"You probably heard about the pod of gray whales that was found dead off San Diego." Cohen nodded. "We've tracked the possible cause of death to an operation on the Baja peninsula. There was a link to the Mulholland Group. Gogstad is the parent company."
Cohen's eyes narrowed. "What kind of operation?"
"Don't laugh. It's a tortilla plant."
"I don't laugh at anything having to do with this outfit."
"Then you know it."
"Intimately. That's why I was stunned when you called. I've been on an investigative team digging into Gogstad for almost a year. We're going to call the story series 'The Water Pirates.' "
"I thought piracy went out with Captain Kidd."
"This is bigger than Kidd could ever have imagined."
"What turned you on to the story?"
"Dumb luck. We were looking into corporate mergers, the quiet ones that don't always make the headlines but have just as much impact on the average citizen. We started crisscrossing the same faint trail. It was like a hunter coming across snow-blown tracks in the woods again and again."
"The tracks were Gogstad's."
Cohen nodded. "It took us months to pin it down, and we still only have a partial picture. Gogstad is enormous! With holdings in the hundreds of billions, it may be the biggest world wide conglomerate in history."
"I'll admit I don't read the Wall Street Journal every day, but I'm surprised I never heard of this outfit if it's as big as you say."
"Don't feel bad. They've spent millions to keep their dealings a secret. They use back-room deals, straw and dummy corporations, every trick in the book. Thank God for computers! We fed the stuff through a Geographic Information System. The GIS connects the info in the database to points on a map. The cops use the same system to keep tabs on gang connections. We've got some great graphs that show Gogstad's holdings around the world."
"Who's behind this super-corp?"
"We're pretty sure the reins of power are held by one person. Her name is Brynhild Sigurd."
Zavala had a deserved reputation as a ladies' man, so his ears perked up at the mention of a woman. "Tell me about Ms. Sigurd."
"There isn't much I can tell. She's never made the Fortune magazine list of most powerful women, although she deserves to be at the top. We do know she was born in the U.S. of Scandinavian parents, that she went to school in Europe and
later started an engineering company called the Mulholland Group." "I was just there. I should have asked to see the lady."
"It wouldn't do you any good. She's still listed as company president, but nobody sees her."
"I'm not clear on the company name. The office isn't on Mulholland Drive."
Cohen smiled indulgently. "Have you ever heard of the Owens Valley scandal?"
"It had to do with the Los Angeles water system, I believe."
"That's right. It's hard to believe today, but L.A. was just a small desert town back in the 1920s. The city needed water to grow. The nearest major source of fresh water was sleepy little Owens Valley two hundred miles to the north. L.A. quietly sent guys to the valley to buy out the water rights to the river. By the time the valley people figured out what was going on it was too late to do anything. Their water was on its way to Los Angeles."
"What happened to the Owens Valley?"
"Drained dry." He chuckled evilly. "Most of the water the taxpayers paid for went to the San Fernando Valley, not the city. A bunch of local businessmen bought land cheap there. Prices skyrocketed when water came in and made the speculators mil lions. The man who engineered the coup was William Mulholland."
"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.