The Revenge of John W: Desert Intrigue, Daring Prison Escape: Thrilling Action (Unlimited exclusive, Joe Corso Book 1)

by Joe Corso

  “I’ll get him on the phone but I can guarantee you that he won’t come here.”

  McCormack appeared annoyed that his order wouldn’t be carried out. He couldn’t tolerate people who didn’t bow down to him and he made it a rule never to go to anyone else’s office to discuss business. Business was always conducted at his office. He pushed the intercom button to Kleinst’s office. “Rutgar, have you found any information on this John Christo yet?”

  “Yes, Jack. I have it here. I was just going to bring it to your office.”

  “What have you found out about Christo?”

  “It’s like Flowers said. The guy is mega rich. Rich beyond anything you could imagine. He owns his office building and he’s buying up businesses and investing in growth companies, but the funny thing is he seems to have come out of nowhere. Nobody ever heard of the guy until recently. He must be a Howard Hughes type of guy who likes to keep his business private. But one thing is for sure.”

  “And what’s that?” McCormack asked expectantly.

  “This man’s got the Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to gold.”

  McCormack rubbed his hands in an unconscious display of satisfaction. “Good Rutgar. At least now, we know the man is legitimate, just as Lee said. He’s probably so rich that he could care less about his bothersome gold mine. I can’t figure that out though, because if it was me, I’d want it all. Hand me a gold mine on a gold platter and I’d jump at the chance to increase my wealth.”

  Lee agreed. “That gold mine is the last thing on his mind. I think he’d sell it if he could make a profit on it. He feels he has better things to do with his time than to go traipsing around the desert, chasing after a dream.”

  McCormack’s eyes lit up. “Are you telling me that he might sell it to someone if the price was right?”

  “Yeah. I think he would, if the price was right.”

  McCormack was thinking fast now. “Lee, about that three percent we agreed to. What if I made it ten percent? Would that make you happy?”

  “Boy, it sure would, Mr. McCormack.”

  “Well, Lee. You said you saw the map. Am I correct?”

  “Yes, I saw it. Why do you ask?”

  “Do you think you could remember the location of the mine?”

  “I don’t know, Mr. McCormack. I just saw it once. But when I took the old man to see Mr. Christo, he had a good, long look at the map and he said he knew where to find the mine.”

  McCormack practically jumped out of his chair; he was so excited. “The old man saw the map and he knows where the mine is located? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yes, sir. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “Look, Lee. I’m not trying to cheat Mr. Christo out of anything. I just want to confirm that the mine exists before I invest my money in this venture. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “Well, yes. As a matter of fact, it does. What do you want me to do?”

  “Can you get a hold of this old man and ask him to take us to see the mine?”

  “I don’t know about that. I don’t want to do anything that’s not in Mr. Christo’s plans. And I certainly don’t want him to find out that I’ve done anything underhanded behind his back. That’s for sure.”

  McCormack was sweating, trying his damnedest to convince Lee to talk the old man into taking them to the mine. “Look, Lee. Mr. Christo put you in charge of this gold mine, didn’t he?”

  “Well, yes. He did.”

  “Okay, then by default, he gave you the authority to make decisions on his behalf. All I’m saying is you’d be doing him a big favor by having me make sure this mine has gold in it. Nobody buys something expensive without first examining it, right? He has to inspect what he’s buying, doesn’t he?”

  Lee nodded, contemplatingly. “Well, when you put it that way then, yes, a person should inspect what he’s gonna buy. He doesn’t want to buy a pig in a poke, now. Does he?”

  McCormack wiped his brow, pleased that he finally got Lee thinking along his lines. He wanted the mine but he had to see it first. He wouldn’t dream of cheating a powerful man like Mr. Christo like he would cheat just about anyone else in this world, but he always liked to have an edge before he committed to a deal, something he knew that the other guy didn’t. By seeing the mine firsthand and having Rutgar Kleinst who, among other things, was his mining engineer, confirm that there was gold in the mine. Kleinst was valuable to him for a number of reasons, and this was one of them. Kleinst would keep the knowledge of the mine within the family, so to speak. If he hired an outside engineer, there was always the possibility that in no time at all the whole world would know about the mine. He was fortunate to have Kleinst, but he would never admit that to him.

