We soon arrived at the gold buying business and I had Vika park off to the side, then I got out and instructed the two transfer trucks to park and have the rear cargo doors easily seen from the front door of the large building. I dropped 25 pallets of gold into one truck and instead of putting the pallets in the second one, I remembered my words to Derek and instead dropped 410,000 gold coins into the back.
“Don't open the doors until I tell you.” I said and the two drivers nodded. I went into the building and the man behind the counter was the same man that had been there the last time I had visited. “Good morning, Nickolas.”
The man looked up at hearing his name and he caught his breath. “Damon.”
“I'm sorry for just dropping in like this after so long. I meant to call as soon as I had my mines up and running, then figured I'd need some time to build up a good stockpile.”
“Mines? Plural?” Nickolas smiled and stood. “How many tons of virgin gold ore do you have for me?”
“Well, about that...” I hedged.
“Please tell me you aren't going to shock me with only a couple of tons after a setup like that.”
“Would it shock you if I only had a couple of tons?” I asked.
“You just said you built up some stock and it's been quite some time since I saw you last.” Nickolas said as he walked around the desk to me. “I don't believe you would waste my time if you only had a couple of tons of ore.”
“What? You said you wanted all my virgin gold! Don't reject me now!” I fake gasped and he laughed.
“You showed up out of the blue without even calling first!” Nicolas said with a huge smile. “You better give me a huge surprise!”
“I suppose I shouldn't leave you in suspense.” I walked back over to the front door and held it open for him. “After you.”
“Thank you.” Nickolas said and stepped out of the building to see the back ends of two transfer trucks. “Please tell me they aren't full of dirt.”
I laughed and waved to the truck on the right. “Open that one up.”
The driver popped the doors open and Nicolas took in a sharp breath.
“There's 25 tons of smelted gold bars on 25 pallets, stamped and serial numbered for easy tracking.” I handed over the sheet with the cargo list. “It's about 2.5 billion dollars worth.”
Nickolas stared into the back of the truck for a full minute before he looked down at the list and read it. “You brought them right here? No one else has seen them?”
“Besides the people who helped me smelt them and the loaders and guards at the airport.”
“Airport?” Nickolas asked and then his eyes widened as he looked at the other truck. “You have another load there and there's more coming?”
I nodded. “There's five more planes coming in...” I looked at my watch. “Within the next hour.”
“I... I can't believe...” Nickolas shook his head. “I'm sorry that I can't take it all.”
I laughed and clapped his back. “Only these two trucks are for sale. The rest I'm trying to put into the federal reserve bank under my corporation's care.”
“How... how much are you...”
“Are you sure you want me to shock you?” I asked, concern in my voice. “You're close to fainting with just the 5 billion dollars worth in front of you.”
Nickolas took a deep breath and let it out. “I'm fine. You can tell me.”
“I'm trying to deposit about 130 billion dollars worth.” I said.
Nickolas gasped and clutched his heart.
“Easy, now. I warned you before that there could be a lot once I started ramping up production.”
“But... you... if you just...” Nickolas mumbled.
“Yes, the mines are operating at a loss and will be after buying all of the new equipment, hiring more workers, renovations and building purchases, bribes and donations to the local governments to leave them alone, paying off the previous loans and liens against the businesses and all that.” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “The thing is, with seven mines working all the time, since they are around the world and in different time zones, the constant build-up of both ore and smelted bars keeps increasing.”
Nickolas stared at the gold bars and then turned to look at me. “There's five billion in these two trucks.”
“Yes, so you know it's going to be a huge caravan to get what I have shipped to where it has to go.” I said and then chuckled. “Actually, there's only a dozen or so trucks available, so it'll be more of a rotating convoy than anything else.”
“I... Damon, I...”
“I assume you need to make some calls?” I asked and he nodded. “I'll wait here.” I said and waved for the driver to close the back of the truck.
Nickolas turned to walk away and then stopped to look back at me. “Will you have more for sale?”
