Golemon, David Lynn. Event Group thriller

230 B.C. - The first sovereign emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, has consolidated his ultimate power with battles against the last of the dissenting tribes of China. With one last province to take, he knows he will be pitted against the one man he fears--his mysterious half-brother, Li Zhang, leader of a peaceful province to the north. The new Emperor's goal was to murder Li Zhang for the secrets he has kept from the world that would give Qin Shi Huang the power to strike beyond the borders of ancient China. The power over earth, water, fire, and air. After a fierce battle by the Great Wall of China, Li Zhang used the powers of Air Bending to escape with his many villages into the expansive and brutal Gobi Desert. There, Li Zhang and his nation will vanish from the histories of not only the First Emperor, but of China itself. Present Day - The world's warring governments have simultaneously discovered deposits of an extra-terrestrial ore within the borders of Mongolia. This amazing mineral has been found to have properties that if processed correctly, has the potential to send men far beyond our own solar system using only a fraction of the material as fuel. The age of faster than light travel is now within the world's grasp. Enter Department 5656, the secret U.S. Government agency known to only a handful as the Event Group, as they are called upon to join this expedition when it is learned that the recent and brutal nemesis they discovered as having control over a blinded Russian nation, is leading the search for the newest of elements that will send mankind beyond the stars. Join Colonel Jack Collins, Carl Everett, and Director Niles Compton, and the rest of the Event Group staff, as they attempt to discover the true mystery of what lies beneath the Gobi