Circles Of Fear

by Brian Cain

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  Thursday the sixth of July. Brad and Vic had stayed overnight at Jason’s. They were still asleep when Jason headed off to the office at eight am, dropping Tammy at school on the way and making sure she was safe with a staff member. He made the office at eight thirty- five and was surprised to find Debra his secretary already busy at work. Debra was honey blonde with an immense cleavage that she did her best to hide. She always wore a smile with her charming manner. “I thought you started work at nine Debra?”

  “Oh! Mr Brinkly I....”

  “My name’s Jason.”

  “Oh, Jason. I came in early as a man came early to change the name on your door.”

  Jason looked at his office door; it now bore the name Jason Robert Brinkly. “That’s fine Deb.”

  “They are exactly the same letters as your father’s name. I asked him to try to save the letters that were already there; he never damaged one.”

  “Watson tells me you have been here since you left school.”

  “Yes. I came in on work experience, the secretary Bob had was leaving. I must have done okay as he kept me on.”

  “If you worked for dad for ten years you must be some secretary.”

  “He was a fine man Jason, underneath he was really soft. He never raised his voice at me once.”

  “From what Watson has told me about you he had no need to. Could you send Watson and Mr Fenwick in as soon as they arrive please, they will be here at nine.”

  “Yes, certainly.”

  “Thank you.” Jason entered his office. He started to read a document that was handed to him with his father’s will. It listed many things, one of them being the office wall safe combination. All legal transactions concerning the transfer of companies and accounts had taken some time. Now he was able to chase some fiddlier things up. The safe was quite large, about two metres square. Inside he found rolls of money, jewellery, stocks and bonds and many photographs of his mother. At the back there was what looked to be an old record. He carefully retrieved it; it was an old seventy eight; the label clearly showed the artist to be his mother. The song titles read, One day on side A and When the time is right on side B. He carefully slid the record back into its sleeve then placed it on the desk. He was about to ring Brooks when there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”

  Watson entered, his bald head shone in the morning light bursting through the window. A burly grey man followed him, his face showing the ravages of time, but his muscles wore no fat. “Good morning Jason, this is Mr Fenwick, he is very keen to meet you.”

  Jason shook his hand; Nigel had an alarmingly strong hand. “Nigel, I am told you are responsible for saving my father’s life, therefore I am here to shake your hand.”

  Nigel gave a wide smile as he looked at Jason. “Bob would have done the same thing; you’ve grown into a fine boy Jason. I once saw you when you were very small, about five as I recall.”

  “Please, sit down, tell me what happened in New Guinea, when you saved my father.”

  “It was near Lae in forty-four, we were on a daylight patrol that was flushing the last of a Japanese unit from newly-captured ground close to the beach when Bob stepped near a land mine in a clearing. He went down and didn’t move. The clearing was heavily mined on inspection, so the C.O. ordered us clear, he was going to leave your father for dead. Bob was my best mate, we were like brothers. No way would I leave him there, dead or alive, just at that moment we came under mortar fire. I ran into the clearing, shouldered Bob and carried him as fast as I could to the back line medics. He was real lucky, the blast had knocked him out leaving only superficial shrapnel wounds. The mine must have been placed at an angle, the brunt of the blast missing him. He was sent back home to recover.”

  “You were decorated for your bravery?”

  “No. I had disobeyed an order; I didn’t get on to well with the CO He had me court marshalled. I was given a dishonourable discharge from the service, treated like dirt I was. I don’t regret it; I could never have lived with myself if I left Bob there. I bear no grudge against the CO either; he had a job to and if we all carried on like me, we would have been in real trouble. If we had tried to secure the clearing to get Bob out, some of us would have died in the mortar attack. The CO saw the clearing as a threat to his unit, I only saw my best mate.”

  “I must take that experience on board, a fulfilling and devastating experience at the same time. For what you did we are forever in your debt. My father never mentioned this, in fact he never spoke of his service at all.”

  “Young blokes are drawn to that kind of thing; if he spoke of it, it may have interested you. We lost enough of our mates and loved ones during that war; we don’t want to lose any more.”

  “I can understand that; I have found myself of recent times thinking it’s far better to speak to your loved ones, than of them.”

