Clive Cussler - Blue Gold

"Interesting. How does the Mulholland Group fit in with Gogstad?"

"Mulholland was the seed company for Gogstad. Now it's a subsidiary that provides engineering services for the parent corporation."

"What exactly does Gogstad do?"

'At first they acquired interests in pipeline, energy, and construction companies. Since then they have branched out into financial institutions, insurance, media. For the last several years they've concentrated on one product: blue gold."

"I'm only familiar with the fourteen-karat stuff."

Cohen lifted the tumbler in front of him.

"Blue gold is water?"

"Yep." Cohen held the glass to the light like a fine wine, then took a hearty gulp. "Water is no longer a natural right, it's a commodity that can fetch a higher price than refined gas. Gogstad is the dominant player in the world water business. It has the controlling interest in water companies in one hundred and fifty countries on six continents and distributes water to more than two hundred million people. Their biggest coup was engineering passage of the Colorado River privatization bill."

"I've read something about that. Fill me in."

"The Colorado River is the main source of water for the western and southwestern states. The system has always been operated by the feds, the people who brought you the big dams and reservoirs, working with the states and cities. The bill took control away from the government and placed it in the hands of private companies."

"Privatization is pretty common these days. You've got private companies running prisons. Why not water systems?"

"Exactly the argument advanced for the bill. The states have been fighting over water rights for years. Tons of money have been spent on lawsuits. The proponents said privatization would end this. Water would be distributed more efficiently. The investors would shoulder the costs of big capital improvements. What pushed it into the win column was the drought. Cities are running out of water, and people are scared."

"Where does Gogstad fit in?"

"The way it was set up, the Colorado River system would be run by a bunch of separate companies working together."

"Spreading the wealth?"

"That was the idea. Only problem is, every one of these companies is secretly owned by Gogstad."

"So Gogstad has control of the Colorado River?"

He nodded. "They've been doing the same thing on a smaller scale all over the country. They've got contracts to extract glacier water in Alaska. They've expanded their reach into Canada, which has the major sources of water in North America. They've nailed

down control of most of British Columbia's water. Before long the Great Lakes will become Gogstad reservoirs."

Zavala let out a low whistle. "That's scary, but it fits right in with globalization, the concentration of economic power in fewer hands."

"Sure. Taking ownership of a country's most precious re source is entirely legal whether we like it or not. But Gogstad doesn't play by the rules, and that's even scarier."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll give you one example. Congressman Jeremy Kinkaid fought the Colorado River bill tooth and nail and was threatening congressional hearings to rescind the legislation. He died in an accident."

"Lots of people die in accidents."

The reporter extracted a map of the world from his pocket and unfolded it on the table. Speaking almost in a whisper, he said, "See these red squares? Don't bother counting them. There are dozens."

"Gogstad acquisitions?"

"In a manner of speaking. As Gogstad expanded it ran into established players, the companies and municipalities that con trolled the water in other countries. In many cases a rival resisted Gogstad's overtures." He tapped the map. "We correlated the data on the acquisitions with information on company personnel. Every place where you see a red square the acquisition coincided with fatal 'accidents' among the corporate hierarchy. Sometimes top executives simply disappeared."

"Either Gogstad is using street gang methods or it is very lucky."

"You figure it out. In the past ten years it has assimilated transnational water companies in France, Italy, Britain, and South America. It's like the Borg, that alien race in Star Trek that grows in power by absorbing other species into its collective. It's acquired water concessions in Asia and South Africa-" Cohen stopped his breathless recitation. His eyes darted to the door. He relaxed when a woman and a child walked in.

Zavala raised a brow, but he said nothing.

"Sorry," Cohen said. "This whole thing has me as paranoid as hell."

"A little paranoia can be a healthy thing, my friend."

Cohen dropped his voice to a whisper again. "We may have a mole in the news department. That's why I had you call on my cell phone." He fidgeted nervously with his spoon. "A lot of weird stuff has been happening at the paper."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Nothing I can put my finger on. Files out of the order you put them in. Strangers in the building. Odd glances."

"Are you sure it's not your imagination?"

"Others on the team have noticed the funny stuff, too. Hell. Are my jitters that obvious?"

"You're even making me nervous."

"Good, I want you to be nervous. I don't think Gogstad would think twice about getting rid of anyone standing in the way of its goal."

"Which is?"

"It's clear to me that they want to control the world's fresh water supply."

Zavala pondered the pronouncement. "That's a tall order. What they've done in North America and Europe is pretty impressive, but can any one company corner the world's fresh water?"

"It's not as hard as you might think. Fresh water is less than one half of one percent of the world's total water stock. What remains is seawater, or it's locked up in ice caps or in the ground. A lot of our water is too polluted to use, and the world needs more of it every day."

"But isn't most of that water still controlled by all sorts of people and governments?"

"No more. Gogstad locates a likely water source, then offers to run it, making all sorts of generous concessions. Once it has its foot in the door it uses bribery, extortion, or more to convert it to private ownership. In the past five years Gogstad has

stepped up the pace of privatization tremendously. It's been helped by the fact that under the new international trade agreements, a country no longer owns its water. For Godsakes, Joe, this is Owens Valley all over again, but it's happening world wide!" "Your megacompany sounds like a very big octopus."

"Nice analogy even if it is a little cliche." He took a red grease pencil from his pocket and drew lines and arrows on the map. "Here are your tentacles. Water will flow from Canada and Alaska to China. From Scotland and Austria it will go to Africa and the Mideast. Australia has contracts to export water to Asia. On the surface separate interests are involved. But Gogstad calls the shots through its shadow corporations."

"How do they intend to move all that water?"

'A Gogstad company has already developed the technology to transport millions of gallons across the oceans in huge sealed bags. In addition, Gogstad shipyards have been building fifty thousand-gross-ton tankers that can serve double duty hauling oil and water."

"That's got to be pretty expensive."

"They say water flows uphill to money. The customers will pay any price. Most of it won't quench the thirst of some poor bastard scratching a living in a dust bowl. It's for high tech, one of the biggest polluters, incidentally."

"The whole thing is incredible."

"Hold on to your seat, Joe, because that's only part of it." He tapped the map of North America with his finger. "Here's the big market. The U.S.A. Remember what I said about Gogstad controlling the Canadian water supply? There's a plan to divert massive quantities of water from Hudson Bay through the Great Lakes to the U.S. Sun Belt." His finger moved to Alaska. "California and the other desert states have sucked the Colorado River practically dry, so another scheme would take glacier water from the Yukon and move it to the American West through a vast system of dams, dikes, and giant reservoirs. A tenth of British Columbia would be flooded, and there would be massive