Read WASHINGTON DC: The Sadir Affair (The Puppets of Washington Book 1) Page 56

  Chapter 55

  Being a US Attorney on Capitol Hill is a coveted position, one, however, that requires the vote of the people to attain. Your political clout amid a very political crowd is what would put you in the seat. The people’s approval is based mostly on the number of perpetrators you succeeded in putting behind bars and on the sort of friendships you developed along the way. It is the “old boys’ band”. Attempting to drive a wedge between these highly regarded individuals could cost you your career if you were an aspiring attorney trying to forge a future for yourself. ‘The boys’ have to assist their US Attorney in any way they can without ruffling any feathers in the political corridors of Washington. “Do me a favour, will you?” is a common opening phrase heard during telephone conversations among these men.

  While the US Attorney seems to reign supreme, his Assistants, his A.USAs are men and women who hold the law by the lapel of its perfectly tailored suit. They could make alterations to the garment any time they please, and they do quite often. They adjust the law, referencing case after case, citing decisions one after the other, until the entire suit fits the man, en locurence, the criminal.

  To reach a seat behind the desk of a US Attorney is not a task for the faint hearted, and Mr. Lucien Billycan was no such person. Already in his late sixties, he stood over six feet tall, a dominant stature bearing down on his staff. His full head of white hair accented the tan face and the blue eyes; although reflective of equanimity, they were inscrutable to many. In a tradition to nickname their master, the staff had tried “Billy” on for size until Mr. Billycan had made it clear that only Lucien would be the name he wanted to hear when one would be allowed the familiarity to calling the man by his first name. For nearly five years, this forceful figure had orchestrated the prosecutions of many a felon, but none perhaps as the case of Mr. Muhammad Sadir promised to be.

  He had read all of the statements, all of the primary interviews conducted either in D.C. or as far afield as Australia or Saudi Arabia. This trial was going to cost the federal coffers a fortune, but a fortune that would see him nominated for another term, Billycan was sure.

  Although suspected to have committed crimes against National Security, in the first instance, the court decided to bind Sadir for trial on one count of felony murder in the first degree for the assassination of Ishmael Assor (a.k.a. Ben Slimane), and on one count of accessory before the fact in the attempted murder of that young woman, Talya Kartz. Billycan had smiled to himself when he had read her file. She was a troublemaker—no question—and he could hardly wait to get her on the stand. She would probably tell him to go sit on an egg and see how he felt if she didn’t like his line of questioning. Yet, he could not get passed the fact that she, herself, had knifed a man in cold blood. Her action qualified as involuntary manslaughter, she was now off the hook, so to speak, and Billycan thought he would try not to bother her with recounting the events that led her to plant her knife in the abdomen of yet another suspicious Arab. Personally, he didn’t see any reason in putting all Muslims or Arabs in the same bag. He was of the view that there were bad seeds in every nation. Hitler, he felt, had proved the point some sixty years earlier, not a point of view Billycan would express in the company of certain parties. He knew some of his compatriots all too well to avoid such a faux pas. Nevertheless, the bad seed had germinated already in the “Sadir Affair” as it was now called. He had read how Van Dams had thought he was an Islamic Radical but also how that trail had ran cold when the CIA Deputy Director had committed an error of judgment in leading Sadir to travel to Vancouver, hoping the guy would be forced into confessing of his association with an Israeli traitor. Getting the man to Vancouver, in itself had not been a mistake, yet openly showing him the CIA’s intention, had been a grave error. Billycan knew Van Dams was not a stupid man and he wondered why he had allowed his Agent Lypsick to divulge their plan. Had it been Lypsick’s own decision? In which case, he would have to have a talk with this agent.