Murder in Mongolia

by Fritz Galt

  “And it never reenters the aquifer?” Jake asked.

  Bill nodded at him significantly, like a lecturer finally getting through to a pupil.

  Jake was even more confused. So there was a closed system of using water in a mine on the Chinese border. How could that lead to the death of the family and horses that day? “So what’s the connection between the processing and the toxins in the springs?”

  “We’ll just have to go down there and find out,” Bill said. “Won’t we.”

  Jake hated that man. But he was right.

  Jake needed fresh air. And Courtney had come under the intense and admiring gaze of Bill Frost.

  So Jake invited her to step outside. They put on their coats and left the cozy house to wait for Nils, Nicole, and her host mother to return from the spring.

  As they stepped outside, they were struck by blowing pellets of ice.

  “Great!” Courtney cried with glee. “It’s snowing.”

  Jake regarded her with dismay. The last thing he wanted was more winter. But he knew what she was saying. With snow, animals could hydrate safely again.

  Courtney took him by the hand, and together they opened a solid gate and walked out of the fenced area. Jake looked down the dirt road that was bordered by similar compounds. Cows wandered over in hopes of food or a nose rub, but he prodded them along.

  With a steady wind from the west, snowflakes had already accumulated in white lines against the high wooden walls.

  The snow became wetter and thicker as they waited, and soon a layer formed on the ground.

  Jake peered through the falling snow at the gathering dusk. They would have to crash at Nicole’s place for the night, all six of them. Where would they fit?

  And who would sleep with whom?

  He looked at the tall, young woman beside him. He, too, felt the attraction of a fellow American in a far-off land. But all he could think of was Amber.

  “You know, Courtney,” he began.

  “No, Jake.” She put a finger to his lips. “Don’t say a thing.”

  It was perfect, standing in the beautiful blanket of snow with the smells of nature all around them.

  Yet, for the first time, he felt that he was out of bounds, leading someone on. He didn’t want to offer her more than he could give.

  “Courtney,” he said, and turned to face her. Snowflakes were landing on her little, ski-jump nose and slowly melted there. Her eyes were bright blue and caught the distant streetlights. “I must tell you…”

  “I know,” she said, and stared at her feet. “He’s all wrong for me.”

  “What?”

  “He’s too old. He comes across so nicely on TV, but he’s exceptionally rude in person. But I get him, Jake.”

  “You get him?”

  “Yes. I was a bio major and he’s a biologist. I get him and I think he gets me.”

  “I see.” It wasn’t what he had expected, and although he had a disease to investigate, a world to notify, and Amber to find, he still felt a surge of jealousy.

  “Then you…and I?” he said.

  She looked at him curiously. Then the bridge of her nose crinkled with a laugh. “Oh don’t think I was falling for you,” she said.

  “No. I wouldn’t think that.”

  “But you would want it,” she said, half-teasing.

  She certainly got him.

  “No. Not me,” he dissembled. “I’m just worried about you and…”

  “I know,” she said. “He’s all wrong for me.”

  He hated Bill Frost even more than he thought possible. And, given Bill Frost’s reputation, Jake was worried about Courtney. Still, what could he say without sounding self-serving?

  “I wish you only the best,” he said at last.

  With that night’s sleeping arrangements established, he had a longer-term problem to tackle. The next day, he and his party needed to press on. Bill Frost had provided the final lead necessary to solve the case. Something about that specific mine was drawing international attention, warped the FBI out of all recognition, set brother against brother, and created an outbreak of epic proportions. Like the silent snow that covered the land, death had descended on Mongolia.

  He needed the whole team to embark on the final leg of the journey. He needed Tracy, the researcher who understood animals and outbreaks. He needed Nils, who was the only doctor in the group, and a world-renowned epidemiologist. Despite his aversion to the man, he needed Bill to put the mining pieces together. He needed Matt, who had embassy contacts for backup and represented the conscience of a nation. And he needed Eve, who kept things real.

  He turned to Courtney, who along with Nicole knew the region best. “Would you like to come to the mine with us?”

  She thought about it long and hard. Several more snowflakes landed on her lashes before she finally blinked them away. “As a Peace Corps volunteer, it goes against my training to interfere with local politics.”

  Jake was afraid she would say that.

  “But I have to admit, as a biologist, I’m psyched to help.”

  “Then can I consider you part of the team?”

  She gave him a twisted smile. “I thought I already was.”

  That sounded right to him.

  He looked up and down the road, the view rapidly becoming obscured by heavy snowfall. How was he going to get a team of two scientists, two diplomats, two Peace Corps volunteers, a cranky conservationist, and himself through all that snow and to the mine? They had lost their wheels for a troika of dying horses, and there was no transportation in sight.

  Maybe he should have taken a more aggressive approach to the negotiation. Maybe he should have let his gun do the talking. But he was reminded of the net of police activity slowly closing in on them. His team couldn’t evade the law forever.

  Say they did get to the mine. Would they be allowed in?

  And if the mine was worried about security, they would have tripwires, fences, and guards.

