"Small world, eh? Hiram, when we are finished perhaps you and Max can take a closer look at this Malaysian front company."

"Sure thing. I guess we should also talk about that bit of German strudel you sent me."

"Ah yes, the doc.u.ments written in German. Did you and Max come up with anything?"

"Not much on the doc.u.ments per se. Just as you noted, they read like the first pages of a technical operator's manual. You found them with a large electrical device?"

"A room full of computing equipment, powering a three-legged tubular device that stands ten feet high. Any idea what it might be?"

"There wasn't enough data to determine its exact function. The pages were simply operator's instructions for an acoustic seismic array."

"Care to try that again in English?" Giordino asked.

"Mostly the stuff of lab experiments. Von Wachter evidently succeeded in taking the technology a leap forward."

"Who's von Wachter?" Pitt asked.

"Dr. Friedrich von Wachter. An eminent electrical engineering professor from the University of Heidelberg. Well known for his research in acoustics and seismic imagery. Max made the link between von Wachter and the acoustic seismic array. One of his last papers discussed the theoretical application of a parametric acoustic array for subsurface imagery."

Gunn helped himself to more coffee as the men in the hotel room listened attentively to Yaeger's voice on the speakerphone.

"Though the facts are murky, it appears that Dr. von Wachter developed a working model for acoustic seismic imagery," he said. "As you know, in the oil exploration business seismic imagery usually relies on a mechanical explosive, such as dynamite or a thumper truck, to send a shock wave into the earth. The refracted seismic waves are then recorded and processed by computer modeling to develop a subsurface image."

"Sure. The marine survey ships use an air gun to generate the shocks," Giordino said.

"Von Wachter apparently eliminated the explosives by developing an electronic means of producing the shock wave. The acoustic array, if I understand it correctly, transmits a high-frequency sound burst, which converts to seismic waves under the surface."

"Our experience with survey sonar systems is that high-frequency waves don't provide adequate penetration to 'see' very far beneath the surface," Giordino stated.

"That's true. Most of the waves are easily refracted near the surface. Apparently, von Wachter's concentrated burst allows a greater bombardment, if you will, of sound waves, ensuring that a useful percentage of waves penetrate deeply. From the preliminary data in the manual and your visual description of the device, it sounds as if von Wachter uses three rather large arrays to transmit the sound waves."

"I'll bet that is how they found Genghis," Pitt remarked. "His tomb was supposedly buried in a hidden location in the mountains, along with Kublai Khan and other related royalty."

"And they're obviously using it to hunt for oil," Gunn added.

"A valuable technology that the oil companies would pay dearly for. Dr. von Wachter must be a rich man," Giordino said.

"I'm afraid he's a dead man. He and his team of German engineers were killed in a landslide in Mongolia a little over a year ago."

"Why does that sound suspicious?" Giordino added.

"Need I add that they were working for the Avarga Oil Company at the time," Yaeger said.

"More blood on the hands of Borjin," Pitt said without surprise. The ruthlessness of the Avarga Oil empire and its head, Tolgoi Borjin, was becoming old news.

"None of it adds up," Giordino said. "A seismic survey team murdered, another abducted. A tunnel borer, specialized drilling equipment, a vast disguised storage facility in the middle of the desert. One of several, according to our camel herder friend, Tsengel. All tied in to a system of underground pipelines running hidden across an empty desert. Yet no visible sign of output. Why?"

The room fell silent for a moment, the turning gears in everyone's heads nearly audible. Then a knowing look spread across Pitt's face.

"Because," he said slowly, "they have been unable to drill where the oil is."

"Borjin has probably greased enough wallets to drill anywhere he wants to in Mongolia," Giordino countered.

"But suppose the oil isn't in Mongolia?"

"Of course," Gunn said, the answer suddenly apparent. "He's found oil in China, or Inner Mongolia to be precise. How he convinced the Chinese to turn the land over, that's what I'd like to know."

"They're in a bad way," Yaeger said. "Because of the earthquakes in the Persian Gulf and the fire at their main oil import terminal near Shanghai, China has lost more than half of its oil imports overnight. They're in a desperate situation and liable to act a little irrational in order to find a quick fix."

"It would explain the storage facilities located by the border. They might already have some secret wells in Inner Mongolia pumping to one of the other storage sites," Pitt speculated. "The Chinese would only see the end product shipped from Mongolia and not know the oil originated in their own yard."

"I wouldn't want to be on this side of the Great Wall when they figure that scam out," Gunn said.

"It might explain why Borjin abducted the oil survey team from Baikal," Giordino said. "He probably needs their expertise to pinpoint the drill sites and get the oil out of the ground quickly."

"Seems like he could have hired that expertise on the open market," Yaeger said.

"Perhaps. But he probably didn't want to risk leaking the secret of where the oil deposits are located."

"Maybe he'll release them, now that he's got his deal with the Chinese," Gunn said.

"Not likely," Pitt replied. "They already murdered Roy and tried to kill us. No, I'm afraid they are as good as dead once Borjin has the information he wants out of them."

"Have you contacted the local American emba.s.sy yet? We need to get the political forces working to save them," Gunn said.

Pitt and Giordino looked at each other in affirmation.

"Diplomacy ain't going to work in this case, Rudi," Giordino said. "Borjin is too well protected. Our Russian friends have been trying that route to no avail, and they've got a lot more clout in this part of the world than we do."

"We've got to do something," he countered.

"We are," Pitt said. "We're going in after them."

"You can't do that. Going in under the name of the U.S. government might create an international incident."

"Not if the U.S. government doesn't know anything about it. And by the way, it's not just Al and me going in. You're coming with us."

A sick feeling struck Gunn in the stomach and he could feel the color drain from his face.

"I knew I should have stayed in Siberia," he muttered.

-42-