Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (46 page)

“
Any trouble with the cop?
”
Jake
asked.

“
The big fellow with the cannon under his coat?
”
Flannigan replied.
“
No. But I think he
’
s got a hell of a case of the drizzles. I wouldn
’
t go in there for a
while if I was you. It really stinks.
”

Flannigan finished his drink and casually strolled out of the club. Once outside, he quickened his pace, then cut through an alley to a side street and hailed the first cab he saw.

When Misty
’
s dance finished,
several fellows
headed for the men
’
s room. A couple minutes later one of
the
men
, a club regular, went
over to the bar and signaled to Jak
e.

“
Jake, you got a problem in the can,
”
the
customer
said
,
in a low voice.

“
What
’
s up?
”
Jake
said with a
chuckle.
“
The cop shitting his pants, is he?
”

“
Could be. He
’
s got three holes in him
, and
he
’
s
deader than last night
’
s beer.
”

Flannigan
stopped
the cab
a
couple
of
blocks from his apartment and walked the rest of the way. Before going into his building
,
he took a good look around.
Seeing nothing out of the
ordinary,
he
went upstairs
.

Once in his apartment, he headed
straight to
the bathroom
. He
pulled
his
Dopp
kit from
under the sink
and went to work.
T
wenty minutes
later
the goatee was
down the drain, and his red hair was now chestnut.
He put the clothes he
’
d worn to the club in a
trash
bag
and dressed in jeans, work shirt
,
and
cowboy
boots. The
boot
heels
would
ma
ke
him a bit taller than the man they
’
d be looking for.

He pulled a small suitcase from under the bed and grabbed an old
-
style brief
-
case from the shel
f
in his closet. The briefcase contained about fifty thousand in cash and two sets of
f
o
rged
ID
’
s
.

Flannigan, now posing as William O
’
Connell, put his gear in his pickup and drove until he spotted a
D
umpster in a quiet alley. He
stopped and
tossed the trash bag with his
Tony Manero
outfit into the
D
umpster. Heading west, he
started a
cross
the bridge over the
Mississippi
. S
eeing no immediate traffic, he lowered the passenger
-
side window, slowed a bit, and tossed the .25 auto into the Big Muddy.
In a few hours, he
’
d hit Houston and
disappear
.

C
hapter
5
3

P
ino
Pantelli
walked into his brother Al
’
s office in the family
-
owned building in the French Quarter.

“
Morning, Al. Hey, did you see someone smoked a police detective in
Kincaid
’
s
place last night?
”
Pino
said, handing the newspaper
to his brother.

“
No shit? Let me see that.
”

Pino watched his brother read the account of the homicide
and
saw Al
’
s cheeks flush.

“
Holy shit,
”
Al whispered.
“
We got another problem
, and
this one could be
real
trouble.
”

“
What
problem
? Hell, it
’
s just
one less fuckin
’
cop. And
we sure as hell didn
’
t whack him.
”

“
No. But I know
who
did
, a
nd that
’
s the fuckin
’
problem.
”

“
Who hit him?
”

“
From the description the bartender gave, it
’
s Sean Flannigan. The guy I hired to take care of our aviator buddy.
”

“
Are you sure?
”

“
Pretty sure. The description fits
, r
ight down to the Irish accent.
”

“
Do
you
know where this Irish idiot is?
”

“
He keeps an apartment near the Quarter
, b
ut he won
’
t be there. Sean
’
s tough and smart
, and h
e
’
s been on the lam for years.
The New Orleans
P
olice
D
epartment hasn
’
t got a chance in hell of finding
him
.
”

“
I hope you
’
re right
, because i
f our cops
do
get him, he
’
ll
likely try and
cut a deal
. A
nd any deal
could
include
him hand
ing
our
asses to the feds.
”

“
True enough
, b
ut I know Sean. He
’
s got money and
contacts all over the world.
He
’
ll
disappear,
blend in
.
He
’
s probably out of the country already.
”

“
But what if they grab his ass?
”

“
Then we
’
ll have to take care of it. No sawed
-
off Irish prick is going to take this family down.
Capisce
?
”

Chapter 5
4

A
l
’
s secretary knocked softly on the door and stuck her head in.

“
Mr.
Pantelli
, you have a call on line one.
”

Both
Pantelli
s looked at her.

“
The call is for Al.
”

“
Who is it?
”
Al asked.

“
The caller said his name is Lei Chang.
He said
he
’
s managing director of U
RAN-
China
Nu
cl
ear Corp.
”

Al looked at his bother and raised his eyebrows
.

