The air in the Al Quoz industrial warehouse was thick with the scent of stagnant humidity and high-grade diesel. Outside, the Dubai skyline was a jagged crown of neon and glass, but in here, there was only the yellow hum of overhead sodium lights and the heavy silence of men waiting for a reason to die.

I stood in the center of the concrete floor, my 6'5" frame casting a shadow that stretched toward the shipping containers like a shroud.