“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 resource 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 controlled 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.”