The portable buildings used by the drilling crew as sleeping quarters were located a quarter of a kilometer from the derrick, and the superintendent had offered his trailer. The room was neat, the hot plate and refrigerator clean, a few plastic dishes stacked beside a microwave oven. Not his usual accommodations, but perfect for the next few hours. He wasn't sleepy, as the short nap on the flight from the museum had been adequate. He welcomed the solitude, and pondered the fact that everything around him had once been a thriving part of Qin Shi's First Empire.

Incredible what they had achieved so long ago.

His ancestors had invented the umbrella, the seismograph, the spinning wheel, porcelain, the steam engine, kites, playing cards, fishing reels, even whiskey.

But salt.

That was the most amazing leap of all.

Five thousand years ago coastal dwellers boiled seawater to produce salt. But as they settled farther and farther inland, salt, critical as a food supplement and preservative, essential to their survival, became hard to find, and transporting it hundreds or thousands of kilometers proved daunting. Another source would have to be found, and the discovery of brine aquifers-places where groundwater seeped from below, loaded with salinity-solved the problem.

The first recorded discovery came during the time of the First Emperor, not far from where Tang now sat. At first wells were shallow, dug by hand, but deeper exploration led to the invention of drilling.

The first bits were forged of heavy iron, the pipe and rig from bamboo. One or more men would stand on a wooden plank, designed like a seesaw, which lifted the bit a meter or so off the ground. Once dropped, it pulverized the ground rock. Centimeter by centimeter, that process would be repeated. Historians later theorized that the idea had come from the practice of pounding rice into flour.

The technique eventually became highly sophisticated, and working solutions to many of the problems still common to drilling-cave-ins, lost tools, deviated wells, the removal of debris-were perfected. Wells to 100 meters became common in Qin Shi's time. No comparable technology existed anywhere else in the world until more than 2,000 years later. By 1100 CE, wells to 400 meters were routine, and while American drillers barely managed 500 meters in the 19th century, Chinese drillers explored below 1,000 meters.

Those first innovators, who sank wells searching for salt brine, also discovered something else.

An odorless emission, highly combustible.

Natural gas.

They learned that it could be burned, producing a clean, hot energy source that dissolved the brine and revealed the salt.

And they also found oil.

A sludgy material-fatty and sticky, like the juice of meat, one observer noted-that bubbled up from deeper wells. At first the greenish black ooze was a mystery, but they soon learned that it, too, could be burned, producing a long-lasting, bright flame. It also could make the axles of their wagons turn faster. Oil became the substance of emperors, powering the lamps of their palaces and illuminating their tombs-even providing a fiery weapon used to devastate an enemy.

Tang marveled at the accomplishments.

In the process of inventing the mechanics of drilling, he knew they also had discovered the best places to bore, creating the science of geology. They became skilled at spotting salt frostings on surface rocks and detecting the pungent smell of hidden brine. They learned that yellow sandstone would yield brine high in ferric chloride, while black sandstone led to wells loaded with hydrogen sulfide. Of course, they were ignorant as to the chemical compositions, but they determined how to effectively recognize and use those compounds.

His ministry had studied in detail the history of Chinese brine drilling. There was even a museum in Zigong that told the story to the ma.s.ses. Incredibly, over the past two millennia, nearly 130,000 wells had been drilled, a few hundred of those during the time of the First Emperor.

One in particular had been sunk about a quarter kilometer away.

"How do you know this?" he demanded of Jin Zhao.

The irritating geochemist had refused to cooperate, so he'd finally ordered Zhao's arrest.

"Minister, I know nothing. It's all theory."

He'd heard that explanation before. "It's more than theory. Tell me."

But his prisoner refused.

He motioned and the soldier standing a few feet away advanced on Zhao, yanking him from the chair and pounding him twice in the stomach. He heard the breath leave the older man. Zhao dropped to his knees, arms wrapping his gut.

A slight nod from him signaled that two blows were enough.

Zhao struggled to breathe.

"It will only get worse," he said. "Tell me."

Zhao calmed himself. "Don't hit me anymore. Please. No more."

"Tell me what I want to know."

He'd thoroughly investigated Jin Zhao and knew that he was not a Party member, not a.s.sociated with any Party activities, and often spoke disparagingly about the government. His name appeared regularly on a local watch list, and he'd been warned several times to cease dissident activities. Tang had acted as protector on more than one occasion, blocking an arrest, but that had been conditioned on cooperation.