  “So what do you say, Lee? Are you in or are you out? Make up your mind now, because I need to know where you stand.”

  Lee thought a moment, then he said, “The old prospector spent his whole life looking to hit it big and he never did. With the map, it would be his chance to find the Four Peaks Mine or . . . maybe he could find it from memory. I’ll talk to him. He might agree if there weren’t too many people involved. I think he’d go for it if, let’s say, it was just you, me, and Mr. Kleinst going with him. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, I have to find out if the old man remembers where the mine is located. He said he knew approximately where it was, and thought he could find the mine, but I have to tell you, those mountains are confusing, and without a map it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. You know, maybe I could talk Mr. Christo into loaning us the map, so we wouldn’t have a problem finding it.”

  McCormack jumped out of his seat. “NO! Don’t even think of doing that. I don’t want Christo to know I’m interested in his mine, not yet. I have to see it first before I commit to buying it.”

  Lee backed up a bit and said, “Yeah, I see what you mean. Okay, I’ll contact the old man and tell him that I have a potential buyer for the mine, but the buyer wants to make sure there’s gold in the mine before he buys it. How’s that sound?”

  “Good. Now when can you talk to the old man, and how soon after do you think we can we get started?”

  “I don’t know. If he agrees to take us - then pretty fast, I guess.”

  “When will you contact him?”

  “As soon as I get back to my hotel. I left his phone number in my jacket. But I’ll call him and then I’ll call you back to tell you what he said.”

  “Good. I’ll wait for your call. I’m an impatient man when I want something, so don’t keep me waiting too long.”

  “Don’t worry, Mr. McCormack. I’ll call you as soon as I finish talking to him.”

  When Lee left, McCormack asked Rutgar what he thought of the man.

  “I don’t think he was lying. I talked to the Governor and he did work at the prison. He was fired because he asked about the kid’s mother, so we know he was telling us the truth about that. There were two prisoners that he mentioned. One was the old man and the other was the kid, so he wasn’t lying about that either. The question is, was he lying about the map he said the old man gave him to give to his nephew. Why would he accept a letter from a dying man when he could get fired for getting close to the prisoners?”

  McCormack thought about that. “Well, for one thing no one would know he was given an envelope and besides, if he was telling us the truth about everything else, why would he lie about the map? It doesn’t make sense to think he’d lie about that and nothing else. And wouldn’t we find out if he was telling us the truth after meeting with Mr. Christo and actually seeing the map? If we find gold, then by definition he must have been telling us the truth about everything else. Don’t you agree?”

  “Yeah I guess. But something doesn’t feel right about this. I can’t put my finger on it. It’s just a feeling, but I’ve learned to listen to my feelings when I get them.”

  “The trouble with you, Rutgar, is you worry too much. This is all self-explanatory. If we find the mine, then
it’s true. If we find the gold, then it’s true. If we talk to Christo and he agrees to sell the mine to us without knowing we already checked it out, then that’s also true.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Lee called John W from his hotel room and told him what was said at the meeting.

  Christo listened with interest to every word Lee told him. “From what you just told me it was a very productive meeting, Lee. When you call McCormack, tell him that Persistent said he’d take them, but only if he blindfolded them when they got close to the mine. Say that the old man feels that he’d be betraying my trust if they knew how to get to the mine. But if they were blindfolded and didn’t know where the mine was, then he has no problem taking them there.”

  The two men discussed various approaches they could take until they agreed on a simple plan. John asked Lee to hold while he conference-called Persistent so they could have a three-way conversation. After talking to Christo, Lee knew what to say to McCormack. Now they had to nail down Persistent’s part. Christo instructed Persistent on what to say and do, but he advised him to relax and be himself. The conversation was productive and the men agreed to a plan, which was like a well-choreographed play where each man knew his part and committed it to memory. Satisfied with the plan, John told Persistent to get a room in Payson and in a few days, McCormack, Kleinst, and Lee would meet him there.

