Hostage

by Don Brown

  "The Americans would protect me. Maybe put me in one of those witness protection programs."

  "Commander, the Americans could not protect the World Trade Center. They could not protect the Pentagon. They could not even protect Hosni Alhad in this very courthouse. What makes you think they can protect you?"

  He's right . . . or is he?

  "Look," la Trec continued, "the Council of Ishmael has paid thirty million dollars to hire you the best legal team in the world. They didn't hire me to plead you guilty. If I let you plead guilty, not only will they come after you, but they will come after me too. And that just is not going to happen. Do you understand?"

  Why don't I trust him?

  "Jeanette, I'm going to leave the two of you alone for a moment. Help him come up with an explanation before we have to go into court."

  "Yes, Jean-Claude."

  Courtroom 4

  Israeli District Court

  West Bank Division

  Have you had sufficient time to confer with your client, Mr. la Trec?"

  "I have, Your Honor."

  "Very well. The bailiff will bring back the members."

  With the members seated and Quasay back on the stand, Norgaard looked at Zack. "You may now resume your cross-examination, Commander."

  "Thank you, sir," Zack said, then turned his gaze to Quasay. "Commander, let me repeat my question to you before the break.

  "If a U.S. Navy coroner's report were to show that three gunshot wounds to the chest had killed Lieutenant Price, and that those shots were fired by your gun, would you have reason to dispute that?"

  "Commander," Quasay said calmly, "no, I would not dispute that."

  "Why not?"

  "Because it is true." His tone sounded rehearsed. "I shot Lieutenant Price. I shot him in the cockpit."

  Dramatic rumbles rose from the gallery.

  "Order in the court!" Rap! Rap! Rap!

  "I shot him to prevent him from launching more missiles. Innocent civilians had already died. I thought about Islamic pilgrims who had already perished at the smoking Dome below." He wiped his eyes. "I felt compelled to shoot him. It is the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

  More rumbling from the gallery brought three more raps from the judge.

  "So all this talk about shooting at a jackal was a bold-faced lie, wasn't it, Commander?"

  "Yes, Commander, I regret to say that it was." Quasay looked down at his feet with a shameful head droop. "But what I am telling you now is the truth."

  "Right. And your sworn testimony that Lieutenant Price bailed out was a lie, correct?"

  "Again, I regret to say that it was. But I swear to you now, before Allah, that I am telling you the truth. And I say before Allah, Lieutenant Price destroyed the Dome, not me. As a good Muslim, I would never destroy it."

  "Right. The truth is that you have lied here under oath, haven't you, Commander?"

  "Yes, I am ashamed to say, but only about the death of Lieutenant Price."

  "That makes you a liar and a perjurer, doesn't it, Commander?"

  "Objection!"

  "Order in the court! Objection is overruled."

  "That makes you a liar and a perjurer and a murderer, doesn't it, Commander?"

  "I will leave that for the members to decide, Commander."

  "No further questions, Your Honor."

  CHAPTER 62

  Attorneys' lounge

  Israeli District Court

  West Bank Division

  Even though she was not an attorney, Shannon had been invited into the attorneys' lounge by Zack and Wendy. She was sitting on one of the comfortable sofas drinking a bottled water when they walked in.

  "You did great." Zack gave her a high five, headed to a table, and sat down.

  "I'm glad my part's over, at least." Shannon got up, crossed the room, dropped a few shekels in the snack machine, and reached for a bag of cashew nuts. "I've never been cross-examined like that. That French guy was good."

  "You held your ground great." Wendy dropped shekels in the drink machine for a Diet Coke.

  "Zack, do you think we're in good shape?" Shannon dropped a couple of cashews in her mouth.

  Zack looked up from his legal pad. "Thanks to all your hard work, I think we're ahead on points. But we're not out of the woods yet. It could break either way. It all comes down to closing argument."

  Shannon's cell phone chirped.

  "Special Agent McGillvery." She felt the smile instantly evaporate from her face. "Okay . . . Are you sure? Are they credible? . . . How long ago? . . . I understand. Yes, sir. I'll be right there."

  "Is everything okay?"

  Shannon looked up and saw that Wendy was frowning. Zack had glanced up from his legal pad again. She was not about to reveal that Diane Colcernian had possibly been spotted.

  Not now.

  Not when he was about to make perhaps the most significant closing argument in his career.

  The distraction, she knew, would be overwhelming.

  "Yes, everything's fine. Just some peripheral business I need to go check on. Look, I'm not going to be able to stay for closing arguments. You guys take care, and good luck this afternoon."

  Zack stood, and so did Wendy.

  Shannon gave Wendy a hug and Zack a friendly peck on the cheek.

  Then she was out the door.

  Courtroom 4

  Israeli District Court

  West Bank Division

  The atmosphere was tense as Zack sat at counsel table with Wendy. Across the aisle, la Trec and L'Enfant furiously scribbled notes. Quasay looked on stoically.

  La Trec was a formidable opponent, but not as ruthless as Wells Levinson. Perhaps the fact that Zack had already beaten Levinson made la Trec seem less of a giant.