Zhao pushed himself up from the floor. "I will not tell you a thing."

The soldier slammed a fist into Zhao's jaw. Another found the chest. A third blow crashed down on the man's skull.

Zhao collapsed.

Blood seeped from his half-opened mouth.

Two teeth were spit out.

A kick to the stomach and Zhao retreated into the fetal position, arms and legs brought tight to his body.

A few minutes later Jin Zhao lapsed into an unconsciousness from which he never awoke. A cerebral hemorrhage protected all that he knew, but a search of his house and office revealed enough doc.u.ments for Tang to learn that right here, 2,200 years ago, men had drilled for brine and found oil. And while Jin Zhao lay on the floor, begging for help, screaming that his head exploded with pain- "Tell me this," Tang said. "One simple thing and I will call the doctor. You can receive care. No more beatings."

He saw the hope of truth in the older man's eyes.

"Has Lev Sokolov found the marker?"

Zhao's head nodded yes.

At first slowly, then quickly.

TWENTY-TWO.

ANTWERP.

9:05 PM.

Ca.s.siopeia hustled down the street searching for a place to hide. Three men had been following her since she'd left the hotel. Her left arm cradled the dragon lamp. She carried it carefully, nestled within a plastic bag, surrounded by balled paper.

Redbrick buildings and whitewashed houses surrounded her, all guarding a maze of empty cobbled streets. She rushed past a quiet square, the three men fifty meters behind. No one else could be seen. She could not allow them to take the lamp. Losing it meant losing Sokolov's son.

"Over here," she heard a voice say.

Across the street stood Cotton Malone.

"I got your message," Cotton said. "I'm here."

He was waving her toward him.

She ran, but when she made it to the corner he was gone.

The three men kept pace.

"Here."

She stared down a narrow lane. Cotton was fifty meters away, still waving her forward.

"Ca.s.siopeia, you're making a mistake."

She turned.

Henrik Thorvaldsen appeared.

"You can't help him," he said.

"I have the lamp."

"Don't trust him," he said, and then the Dane was gone. Her eyes searched the street and buildings. The three men had not advanced closer and Cotton was still waving for her to come.

She ran.

Ca.s.siopeia awoke.

She was lying on the park bench. Daylight had waned, the sky now the color of faded ink. She'd been asleep awhile. She glanced back, past the tree trunk. The Toyota remained parked and there were no police or loiterers in sight. She shook the grogginess from her brain. She'd been more tired than she realized. The gun lay beneath her shirt. The dream lingered in her mind.

Don't trust him, Thorvaldsen had said.

Cotton?

He was the only other person there.

She was a good thirty-minute walk away from the Dries Van Egmond Museum. The jaunt would allow her to make sure no one was following. She tried to force her emotions to subside, her mind to stop questioning, but she couldn't. Viktor Tomas' appearance had unnerved her.

Was that who Henrik was referring to?

She spotted a water fountain, walked over, and savored a few long gulps.

She wiped her mouth and steadied herself.

Time to get this over with.

Malone stepped off the NATO chopper at a small airfield north of Antwerp. Ivan followed Stephanie onto the tarmac. Stephanie had arranged the quick flight from Copenhagen. When they were clear of the blades, the helicopter departed back into the night sky.

Two cars awaited with drivers.

"Secret Service," she told them. "Out of Brussels."

Ivan had said little on the trip, just small talk about television and movies. The Russian seemed obsessed with American entertainment.

"All right," Malone said. "We're here. Where's Ca.s.siopeia?"

A third car approached from the far side of the terminal, pa.s.sing rows of expensive private planes.

"My people," Ivan said. "I must talk to them."

The pudgy Russian waddled toward the car, which stopped. Two men emerged.

He stepped close to Stephanie and asked, "He has people here?"

"Apparently so."

"Do we have any independent intelligence on this?" he quietly asked.

She shook her head. "Not enough time. It'll be tomorrow, at the earliest, before I have anything."

"So we're bare-a.s.s-to-the-wind, flying blind."

"We've been there before."

Yes, they had.

Ivan stepped back toward them, saying as he walked, "We have problem."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Malone muttered.

"Vitt is on the move."

"How's that a problem?" Stephanie asked.

"She escapes her captors."

Malone was suspicious. "How do you know that?"

Ivan pointed at the two standing beside the car. "They watch and see."

"Why didn't they help her?" But he knew the answer. "You want her to lead you to the lamp."

"This is intelligence operation," Ivan said. "I have job to do."