Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (54 page)

“
Right this way
,
gentlemen,
”
I said, motioning down the
hall
.
“
It
’
s the third door on the left. The one marked
Columbia Resources
.
”

I walked ahead and opened the door to Cyrus
’
s office.

Sally Friesen
rose from her desk to greet us.

“
Good morning
,
Sall
y
,
”
I said.
“
We
’
ve got a meeting scheduled with Cyrus.
”

“
Yes, I
’
ll let him know you
’
re here,
”
Sall
y
replied
,
walk
ing
over
to
the
door of Cyrus
’
s
private office.

She knocked softly on the door and then opened it just enough to stick her head in.
“
Cyrus, Trace and the gentlemen from Hong Kong are here.
”

“
Okay, thank you, Sall
y
. Would you see if they would like a cup of coffee or tea
?
”

“
Certainly,
sir
.
”

Cyrus got up from his desk chair, s
traightened his tie a tad,
and walked into the outer office.

“
Good morning, gentlemen,
”
Cyrus said,
looking very dignified in his charcoal suit, white dress shirt
,
and blue silk tie.

I shook hands with Cyrus and gestured to my guests.

“
Cyrus, you remember Mr. Chang from
the conference in T
oronto?
”

“
Of course. Good to see you again,
sir
. And welcome to the Pacific Northwest.
”

Chang and Cyrus shook hands.

“
Thank you, Mr. McS
w
eeny. I would like you to meet our chief mining engineer, Mr. Zhoa,
”
Chang said, gesturing to the bespectacled
,
short but very stout
,
engineer.

“
Nice to meet you,
sir
,
”
Cyrus said, shaking hands with the engineer.
“
Please come into my office
,
gentlemen,
and have a seat
at the conference table
.
”

Sall
y
got
Chang and Zhoa
cups of hot
tea while the rest of us drank coffee.

Chang to
ok
a sip of his tea
,
s
e
t his cup
down on the glass
-
covered mahogany conference table
,
and started the meeting
.

“
Gentlemen,
”
he
began
,
“
I asked for this meeting to reaffirm to you my company
’
s continued interest in acquiring a majority interest in Montana Creek Mining. And secondly, to get an on-site look at the Sullivan Mine
, e
specially the coring operations.
”

I glanced
quickly at
Cyrus and then
back
to Chang.
“
We
are keenly
aware of your interest in
acquiring a control position in
Montana Creek Mining
, Mr. Chang.
This
interest was reinforced after our recent visit with Al
Pantelli
.
Both Al and his brother, Pino,
strongly suggested I
should
sell my shares to
U
RAN
-China
Nu
c
lear Corp
.
in order to facilitate your proposed purchase of their shares
.
An offer
,
I respectfully declined.
”

“
I wonder,
”
Cyrus added,
looking directly at Chang,
“
i
f you are fully aware of the type of people you
’
re dealing with. And I am speaking of the
Pantelli
family.
”

“
We are not suggesting we wish to join the
Pantelli
family in any type of business venture,
”
Chang replied
,
calmly.
“
Rather, we merely wish to acquire the shares they own in Montana Creek Mining.
Simply put,
we would prefer to have a controlling interest in your company prior to making such an acquisition.
”

“
My advice to you would be to go ahead and acquire the
Pantelli
’s’
shares
, regardless
of whether or not you
’
re able to get control,
”
I replied.
“
The
Pantelli
s have no interest in uranium or any commodity
,
except
cash.
I can assure you, we are not
too
happy
about a crime family
holding a large block of our shares.
And
I suspect,
at some point,
the SEC will share
our
concern.
”

“
Everybody in this room believes b
oth uranium and the value of our shares are going higher
,
”
I continued
.
“
It
could
be a very astute investment to acquire the
Pantelli
’s’
shares at this time.
”

Chang rubbed his chin with his right hand and looked at
Zhoa
.

“
Well said, Mr. Brandon
,
a
nd worthy of
serious consideration.
”

“
I would appreciate it,
”
I replied, looking directly into Chang
’
s jet
-
black eyes.

Okay, fellows,
”
Will interjected, seeking to take the rhetoric down a notch or two.
“
I
f
we
’
re to get to the mine in time to see much this afternoon,
we
’
d better
adjourn and continue this conversation on the way to Winthrop.
”

“
Bathroom is down the
hall
, fellows,
”
Cyrus said.
“
It
’
s
several hours
’
ride
to
the mine.
”

Chang and Zhoa left Cyrus
’
s
office and headed for the restroom. Cyrus motioned Will and
me
closer to his desk.

“
I think you got his attention,
”
Cyrus said
,
softly.
“
And
I think they
’
re beginning to realize they don
’
t want a Mafia family as significant shareholders in Montana Creek Mining
,
either
.
”

“
I agree,
”
Will added.
“
Maybe they
’
ll go ahead and buy out the
Pantelli
’s’
shares unconditionally?
”

“
Could be,
”
I replied.
“
Let
’
s get them to the mine and dazzle them with some
high grade.
When they get
all
touchy
-
feely with ten percent uranium ore, it just might solve our Mafia
shareholder
problem.
”

Both
Cyrus and Will
chuckled
.

“
Strange
r
things have
certainly
happened with this company,
”
Cyrus said, shaking his head.

“
Ya, think?
”
Will
replied
,
with a snort
.
“
Only if you call a
mad chemist
,
an
IRA
bomber, a
nd
you two characters having s
upper with a Mafia
d
on
,
strange.
”

We
were all chuckling when Chang and Zhao came back into the office.

On the drive up to Winthrop
,
I gave Chang and Zhao a
brief
history of the Sullivan Mine
and updated them on
drilling operations
to date.
By the time we pulled into the
Winthrop House
,
both men were up to speed
.

“
Let
’
s check in
,
and then we
’
ll run over to our core storage warehouse,
”
I said.
“
It
’
s a little late in the afternoon to head up to the mine
.
”

“
Excellent,
”
Chang replied
,
“
Both myself and Mr. Zhao are very anxious to view the cores.
”

“
Okay, let
’
s get checked in and re
-
group here in the lobby in
,
say
,
fifteen minutes?
”
I replied.

T
wenty minutes
later
we pulled into Bob Malott
’
s construction yard and parked in front of the warehouse holding our core.

Bob saw us pull in and walked over from his office.

“
Bob, I
’
d like you to meet Mr. Chang and Mr. Zhao,
”
I said.
“
They
’
re with U
RAN
-China Uranium Corp
.
, o
ne of our larger shareholders.
”

Bob stuck out his right hand
.
“
N
ice to meet you fellows. You
’
re in for a hell of a treat
. J
ust wait
‘
til you see the cores.
”

I unlocked the warehouse door and flipped on the interior lights. Fish had several core boxes open and
sitting
on a long table.

“
Fish is still logging these,
”
Bob said, gesturing at core in the open boxes.

“
Take a look
,
gentlemen,
”
I said, walking over to the tables.
“
Just be sure to put
any core you remove back in the same slot and orientation. We don
’
t want to foul up
our geologist
’
s
logging.
”