Indonesian Gold (61 page)

‘I can't leave the site,' she explained, ‘and you should
understand why.'

‘Close the drilling down and go to Manila,' he urged,
‘there's not much point in continuing now, anyway.'

‘Give me a couple of hours to think it all
through.'

‘We're still going to make more money than either of us
had envisaged, Sharon. Let's just count those blessings and agree that we've done well. Besides,
we can still resurrect the original project.'

There was a distinct pause before he heard Sharon back on
the line. ‘You should have come over to the site when you were in Jakarta. We might have been
able to sort something out.'

‘We tried our best, Sharon, but everything got so fucked
up over there, we just ran out of options.'

‘What happens next?' She sounded emotionally
drained.

‘Nothing, unless Dominion Mining agrees.'

‘You mean we can still block this raid?'

‘Not really.'

‘Then what are you saying?' she flared, Kremenchug moving
quickly to soothe.

‘It's Catch-22, Sharon. Dominion's acceptance is required
otherwise the deal can't legally proceed. On the other hand, if you do block their offer, there's
every chance we'll lose the mine anyway.'

‘Will I have to come over?' she asked. Kremenchug sensing
she was coming round.

‘No, not if you can organize to have Dominion's directors
courier their acceptance.'

Then, suddenly, she changed tack again. ‘Alex, what are
the BGC shares trading at?'

‘They've virtually collapsed. Chris has to get down to the
Exchange first thing tomorrow and do what he can to explain what's happening.'

‘What are they trading at, Alex?' she pressed,
annoyed.

‘Five dollars,' he answered, weakly. This was greeted with
another expletive, then resounding quiet. ‘Sharon?'

‘I'm still here.'

‘Sharon, we're really sorry about the General.'

‘Thanks, Alex.' And then, as if her uncle's passing was
already a thing of the past, she asked, ‘Alex, would you mind going over all of that
again?'

‘What, the offer?'

‘Yes.'

Kremenchug
shook his head at
the woman's resilience. ‘Wouldn't you prefer I called you back, say, in a couple of
hours?'

‘No. Let's get it over with, now. I could do with the
distraction.'

‘Are you certain you want to do this now?'

‘I'm sure,' she assured him. ‘And, Alex,' she continued,
‘thanks for letting me know about my uncle.'

****

Chapter Twenty-one

Kalimantan
Gold – Longdamai
Sial

Sharon
stood at the Mahakam
River's edge, engrossed with the swirling eddy capturing leaves and small branches drawn into its
path. Dragonflies dipped and hovered in never-ending, predacious pursuit, tantalizingly out of
reach to the bulbous-eyed fish that stalked below the shifting, surface glare. Movement at her
feet caught her attention, Sharon remaining perfectly still as she observed the cockroach's long,
threadlike antennae emerge from under the timber planks, and test the air. Slowly, the shiny
brown adult insect moved into full view, Sharon's swift stomp squashing the scavenger underfoot
before it could flee. She scraped her boot against the jetty's timbers, kicking shattered remains
through cracks, into the water.

Her uncle's death, although expected, could not have come
at a more inopportune time. As Sharon could not communicate with Manila directly, she had
solicited Kremenchug's assistance in relaying a message to Alfredo, to standby the telephone
later in the day. She would take the chopper to Samarinda and speak to him from there, before
catching the charter to Singapore, and then home to the Philippines via Hong Kong, to assist with
the burial.

Although Sharon had earlier indicated to Kremenchug that
she would not attend the funeral, she had changed her mind upon accepting that the hostile
takeover was virtually a
fait accompli.
Now, with the shift in control, she knew that it
was only a matter of time before the incoming shareholders discovered what had been done, and lay
the blame directly at her feet. She would put all drilling on hold then fly to the Philippines to
farewell her uncle, taking advantage of the visit to contact her nominee directors in the British
Virgin Islands, and issue them with new instructions.

Dominion Mining's BGC stock had been released from escrow.
Originally, she had planned to start selling these shares as soon as they became available. Now,
she had to correct the timing. She recognized that, although BGC's stock value was down as a
result of the unfavorable media questioning P.T. Kalimantan Gold's rights to the Longdamai
discovery, this situation remained fluid. Sharon knew that once she had instructed her directors
in Tortola to approve the ‘farming-out' arrangements to the CAP Bank syndicate, and this
information was released to the market, BGC's shares would recover some of their value, lost in
that week. Sharon understood clearly, now, the path she must follow. She would revise her
instructions to Dominion's nominee directors and, once the BGC stock had recovered, sell, then
abandon the Longdamai site and disappear before the incoming operators restarted the drilling
program – all of these latter actions integral to her original plan.

When Sharon first conceived the scheme she had no
illusions of the resulting uproar, and the consequences, once the fraud had been discovered.
Returning to the Philippines had never been her first option, as she had planned to relocate to
any one of a multiple of destinations, such as the Cayman Islands or even Majorca. Armed with a
projected treasury of twenty million dollars, she was confident that residency in such countries
could easily be arranged, and that extradition may not necessarily become a serious threat. If
trapped, she intended denying responsibility for the fabricated results, accusing Eric Baird and
his accomplice, Alexander Kremenchug. After all, both had colorful histories – both were involved
in business together prior to her appointment as operations manager, and both stood to gain
substantially from salting the samples.

But, now, with the involvement of international bankers,
she knew that this group would have the muscle and influence to dislodge her from wherever she
might choose to hide. Money talks – and, she had no doubt that any host government threatened
with losing CAP Bank's substantial revenue, or deposits, would not hesitate in surrendering her
to the courts. No, she decided, there had to be a significant change to her original concept – so
that when she did disappear, it would have to be
forever
.

