Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (58 page)

We ate
a wonderful meal of
s
ea
b
ass a
ccompanied by
an excellent sauvignon blanc
.
T
o cap off the feast, we
ordered
steaming
mugs of
C
aribbean
c
offee
, a
blend of dark rum, whipped cream, sugar
,
and
coffee.

“
Wow,
”
Dominic said,
using her napkin to dab a bit of
whipped cream from her upper lip.
“
Excellent
meal, good coffee
,
and
pretty
-
fair
company.
”

I
chuckled
and took a sip of the coffee concoction.
“
Thank
s
, Dominic. I can
’
t think of a meal I
’
ve enjoyed more
,
or
better company
,
either.
”

“
How
’
s the ocean
-
view from Cyrus
’
s
condo?
”

“
You have to see it to believe it,
”
I said,
grinning mischievously.

“
Let
’
s take a look.
”

We watch
ed
the moon come up over the Caribbean from Cyrus
’
s
balcony.
Followed, a
gainst my better judgment,
by
skinny
-
dipp
ing
in the surf
. I don
’
t
know
if it was the cool water, the fear of a sea turtle looking for a dangling tender morsel
,
or the thought of a
t
iger
s
hark taking
off
a leg
, b
ut my equipment was definitely shriveled
when we got back on the beach
.

Dominic noticed
my plight
and laughed softly
.
“
I think I can remedy that.
”

Damned if she wasn
’
t right
.

The next four days were paradise in paradise. We made love, swam, dined
,
and lounged around in tee shirts and shorts
,
watching old movies we
’
d rented from a local vendor. We
’
d both fallen hard for each other
and were already planning my return trip.

It was tough to say good
-
bye at the airport
,
but business was business. Wally had our listing on the T
oronto Exchange
confirmed
,
and I needed to be in Toronto next week for the opening bell
. A
nd our first day of trading on the big board.

C
hapter
6
3

A
gent Wilson Allen had been working out of the La Vegas FBI field office for nearly two weeks. The local
FBI
office
along with the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS
were hard into
investigating the Comstock Casino
.

Agent Allen called his boss to report his findings.

“
Special Agent Monroe, it
’
s
Wilson
Allen here.
”

“
Morning, Wilson. Anything new?
”

“
Well, I
’
ve reviewed both
of
our investigation here in Vegas and the
IRS
-
C
ID findings. I think it
’
s pretty clear someone is skimming some of the
casino
profits.
”

“
Black Chip, LLC?
”

“
That
’
s the consensus around here.
”

“
Any luck on tracing ownership of Black Chip?
”

“
Negative
,
sir
.
So far the Cayman authorities haven
’
t been much help. I think it
’
ll take an indictment of the Comstock to get them to act.
”

“
Do we have enough to go in front of a
g
rand
j
ury?
”

“
With the
c
roupier
’
s testimony, I think so.
”

“
Put him in protective custody. I don
’
t want another potential witness against the
Pantelli
s to get knocked off. Coordinate with the local authorities and raid the Comstock.
Seize their computers and grab all
the employees i
n sight.
”

I invited
,
Wally, Will, James Lee
,
and Cyrus to join me for our first day of trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, usually just called the TSX.
The exchange would have a
n
opening bell ringing ceremony announcing the addition of Montana Creek Mining Corp
.
to the nearly
fifteen hundred
other companies listed on the exchange. It was a big deal for the company
,
and
our
shareholders.

Our cash
-
burn rate with just a single drill operating left us in good shape financially. I felt the founders and our biggest investors should enjoy this milestone
, s
o I pulled out all the stops.

Will, Cyrus
,
and I fl
ew
in together and
would
meet up with Wally and Jim Lee
at the
Frederick
Arms Hotel, one of the finest hotels
in Toronto.
I excluded the
Pantelli
s from our little soiree.

As Will, Cyrus
,
and I collected our luggage and cleared customs
,
we ran into Jim Lee.

“
Hey, Jim,
”
I yelled, waving to get his attention.

Jim waved back and pointed to an area beyond the crowed customs area.

In a few minutes we all met and shook hands with Jim.

“
Where
’
s Wally?
”
Jim asked.

“
He
’
s flying in directly from Vancouver,
”
I replied.
“
No customs hassles for Wally
. H
e
’
s a native.
”

We all laughed and then headed out to the curb to hail a cab.

