Free The Reformers: A Matt Blake Novel (The Matt Blake legal thriller series Book 2) by Russell Moran Page A

despite your chains. I tried to convince the court that all that hardware wasn’t necessary, but the judge wouldn’t buy it.”
     
    “Thanks for trying, Matt. Hey, speaking of thanks, that was great that you got me a laptop. Shit, I’m not even paying you and you shower me with gifts.” He lowered his voice and said, “And thanks for the e-cigarette too. How did you know I wanted a computer?”
     
    “Woody told me that you’re a writer. We looked you up on Amazon, and I bought The Sands of Destruction which I’m reading on my Kindle. Interesting book, to say the least. Why didn’t you tell me about it when we first met?”
     
    “I didn’t think about it, Matt. At the time I didn’t think my novels were important.”
     
    “From what I’ve read so far, Al, especially from your preface, it appears that you’re somewhat critical of Islam, or at least radical Islam.”
     
    “I’m also critical of cancer, Matt, which is exactly what those jihadi fucks have turned Islam into.”
     
    “But you still refuse to speculate with me on who framed you. If any radical Islamists are familiar with your book, my guess is that you’re not very popular. Would I be correct?”
     
    “Matt, I’d prefer to let the facts speak for themselves.”
     
    “Which brings me to a question, Al, a simple question. Do you know a guy from New York named Muhammed Sidduq, who also goes by the name, ‘Mickey’?”
     
    Al averted his eyes from me. He didn’t answer. I repeated the question, and he said, “Why do you ask?”
     
    “Well, you just answered my question.”
     
    “No I didn’t. I just asked you why you asked it.”
    “You’re not a good liar, Al. The way you responded told me that you know this Sidduq guy. Remember, I’m a lawyer. Part of my training is to spot lies, and that’s what you just gave me. So now I have another question. Do you know a guy from San Francisco named Mustafa Almeth? ”
     
    Al looked down at his hands.
     
    “Okay, so it’s obvious that you know Mr. Almeth as well. Al, what the fuck is going on? The three of you have all been arrested for bombing shopping malls. Three defendants in cases with almost identical evidence profiles, and you all know one another. You’re lying to me, Al, and you know it. Time to come clean with your attorney or I just may file an application to be removed from your case.”
     
    I was serious. If my client wants to march toward death, screw it. Of course, Dee would freak out if I did that. She’s my conscience.
     
    “Okay, Matt. What I’m about to tell you is something few people in the world know about —very few. There is a group of people, and Mickey, Jake—oh, yeah, Mustafa prefers to be called Jake—and I are on the periphery, but we’re involved, or have become involved because of our writing.”
     
    “Does this group of people have a name?”
    “Yes, it’s the NFL.”
     
    “Don’t fuck with me, Al, I’m not in the mood.”
     
    “I’m serious, Matt. It’s an acronym for Not For Long . Mickey, Jake, and I are not— how did that guy put it in The Godfather— we’re not in the ‘muscle end of the family.’ ”
     
    “This ‘family,’ as you put it, has a muscle end?”
     
    “Yes, real muscle. NFL is a good acronym, because these guys play rough. It’s a group of Muslims or former Muslims, who have gotten fed up with the way the Muslim faith was hijacked, just like Mickey, Jake, and me. The three of us just write about it, but the other parts of the family are rough guys, real rough.”
     
    “Describe rough.”
     
    “They kill people. They kill jihadis. You may think of them as ‘anti-jihadis.’ They’re not sadistic bastards like your typical Islamist warrior. They don’t behead, burn, or drown anybody. They try to avoid hurting innocent people. But they are killers, prolific killers.”
     
    “So let me ask you a pretty important question, Al. What if these NFL types found out that you just told me about them?