Chapter 365 - The Gobi Desert

When one thought of a desert, images of sweltering heat and dry scorching weather came to mind; places like the Sahara or the Mojave. But, a desert could actually be any waterless, desolate area of land with little to no vegetation. It had nothing to do with temperature. In fact, the coldest and largest desert in the world was The Antartic Ice Sheet in Antarctica!

Over in Mongolia, Dr. Li and Dr. Ren had just arrived in another famous cold desert - The Gobi Desert. Here, the weather got so cold that it could even snow in winter. Fortunately, it was the end of August, a pleasant time of year when daytime temperatures averaged at 27 degrees celsius and nighttime temperatures averaged at 15 degrees celsius.

Both doctors had heard of this desert before, but neither of them had ever imagined going there. Even a week ago, when they were first kidnapped by Boginya, they did not imagine they'd end up there. As they spent their first night inside a yurt together, neither man could sleep. They were about to make a very important decision the next day - a decision that could impact the entire world!

A week ago, when Boginya kidnapped them, she demanded to know what they were doing with Halia and claimed that she knew about their secret lab. They didn't know at the time, but she was simply making a guess. Even so, both doctors still refused to speak. After all, their experiments were top secret. Plus, the fact that she knew Halia meant she was likely linked to The Organization, or at least, a pretty serious criminal. But, because Dr. Li was preparing a presentation for the UN, he had some doc.u.ments on him that briefly explained their work. Dr. Li tried to hide them from Boginya at first. He even tried to discard them when she wasn't looking. But, Boginya noticed he was acting strange and eventually spotted the doc.u.ments. When she read through them, her eyes opened wide with interest.

"BTA..." she smirked. "That's how she knew my name, right?"

Dr. Li and Dr. Ren knew she was referring to Halia, but neither of them responded. However, Boginya was already certain of the answer. It was the only explanation that made sense.

As a founder of The Organization, she was smart, ruthless, and resourceful. Technology like this could be worth a lot if it ended up in the hands of The Organization.

She immediately made some phone calls, and within an hour, she had people watching over Dr. Li and Dr. Ren's families. "Cooperate, or your family will die!" she threatened as she showed the two doctors some live-streamed footage of their homes.

The two doctors wanted to refuse, but when they thought about their families, they couldn't do it. In the end, they obediently listened to all of Boginya's instructions and simply hoped, deep down, that Halia and the others would find them. 

But, before they knew it, Boginya made them fake passports, secured train tickets for them, and they were ushered onto the Trans-Siberian Railway separately by two fierce and burly men. 

Just before he was dragged into the train carriage, Dr. Ren found a way to expose himself to one of the cameras. It was only for 5 seconds, but he hoped it was enough for the authorities to find them. Fortunately, the burly man beside him was too afraid to mention this small incident to Boginya. Otherwise, with her connections, she would have probably tampered with the footage and got rid of those 5 seconds without anyone knowing.

As the two men lay inside their yurt, the silence outside was daunting. A couple of hours ago, they had just arrived at this camp in the middle of the Gobi Desert after almost 11 hours in a car. This was a remote area, far from where all the tourists visited for day trips. Practically, no one knew they were there except for a few local authorities that The Organization had paid off.

When the two doctors first arrived, they were shocked by how big and equipped the camp was. They even had electricity and internet! Clearly, anyone could do anything as long as they had money in a place like this.

After they got out of the car, a few men showed them to their yurt, told them to get some rest, and they were pretty much left on their own after that. Boginya didn't even worry that they were going to escape. After all, they were completely surrounded by desert; there was nowhere to escape to. However, she did drop by briefly to introduce a doctor/scientist to them. He was practically the Russian equivalent of Dr. Li. They were about the same age, same height, same weight, and they even had the same white hair with a bald patch on the crown.

"I want you to start working with Dr. Ivanov tomorrow. If you want your family to remain alive, I want you to share the Brain Tap technology with him," Boginya ordered.

Dr. Li and Dr. Ren did not say a word. They didn't want to do it, but it wasn't like they could refuse.

So, as they lay awake inside the yurt while everyone around them began to fall asleep, they both stressed about the following day. "I can't let my family die," Dr. Li whispered as he revealed his standpoint to Dr. Ren. In other words, when it came down to it, he was going to reveal everything to save his family. Even though he knew how serious this matter was, he couldn't possibly watch his entire family die.

Dr. Ren frowned. If Dr. Li was going to reveal everything, then there was no point for him to retaliate. All he could do was close his eyes and hope that Halia was on her way to save them.

...

At that moment, in Guiyang City, Halia also closed her eyes. She was desperately searching through Trojan's memory for a way to locate the base. At first, all she saw was Boginya's face. After all, Trojan was obsessed with the woman. But, all of a sudden, a different face appeared in front of her. Halia opened her eyes wide in shock. It was a man in uniform; a man that Trojan had spoken to when he was at the base. And, judging by his uniform, he seemed to be from the military...

If they needed someone to locate the base, then this man was the answer...