  Jake’s group was stuck between an angry police force and a potentially heavily guarded mine.

  “How far away is the Altan Tolgoi Mine?” he asked.

  Courtney didn’t know. “Far?” she guessed.

  In the Gobi’s arctic climate, combined with high elevation and the extreme cold of winter, everything was far.

  Finally they heard the crisp crunch of approaching boots.

  He listened more closely. “Are they running?”

  “Quick, behind the wall,” Jake said, and pushed Courtney back into the family compound.

  As the runners rounded the last corner, Jake eased the solid gate shut and slid the dead bolt home.

  Courtney protested, but he put a finger to his lips and forced her into a crouch.

  Then he drew his service pistol and racked the slide. It made a slamming sound as it chambered a round.

  In the dark behind the outhouse, they waited side by side and listened.

  The footsteps were accompanied by heavy breathing. Was it the police? Was it Nils, Nicole, and her host mother? If so, why were they running?

  He took his stance and trained the gun on the gate. He hoped it was some other group hurrying by in the snow.

  But the footsteps slowed as they approached. Wordlessly, the group crunched up to the spot where Jake and Courtney’s footprints would still be visible in the snow. They would know that someone was inside.

  The gate creaked slightly, but the lock held. All he heard was the rasping sound of people breathing in the cold air. Why didn’t they knock?

  He had to prepare for a full police force assault.

  The silence was unnerving. Why didn’t they talk? Why had they been running?

  He was low on information and needed to force the issue. “That you?” he whispered.

  “Ja. Of course it’s us,” came the Swede’s voice. “Why did you lock the gate?”

  “Nicole?” Courtney said, and stood up.

  “Courtney?”

  At last the two parties had ide
ntified themselves. Jake locked his gun and holstered it before he opened the gate.

  He didn’t want the other party to know how close he had come to blowing their heads off.

  Once the Swede, the American, and the Mongolian were inside the compound, Jake locked the gate.

  Water bottle in hand, Nicole marched into the house and went straight to Tracy.

  “Why were you running?” Jake whispered to Nils.

  “The police were snooping around the spring,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”

  “Did they identify you?” he asked.

  “We’re pretty obvious,” Nils said.

  As Professor Tracy Woolman fine-tuned her spectrometer to analyze the water, Jake got busy working out a plan of action.

  He turned to Nicole, who had a hacking cough as she recovered from the dash through the snow.

  “You said your host father delivers water from the mountains?”

  She nodded mid-cough, and motioned for him to continue.

  “How does he bring the water down?”

  At last she got her voice back. “His company doesn’t work in the winter. My host dad is in Thailand right now, and the operation is stopped until the Zavkhan River thaws.”

  “I guess what I’m asking is, are there any vehicles available?”

  “For what?”

  “I need to get to the Altan Tolgoi Mine.”

  “But that’s a hundred miles away. And if you’re trying to avoid the police, there’s a mountain range in between.”

  He was getting tired of all the mountains that they were encountering. “I thought Mongolia was made up of plains.”

  “There are lots of mountain ranges in this country, especially to the north and west, but also here in the south.”

  He still didn’t think a hundred miles was all that far. “Aren’t there off-road vehicles?”

  “Mr. Maguire, it doesn’t matter what kind of vehicle. Nobody drives in the mountains, especially this time of year.”

  He would just have to make an exception.

  “Ask him,” he said, and indicated the grandfather, who was studying Tracy as she calibrated the water-testing equipment.

  Reluctantly, Nicole approached her host grandfather and sat beside him.

  The two conversed in low tones for a full minute. Jake only hoped that her haggling skills had improved since she traded away their car.

  Finally the gentleman rose to his feet and shuffled over to Jake.

  “The company has a fleet of vans,” Nicole spoke for him. “You’re welcome to borrow them.”

  It was the first good news he had heard all day in a day full of very bad news.

  “All I need is one vehicle.” Then he made sure that Matt was out of earshot. “And a driver.”

  Nicole translated for the man, who replied, looking Jake straight in the eye.

  “You are his friend,” she translated.

  Jake nodded.

  “You have shared his snuff bottle.”

  He smiled.

  “You have shared his wine.”

  That sounded encouraging.

  “You have shared his food.”

  Jake nodded in gratitude.

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  He froze, the smile plastered on his face.

  “He will drive you,” Nicole concluded.

  Jake looked the old fellow in the eye. The return look was one of deep resolve.

  “I added the ‘out of your mind’ part,” Nicole confessed.

  “Can he drive over the mountain?” Jake asked.

  Nicole translated the question and got a single syllable response that sounded like “team.”

  “Did he say ‘team?’” Jake asked.

  “The word is tiim,” Nicole said. “And it means ‘yes.’”

  There was no arguing the point. The old guy would drive them to Altan Tolgoi Mine.

  “We’re all on the same tiim,” Jake said, and shook the man’s hand.

  He was just turning to the others to explain the plan when there was an excited cry.

  “I have a result!” It was Tracy calling from her miniature lab.

  Everyone rushed over.

  She held up the nearly full water bottle that Nicole had used to get a sample from the well.

