McKean S04 The Re-Election Plot Read Free Page B

called me to his office one day and confronted me with the video. He had come across it while looking for one of my class homework files. He threatened to have me expelled unless I stopped working on it.”
    “This confirms what we have already heard,” McKean responded. “The infamous bin Laden election video originated as a college prank.”
    “True,” Yamani admitted. “But I quit working on it before it was finished. So, when it surfaced two years later just before the election, I was horrified. Here is a fake bin Laden lecture about holy war against America, and it’s my voice making the threats. But now, bin Laden’s lips matched everything I said exactly, and his finger wagged like he was really moving it.”
    “It was foolish of me to make the original video, not so much motivated by ideology as by the sheer fun of creating something outrageous. I didn’t believe what I said. It was just for shock value, and it made Omar and me laugh to think we could do it. But I now regret my part in this.”
    McKean asked, “Why didn’t you come forward at the time and explain the whole thing?”
    “I would not let him,” Fatima interjected. “I knew there would be trouble for us. Arrest, deportation, or worse.”
    “I was surprised the experts believed the video,” said Yamani. “I kept expecting them to declare it a fake.”
    “Can you elaborate on Smith’s part in this?” McKean asked.
    “As I said, Professor Smith found my file, but did nothing about it at that time. However, when it appeared in the 2004 election, he called me at Microsoft and told me he had passed the video along to Congressman Feebus and I should expect a call from him. I was frightened but the congressman never contacted me or sent anyone after me.”
    “That’s surprising,” I said. “Given an election in the balance.”
    “Not necessarily surprising,” McKean asserted. “We can’t know Congressman Feebus’s agenda. He might have been more interested in finding out who finished the video or who gave it to the media, rather than who started it.”
    Ali went on. “Now we are afraid for our lives because the police, and you, Phineus Morton, have exposed me with your news articles and TV interviews about Professor Smith’s death. So we come to seek the help of Dr. McKean who, being a fair and just man, will perhaps find a way to save us.”
    “I have a trustworthy connection at the FBI who might be helpful,” McKean replied. “But, what makes you fear for your safety?”
    The Yamanis carried on a brief conversation in Arabic and then he confided, “Omar Azziz has been killed. He dropped out of the UW and was living in the big Muslim community in New Jersey, where there are many radicals. Two weeks ago, I learned through friends that Omar was shot dead in the street in Jersey City.”
    “By whom?” McKean asked.
    “No suspect was identified. It’s still an unsolved murder. Then last week a man, someone I never met before, came around the Microsoft offices asking to see me. He questioned me about the video. I was scared and I tried to deny any knowledge but he knew too much, so I admitted it. He asked quite a few questions about Professor Smith’s part in stopping me. And he wanted to know if anyone else at the university knew of this, other than the professor. I told him no, I did not think so. Professor Smith told me he would take it no further if I never worked on it again.”
    “I see,” said McKean. “So this stranger now knew that only you and Professor Smith were aware of the fake.”
    “This is true. After he left I realized if he meant to harm me, he would harm Smith too, so I wrote the email to Smith. But it was too late.” His voice broke and he closed his eyes and wiped away tears. “Smith was killed later that day.”
    “What does this stranger look like?” I asked.
    Yamani was about to answer when he looked up - and froze. His face went pale and he began to tremble. “L-Like him,” he quavered,