  “Your father looked after me Jason. I have been prospecting for gold all over Australia since the war, never had any luck. Financed all my efforts with very little return. Two years ago, I got my hands on some ground I have been watching for years. Always thought the bloke who had it was looking in the wrong place. Bob backed me again, I always made sure that he would benefit if I made good. Drew up agreements that gave him eighty percent of the deals, he just signed them and gave me the money. I don’t think he even read them. He gave me some more money when I asked for it three months ago for a drilling program, quite a few thousand dollars. Now I’m here to tell him what I always wanted to and he’s gone, so I’ll tell you instead as it’s yours now.” Nigel rummaged in his tatty brief case producing a handful of charts and graphs, “Have a look at this, the richest gold strike in the world, proven reserves of five hundred million ounces. The only reason I stopped drilling is I ran out of money. I always thought this spot was the centre of all gold in the area, where mother earth first opened her bows.”

  “How much is gold an ounce at the moment?”

  “About four hundred and fifty dollars Australian an ounce.”

  Jason punched the numbers into a calculator on his desk. “Two hundred and twenty-five billion dollars. You say there could be more?”

  “When I resume drilling I’m sure reserves will rise dramatically. I don’t think we are near the edges of the load; I have drilled to a hundred and fifty metres in depth over a two kilometre by one kilometre area. All initial reserves are surface mineable, god knows how far this goes.”

  Watson was in disbelief at the event that unfolded in front of him. “Jason, what on earth are we going to do with all this money, we are talking amounts that are beyond comprehension.”

  “Don’t panic Watson, I’m sure something will turn up. Nigel, I really think you’re one of the family. Before I even met you I was at ease with your name. You know more about gold and the mining of it than the best of them I reckon, noting like a man whose held a shovel at the workface. I would like you to become a member of the board in our organisation. You would totally control the mining operation from top to bottom. Your twenty percent of everything will still stand. We meet every Wednesday here in Adelaide. I would like you to be at the next meeting with a full report on the operation.”

  “You mean I can be a real part of Bob’s company, a member of the board and make sure everything goes right while he’s not here?”

  “Yes that’s exactly what we are asking,” said Jason.

  “That’s the greatest thing you could ever give me boy, count me in.”

  “How much will you need to establish production Nigel?”

  “We will need what’s called a carbon in pulp gold plant with a considerable gravity circuit, most of the gold is alluvial. The mine would initially be open cut, we can contract this out. I know all the best people to use. I need a lot of money Jason, probably about twenty million dollars to get it going. I know that’s a…”

  Jason interrupted; he pushed the intercom button to talk to his secretary. “Deb.”

  “Yes, Jason.”

  “
Arrange a working expense account for a Nigel Fenwick; he will be out to tell you all about himself in a few minutes. Get Steven Brooks of Ramrod to transfer twenty million from Ramrod to our new, er what do you want to call your operation Nigel?”

  “I can name it?”

  “Well you found it.”

  “I haven’t really thought about it, but now you ask. The first thing that comes to mind is Brinkwick Mining, for me and Bob. The first open cut will be Bob’s bonanza.”

  “Make that transfer to Brinkwick Mining, Brinkly International Group. If Steven is puzzled tell him he will be informed next Wednesday or to ring me direct.”

  “That’s a lot of paperwork Jason; I will need both of your signatures on the transfer as well. David Kelp will have to draw up the formalities for us.”

  “Can you get him on to it straight away please? I’ll sign it as soon as it’s all ready, that’s this afternoon. If David is busy or puzzled, get him to ring me. Send Nigel over to see David when you have finished with him, they can sort it out themselves, thanks Deb.” Jason turned off the intercom.

  “You’re in business Nigel.”

  Nigel looked embarrassed as he spoke. “I don’t have a cent at the moment Jason, I wondered if you could spare some living cash, a small loan if possible.”

  “All your expenses incurred whilst working on the project will come out of company funds. You’re only responsible for your own private expenditure.” Jason went to the safe; he took a wad of bills from the contents. The tag on the wad’s elastic band was marked twenty thousand dollars, he gave it to Nick. “This should keep you going till then, just keep account of everything in a diary or something and we will see you next Wednesday with your first report.”

  “What fly here to Adelaide, every Wednesday, that will cost us a fortune.”

