Doug,
have her
get them out today and invoice me for your time.
”

“
Yes,
sir
. And you don
’
t owe me anything
. I
t
’
s the least I can do for Thorny. I
’
ll be sure all future reports are sent
,
ASAP.
”

Cyrus hung up and dialed Malcolm.

“
Mal, Cyrus here. Do you know anything about new core results?
”

“
Hi, Cyrus. No
,
I don
’
t. Last report I had
,
we were still trying to figure out where the vein had gone.
”

“
Well, there
’
s new assays coming my way
. If the
y
’
re
not from previous cores, then they
’
ve relocated the vein.
”

“
You want me to call Trace?
”

“
Yes, but you
’
re going to have to be v
e
ry careful how you question him on this. Otherwise he
’
ll know I
’
m getting information from the lab
,
as well as from you.
”

“
You
’
re right.
It might be better if I meet with Walter
Wilkins
here in Vancouver.
Just t
wo directors having lunch and discussing the drilling program.
”

“
Perfect. Just do it fast and be very
,
very
,
careful.
”

Cyrus hung up the phone and opened
hi
s online
trading account with Cayman Island Securities. He typed in Montana Creek
’
s symbol. The shares were at a buck eighty with a little better
-
than
-
average volume. He dialed Nigel Cunningham.

“
Nigel, Cyrus. What
’
s the current status
of
Montana Creek Mining?
”

“
Hello, Cyrus. Well, your short sale knocked the price down ten percent
,
but there
’
s been pretty steady
volume
at the lower levels. Looks like a few investors are averaging down.
”

“
If I close out my short position, what am I looking at?
”

“
Stocks down ten percent
from where you sold short
.
So, you
’
re up twenty cents per share on
a million shares
.
”

“
Two hundred grand profit?
”

“
Less
our
commission
s
.
”

“
Okay, buy the shares back at one eighty. Close out my short position
,
now.
”

“
Done. Tidy little profit, Cyrus. Congratulations.
”

“
Yeah, well
,
it
’
s not exactly what I had in mind. But
, as my old man used to say,
‘
Y
ou never go broke taking profits
.’”

Wal
ly
and Malcolm met at
a
restaurant
on the top floor of W
ally
’
s office
building
,
in d
owntown Vancouver
. Both men ordered grilled salmon and salad.

Malcolm took a sip of his tea
.
“
D
amn
,
that
’
s hot,
”
he
said,
setting
his
cup back in
its
saucer.

“
Yes, but feels pretty good on a cold day like today,
”
Wally replied.

“
That it does, Wally,
”
Malcolm replied, dabbing his burned lip with his napkin.
“
I wanted to get together for a few minutes, Wally, and discuss operations down at the Sullivan Mine. I
’
ve not received any updates of late. And
,
as you no doubt do as well, I get the occasional shareholder query.
”

Wally
’
s inner caution light sta
r
ted blinking
.
“
L
ast report I got
,
they were doing some
underground
mapping on the first level. Looking for evidence of faulting. I believe the rig is on standby until they figure this out.
”

“
I see
,
”
Malcolm said, pouring a bit of cream into his tea
.
“
S
o no new drilling?
”

“
Trace may have move
d
the rig to a new location
,
j
ust to save time later. As you know, anything is preferable to paying rig time for an idle drill.
”

“
Agreed. What about the cores we
’
ve already cut? Have they all been assayed?
”

“
Yes. We
’
re up to date
,
and all the assay data has been published and filed with the VSE.
”

“
Just as I thought. Very good. Trace does run a tight ship.
”

The two men finished lunch and headed back to their respective offices. For Wally it was just a quick elevator ride down to his floor.

Wally arranged a conference call and had Trace
,
Wil
l
,
and James Lee
, who was in Los Angeles,
on the line.

“
Fellows
,
I just had lunch with Malcolm Trueblood. Actually, more of an interrogation than lunch.
”

“
What
’
s
up, Wally
?
”
I asked.