  The prosecution was ahead on points, he felt, and with a hard-hitting closing argument, the case could be put away.

  And so could Diane.

  Please be advised that at the moment you begin your opening statement, we will begin to, with the use of a sharp knife, amputate Lieutenant Colcernian's right hand. We will take our time, of course, ensuring the amputation process lasts precisely as long as your opening argument. Then, when you deliver what will undoubtedly be a spellbinding closing argument, as you always do, we will repeat this procedure with her left hand.

  Zack prayed silently again for strength, for wisdom, and for Diane.

  "All rise."

  "Are the parties ready for closing argument?"

  "We are," la Trec said.

  "The government is ready," Zack said with his index finger on the picture of Anna Kweskin's angelic face.

  "Very well. The government has waived the opening section of closing argument. Therefore, the members are with the defense. Mr. la Trec?"

  "Thank you, Your Honor," la Trec said. He seemed to have regained the panache he had before his client was caught in a lie. He strode confidently to the middle of the chancel area.

  "Mr. President, distinguished members of this court-martial, I promised you that at the end of this case, there would be more questions about what really happened than answers. That there would be questions as to why a good Muslim would deliberately assault and destroy one of the holiest sites in all of Islam."

  A few of the members nodded as la Trec paused, stepped back, surveyed each member, and then continued.

  "I believe that the evidence before this jury, unfortunately, is one of the most puzzling, unintelligible morasses of disjointed information that I have ever seen in a criminal trial, and I've been involved in hundreds of trials all over the world.

  "But before I discuss the poor state of the prosecution's evidence in this case, I want to make a comment about the great American system of government that has been the beacon to oppressed nations since the early 1900s.

  "One of the greatest historians my nation has ever produced is the late Alexis de Tocqueville. Ironically, it is not a study of France, or of the French Revolution, or of the kings and queens of Europe that d
e Toc-queville is known for. Rather, it is his influence on your country that has made him famous. I speak, of course, of the immortal work of literature Democracy in America.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, I became a student of de Tocqueville and of America as a boy. And I often wondered, as a boy, what is it that makes America great? What is it that causes thousands of your men and boys to spill their blood and their lives for those whose language they don't even speak and for strangers they don't even know?

  "And in my studies, I came to the conclusion that the answer is in one word.

  "Freedom. The one great principle that separates America from all others is her dedication to freedom for the individual.

  "Totalitarian governments like the Nazis that would murder a man without a hearing and without a fair trial are an anathema to freedom. And that's why you came to our beaches. Because you could not stand by and let such regimes oppress and murder and maim. Because at your very core, you are good. Because you believe in the teachings of the great philosopher, who said, 'Greater love has no man than he who would lay down his life for a friend.'

  "There are principles that make America the undisputed leader of the free world, I have learned. And one of the greatest principles that separates you from all others is the great principle of reasonable doubt.

  "You Americans are so committed to freedom that you have declared that government cannot convict a man unless the government proves each and every element of its case beyond all reasonable doubt.

  "Your system says that even if you believe a man is guilty, that alone is not enough to convict him. If there is any reasonable doubt whatsoever about any element of the crime, then that man must go free.

  "Your founding fathers, those men like Franklin and Jefferson, those men who were dear friends of Lafayette and of other great Frenchman in the infancy of your republic, believed that if nine men were guilty and one was innocent, better to let all ten go free than to punish the one who is innocent.

  "These lofty ideals, these sublime commitments to freedom, are hard for the world to understand. But these are the ideals that make America, in the words of your great former president Ronald Reagan, 'a shining city on a hill.'

  "Just as your men poured over the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc and shed their blood for France, as an indebted Frenchman, I feel privileged to give something back in their memory by standing here and by embracing and defending the principle that Jefferson and Franklin and thousands of your countrymen fought and died for -- the principle of reasonable doubt.

  "Just as you, distinguished officers of the United States Navy, are part of the military wall against totalitarianism, likewise the principle of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is the legal wall against the despot.

  "And having said that, we ask the question, has the government really proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Lieutenant Commander Mohammed Quasay, a devout Muslim and an American naval officer, intentionally launched a missile attack against one of his religion's holiest sites? Does the very question itself leave you scratching your head and asking why?

  "Let us take a look at what the evidence shows in this case.

  "First, we know that my client's flight officer, Lieutenant Mark Price, was by all accounts a religious fanatic. He actually led a Bible study on board a U.S. Naval warship. And what was it that caused him to start this Bible study? Some fanatical sailors were reading a fantastical, apocalyptic account of the end of the world, the Left Behind series, and actually believed the books.

  "According to Price's own commanding officer, Captain William Constangy, Price started the Bible study to explain the events of the so-called end times." La Trec made air quotation marks.

  "We know that Price actually believed the Dome of the Rock must be destroyed so that Solomon's temple can be rebuilt before Jesus comes back.

  "We know Price even had these conversations with Captain Constangy himself.

  "We know, from the captain's own admission, that he despises Islam. Consider his reaction in the Truman's radio room when he detained a boat with two Saudi citizens. He referred to Islamic fundamentalists as 'a bunch of animals.'

