Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry

Author:Steve Berry [Berry, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: bestseller
ISBN: 9780345525246
Publisher: Random House Inc.
Published: 2011-06-15T06:20:29+00:00

Chapter Forty-Four.

LANZHOU, CHINA

TANG WAS PLEASED THAT THE FACILITY HAD BEEN SECURED. He'd ordered his men to take charge of the petrochemical laboratory, sending home all non-essential personnel and otherwise restricting access. Luckily, just a dozen people worked in the building, mostly clerks and assistants, and only one of the lab's two research scientists was still alive.

Lev Sokolov.

The Russian expatriate had been brought from the city yesterday, after a doctor had tended to his wounds. The rats had left their mark, both physically and mentally. Killing Sokolov was not out of the question, but not before Tang learned what he needed to know. Jin Zhao had been unable to reveal anything except that Lev Sokolov had found the proof.

But what was it?

Sokolov stood with one arm wrapping his gut, guarding the bandages that Tang knew were there. Tang motioned to the stainless-steel table and the sealed container that rested on top. "That is a sample of oil extracted yesterday from a well in western Gansu. I had it drilled at a spot where the ancients drilled in the time of the First Emperor." He caught recognition in Sokolov's face. "Just as Jin Zhao instructed. I assumed you knew. Now tell me what you found. Zhao said you located a marker."

Sokolov nodded. "A way to know for sure."

Excellent.

"The world has been aggressively extracting oil from the ground for a little over 200 years," Sokolov said, his voice in a low monotone. "Biotic oil, fossil fuel, waits not far beneath the surface. It's easy to get, and we have taken all of it."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've tested a sample from every well on the planet. There is a repository in Europe where those are stored. None of those samples contains fossil fuels."

"You still haven't said how you know that to be true."

"Abiotic oil looks, smells, and acts the same as biotic oil. The only difference is that you have to drill deep to get it. But I'm not sure that even matters anymore. Where's my boy? I want him back."

"And you'll get him. When I get what I want."

"You're a liar."

He shrugged. "I'm the only path to your son. Right now, he's just one of thousands of young boys who disappear each year. Officially, the problem doesn't even exist. Do you understand? Your son doesn't even exist."

He saw the utter hopelessness in the Russian's face.

"Biotic oil is gone," Sokolov quietly continued. "It once was plentiful. Formed from decomposing organic matter, shallow in the earth, and easy to get. But as we pumped fossil fuels from the ground, the earth replenished some of those reserves with oil created deeper in the crust. Not all wells replenish. Some are biotic with no way for the deeper, abiotic oil, to filter upward. So they go dry. Others lie over fissures where oil can seep up from below."

Questions formed in his brain. 2,200 years ago, oil had first been found in Gansu. 200 years ago, that same field went dry. He'd studied the subterranean geography

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.