Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (57 page)

“
Mr.
Pantelli
, we
’
d like an answer on selling us your Montana Creek Mining shares.
”

“
Uh-huh, well
,
I
’
m afraid I
’
ve got bad news for you
,
Mr. Chang. My brother and I have decided to hang on to our shares. We think there
’
s a lot more upside in the share valuation.
”

Chang
’
s face flushed
,
and he bit down o
n
his
bottom
lip to keep from
exploding.

“
Perhaps a higher offer would change your mind?
”

“
No,
sir
. We
’
re going to run with Trace on this one
, b
ut thank you for your interest. If anything changes, I
’
ll get back to you.
”

“
I see,
”
Chang replied, the bitterness oozing from his voice.

Pino walked into Al
’
s office just as
Al
was hanging up on Chang.

“
What
’
s up
,
brother?
”

“
That was Chang. I told him, in polite terms, to go fuck himself. We
aren’t
going to sell him our Montana Creek Mining shares.
”

“
How
’
d he take it?
”

Al laughed
.
“
No
t too damn good. But then I really don
’
t give a shit how the commie bastard took it.
”

“
Made you mad, huh?
”
Pino
said with
a chuckle.

Al smiled at his brother
.
“
Yeah, I guess he did. He
’
s a condescending little prick
,
isn
’
t he?
”

“
Uh-huh, he most certainly is. Would be kind of fun to kick his slant
-
eyed ass.
”

Al laughed
.
“
H
ell, he
’
s probably a
k
ung
f
u mother
fucker. He might kick both
of
our asses.
”

“
Maybe, but I doubt he
’
d
kick
Mr. Colt
’
s ass
.
”

“
Righty
-
roo, but I don
’
t think we want to go
nu
c
lear with the Chinese,
”
Al said, laughing harder.

I finally got the zip file to open and was working my way through the draft
-
engineering report
. Smyth had done a 4.0 job
.
A full
-
blown
engineering report on a mining property
,
i
s something akin to a PhD dissertation. I couldn
’
t wait to see the bill for this monster.

Wally
’
s numbers were right on. We were looking at around a
half
billion pounds of drill
-
indicated uranium reserves
, p
lus the gold and copper values. But few would look past the uranium reserves
;
they
were
that
good.

I made
a few
minor edits and
e-mailed
the whole mess back to Smyth. In a week or so, we
’
d be able to file the report with the Vancouver Stock Exchange and apply for our listing on the TSX
, a
major milestone for Montana Creek Mining.

I
sat back in my desk chair and realized I
was caught up
,
for
now
. Fish had the drilling program under control
,
and
Wally was on
top of the TSX listing.
Of all the time
s
for Tina to give me the deep six. Here
I
was with a bit of free time and
no
g
irlfriend to share it with.
The situation required drastic action. So
,
I called Cyrus.

“
Cyrus, it
’
s Trace. Got
half
a minute?
”

“
Sure, Trace. What
’
s up?
”

“
Nothing serious. I
’
ve got a
little downtime and was thinking about disappearing for about a week.
”

“
Uh-huh. Need the condo?
”

I laughed
.
“
O
nly if
you
’
re not using it.
”

“
H
ell no, I
’
m not using it. Grab Tina and head on down. I
’
ll call my property gal and tell her you
’
re coming.
”

“
Tina won
’
t be coming, Cyrus,
”
I said,
explain
ing
the situation.

“
Well
,
I c
an
’
t blame her. Hell, you
’
re always on the
g
od
-
damned road. What
’
d you expect?
”

“
Yeah, I got the message. But still, she was one hell of a gal.
”

“
Uh-huh, w
ell
,
que sera sera
,
pardner
.
Listen
,
the Caymans are full o
f hot women. Hey, wait a sec. You liked Dominic Rinquet, didn
’
t you?
”

“
What
’
s not to like?
”

“
Exactly so, my boy. Look
,
I know her at least as well as Wally does. I
’
ll call her and set you up. First date
i
s on me. After that, you
’
re on your own
.
”

I laughed
.
“
O
kay
,
Uncle Cyrus.
“
I appreciate your help
,
and the use of your condo
.
”

I
hadn
’
t thought about Dominic since we
’
d met on Grand Cayman. I
’
d sensed some good karma between us
, b
ut we
’
d both backed off and stuck to business.
This
time, I reckoned, might be different.

I flew from Spokane to Houston and the
n
grabbed a
n Island Air
737 to George Town
. Upon arrival, I
took a cab to the
Colonial
, checked in
,
and called Dominic.

“
Hey, it
’
s Trace. Are you busy?
”

“
Do you mean at the moment
,
or tonight?
”

“
Both,
”
I
said with
a chuckle.

“
I
’
m free tonight. By the way
,
your
u
ncle called and filled me in on your situation.
”

I laughed
.
“
B
y my
u
ncle, I take it you mean
,
Cyrus?
”

“
Uh-huh
. H
e said you were heartbroken, worn out from work
,
and needed some R
&
R.
”

“
The latter two are true. My heart
’
s okay.
Tina and I
were good buddies, but I guess I always knew she wouldn
’
t put up with my job and travel.
”

“
Okay, enough of that. Where are you taking me tonight
? A
nd
I warn you, I
’
m starved.
”

“
W
hat
’
s the old quote?
‘
Forewarned is forearmed
.
’
”

“
Good looking and well
-
read
too.
I am impressed. Are you at the
Colonial
?
”

“
Yep, me and
a bunch o
f
movie actors
.
There goes Bart Yancey
now
.
”

“
Uh-huh. I
’
ll be in the lobby at seven sharp.
Jack
’
s
is fine. I
’
ll make the reservation.
”

I chuckled.
“
What
?
I don
’
t have enough clout to get us in?
”

“
You got it, babe. See ya.
”

At seven sharp I was in the lobby. Dominic strode in
,
wearing white
-
linen slacks with a navy blouse. Every guy in the lobby turned to look. Eat your hearts out, fellows, I thought
,
as she shook my hand and kissed both my cheeks.
I
’
d been right
on the previous trip
’
she was an
eleven
.

“
Hi, Trace. I
’
m very glad you decided to come back to the
i
sland.
”

“
Ditto, Dominic. All the cards just fell into place
,
and of course Cyrus offering his condo
,
didn
’
t hurt.
”

Dominic nodded and laughed
.
“
You know he
’
s got a terrible reputation. The
y
call him
Cyrus the
Virus.
”

“
Yeah, so I
’
ve heard.
But I
can tell you
,
he
’
s changed.
”

“
Uh-huh,
”
Dominic
said, pulling me in the direction of
Jack
’
s.
“
Come on
,
Trace
, l
et
’
s eat.
”