  "A bunch of animals? What kind of talk is that coming from the captain of a U.S. Navy supercarrier?

  "And what's significant about Constangy's testimony is not just what he said, but also what he did not say."

  La Trec stopped, walked over to counsel table, took a sip of water, then turned to the members and resumed.

  "Constangy testified for the better part of an hour the other day. And not once did he disassociate himself with Price.

  "Oh sure, he denied ordering the missile attacks. What do we expect him to say about that? But not once did he deny being a fundamentalist Christian." His voice was heavy with contempt. "Not once did he say he did not believe Price's fantasy about the Dome needing to be destroyed before Jesus returns.

  "What kind of a man is this commanding one of the world's most powerful warships?" La Trec turned his hands palms up, as if in supplication.

  "Is Constangy a religious fanatic who would order his warplanes to destroy buildings for the advancement of what he considers to be his God's purposes? Isn't that exactly the kind of fanatic who destroyed American buildings and took American life on 9/11?

  "The testimony we heard from Constangy was bone-chilling. Constangy ordered this attack, ladies and gentlemen, and Mouse Price carried out that order.

  "Now in a few minutes, Lieutenant Commander Brewer will appear before you for the government's closing argument. And what is it you will hear? He will argue that my client lied about shooting Price.

  "Okay. But there is a reason that Commander Quasay had to shoot Price. And the reason was to protect innocent life. Price was a man gone mad. He had to be killed.

  "Should Commander Quasay have come clean with this at first? Of course he should have. But it was Price who started this whole thing. Quasay panicked. Who wouldn't?

  "And please don't let yourselves become distracted by this red herring about who shot Price. My client is not charged with shooting Price. He is charged with launching a missile attack against the Dome of the Rock. And the question is, can the government prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intentionally carried out that attack?

  Put another way: Which is a more reasonable explanation of what happened here? Explanation one -- that a couple of fundamentalist Christians, Price and Constangy, believing that the Dome must be destroyed for Jesus to return, took it upon themselves to take matters into their own hands; or two -- that a Muslim pilot intentionally destroyed one of the holiest sites in his own religion?

  "It raises questions in your mind, doesn't it? Of course it does. And if there is a question in your mind, then this case screams of reasonable doubt.

  "Do your duty, ladies and gentlemen. Return with a verdict of not guilty."

  An eerie silence fell over the courtroom. For the first time in the trial, la Trec had worked the spellbinding magic for which he was internationally famous. Wendy looked worried. Zack gave her a wink.

  "Is the government ready for closing, Commander Brewer?"

  "Absolutely, Your Honor."

  Zack stood, glanced at Anna Kweskin's smiling picture on his table, inconspicuously blew her a kiss, and stepped into the well and eyed every one of the members.

  "Mr. President, distinguished members, it is a sick and twisted irony that my distinguished opponent, in all his swooning eloquence, would invoke the name and the blood of thousands of fallen Americans at Normandy for the sake of somehow pleading for the exoneration of an admitted liar, an admitted perjurer, and an admitted murderer.

  "Mr. la Trec" -- Zack stared at his famous opponent -- "make no mistake about it. The Boys of Pointe du Hoc, the Rangers of Omaha Beach, the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division, and every other man and woman who spilled precious American blood on your beaches, did not do so for those who would shoot an American officer point blank in the chest, lie about having done so, and then blame his own cri
mes and offenses against a defenseless dead man."

  Zack's voice echoed across the courtroom and through television sets around the world, as an army of reporters scribbled furiously.

  "Yes, it is true, Mr. la Trec, that guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is the bedrock of the American system." Zack turned from la Trec and back to the members. "But even before that, sir, and even above that, the American system was built on truth.

  "Our Declaration of Independence declares that 'we hold these truths to be self-evident . . .'

  "The Holy Bible on which our jurisprudence was built, the book on which your client refused to place his hand, declares, 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.'

  "Perjury, Mr. la Trec, strikes at the very heart of the American system that your fellow Frenchman, Mr. de Tocqueville, studied so assiduously. And to come into this court and suggest that Commander Quasay can lie, commit perjury, and then ask these members to believe that a good man like Captain William Constangy ordered an attack on civilians, is insulting to every American and every Frenchman who died liberating your country from the subjugation of the Nazi jackboot."

  Pacing down the banister rail, Zack eyed the members, now speaking softly. "Ladies and gentlemen, this notion of proof beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't require that we throw common sense out the window. Let's take a commonsense look at how the evidence plays out in this case.

  "The first commonsense principle is that a liar and a perjurer cannot be believed and cannot be trusted. Quasay first said that he shot a jackal and claimed that Mouse Price bailed out of the F-18. And then, when he realized we had a ballistics report showing that his gun was used to murder Price, and that Price's body was found inside the wreckage of the cockpit, he changed his story.

  "Caught red-handed in his lie, he said, 'Well, okay, I lied about that little minor detail' -- as if murder is a minor detail -- 'but everything else is true.' After that pathetic performance of perjury, is there anyone here who would trust Mohammed Quasay with the truth?"