“It depends on how much you want.” I said with a smile. “We're still on the same percentage fee deal.”
Nicolas looked surprised for a second, then he chuckled. “Yes, my bosses will be delighted to hear that we don't have to renegotiate the terms.”
“I thought they would be.” I said and Nickolas went inside to make some calls. I walked over to the car and took Crystal out to let her run around and play for a while.
“He looked genuinely shocked and happy.” Vika said as she climbed out of the car to stand beside me.
I chuckled. “He definitely enjoys his job a lot more than most people.”
“Do you know who his bosses are?” Vika asked.
“I suspect they are foreign investors that are scrambling to get as much gold as possible to try and rival this country's stock.” I said and she looked surprised. “It's funny, isn't it? The country has about 8,000 tons of gold worth about 800 billion dollars and everyone thinks that if they had the same gold reserves, they could be as prosperous as the US.”
Vika sighed and nodded. “I must admit that I think that as well.”
I put my arm over her shoulders. “It's not the gold a country has, it's the people that make a country great.” I said and she looked into my eyes. “The gold is a great place to start, though.”
Vika laughed softly. “I still cannot date my boss.”
I raised my eyebrows at her and she glanced at my arm over her shoulders. “Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean...”
Vika laughed again. “It's all right. I know you don't mean anything by it.”
“You do? How?”
“You aren't rubbing my shoulder or trying to hug me.” Vika said. “You aren't trying to flirt, even if some people believe you are.”
My eyes went to the two drivers standing there looking at us. “How did you enjoy driving with super-light loads?”
“It was really weird.” One of them said. “I've driven a lot with 25 tons on board and I've never had it feel like I was driving empty.”
“I stirred the molten gold and fluffed it up with air before pouring the ingots. The damn things practically float.” I joked and both men laughed. “He might be a while, so go ahead and have a seat in the cabs of your trucks.”
“Sir.” They said and left.
“You distracted them with a lie.” Vika said and I nodded.
“If you asked the average person which weighs more, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers, they will almost always say bricks, because bricks are heavy and feathers aren't.”
Vika blinked her eyes at me for several seconds. “But, they both weigh a ton.”
“Congratulations, you are not an average person.” I said with a grin and she laughed.
“You are more charming the more time I spend with you.” Vika said.
“It's a curse.” I said and looked over at Crystal. She was having a ball picking flowers in the tall grass in the surrounding lot. “Crystal, try not to get dirty.”
“Kay!” Crystal said and then dove into a thick patch of tall grass and disappeared from sight.
“I said not to, dammit!” I nearly yelled and she giggled.
“You love her a lot.” Vika said.
“I do. She's the best thing I have in my life right now.”
Vika looked at the two transfer trucks full of gold and looked back at my face.
“Being rich can't buy you that.” I said and nodded to the field. Vika looked over and we stood there and watched as Crystal tossed the flowers she had picked into the air, then she laughed as they floated down and gently hit her on the head and face. She repeated the action and kept laughing.
Vika smiled at the happy child. “I miss being that happy and carefree.”
“Everyone does.” I said and she looked at my face. “We can get glimpses of it in children and sometimes when we take vacations and let loose.” I explained and she nodded. “We all have to eventually come back to reality and face the consequences of our lives.”
“It's nice to pretend for a while that nothing matters, isn't it?” Vika asked and I nodded.
“That's what I'm trying to give her. Time without worries.” I said and sighed. “The thing is, the both of us are too smart to believe it's going to last.”
Vika looked confused for a brief moment, then she smiled. “You mean you and Crystal.”
I nodded again. “That little girl has been through a lot and she's still all shiny and happy. She's not letting the bad things outweigh the good.”
“Then you shouldn't, either.” Vika said. “Until you can't pretend anymore.”
I huffed a laugh. “I'm doing my best to do just that.”
“Good, because here comes your gold-loving friend.”
I let Vika's shoulders go and we turned to look at Nickolas.
“I have good news and possible bad news.” Nickolas said. “The good news is, they've agreed and have provided the financing for buying the 5 billion in gold.”
