“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.”