“
He
’
s v
ery curious about new drilling. Wanted to know if we
’
d cut any new cores
,
o
r if any new assays from previous cores w
ere
forthcoming.
”

Jim Lee jumped in
.
“
F
ellows, he
’
s got someone on the inside at the lab. Why else would he be asking about new assays?
”

“
I
’
m going to put you all on hold at my end,
”
Wally said.
“
I need to check something. You all keep at it
.
I
’
ll be back on in a sec.
”

Will, Jim
,
and I continued to discuss Malcolm
and current operations at the mine while we waited on Wally
.

“
I
’
m back on fellows,
”
Wally said
,
“
a
nd I
’
ve got some damned
-
interesting news. The million share short position has been closed. The seller
,
and I
’
m assuming it was Cyrus
,
bought his shares back this morning
,
at a dollar eighty.
”

“
The son of a bitch made two hundred grand off our labors,
”
Will
said,
disgustedly
.
“
He found out we
re
-
located
the vein
,
b
efore
we announced it
,
and
covered his short position.
”

“
Well
,
boys, welcome to
world of penny stocks
,
”
Wally said.

“
Look
,
we can
’
t begrudge a smart
guy
from playing the market,
”
I replied.
“
What we can go after is an SOB getting insider information to formulate his play.
”

“
So, how do we proceed?
”
Wally asked.

“
Wally, I want you to call a board meeting as soon as possible. Can we use your conference room?
”

“
Absolutely. I
’
ll send out the notice today.
Can you all be here in two days?
”

We all replied in the affirmative.

“
What
’
s the plan of attack, Trace?
”
Jim asked
.

“
We go
to
DEFCON
three and front Malcolm. We tell him we have evidence he passed inside information to one of our shareholders. And we have reason to believe
the same
shareholder is getting copies of our assays before they
’
re announced. We ask for his resignation. If he
balks
, we say we
’
ll turn over
our information
to the securities regulators in Canada
,
and to the SEC and the FBI in the U
.
S.
”

“
What about Cy
r
us?
”
Will asked.

“
One bottom dweller at a time,
”
I replied.
“
Once we take care of Malcolm, I
’
ll have a
sit
-
down w
ith Cyrus.
”

C
hapter
1
8

P
ino
Pantelli
was enjoying a late afternoon aperitif with his brother when his cell rang.
Al li
t
a Cuban
cigar
and sipped
his drink while he waited for his brother to finish
the
call.

“
Problems?
”
Al asked
. after
Pino
hung up
.

“
Not a problem
,
but an interesting piece of news. Looks like Cyrus closed his short position against Montana Creek Mining. He bought back a million shares at a buck eighty.
”

“
I
’
ll be damned
,
a cool
two
-
hundred
-
grand
profit. Not too shabby
. T
he Virus strikes again,
”
Al
said,
with a laugh.

“
Yeah. Good news for us too. The share
price is heading back up.
”

“
You know, I
’
m starting to like this penny stock bullshit. Anyway we can get a bigger piece of the pie?
”

“
You mean squeeze
t
he Virus?
”

“
Damn right.
I don
’
t give two squirts about that
Il figlio di una femmina
.
”

Pino laughed
.
“
Y
eah
,
he is a son
of
a
bitch
, b
ut he
’
s a smart son
of
a
bitch.
”

“
Smart or not, let
’
s figure out a way to grab his shares in Montana Creek Mining. I got a good feeling about that company.
”

“
Let me think about it
,
and you do likewise. We
’
ll figure out a way.
”

Back
in Vancouver, Peter Rand was pouring over
Montana Creek Mining Corp
.
’
s
Vancouver Stock
E
xchange filings
. He
’
d made a list of the major shareholders and insiders
,
and
highlighted
Rosenburg, Twisp River Resource
s
,
and
shares purchased offshore through Cayman Island Securities.

His secretary buzzed him and said Special Agent Monroe was holding on line two.