Suddenly, Sharon looked up and squinted, her attention
drawn by the familiar, chopping beat of rotors slicing through tropical air and recognized the
TNI's military replacement Bell 205 ‘Huey' with its camouflaged arrangements. She remained
standing, observing, as the helicopter landed heavily, then casually strolled towards the helipad
as dust settled to greet the
Kopassus
, Special Forces pilot who had become so essential to
her exit plan.

****

Jakarta

‘Stew, hi buddy!' Phil Samuels sounded in good cheer on
the phone. ‘How's that lady friend of yours – or have you already moved on?'

‘Where are you, Sammy?' Campbell asked, ignoring the
comment. Their friendship dated back to undergraduate days, when both studied geology at
Washington State. In subsequent years, Phil ‘Sammy' Samuels had been responsible for directing a
considerable volume of mining consultancy work his way.

‘Toronto,' came the reply.

‘Coming over?'

‘Sure, but not for another month or so.'

Campbell
could hear the other
man drawing, on what had to be a cigar. ‘Those things will be the end of you, one day,' he said,
lightheartedly.

Samuels laughed. ‘You might be right.' Then, ‘Say, Stew,
got anything on at the moment?'

‘Why, what's up?'

‘Have something for you. That's if you're
interested?'

‘What's the job?'

‘First, there's been no announcement, although that may be
imminent, so you'll need to keep the lid on this until I personally give you clearance.
Okay?'

Campbell
's curiosity was
immediately aroused. ‘You know me, Sammy. All ears, no mouth,' he bantered.

‘Stew,' Samuels' tone became serious. ‘This is serious. If
word leaks before the Board is ready…' he left the rest unsaid.

Campbell
fell into step,
acknowledging his friend's warning. ‘Understood, Phil. What needs to be done?'

The distinctive sound of heavy exhaling preceded Samuels'
response, Campbell visualizing his friend holding the phone in one hand, a Havana in the other.
‘Baron is taking over the Longdamai operations,' Samuel imparted, leaving Stewart Campbell
stunned. ‘And I want you to get on site during the transition period to protect our interests. Do
you want the work?'

Campbell
's mind galloped at
the offer. When drilling results from the Longdamai discovery had first been released, he had
been amongst the most vociferous, of the many skeptics, in challenging the findings. However,
when the test results had been verified by an internationally acceptable, analytical analysis
laboratory
and
acclaimed by many amongst the world's finest mineral geologists as
conceivably the greatest gold discovery ever to be made, he, too, became a believer. For
Campbell, Baron's involvement merely confirmed what everyone in the industry already suspected –
that the Longdamai site contained huge reserves of gold; so great, in fact, that some analysts
were predicting the possibility of a collapse in world gold prices. Campbell considered the kudos
in being associated with such an operation – being appointed, albeit, only in a temporary
capacity, would do his reputation no harm. Still, something niggled at the back of his mind.
Although Baron Mining enjoyed the reputation of being an adequate, corporate citizen in terms of
environmental responsibility throughout its massive, multinational empire, over the years, he had
observed that the mining giant rarely missed an opportunity to promote its public profile. ‘Of
course, Phil, who wouldn't be. But, why all the secrecy?' He heard Samuels conversing with
someone in the background, surprised that he had not mentioned that others would be party to this
conversation.

‘When I say Baron's taking over the operation, Stew, I
meant as operators. You'll hear it all soon enough once the company sends out a press release
but, for the time being, you can assume that we'll be running things. A banking group that
originates from over your way is leading the syndicate. You most probably know them. Their
US-based banking arm is Commercial Asian Pacific. Does that ring any bells?'

‘Sure does,' he answered, ‘the Salima Family's offshore
operations. It's huge.'

‘That's one way of putting it,' Campbell could almost see
the smile on the other man's face. ‘You'll be answerable to me, Stew, but for the purposes of
paperwork, the CAP boys are driving the engine. Okay?'

‘Fine by me,' Campbell agreed, ‘what's the
brief?'

‘Well, you'll need to get over to the site by the end of
the week and establish yourself as Baron's onsite representative. Obviously, we want the transfer
to go as smoothly as possible, as soon as the deal is finalized. P.T. Kalimantan Gold's ops
manager is a Filipino. Name's Sharon Ducay.'

‘I know. We've met,' Campbell did not elaborate. ‘Doesn't
she know, yet?'

‘She'd be expecting something like this. The BGC board
would have briefed her, by now.'

‘Jesus, it'll be like walking into a hornets' nest. Will
she be staying on?'

‘No. But she doesn't know that yet. Guess she won't be too
happy with your arrival. Keep it as cool as you can; Stew – there's big bucks riding on all of
this.'

‘She's going to be really pissed, Phil, I know. I would
be, given that she's the one who discovered the deposit.'

‘Can't be helped. We've got our own people with
substantially more experience than she has. Besides, don't know if she's ever been engaged in any
downstream operation. We're going to need production people – mining engineers, and the like.
Sharon Ducay's done her bit. We'll talk to her once you're on site. Don't worry, Stew, we'll make
sure she gets a reasonable payout.'

‘Just seems like you're forgoing her local knowledge-
she's got to be a great asset to have around.'

‘Sorry, haven't made myself clear on that. Of course
she'll need to remain until we get a full team on site, and that could take a couple of months.
Kalimantan Gold still has Ducay under contract. Her final payout will be dependent on her
remaining there until we can get things tidied up, and take over. Think you can handle
that?'