  “Nine sharp in the morning here, you’ll get used to it; it will be a sharp learning curve for all of us. You’re going to be real busy Nigel so we won’t keep you.” Nigel rose to his feet.

  “Just like that, I’ll try as hard as I can for us all." Jason shook his firm hand.

  “That I’m sure of, see you next Wednesday.” Watson bid Nigel farewell till next week and Nigel moved on to Debra’s office closing the door behind him.

  “Now that’s got that on the move, what did you want to see me about Watson, something about industrial problems here at home?”

  “I am absolutely dumbfounded at what happened here this morning, but you take it in as if it were second nature. I never expected you to be able to operate in the manner that you are. I have this strange feeling of enlightenment when I’m around you. I know what you want done without hearing you speak. The others told me they had the same feeling when we were talking at the meeting yesterday.”

  “You’re just experiencing your full worth Watson, it’s nothing to do with me.”

  “I’m not so sure Jason, you touch everyone you come into contact with, a truly rare and powerful talent. I have the urge to push on constantly, but I don’t know what for.”

  “It will come to us in good time Watson, now I’m keen to hear what you have to say.”

  “Bob had been having trouble with union members at our Adelaide factories for some years now. It had turned into a sort of war between the officials of the union and himself.”

  “Explain the union to me, what are their objectives?”

  “They are elected by ballot by the work force to represent the work force to the management as regards to their pay, working conditions and general rights as workers. We have endured many claims over the last three months and plant managers have had to cut costs in areas we should not, to pay the claims in an effort to stop industrial action.”

  “What are these areas that have endured the cuts that should not have?”

  “They are using poorer quality basic manufacturing resources; like poorer metals and plastics, giving us a lesser range of products that are already of poor quality.”

  “This is done just to appease our manufacturing staff, who constantly hassled dad just because he was dad.”

  “Well, basically yes, you’ve hit the nail right on the head.”

  “Dad gave me some of our products about four years ago, they were terrible, the pots and pans didn’t last a year and now you tell me they are worse. It’s one of my goals to fix that now I have taken over.”

  “We’ve had more complaints from our clients in the last two months than ever before. That’s not all. I think the union sees you as being an easy target, expecting you to be inexperienced. They’ve put in for a forty percent wage claim, they say they will strike in a week if we don’t pay it, that will leave us operating thirty percent in the red. We’re only making ten percent at present.”

  “How well are they paid on an industry standard?”

  “Our seven hundred and fifty workers are the best paid in the industry here by an average of three dollars an hour. Our overseas plants are highly mechanised with a well disciplined work force working for twenty five percent of the wages here.”

  “How long have people been employed in our plants here?”

  “Most of the workers have been with us since we started fifteen years ago. We have some excellent staff, it’s just a few who have got themselves into high union positions who convince everyone of what they should be doing. The plants are in need of mechanisation but the union has always resisted it because it meant some jobs would go.”

  “So the plants are old hat in more ways than one. Outdated machinery and ideas, does the union operate as one entity for both plants or separately?”

  “They operate as one, they have more power that way. Things have gotten worse lately, productivity is way down; we’ve been able to do nothing about it.”

  “Organise a meeting with all the officials concerned here this afternoon at three. I’d like to see all the written information you have regarding what you have just been telling me, so I can study it before the meeting.”

  “All parties may not be available. We usually have meetings at the plants, there are designated areas for such things. The officials like to be able to take things straight back to the rank and file to get a vote on it.”

  “This voting on issues: is it done by secret ballot or open ballot?”

  “The votes are taken by a show of hands.”

  “Organise the meeting here Watson, go and get them if you have to.”

  “Very well, I’ll see what I can do. The information you asked for you can find on the computer. You can access my files with this password.” Watson scribbled a word on a piece of paper and passed it to Jason. “Will you be okay with the computer system?”

  “Yes, I’ll get Deb to show me, you just organise the meeting and we can sort a few things out.”

  Jason studied file after file of information covering the last four years of production at the Adelaide operations. At two-thirty the phone rang; it was Watson. He had arranged the meetings for the city office and confirmed all parties would be present. Jason looked at his watch then glanced at the notes in his diary. He rubbed his tired eyes; he had twenty minutes before the meeting. He walked outside to Debra. “Come on Deb, we’ve got fifteen minutes for lunch, we’ll walk across the road for a coffee.”