“
Special Agent Monroe, good to hear from you.
”

“
Chief Constable Rand,
if you
’
ve got a minute, I
’
ve got a bit of information for you.
”

“
Shoot.
”

“
As I mentioned, we
’
ve been
reviewing
open homicide cases where exotic poisons were used.
”

“
Yes.
”

“
Well, we may have found a link.
In
checking
the medical examiner
’
s notes, it appears
one
victim
’
s steering wheel had been painted with
a toxin.
”

“
Which victim?
”

“
The one killed by synthetic tree frog neurotoxin. The
toxin
was
absorbed
through
skin
contact with the steering wheel. Sound familiar?
”

“
Bingo
! D
amn fine work
,
Agent Monroe.
”

“
We were never able to confirm it, but there was some evidence the victim was involved in drug trafficking. Our
information lead
s
us to believe it may have been a mob hit.
”

“
Any word on which
crime
family?
”

“
Nothing positive, but New Orleans
kept coming up
.
”

“
T
he
Pantelli
family?
”

“
It
’
s certainly possible. They
’
re a
s rough as
a
Monday morning hangover
, a
nd they
’
re
certainly involved in the narcotics tr
ade. There was one other notation on an old police report
that caught my eye
.
”

“
What was it?
”

“
Just
two words
: t
he
C
hemis
t
.
”

“
The killer
’
s
nom de guerre
?
”

“
Could be. We
’
re running the name through our databases to see if anything pops out.
”

“
W
hy would the
Pantelli
family have an interest in Rosenburg
? Hell, he was just a penny stock promoter from Vancouver. Doesn
’
t exactly make him unique.
”

“
You mentioned he liked to gamble, especially in Vegas
.
”

“
Yes,
word is he liked high
-
stakes
craps.
”

“
It could link him to the
Pantelli
family.
”

“
How so?
”

“
Well, we
’
ve suspected
the
Pantelli
s are the money behind
the Comstock Casino in Vegas.
But, we
’
ve never been able to prove it.
”

“
Interesting. The pieces are starting to fall together. I
’
ll
dig into Rosenburg
’
s Vegas trips. See where
he
gambled and how far in the hole he might have been.
”

“
Sounds good.
If Rosenburg was into the
Pantelli
s
,
for some serious money, the
y
may have sanctioned the hit.
”

C
hapter
1
9

W
ill and I flew up to Vancouver and met Jim Lee in the terminal. We grabbed a cab to
downtown and
went up to Wally
’
s office. Wally and Malcolm were waiting for us in the conference room.

After a few cordialities, I called the meeting to order.

“
Gentlemen, I called this meeting because we have a serious problem.
”

“
Don
’
t tell us you
’
ve lost the v
ein again.
”
Malcolm
said,
with a
chuckle.

“
How
’
d you know we
’
d found it, Malcolm? We didn
’
t notify you.
”

“
What do you mean
?
”
Malcolm replied, the color draining from his face.

“
Malcolm, we know you
contacted
a large shareholder and told
him
we
’
d lost the vein. We also know this same shareholder short
ed
our stock
a
million shares. And he recently covered his short position when he found out we
’
d gotten back on the vein.
”

“
That is preposterous!
”
Malcolm yelled.

“
Malcolm
,
we know this shareholder has someone on the inside at Mineral Valley Labs. I
’
ve contacted the lab
,
and they
’
re seizing
all
employee
’
s
’
computers
and reviewing all
e-mails
sent from the lab or from their personal computers. It
’
s just a matter of time until we find the leak.
”

Malcolm looked stunned but remained silent.

“
Here
’
s the deal
,
Malcolm. I want your resignation now or we turn over all our findings
over
to the
Canadian
Securities
Commission. And as we believe the shareholder you disclosed insider information to is an American, we
’
ll do likewise with the SEC and the FBI.
It
’
s up to you
,
Malcolm
. W
hat
’
s it going to be
?
”

Malcolm looked at each of the other directors in the conference room and then stared out across the harbor for a
long moment
.

“
Done
. Y
ou
’
ll have my resignation within the hour. If you gentlemen will excuse me.
”

Malcolm rose and walked out of the conference room.

“
I bet he
’
s already on his cell to Cyrus,
”
Will
said,
grimacing and shaking his head.

“
Could be
,
”
I said.
“
I know he
’
s on the top of my to
-
call list.
”

As I had the remaining board members in one room, I covered a few items with regard to the winter drilling program. I also informed them that from now on
,
all assays would come directly from the owner and manager of Mineral Valley Labs. Until the person selling our data was identified
,
only the owner would have access to our assay results. We
’
d also be getting a
20
percent discount on any future assays.

Will was right
about the phone call
.

“
Cyrus, Malcolm here. We
’
ve got a problem.
”