“What's the possible bad news?” I asked.
“They only want one half in bars and the other half in smaller pieces.” Nickolas said. “We can wait up to a week for you to change the contents of...”
“Would coins do?” I asked.
“You expected it?” Nicolas asked back.
I opened the back of the other truck and inside were stacks and stacks of coins. “410,000 gold coins.”
“I love you.” Nickolas said and reached into the back of the truck, then stopped himself from knocking everything over and making a huge mess.
“You said that to the gold, didn't you?” I asked and he didn't laugh as he nodded. “I guess I won't be making a joke about you liking the gold more than me.”
Nickolas laughed this time and held out the papers for the transfer of the funds. “Both I and my bosses truly appreciate you doing this for us.”
“You got me out of a tight spot by accepting that first sale. I wasn't going to go looking for someone else to sell to.” I said and tucked the papers into my pocket. “Plus, I wanted to see if there was a ceiling on how much you could accept and buy.”
Nickolas nodded and shook my hand. “It was a pleasure doing business with you again.”
“Just give me a call whenever you want to fork over a few billion dollars. I've got tons more coins if you want them.”
Nickolas looked at my face to see if I was joking. When I didn't smile or laugh, he waved a hand in front of his face to get more air.
“Easy, there.” I said and added my hand to his waving efforts to make him laugh.
“I will try to expand my resources and backers to try and accommodate you.” Nickolas said.
“Sounds good. I'll look forward to your call.” I said and motioned to the two trucks. “Do I just leave them here or are you delivering them somewhere else?”
“Here is fine.” Nickolas said and took out his cell phone. He hit several buttons and a few minutes later, two groups of black suited men came out of the building with handfuls of money bags. One of them had a funnel and a machine that they set up right at the back of the transfer truck, then they pushed the coins into the funnel. It counted to a thousand and opened up on the bottom to fill a bag.
“Okay, that's neat.” I said and we stood there as they quickly and efficiently counted and bagged the gold coins.
We soon arrived at the gold buying business and I had Vika park off to the side, then I got out and instructed the two transfer trucks to park and have the rear cargo doors easily seen from the front door of the large building. I dropped 25 pallets of gold into one truck and instead of putting the pallets in the second one, I remembered my words to Derek and instead dropped 410,000 gold coins into the back.
“Don't open the doors until I tell you.” I said and the two drivers nodded. I went into the building and the man behind the counter was the same man that had been there the last time I had visited. “Good morning, Nickolas.”
The man looked up at hearing his name and he caught his breath. “Damon.”
“I'm sorry for just dropping in like this after so long. I meant to call as soon as I had my mines up and running, then figured I'd need some time to build up a good stockpile.”
“Mines? Plural?” Nickolas smiled and stood. “How many tons of virgin gold ore do you have for me?”
“Well, about that...” I hedged.
“Please tell me you aren't going to shock me with only a couple of tons after a setup like that.”
“Would it shock you if I only had a couple of tons?” I asked.
“You just said you built up some stock and it's been quite some time since I saw you last.” Nickolas said as he walked around the desk to me. “I don't believe you would waste my time if you only had a couple of tons of ore.”
“What? You said you wanted all my virgin gold! Don't reject me now!” I fake gasped and he laughed.
“You showed up out of the blue without even calling first!” Nicolas said with a huge smile. “You better give me a huge surprise!”
“I suppose I shouldn't leave you in suspense.” I walked back over to the front door and held it open for him. “After you.”
“Thank you.” Nickolas said and stepped out of the building to see the back ends of two transfer trucks. “Please tell me they aren't full of dirt.”
I laughed and waved to the truck on the right. “Open that one up.”
The driver popped the doors open and Nicolas took in a sharp breath.
“There's 25 tons of smelted gold bars on 25 pallets, stamped and serial numbered for easy tracking.” I handed over the sheet with the cargo list. “It's about 2.5 billion dollars worth.”