  Lee called McCormack and said he had spoken to the old man. “He told me he knew the general location of the mine and he agreed to take you to it, but he had a condition.”

  McCormack asked what the condition was.

  Lee told him. “The old man insists that he blindfold you fellas when we get close to the mine so you won’t know where the mine is.” Lee explained to McCormack that this was Mr. Christo’s mine and if they want to see it for themselves he’d take them, but they would have to be blindfolded part of the way. McCormack didn’t like the idea of being blindfolded and neither did Kleinst, but if they wanted to see the mine, they had no choice but to agree to the old man’s condition.

  The three men drove to Payson, a little town that is nestled among the majestic mountains of the Mogollan rim, a 7,000 foot, 200-mile long escarpment that sits at an elevation of 5,000 feet. Persistent told them to meet him at the Rodeo. He said he’d be wearing a sombrero and a red cowboy shirt, with a red bandana around his neck. Lee knew what he looked like, having met him once, but the others had no clue what he looked like.

  “Persistent!” Lee spotted him and yelled out to him, and the old man turned with a smile. “Hi, there, Lee. I wondered if you’d find me among all these people. He looked at the two men. “These must be your friends, the ones you told me about.”

  “They surely are. Persistent, I want you to meet Mr. McCormack and his associate, Mr. Kleinst. These are the men who are interested in buying that lost mine.”

  The men shook hands, and then McCormack asked Persistent a question. “Can you remember how to find the mine?”

  “I only saw the map once but I studied it real hard, hoping to remember it. I recognized certain landmarks that most persons wouldn’t know from a hole in the ground, but to answer your question, yes. I believe I can find it.

  “The Mazatzals Mountains are treacherous if you don’t know what you’re doing. There was a time when Tonto Indians would kill a man if he happened to stumble on their gold mine, but that was in the past. Many prospectors have searched the Mazatzals for the lost Four Peaks Gold Mine. Unfortunately, most of them ended up dead. At least two accounts tell of a rich, gold-bearing quartz deposit somewhere along the western flanks of the Four Peaks. In one case, a pair of prospectors discovered the lode, but the Tonto Apaches later killed them. In the second case, a cowboy stumbled on the gold deposit while searching for cattle. But he was never able to find the mine again.

  “Let me give you a rough idea of where we’re going. From Payson, we’re gonna head south about 15 miles to the Arizona Highway 188 junction. We’ll turn left there and follow Highway 188 south for about 14 miles. This will take us to the south end of the Punkin Center Business Road. This road takes off to the left and goes east. It’s a paved road, so it makes traveling to that point a lot easier. Then we’re gonna take Forest Road 409, which is a dirt road and we’ll follow it west for approximately 1 ½ to 2 miles to where it forks. The left fork drops off the mesa and goes a short distance to the Park Creek Trailhead while the right fork heads to Camp Reno. We’re taking the left fork and that’s all I’m gonna tell you for now. I’m a little strapped for cash but I reserved a rig to carry four horses and Conchita.”

  “Who the hell is Conchita?” McCormack asked.

  “Sorry about that. She’s my burro. I keep forgetting she’s a burro. She’s like family to me.”

  “When could we get started?” McCormack asked.

  “Tomorrow morning we’ll get an early start. Today, we’re gonna take it easy and enjoy ourselves by watching the longest continuous rodeo.”

  Persistent explained the history of this particular rodeo. He told them a man called “Arizona Charlie” Meadows started it and he lived to be one hundred and two years of age. “There were no chutes in those early days. The cowboys dragged or lead the broncs to the middle of the street and a couple of cowboys eared them down. Then, someone would cinch a rig onto the horse’s back and a bronc rider stepped onboard. This wasn’t a timed event; that came years later.”