  “Like the other samples, it’s contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals. I’ve already isolated cyanide and sulfuric acid.”

  “Matt,” Jake said. “Phone the embassy that we found Bill Frost alive, and tell them about Tracy’s results. We need to alert the outside world.”

  “And what should we do?” Nils asked.

  There was no stopping them now. They had to get to that mine.

  “Start packing for a multi-day expedition,” Jake told the group. “We’re heading out tonight.”

  That began a process of breaking down Tracy’s lab and gathering food and blankets to make the trip over what promised to be rugged terrain.

  They needed to give the police the slip. And while they still had a cell phone signal, it would help to know what the outside world knew.

  Specifically, he wanted to check back with Emily Yun at the National Security Agency for any news on phone calls from Amber or Cal.

  The last Jake knew, Amber had gone to the Gobi, but as he was learning, the Gobi was a large place. Emily had agreed to pull strings to triangulate Amber’s last cell phone position. If Jake could pinpoint her exact location, he might be able to pick her up on the way to the mine.

  He was reluctant to use his cell phone, for that would alert the CIA as to his whereabouts. And, if his intuition was correct, it was Cal and the CIA that were directing the Mongolian police to find him.

  Still, Emily had told him that calls to the NSA and CIA were exempt from the giant hoovering process that was the NSA. Calls from his phone might be intercepted, but he could borrow someone else’s device to call in.

  “Matt? May I borrow your phone?”

  Matt finished his call to the embassy and turned it over.

  With evening in Mongolia, it was already morning in Maryland, and Emily, the ever-punctual employee, was already at her desk.

  “Matthew Justice?” came her voice.

  “No, it’s me,” he said. “Jake.”

  “Jake Maguire!” she said with alarm. “Are you colluding with the Russians?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “It’s all over the headlines. You were last photographed in Moscow talking with Edward Snowden, a connection that can land you in prison around here.”

  “No, I’m not colluding with anyone,” he said. “I just want to know if you’ve learned anything new about Amber.”

  “You’re still worried about her? You should be saving your own bacon.”

  That was about as racy as Emily got. But it told Jake a lot about the trouble he was in.

  “Please look up her file,” he said.

  “Jake, this is beyond going out on a limb for you.”

  He smiled. She was his Wile E. Coyote treading air over a cliff. And she would come through.

  “We have collected no more signals from her cell phone since she last tried to reach you,” she said.

  He looked around the room at the hectic packing and warm, caring smiles. What sort of trouble was she in?

  “But,” Emily said, “we have worked with the Mongolian cellular network provider to triangulate the last signal from her phone.”

  He closed his eyes and waited for news of her location. Wherever she was, he would go there.

  “It’s in a region on the Mongolia-Chinese border. The nearest town is named Bayantooroi.”

  He snapped his fingers to get Nicole’s attention. “Ever hear of Bayantooroi?”

  She shook her head.

  “I need more details,” Jake said.

  “According to the map, it’s in a SPA region, whatever that means.”

  “Strictly Protected Area,” he said. “Where in that region?”
>
  “I’m looking at a satellite image right now,” she said. “The coordinates for the call appear to be in the middle of a grid of four large rectangular bodies of water.”

  He didn’t recall seeing any such bodies of water on Google Earth. Unless that was what was hidden by the blurring. “Is it near a mine?”

  “It is,” she said.

  “How is it that my satellite image is blurred out at that spot and yours isn’t?” he asked.

  “What are you using? Google Earth?”

  “Hey, don’t be so snooty. Yes, it’s Google Earth.”

  “Well, that’s publicly censored material. I’m looking at National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency imagery.”

  “Ah, classified.”

  “Not classified. Just uncensored.”

  Wasn’t that a distinction without a difference? Maybe not. If the U.S. Government didn’t find it a national secret, who did want to hide it from public view?

  He moved on to the mining operation. “What’s the name of the mine?”

  “It’s labeled in Chinese.”

  “That’s fine, but I don’t speak Chinese,” he said.

  “I do,” she said. “It translates to Golden Hill.”

  “That’s good enough,” he said. “I’ll work on a Mongolian translation.”

  He whispered “Golden Hill” to Nicole, and her expression froze.

  He cupped the mouthpiece. “What’s wrong?”

  “That’s Altan Tolgoi,” she said. “That’s where we’re going.”

  It was great to know that Emily could confirm Amber’s general whereabouts. But it was disturbing that her last call came from a censored area, the middle of four large rectangular bodies of water near a mine that Bill Frost had deemed suspicious.

  Then he turned to the question of Bill’s brother.

  “Any calls made by Cal Frost?” He hoped that the crazed lobbyist, whose last call was to Langley from Mongolia, was nowhere near Amber or him.

  “Nothing new since we last talked,” Emily said.

  “Not even a cell phone signal?”

  “Nothing. He’s gone to ground.”

  Jake expressed his sincerest gratitude to Emily. “I owe you big time.”

  “Just come home alive.”

  He hung up. Not many officials were willing to risk their security clearance for a colleague.