Nickolas stared into the back of the truck for a full minute before he looked down at the list and read it. “You brought them right here? No one else has seen them?”
“Besides the people who helped me smelt them and the loaders and guards at the airport.”
“Airport?” Nickolas asked and then his eyes widened as he looked at the other truck. “You have another load there and there's more coming?”
I nodded. “There's five more planes coming in...” I looked at my watch. “Within the next hour.”
“I... I can't believe...” Nickolas shook his head. “I'm sorry that I can't take it all.”
I laughed and clapped his back. “Only these two trucks are for sale. The rest I'm trying to put into the federal reserve bank under my corporation's care.”
“How... how much are you...”
“Are you sure you want me to shock you?” I asked, concern in my voice. “You're close to fainting with just the 5 billion dollars worth in front of you.”
Nickolas took a deep breath and let it out. “I'm fine. You can tell me.”
“I'm trying to deposit about 130 billion dollars worth.” I said.
Nickolas gasped and clutched his heart.
“Easy, now. I warned you before that there could be a lot once I started ramping up production.”
“But... you... if you just...” Nickolas mumbled.
“Yes, the mines are operating at a loss and will be after buying all of the new equipment, hiring more workers, renovations and building purchases, bribes and donations to the local governments to leave them alone, paying off the previous loans and liens against the businesses and all that.” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “The thing is, with seven mines working all the time, since they are around the world and in different time zones, the constant build-up of both ore and smelted bars keeps increasing.”
Nickolas stared at the gold bars and then turned to look at me. “There's five billion in these two trucks.”
“Yes, so you know it's going to be a huge caravan to get what I have shipped to where it has to go.” I said and then chuckled. “Actually, there's only a dozen or so trucks available, so it'll be more of a rotating convoy than anything else.”
“I... Damon, I...”
“I assume you need to make some calls?” I asked and he nodded. “I'll wait here.” I said and waved for the driver to close the back of the truck.
Nickolas turned to walk away and then stopped to look back at me. “Will you have more for sale?”
“It depends on how much you want.” I said with a smile. “We're still on the same percentage fee deal.”
Nicolas looked surprised for a second, then he chuckled. “Yes, my bosses will be delighted to hear that we don't have to renegotiate the terms.”
“I thought they would be.” I said and Nickolas went inside to make some calls. I walked over to the car and took Crystal out to let her run around and play for a while.
“He looked genuinely shocked and happy.” Vika said as she climbed out of the car to stand beside me.
I chuckled. “He definitely enjoys his job a lot more than most people.”
“Do you know who his bosses are?” Vika asked.
“I suspect they are foreign investors that are scrambling to get as much gold as possible to try and rival this country's stock.” I said and she looked surprised. “It's funny, isn't it? The country has about 8,000 tons of gold worth about 800 billion dollars and everyone thinks that if they had the same gold reserves, they could be as prosperous as the US.”
Vika sighed and nodded. “I must admit that I think that as well.”
I put my arm over her shoulders. “It's not the gold a country has, it's the people that make a country great.” I said and she looked into my eyes. “The gold is a great place to start, though.”
Vika laughed softly. “I still cannot date my boss.”
I raised my eyebrows at her and she glanced at my arm over her shoulders. “Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean...”
Vika laughed again. “It's all right. I know you don't mean anything by it.”
“You do? How?”
“You aren't rubbing my shoulder or trying to hug me.” Vika said. “You aren't trying to flirt, even if some people believe you are.”
My eyes went to the two drivers standing there looking at us. “How did you enjoy driving with super-light loads?”
“It was really weird.” One of them said. “I've driven a lot with 25 tons on board and I've never had it feel like I was driving empty.”
“I stirred the molten gold and fluffed it up with air before pouring the ingots. The damn things practically float.” I joked and both men laughed. “He might be a while, so go ahead and have a seat in the cabs of your trucks.”
“Sir.” They said and left.
“You distracted them with a lie.” Vika said and I nodded.
“If you asked the average person which weighs more, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers, they will almost always say bricks, because bricks are heavy and feathers aren't.”
