Page 55 of Her Defiant Warrior

“That’s a lot of coin to walk away from,” Jase said. “What’s more, why not continue to talk to the CIA guy and lie to him?”

“Or do both jobs,” Gideon said. “It sounds like they have enough members these days.”

“That’s what I’d do,” Ryker said.

There was laughter. “Of course you would,” Jase grinned. “You always like living life on the edge. How does Amy feel about that?” Amy was Ryker’s fiancée.

“Are you kidding? Amy keeps him in line. Just wait til they have kids,” Nolan smiled. “Then we’ll see a whole new Ryker.”

Jase thought about Lachlan and Amber. Yeah, if he had them in his life on a permanent basis, it would sure make him a hell of a lot more cautious in his personal life.

“Ryker. Gideon. Are either of you getting any closer to finding out about the C-4?” Kostya asked, interrupting the personal chatter.

“I’m working as a boss between the African and Sri Lankan labor camps. Mostly the African, because of my time in Africa.” Ryker sounded frustrated. “I can’t believe how bad this labor camp is, and I was in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak.”

“Yeah, but you don’t show it. You fit right in with the other bosses,” Gideon assured him. Gideon turned to the others in the room. “You should see him. Ryker walks around like he’s King Shit. He’s using an Afrikaans accent. Nobody questions him. When he needs it, his pigeon Arabic is getting him by.”

“I forgot Ryker spent time all over Africa,” Jase admitted.

“Yeah, it’s coming in handy,” Gideon grinned over at Ryker. “There are some Sudanese and Rwanda here, and damned if he doesn’t speak a couple of their languages. Meanwhile, I only have enough Arabic where I can understand just a few words.”

“Yeah, you’ve always been a piker. So what’s your situation like?” Kostya asked Gideon.

“Danmey Properties has done what all the other developers have done. They’ve created dorms. Imagine ant farms. Each dorm houses maybe a thousand workers. The dorms are separated by nationality or country. I’m relegated to the African one, obviously, bastards. Each dorm room houses fourteen of us. They’ve shoved seven bunkbeds in the room, with just enough space for a bucket in the corner when we can’t make it to the forty meters to the communal bathrooms.”

“Gross,” Landon said.

“You’d think those were bad, but I swear, the communal bathrooms are worse. Instead of sinks, there are three hoses that we’re supposed to use to wash ourselves, fifteen urinals, and fifteen toilets, with eight of them overflowing with shit.” Gideon looked up at everybody and then gave a reluctant chuckle. “So, no worse than any other mission.”

“But those laborers. I can’t believe they signed up for it, or that the UAE is allowing it,” Tanner said in disgust. “Hell, the UAE is one of the richest countries in the world.”

“This is how they do it. They get recruiters to go to their home country. The recruiters promise these guys great wages. Tell them they’ll make enough that they’ll be able to send money home to their families to lift them out of poverty. But as soon as the men arrive, their passports are oftentimes confiscated, then they’re told that they have to work for one or two years to pay off the cost of their plane ride from Pakistan, India or wherever the fuck they’re from,” Gideon explained.

“Are you shitting me?” Mateo asked.

“Nope. So those first two years they make just enough money to subsist in the UAE, maybe a little extra so they can send some dirham home, but not the thousands like they were thinking. Certainly nothing like the recruiters promised. So, there they are, stuck in a foreign country, with their recruiters telling them that they are in debt to them not just for the plane ride, but also for their services of having brought them over to the UAE. Basically their first couple of years they’re working for nothing. They’re practically indentured servants, living in a hellhole, working ten to fourteen hours a day.”

“The only saving grace is that it sounds better than some of the refugee camps we’ve seen,” Jase sighed.

“Yeah, logically I know the refugee camp I saw in Yemen last year was worse, but this was done to these men and sometimes deliberately. They have tricked these fifteen- and sixteen-year-old boys, purposefully. They have no souls,” Gideon bit out.

There was silence in the room. Finally Kostya broke it.

“Have you learned anything, Gideon?” Kostya asked.

“Yeah. The night before last there were three Americans floating around waving cash and asking to talk to anyone who worked on the Museum of the Future build. A few of the Pakistani laborers decided to take one of the Americans on and steal his money. Two of the laborers ended up dead, the other won’t live long.”

“What kind of information were they asking for?” Jonas wanted to know.

“Don’t know that. Still trying to find out. There are too many of these dorms to work my way through. What’s more, I’m relegated to the African area because of the color of my skin.” He looked at Kostya. “We need more people.”

“Who do you need?” their lieutenant asked.

“I need Jase and Mateo to get here so they can blend into some of the other areas. There are the Sri Lankan, Bangali, Indian, Pakistani, and even some Chinese groups. With your brown skin, you two could kind of pass as Pakastani or Bengali. Both of those countries speak English. Ryker and I discussed it. We also need another man to act as one of the guards. We think Jonas would be good for this.”

“How were you brought in?” Jase asked.

“Ryker brought me. Since he’s a boss, it seemed normal for him to bring in a new recruit.”