“
Frederick
Arms, eh?
”
Jim said.

“
Yep, I decided we should go first
-
class on this one,
”
I replied.
“
Not too many times in a career
do
you get a listing on a major exchange. I thought it deserved a little ceremony.
”

“
Speaking of ceremony,
”
Jim replied,
“
you
fellows
will get to ring the opening bell in the morning
,
and
watch Montana Creek Mining start trading with the big
boys
.
”

“
You
’
ll be there too,
”
I added.

“
True, but I
’
ve been there before when IUC got listed here in Canada,
”
Jim replied.
“
I
’
ll be in the background. I want you all front and center. As you said, Trace,
i
t
’
s a very special milestone in the company
’
s history.
”

At around seven we all met for dinner.

“
I
hope none of you mind,
”
Jim said
,
“
b
ut I went ahead and made us reservations at
the
Rancher
’
s
Restaurant
,
here in the hotel
.
“
Best
Kob
e
beef in
Canada.
”

Jim was right
;
the
Kob
e
beef
was
primo. As were the several bottles of
c
ab
ernet
we washed it down with.
After the meal we adjourned to a
nearby
lounge
for
b
randy and
to discuss a little b
usiness.

“
Anything new on the Chinese front, Trace?
”
Jim asked.

I laughed
.
“
Damn, sounds like we
’
re discussing the Korean war. Nope, all qui
et
on the
e
astern front. Not a peep
since their visit to the Sullivan Mine.
I made it crystal clear
to Chang
I have no intention of selling my shares
,
at this point in time. And since neither of my legs have been broken
,
I
suspect
the
Pantelli
family may have
told Chang the same thing.
”

Jim
snickered
.
“
W
ho was it
who
told you
we
had an eclectic bunch of shareholders?

“
Uh
. . .
that would be
FBI
Special Agent Beau Monroe,
”
I replied
,
with a chuckle.

“
Yeah, well, eclectic is a damn sight better than dead,
”
Will chimed in.
“
Anything new from Monroe on the investigation into Rosy or Malcolm
’
s
deaths?
”

“
Well
,
Agent Monroe said they now
know for sure that t
he guy who killed Rosenburg
died in the botched
,
first attempt
,
on Malcolm,
”
I replied.
“
The bombing of Malcolm
’
s plane is still under investigation.
Monroe won
’
t tell me too much
, but h
e did say
everything they
’
ve uncovered
so
far seems to
point to our shareholders
,
in New Orleans.
”

Jim Lee took a sip of his brandy
,
“
Trace, I wish you
’
d sell IUC your block of shares. We
’
d tell Lei Chang to bugger off
, and
we
’
d make the
Pantelli
s an offer they couldn
’
t refuse.
”

I
smiled and
looked around the table
.

“
First things first
, gents
.
L
et
’
s get this puppy trading on the TSX
, and
t
hen we
’
ll deal with
the Chinese and the
Pantelli
s.
Hell, you never can tell
. T
he FBI may bust the
Pantelli
s for the deaths of Rosy and Malcolm
.
And
I believe they still have
the death penalty
,
in Louisiana.
”

“
And
, Jim,
”
Cyrus added,
“
i
f you do end up with the
Pantelli
’s’
shares, don
’
t forget yours truly owns their voting proxy for nearly three more years. Of course
,
I
’
d be glad to transfer
the proxy
to IUC for what I paid for it
, plus
a small profit.
”

We all laughed.

“
Thank you, Cyrus,
”
Jim
said with
a grin.
“
You
’
ll be the first one I call should we buy out the
Pantelli
s
.
”

The next morning at nine sharp
found us all
decked out in our
Sunday
-
go
-
to
-
meeting best.
I rang the opening bell
,
and
Montana Creek Mining
,
under its new symbol of MCM.TO
,
was off to the races
.

I made a short
promotional
speech to the assembled brokers
,
who
,
I could tell
from their expressions
had heard it all before. But they were gracious listeners an
d gave all of us a rousing hand a
s our symbol posted and the first trade was completed.

The IRS and the FBI hit the Comstock Casino like it was Normandy
on D-
d
ay
. Full
-
meal deal, guns out and up
,
and
enough yellow crime tape to wrap up an elephant
. The
a
gents sealed of
f
the
cashier’s
cages and counting room
,
and grabbed every computer in sight. The
y
also arrested as many casino employees as the
y
could catch.