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

What would they do to you?”
     
    “Nothing. They’d probably ask me to stop talking, but the word is ask . It may sound strange, but they seem to be ethical people—unless you’re a jihadi—then you get fucking whacked. There’s a war going on, Matt, and you just heard about it from me. It’s true and it’s happening. I’m sure you’ve read in the newspapers recently about a bunch of attacks on radical mosques, terrorist training camps, and radical leaders. Nobody has stepped forward to claim responsibility, like the Sunnis do when killing Shiites and vice versa. No, these were quiet NFL actions. Quiet and deadly.”
     
    “Al, I guess you heard about that radical preacher, Ibrahim Youseff, who got killed a few days ago after appearing on a TV show. Was the group you’re talking about involved in that?”
     
    “I don’t doubt it. Of course I don’t have actual knowledge of it, but all I can say is that it was a classic NFL hit.”
     
    “Okay, Al, you’re spinning my head around. But now this brings me full circle back to the case against you. I’ve asked this before, and I’m asking it again now. Who framed you and why?”
     
    “The jihadis, and I’m including both al-Qaeda and ISIS, have begun a new project of casting reform-minded Muslims in a bad light. The objective is to enable them to say, especially to the American public, ‘See, there’s no such thing as a reform Muslim—they’re all jihadis, just like us.’ So that’s why you see three reform guys, Mickey, and Jake, and me, in the middle of an elaborate frame-up. The objective is simple. They want to cast us as typical radical killers. They can then point to our writings and say we just wrote that stuff to cover up a plot.”
     

Chapter 18
     
     
    “Sit,” I said to Dee as I walked in the door.
     
    “Roll over,” she said with a laugh. Always the wiseass.
     
    “I’ve got something amazing to tell you, and that’s why I want you to sit down. I don’t want you to fall over. Our client Al, has a lot more in common with those other two accused bombers. I visited Al in the lockup this afternoon because I wanted to talk to him about his books. He opened right up and talked about his writings. But then I wanted to hit him with an important question, the one that’s been nagging at me. I asked him if he knew Mickey Sidduq, Georgi’s client or Jake Almeth, Jerry’s client. After a little needling from me, he admitted that he knows them both.”
     
    “Oh my God,” Dee said. “This can change everything. Does this mean that these three guys from three different states are all being targeted by the same people? There can’t be any other explanation. They all know each other, and all of them have written books critical of radical Islam.”
     
    “And they’re not alone. According to Al, all three of these guys seem to be distant members of the same family.”
     
    “You mean they’re related?”
     
    “No, think family as in Mafia. Our three guys are connected to a mysterious group that has declared war on jihadis, on radical Islam. Our three guys are peaceful—they just write about their criticisms of Islam in their novels. The extended group, the ‘muscle part of the family,’ as Al puts it, are a really rough bunch. They’re killers, and quite prolific ones. The people they kill are radical Islamists, jihadis.”
     
    “Wow,” Dee said. “There have been a ton of news reports in the past few weeks about groups of radical Muslims getting bombed or shot. I recall hearing about some fiery preachers getting killed too. You mean our client and the others are connected to this group?”
     
    “Well, connected only in a distant way. Al, Mickey, and Jake are peaceful guys. Oh yeah, Al told me that Mustafa, Jerry’s client, likes to be called ‘Jake.’ ”
     
    “Matt, does this group or family have a name? I don’t remember hearing anything about a shadowy group that’s killing jihadis.”
     
    “Yes, they have a