Rise of the Beast by Kenneth Zeigler Read Free Book Online Page B

the only person I could come to, the only person I knew that could tell me what to do with a thing like this. Come on, Dale, I need your help.”
    Dale pulled out his reading glasses and examined the bar carefully. “You realize that a thing like this could easily be worth $200,000? You realize that, right?”
    “I sort of figured it,” was the reply.
    “Who gave this to you?” asked Dale.
    “An angel, OK?” replied Leland. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got dozens of these things, and I’ve got to unload them over the next three months. How do I do it?”
    “Dozens of them, dozens you say?” asked Dale. “You have dozens of gold blocks this large?”
    “At least,” confirmed Leland. “I haven’t actually counted them.”
    “I’ve never held so much gold in my hand at one time,” said Dale, “and I’ve been in the business all of my adult life.”
    “So how do we sell them?” asked Leland.
    “Well, first of all, we don’t want to flood the market,” said Dale, who seemed to drift deep into thought for a moment. “To start off, we have to determine how pure this gold is and what impurities, if any, it has. The impurities themselves might be valuable. Darn it, Leland, if it were a bunch of gold krugerrands it would be easier, but this is raw gold. It has to be sent off to be analyzed, assayed. I can’t do it here. There is a guy who does it right here in New York; that will take at least a few days. He will certify its purity. Then we can search for a buyer, offer it on the precious metals market a little bit at a time. You can’t dump it all at once, and you’ll need to break it down into smaller units. That big of an ingot might bring up questions you’re not prepared to answer.” There was a pause.
    “Then you’ll help me with this sale?” asked Leland.
    “Sure,” said Dale. “But answer me this; what is this guy going to do with the money?”
    “He is going to do God’s work, start a ministry like the modern world has never seen,” said Leland. “He is going to bring the word of salvation to the nations. That’s why this is so important. It was important enough to convince me to give up the love business that has brought me my fortune. Does that tell you something about him?”
    Dale shook his head. “Not really. So what will you do now, become a minister, a missionary?”
    “I don’t think so. I don’t know my way around the Bible well enough for that. My grandmother does, but she didn’t pass it on to me. I was never that interested. For the moment, I’m the owner’s representative, his financial advisor,” replied Leland.
    Dale seemed taken aback. “You, a financial advisor?”
    “Sure,” said Leland. “Remember, I do have an associate’s degree inaccounting. I wasn’t about to trust anyone else to keep my books for my most recent business.”
    “You keep books in your business?” asked Dale.
    “Of course,” said Leland. “I make what I do look as legal as what you do.” “I’ll try not to take that personally,” said Dale.
    “Would you like me to leave this block of gold with you?” asked Leland. “If so, I think I’ll need a receipt.”
    “Leave a thing like that with me?” asked Dale, in an incredulous tone. “I can’t believe you brought that thing over here in a brief case. Most normal people would insist on an armored car.”
    “I don’t have an armored car,” said Leland. “Anyway, I’ve never been robbed in New York. It’s a safer city than most people think. Then again, nobody had any idea what I had in the briefcase.”
    “I’ll cut off a few slivers, just a fraction of an ounce of it; gold is relatively soft. Then I’ll take it over to the assay office myself,” said Dale. “I’ll draw up a standard contract with you for the assay work. I’ll probably need my lawyer to draw up a contract for me to act as your broker for the sale of the metal. You are getting a percentage of the proceeds, aren’t you?”
    “Sure,” confirmed