The Emperor's Tomb

ALSO BY STEVE BERRY

NOVELS

The Amber Room

The Romanov Prophecy

The Third Secret

The Templar Legacy

The Alexandria Link

The Venetian Betrayal

The Charlemagne Pursuit

The Paris Vendetta

E-BOOKS

“The Balkan Escape”

For Fran Downing, Frank Green, Lenore Hart,

David Poyer, Nancy Pridgen,

Clyde Rogers, and Daiva Woodworth

Teachers extraordinaire

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To the folks at Random House: Gina Centrello, Libby McGuire, Cindy Murray, Kim Hovey, Katie O’Callaghan, Beck Stvan, Carole Lowenstein, Rachel Kind, and all those in promotions and sales. Once again, thanks.

To Mark Tavani, thanks for being a persistent editor.

To Pam Ahearn I offer a ninth bow of gratitude and my continued appreciation.

To Simon Lipskar, I deeply appreciate your wisdom and guidance.

A few special mentions: Charlie Smith, who performed some much-appreciated reconnoitering in China; Grant Blackwood, a superb thriller writer who saved me from falling in Denver; Els Wouters, who provided, on short notice, vital on-site research in Antwerp; Esther Levine for opening doors at the terra-cotta warrior exhibit; Bob and Jane Stine, who stimulated my imagination over lunch and connected me with “Julia” Xiaohui Zhu; James Rollins for once again helping save the day; Michele and Joe Finder, who offered some sage advice; Meryl Moss and her wonderful staff; Melisse Shapiro, who is more helpful than she could ever realize; and Esther Garver and Jessica Johns who keep History Matters and Steve Berry Enterprises running.

I also want to say thank you to every one of my readers around the world. I appreciate your loyal support, insightful comments, infectious enthusiasm, and, yes, even your criticisms. You are what keeps me writing every day.

And there’s Elizabeth—critic, cheerleader, editor, wife, muse. The whole package.

Finally, this book is dedicated to Fran Downing, Frank Green, Lenore Hart, David Poyer, Nancy Pridgen, Clyde Rogers, and Daiva Woodworth. Together, they showed me how to teach myself to be a writer.

Whether I succeeded is still a matter of debate.

One thing, though, is clear.

Without their influence, nothing ever would have been printed.

Study the past if you would define the future.

—CONFUCIUS

History is a maiden, and you can dress her however you wish.

—CHINESE PROVERB

All countries large and small suffer one defect in common: the surrounding of the ruler with unworthy personnel. Those who would control rulers, first discover their secret fears and wishes.

—HAN FEI TZU, 3rd century BCE

TIMELINE OF RELEVANT

EVENTS OF CHINESE HISTORY

1765–1027 BCE

Shang Dynasty (earliest known)

770–481 BCE

Spring and Autumn Period

551–479 BCE

Confucius lives

535 BCE

Origin of the eunuch system

481–221 BCE

Warring States Period and emergence of Legalism

200 BCE

Chinese first drill for oil

221 BCE

Qin Shi unifies the warring states into China and becomes First Emperor

210 BCE

Qin Shi dies; terra-cotta army is completed and interred with First Emperor in Imperial tomb mound

146 BCE – 67 CE

Eunuch system expands into a political force

89 BCE

Sima Qian completes

Records of the Historian (Shiji)

202 CE –1912 CE

Dynastic rule of China flourishes

1912 CE

Last emperor is forced from throne; dynastic rule ends; eunuch system is abolished; Republic of China is formed

1949 CE

Communist Revolution; People’s Republic of China is formed

1974 CE

Terracotta army is rediscovered

1976 CE

Mao Zedong dies

PROLOGUE

NORTHERN AREAS, PAKISTAN

FRIDAY, MAY 18

8:10 AM

A BULLET ZIPPED PAST COTTON MALONE. HE DOVE TO THE rocky ground and sought what cover the sparse poplars offered. Cassiopeia Vitt did the same and they belly-crawled across sharp gravel, finding a boulder large enough to provide the two of them protection.

More shots came their way.

“This is getting serious,” Cassiopeia said.

“You think?”

Their trek had, so far, been uneventful. The greatest congregation of towering peaks on the planet surrounded them. The roof of the world, two thousand miles from Beijing, in the extreme southwestern corner of China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region—or the Northern Areas of Pakistan, depending on whom you asked—smack up against a hotly disputed border.

Which explained the soldiers.

“They’re not Chinese,” she said. “I caught a glimpse. Definitely Pakistanis.”