  Even though McCormack and Kleinst were in a hurry to get started, they were caught up in Persistent’s story, and to their surprise, they were enjoying it. “The cowboys usually brought their own horse to those first rodeos and they were ridden until his head came up or the rider was thrown. The cowboys also rode the broncs of their competitors, as well as their own, so that it was a fair contest where everyone got a fair shake. Now if you don’t mind, I’d prefer we don’t talk business right now. I suggest we all just sit back and enjoy the rodeo.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  At eight a.m., the journey to the Four Peaks Mine began. Kleinst rode with Persistent, who drove the truck that carried the animals, tools, and equipment. Lee followed in the Range Rover while McCormack sat in the passenger seat. They left the paved road and were now driving on dirt roads. The dirt roads were rough, but they had no idea what rough was until they made a turn at the base of the Mazatzals mountains. They drove for another two hours on a road in which a gopher wouldn’t dig a hole, until the lead truck pulled off the road and onto a dirt clearing at the base of the mountain and stopped.

  “Everyone out!” Persistent yelled. “Help me get the animals out of the truck and let’s saddle them up. If you’ve never saddled a horse before then leave it and I’ll do it. It wouldn’t do to put the cinch on wrong and find yourself falling off your horse and hitting your head on a rock.”

  Lee nodded and told him, “I know how to saddle a horse.”

  “So do I,” Kleinst added.

  “Good,” Persistent said. “Then let’s get to puttin’ saddles on these dumb critters.”

  McCormack was the only one who had not only never put a saddle on a horse, but he had never ridden one. He felt helpless and he didn’t like it. The feeling passed when he heard Persistent say that if he remembered the location correctly, they should locate the mine later this afternoon.

  “Are you sure you can find this mine, Persistent?” McCormack asked again. It seemed that McCormack asked that question every ten minutes.

  “I’ll know for sure, Mr. McCormack, when I find the landmarks I’m looking for. When they present themselves to me then I’ll know we’re near the mine.”

  Persistent ordered the men to dismount, and then he led them along a narrow path that extended up the mountain. The air was cooler and the going was tough on everyone except for Conchita and Persistent. They were like Billy goats as they climbed the mountain path. Kleinst was in very good condition, so he wasn’t bothered by the climb and the same applied to Lee. The only one having trouble was Jack McCormack. He wasn’t used
to this much physical activity, and to make matters worse, he was terribly out of condition.

  “Hold on a minute, guys,” he said. “Let’s take a breather for a few minutes. I need to catch my breath.”

  Persistent apologized for pushing them. He said that he’d like to get to the mine while there was still daylight. But it was embarrassing to McCormack to hear him say that because Persistent was a good 20 years older and the climb didn’t seem to bother him at all. They took a ten-minute break to give McCormack a chance to regain his strength, while the animals ate grass that grew on both sides of the narrow path.

  Persistent knew exactly where the mine was but since the terrain looked the same for miles around, he led the men in circles until he felt it was time to head toward the mine. When they were close to the cleft, which they had walked past twice but from different angles, Persistent put his up hand to signal stop and they halted at the base of the mountain.

  “Okay, boys, we’re close to the mine. Let’s mount up,” Persistent ordered, and then said, “Take out the sacks I gave you. It’s time to put them on. I want to see them covering your faces. I’m gonna check each one to make sure they’re on right . . . so do it right the first time. Then I’m going to tie your horses in a way so that each horse must follow the one in front of it. Okay then, just relax, and let your horse do the work.” He entered the cleft, leading the small troupe of men slowly through the mountain. When they exited, he continued to lead them along a narrow ledge for about one hundred and fifty yards, until they came to a clearing that led to a fork. The right fork led to a lush green valley, brimming with varieties of multi-colored flowers and abundant wildlife. It was a virtual paradise, but they didn’t take the right fork; they took the left fork, which led them to a narrow ledge with a path below it that ran parallel to the ledge. The path followed the base of the mountain for almost a quarter of a mile until it ended at a gap in the mountain, facing a cave that was almost completely covered with vegetation. The men still had the sacks on their heads while the horses, led by Persistent, walked slowly ahead for another ten minutes. Persistent halted the horses and turned to the men.