The two men escaped the watchful eye of their employers one day during work and went to the U.S. consulate in Dharan to complain about their situation, Keene says. But a marine at the door did not permit them to speak to an American official, explaining that he was "under orders."

Keene says that when he and Maes later told the State Department of the encounter, embassy officials denied that it had occurred.

A few days after they returned from the consulate, Maes drank some tea offered by Al-Zahid. According to Keene, Maes immediately became violently ill and from that time until his death his health steadily deteriorated.

Doctors who performed an autopsy concluded that he died from poisoning by isocyanates, chemicals commonly found at industrial sites.

Keene and Maes were only able to leave the country when they were arrested by the religious police and put on an airplane at gunpoint. No one ever explained to them why they were arrested or deported, Keene says.

"Mentally, I was a wreck when I came home," Keene says. "I checked myself into a hospital and tried to get my life back in order."

Upon their return home, Keene and Maes called Mallard, still employed by the Saudi Industrial Company, and told him their story.

"At first I didn't believe them," Mallard says. "But then I started getting calls from people who didn't know each other, complaining of the same thing."

Not long after Keene and Maes returned home, Al-Zahid closed the company, clearing out of the Boston office in the middle of the night. Mallard says Al-Zahid left behind about $6 million in bills.

"I was shocked," Mallard says. "I couldn't do anything for a week, and I had to deal with all the bills."

Mallard then began his 12-year battle to help Keene and Maes' family in their search for compensation and an official apology.

Since 1979, Mallard, who is financially independent, has spent all of his time pursuing this cause.

"I felt responsible," he says. "I decimated their lives when I sent them over there."

Keene, who still works as a construction foreman in New Mexico, said he has let Mallard represent him because he has no money to hire a full-time attorney.

"First I started with the Saudis, hoping they would apologize for what they had done," Mallard says. "But I still believed in the tooth fairy then."