Vika blinked her eyes at me for several seconds. “But, they both weigh a ton.”
“Congratulations, you are not an average person.” I said with a grin and she laughed.
“You are more charming the more time I spend with you.” Vika said.
“It's a curse.” I said and looked over at Crystal. She was having a ball picking flowers in the tall grass in the surrounding lot. “Crystal, try not to get dirty.”
“Kay!” Crystal said and then dove into a thick patch of tall grass and disappeared from sight.
“I said not to, dammit!” I nearly yelled and she giggled.
“You love her a lot.” Vika said.
“I do. She's the best thing I have in my life right now.”
Vika looked at the two transfer trucks full of gold and looked back at my face.
“Being rich can't buy you that.” I said and nodded to the field. Vika looked over and we stood there and watched as Crystal tossed the flowers she had picked into the air, then she laughed as they floated down and gently hit her on the head and face. She repeated the action and kept laughing.
Vika smiled at the happy child. “I miss being that happy and carefree.”
“Everyone does.” I said and she looked at my face. “We can get glimpses of it in children and sometimes when we take vacations and let loose.” I explained and she nodded. “We all have to eventually come back to reality and face the consequences of our lives.”
“It's nice to pretend for a while that nothing matters, isn't it?” Vika asked and I nodded.
“That's what I'm trying to give her. Time without worries.” I said and sighed. “The thing is, the both of us are too smart to believe it's going to last.”
Vika looked confused for a brief moment, then she smiled. “You mean you and Crystal.”
I nodded again. “That little girl has been through a lot and she's still all shiny and happy. She's not letting the bad things outweigh the good.”
“Then you shouldn't, either.” Vika said. “Until you can't pretend anymore.”
I huffed a laugh. “I'm doing my best to do just that.”
“Good, because here comes your gold-loving friend.”
I let Vika's shoulders go and we turned to look at Nickolas.
“I have good news and possible bad news.” Nickolas said. “The good news is, they've agreed and have provided the financing for buying the 5 billion in gold.”
“What's the possible bad news?” I asked.
“They only want one half in bars and the other half in smaller pieces.” Nickolas said. “We can wait up to a week for you to change the contents of...”
“Would coins do?” I asked.
“You expected it?” Nicolas asked back.
I opened the back of the other truck and inside were stacks and stacks of coins. “410,000 gold coins.”
“I love you.” Nickolas said and reached into the back of the truck, then stopped himself from knocking everything over and making a huge mess.
“You said that to the gold, didn't you?” I asked and he didn't laugh as he nodded. “I guess I won't be making a joke about you liking the gold more than me.”
Nickolas laughed this time and held out the papers for the transfer of the funds. “Both I and my bosses truly appreciate you doing this for us.”
“You got me out of a tight spot by accepting that first sale. I wasn't going to go looking for someone else to sell to.” I said and tucked the papers into my pocket. “Plus, I wanted to see if there was a ceiling on how much you could accept and buy.”
Nickolas nodded and shook my hand. “It was a pleasure doing business with you again.”
“Just give me a call whenever you want to fork over a few billion dollars. I've got tons more coins if you want them.”
Nickolas looked at my face to see if I was joking. When I didn't smile or laugh, he waved a hand in front of his face to get more air.
“Easy, there.” I said and added my hand to his waving efforts to make him laugh.
“I will try to expand my resources and backers to try and accommodate you.” Nickolas said.
“Sounds good. I'll look forward to your call.” I said and motioned to the two trucks. “Do I just leave them here or are you delivering them somewhere else?”
“Here is fine.” Nickolas said and took out his cell phone. He hit several buttons and a few minutes later, two groups of black suited men came out of the building with handfuls of money bags. One of them had a funnel and a machine that they set up right at the back of the transfer truck, then they pushed the coins into the funnel. It counted to a thousand and opened up on the bottom to fill a bag.
“Okay, that's neat.” I said and we stood there as they quickly and efficiently counted and bagged the gold coins.
