Lam can’t contain his excitement. “I was unsure if his connection to Three Phoenix went deeper, but if his ties were to Zhang only, then we have a way in. He has no real loyalty to these people.”

“What’s the way?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“Money, of course. Do you think he wants to work for Acosta for the rest of his life? Jon here worked Clem’s case for me, even though he had reservations. Why did he do it, then? Because I offered him more money than he’d dreamed of.”

Brazuca says nothing to this. He’s too busy contemplating the stars above us. You could almost believe it, that he’s this absorbed by the night sky. You could, if you didn’t see him pass a hand over his knee, the one on his bad leg, the gesture a familiar one to me. Back when we used to go to meetings together and there was that moment where we were asked who wanted to share, Brazuca would do this.

It means he’s holding back.

After a moment he turns to us. “I’ve been back to that Aussie bar. Most of the mine security, the foreigners, live in the village. But not Dao. Acosta has a villa he keeps on Lombok, and that’s where he stays.”

“Is Acosta here now?”

“No, he’s in Europe. Dao watches the compound.”

“Shut up by himself for months at a time,” I say.

Brazuca nods. “The guys that work in the security business, they’re part of a world we have no idea about, not really. They’ve seen things we can’t ever imagine. They live off moments of pure adrenaline. When they come down, they come down hard.”

“You’re talking about drugs?” Lam asks.

“Sometimes.”

“Well, that only makes it better. I hope he’s a junkie.” Lam is unable to disguise his disgust. Or unwilling, maybe. You’d think a man who lost a loved one to an overdose would be more sympathetic. Maybe junkies he’s not in love with don’t count. “Brazuca, can you make contact?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Tell him you’re representing a party who wants to contract his services. If his loyalty is for sale, I’ll be the one to buy it.”

“What about me?” I ask. “It’s personal between us. He won’t let this go.”

“That’s why we have this,” Lam says. He pulls up a news report on his tablet. It’s been translated into English and covers an incident at Acosta’s Lombok mine, where an unidentified employee was caught using physical force against a protester. There are photos of a man slamming said protester against a wall and pressing a lit cigarette into his neck.