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“I worked on the project until it was finished,” Vova told the man. “I know plumbing, so I did more than my friends.”

“You told me you did electrical!” the American shouted. “I need someone who worked with the lighting.”

“Sir, nobody in the camps worked on the lighting,” Vova stuttered. “That was all done by the UAE engineers.”

“You lie. There had to be helpers. There aren’t enough UAE engineers to do it all. Don’t fucking lie to me. I want to know who worked on the lighting!”

“Sir, I promise you. We’re not lying.” Jase heard the fear in Vova’s voice.

“You better find someone who worked on the lighting. I know which building you live in. I know which truck takes you to your work site. I will kill you if you don’t get me the information I need. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir. But you must believe me.”

“Yes, sir, believe all of us. We know nothing about—”

“Ahhh!”

It wasn’t a gunshot, but Jase would bet his bottom dollar that one of the three men had just been pistol-whipped.

“That’s just a taste of what will happen to you. I have friends who aren’t nearly as patient as I am. You have twenty-four hours to bring me somebody who worked on the lighting in the Museum of the Future. Do you understand me? I’ll meet you back here tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good!”

Jase heard loud footsteps that told him the man was leaving.

“Vova, what do we do? Faizan is bleeding badly.”

Jase made a quick decision and moved to where Vova and his friends were. “Who was that man?” Jase asked as he knelt down next to the injured man. “Why did he have a gun?”

Jase pulled off the sash that Faizan used as a belt and wiped at the blood on his forehead so he could get a good look at his injury. He was going to have quite a goose-egg, but his skull wasn’t cracked. The bleeding was coming from the scalp wound. They always bled like sons of bitches.

“I’m fine. Let me up,” Faizon pushed at Jase.

Jase helped him to sit up.

“Tell me who that man was. He sounded American. Why were you meeting with him?” Jase was much older than the young men. He spoke with an authority that they easily responded to.

“I met him three nights ago. He said he knew I worked on the Museum of the Future, and he wanted me to find others who worked on the project as well. He said he would pay us a lot of money for information. He broke his promise.”

“Of course he did. He was not to be trusted,” Jase said with the best Indian accent he could muster. “What are your names?”

“I am Vova. They are Faizan and Hazeem. We all worked on the Museum of the Future, but he wants someone who worked on the lighting. None of the laborers worked on the lights.”

“No, for that kind of work, it was done by UAE engineers,” Hazeem said.

“What’s going to happen if you don’t find somebody that he wants?” Jase asked.

“He has a gun. He said that he would kill me.”

“I think I know someone who worked on the lighting. When are you next meeting with the American? Will he give us money?”

“He promised money before. I don’t know if he will give us money now that he showed us his gun.”

“If he wants the information, he’ll give us the money,” Jase assured him.

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