“
N
ow what?
”

“
If he
’
s in the uranium business, i
t must have something to do with Montana Creek Mining. You
’
d better take the call,
Al.
”

“
Okay,
”
Al said, nodding to his secretary
. H
e punched line one and picked up the phone.
“
Al
Pantelli
,
speaking.
”

“
Thank you for taking my call
,
Mr.
Pantelli
. My name is Lei Chang
.
I
’
m the
m
anaging
d
irector of U
RAN
-China
Nu
c
lear Corp. We
’
re a Hong Kong
-
based Chinese uranium company.
”

“
I see,
”
Al replied.
“
Do you mind if I put you on speaker
phone
, Mr. Chang
?
My brother
,
Crispino
,
is here in my office. We
’
re partners
,
and I like him to be on this call.
”

“
No problem, Mr.
Pantelli
.
”

Al hit the speaker button
.

“
Okay, Mr. Chang
,
you
’
re on the speaker
, and
Pino and I are all ears.
”

“
Very good,
g
entlemen. I am calling in regard to our mutual interest in Montana Creek Mining.
”

Pino nudged Al with his elbow and nodded.

“
Yes,
sir
. We do own an interest in Montana Creek Mining. So what
’
s on your mind?
”

Direct and to the point
. Crude
,
but in some cases effective, Chang thought.

“
My company owns
various interests
in
a number of major uranium deposits around the world.
W
e
’
ve
recently
acquired nearly ten percent of Montana Creek Mining
, and w
e
’
d like to
a
cquire more.
”

“
Call your broker and put in a buy order,
”
Pino
interrupted
,
slightly sarcastically.

“
We are looking for
an out
-
of
-
market acquisition
,
at a set price,
”
Chang replied, showing no reaction to Pino
’
s
tone
.

“
Why don
’
t you just make a tender offer
,
a
nd pick up the majority of the shares?
”
Pino asked.

“
We
could do exactly what you suggest, b
ut without certain
key
shareholders accepting the tender, we would never be able to obtain control.
”

“
Have you discussed you
r
proposal with Montana Creek Mining
’
s management?
”
Al asked.

“
Yes, I met with three of the four directors
in Toronto a few days ago
.
Including
the CEO, Mr. Trace Brandon.
”

“
I see,
”
Al replied
.
“
A
nd what was his
,
their
,
response
?
”

Chang paused for a moment. He didn
’
t want to give away too much information.

“
Mr. Brandon was not interested in selling his position. And without Mr. Brandon
’
s shares, one cannot obtain control of the company.
”

“
So why are you calling me?
”
Al asked.

“
We would like to buy your shares
,
a
t a premium to the current price
. A
nd we
’
d like your help in convincing Mr. Brandon to sell us his shares.
”

Al looked over at Pino and grinned
.
“
I see. And how much of a premium are we talking about?
”

“
Twenty
percent over the last sixty
-
day average price,
”
Chang replied.

“
Uh-huh
,
”
Al replied
,
“
a
nd what kind of pressure could we put on Mr. Brandon to
induce him to
sell you his shares
?
”

“
I would leave that to your discretion. But
my understanding is
,
you can be most persuasive.
”

Al looked again at
Pino
.
“
If the situation warrants. Why don
’
t you
give me a number where I can get back to you
?
We
’
ll
need
a couple of days to kick your proposal around.
”

Chang gave them his unlisted cell phone number
.

“
I look forward to hearing back from you
. One more thing, gentlemen
. A
s time is of the essence, this
proposal will be withdrawn in ten days. Good day, gentlemen.
”

Al hung up his phone
.
“
Jesus, talk about out of the blue. Whadda you think
,
little brother
?
”

“
I think it could be a hell of an opportunity. Remember
,
we got a
half
a million shares from Rosy for his gambling note. Hell, the casino has already washed
his
debt off the books.
Anything we get for old Rosenburg
’
s shares is gravy for you and me.
Plus
,
there
’
s the shares we
’
ve acquired in the open market.
”

“
What about leaning on the CEO? Sounded to me like we have to get Brandon to sell to the Chinks
,
or no deal?
”
Al asked.

“
Yeah,
that
’
s what the man said
,
”
Pino re
plied
.
“
Leaning on Brandon
could
cause
problem
s
. . .
of which we already have a couple on our plate.
”

Al laughed
.
“
Y
eah
,
we do. But this sounds too good to pass up. Let
’
s you and me kick this around
a bit
. We got ten days to get back to the Chinaman.
”