“Want to introduce me to Dewey and Louie?” Nir said as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the floor, ropes tied to his wrists and ankles pooling at his sides. He ached all over, and raw spots burned where his body had no doubt rubbed against the walls of the trunk Kamal had asked for.

“These men are of no concern to you. They’re here to—”

“You’re not even going to introduce me to the general in the Quds Force uni? Shame what happened to Soleimani. You know him?” The general’s face began reddening. Already Nir was getting to him. “You did know him. I can see it on your face. You have one of those red rings too? Like the one on his runaway hand?” Nir held his own hand in the position Soleimani’s disembodied hand had been discovered.

He went on. “Speaking of red rings, what about Fakhrizadeh? I got to watch that one on a monitor. His head just blew apart like an overripe watermelon. Whoosh.” Nir pulled his hands away from his head like an explosion.

Mousavi stepped forward, but Saad put a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, listen to your master.” Looking at Saad, Nir said, “Does that mean you’re the Dr. Evil of this secret lair? Between the saltwater in my face and your trendy boat shoes, I’m guessing we’re on the ocean and you’re one of those superrich mama’s boys who never got enough hugs when you were a child.”

Kamal nodded toward Nir’s left. Suddenly, his arms and legs were being pulled by the ropes. He was flung back against the wall and stretched until he was hanging spread eagle. All his joints screamed, and it felt like his arms were being pulled from their sockets. He struggled to suck in a breath.

Through gritted teeth, he managed to say, “How da Vinci of you.”

Kamal said, “You know, you are the only one who finds your comments amusing.”

Nir sucked in another deep breath and nodded toward one of the IRGC troops. “Dude there was smirking.”

“Enough playing. I told my friend, the general, that you are carrying information of interest to him. More precisely, that you know when your nation of criminals is planning on attacking his peaceful nation with an air strike. So I would like you to tell him.”

Whoever had secured the ropes pulled them tighter. Nir cried out, then said, “Sorry. Had it on my phone. Seem to have lost it.”

“Is that the way you’re going to play it? You’re determined to take the difficult approach?”

Between gulps of air, Nir said, “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not air force. My work is one-on-one, like with the general’s friends.”