Free Trader Jack -The Story of Jack Miner (The Story of Jack Miner Series) by Neil Behrmann Page A

amounts of money could thus be made and lost in gold shares. The charts also showed that a gold share boom could happen within weeks, let alone months!
    It seemed that the crowd playing the stock market had become bored with gold and gold shares in the past year. They had decided to leave them alone. Gold fish had swum aimlessly for many long months near the bottom of the tank.
    Something had aroused gold fish in the past week. I was so excited that I went to the water tank at the edge of the room and downed two cups. I peered at the tank and imagined my gold fish swimming to the top.
    Back at the front desk, I asked the librarian whether there were any chart books on the stock exchange. I wanted to feel the charts in my hands and write down the prices. It would give me an even better understanding on what was happening to gold shares. Manson had done that before the Internet, PCs and laptops were invented. If it worked for him, it would work for me.
    The librarian took me to the reference library and luckily there were several chart books with the price history of all sorts of shares. I looked up gold shares with charts going back twenty years.
    Five shares interested me. In past gold booms and busts, they had gone up the most and fallen the most. Back in the library I saw a pile of Financial Times newspapers. I found the pages of share prices and wrote down the prices of the gold shares, going back a month. I drew another aquarium. Using an orange crayon, I plotted the path of my five gold fish. All had broken through the membrane. I had never traded in the stock market before, but I was sure that the shares were giving a signal. The price of gold was about to rise. If gold dust fell on the water, my gold fish would quickly swim for the food at the top of the tank.
    I searched for articles about gold and gold shares in the Financial Times and other newspapers. There were hardly any reports. Gold wasn't news. The crowd was ignoring it. The charts and prices indicated that only a few investors were expecting something to happen. I had to move fast. It was too late to buy the shares today, but I would make sure that I was at the brokers at the opening of the stock market tomorrow.
    I found out why bank shares had fallen to the bottom of the tank. On the front page of the FT was a report about the collapse of Moscow Narodsky bank. Several British banks and companies that had dealings with Moscow Narodsky were caught. They had combined losses totalling billions. According to Nostrum Krebs, an FT columnist, the Russian banking collapse had turned into an international financial crisis. He predicted that the stock market would slump. Investors were going to lose fortunes. I hoped that Wardle had sold my shares on Friday.
    I glanced at another newspaper and saw: 'The Russian Banker Mystery'. I paged through the paper and found the article in the features section. It was about Boris Yapolovitch, the poor guy who I had found hanging from Charing Cross Bridge. The article wondered if the Russian mafia was involved. It said that there were several other murders during the past year. The men and women who had died were involved with Russian gangsters.
    I shuddered and wanted to get to Martha before it was dark. As I was leaving I saw a huge guy walking ahead of me. From the back he looked just like one of the men who I had seen on the bridge. I freaked. But he turned around suddenly and a small child rushed up to him. He was Jewish, with a long black untidy beard. The man picked up the boy and gave him a hug. He was certainly no murderer.
    I touched my brow and felt the sweat. After going to Wardle & Co tomorrow, I would get out of London. The question was, where?
     

7 - A RUSSIAN SCAM
     
     
    When I arrived back at Martha's place, my jeans and shirt had been washed and neatly folded on my bed. Martha was not only giving me shelter, but was mothering me! We sat down for dinner and had egg and chips.
    'Want to make lots of money,