Chapter 42
Ken Comes Clean
With the Land Yacht to themselves, mostly bored, Skip and Rocky were playing cards when Max came in after one of his long walks. He had just had another long talk with Lisa after Lisa had had a long talk with Ken. Here’s how Max described his conversation with Lisa (to Skip and Rocky):
“Lisa never really said much of anything about the ballpark bombing. Mostly it was a defense of her brother, extolling his virtues, but I did get her talking more about this new thing Ken’s doing in Vancouver, making a movie – and it’s not just any ol’ movie . . .
“Apparently there’s a sizable Somali community in Vancouver and some Hollywood types were up there to make a movie about jihadi recruiting, but the community took umbrage about it, saying it made it look like all Somalis are would be terrorists . . .
“So apparently Ken took it upon himself to prove otherwise. Ken claims it’s just the opposite: Vancouverites are really proud of how their Somali community has assimilated and been accepted.
“ So Ken wants to make the movie about that – says that the movie does two things: exposes the U.S.A’s wrong-headed policies; and shows the jihadi movement for what it isn’t – something to do with religion. He thinks it will be a dynamite documentary juxtaposing devout Muslims in Canada living a life of peace and relative prosperity with disenchanted Somalis in the USA, ripe for recruitment, not feeling like they belong, being dissed by Trumpers – (and cowboys I reminded him) – and, Ken claims, that’s how they become lone wolves launching terrorist attacks as foot soldiers of the Islamic State – like the ballpark bombing.”
“I don’t buy it,” Skip interjected. “First, he says it’s the CIA; now it’s a movie venture. And really nothing about the plot to blow up Dodger Stadium? Did he tell Lisa anything at all about that?”
“Not much that you don’t already know,” Max replied, “just that Gordy’s cellmate was also up in Vancouver doing something that got him close to the Somali community, and Gordy somehow knew something was up.”
“Did we get a name? That cellmate?” Rocky asked.
“No,” Max said. “Ken called him ‘John Doe-something-or-rather.’ Next stop would be the registry at the Bureau of Prisons, if you guys are gonna stay with this.”
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Not too many minutes after Max finished telling Skip and Rocky what he learned from Lisa, Skip’s phone rang. Here’s what Max and Rocky heard on their end; Skip did not have it on speaker phone and pretended no one else was around:
Skip: “Yeah, Hi Ken.”
(pause)
Skip: “No I didn’t tell your ex-brother-in-law everything – just that I was worried about you – and maybe your sister would want to check-in – you know, just see if maybe you’ve gotten in too deep on that dis-engagement thing.”
(pause)
Skip: “Yeah I know, but I know that’s not the whole story, too. Either I get the whole story now or I go to the Fibbies with everything I know.”
(longer pause)
Skip: “No Shit…”
(longer pause)
Skip: “Fucking unbelievable…”
(pause)
Skip: “Okay, okay, that explains the CIA white lie; but look we’re all friends here, you should tell your sister all this, too. Maybe all us together can save your ass, maybe make you a national hero, rather than you ending up in jail and us too.”
(pause)
Skip: “But Ken, not unless you tell me why that bomb didn’t go off where anybody would get hurt . . .”
(pause)
Skip: “Okay. I get it. More later. Peace Out.”
“What!! What did he say?!” Max and Rocky screamed out.
“Well,” Skip dove in, “for starters, he was ranting and raving about me getting Max and Lisa involved, claims I violated a level of trust we had, said I was ‘a fucking asshole’ for putting his sister at risk now too. But when I threatened him with going to the FBI, he calmed down and gave me some good reasons why not to – and I think this time he’s telling the truth.
“He actually is working both sides of the street. Yep, helping the Somali community keep ISIS from making any recruiting inroads, but also with Gordy he’s got someone inside, someone who’s part of the fuckin’ ISIS recruiting cell!”
“Oh my God,” Max said, feeling faint.
Skip continued on, “He never gave me the name of the insider. My guess is that it’s our ‘John Something-or-rather’ who knows Gordy – Gordy Ettinger – from being cellmates. And this is a good one . . . just now on the phone Ken told me that after getting out of prison, our ‘John Doe’ ended up joining a posse comitatus in Vancouver, and somehow that posse has ties to the jihadis.”
“No, that’s unbelievable,” Rocky interrupted. “They’re natural enemies.”
“Go figure,” Skip replied. “All I’m hypothesizing is that our John Doe figure, through Ettinger, brought remnants of the SLA gang into the posse movement, and they’re responsible for the bombing at Dodger Stadium.”
“Holy God Almighty,” Rocky said under his breath, “the puzzle’s falling in place. We connect the posse in Vancouver with the posse in Boulder, and we’re close to solving two ‘who-dun-its,’ but tell me again why this shouldn’t all get reported, right now, to whomever is in charge, especially the terrorism angle?”
“Because it’s deeper than that,” Skip finished with. “Ken might need our help. Because – get this – because he suspects another terrorist attack is in the works and there are some innocent people who need to get a safe way out first.”
“No, not going there,” Max was quick with, “and I don’t think Lisa will either – certainly not anybody else on this bus. Count me out.”