The Wrong Lawyer by Donald W. Desaulniers

handed the opportunity to live the high life
for a few days on someone else’s dime.
    I scrolled through
the various pay-per-view movies for a few minutes and then picked up the room
service menu to check out what I might like for supper.
    On the slim chance
that my abduction might have hit the news, I switched over to CNN.
    Imagine my surprise
when the screen suddenly was filled with a picture of the fellow who had sat next
to me on the flight today.
    I listened
intently as the newscaster said, “This breaking news just in. Earlier today Homeland
Security arrested Bander Haddad, a high-level official of the Saudi Arabian
government, and they are holding him on suspicion of being a terrorist agent.
An unnamed source has provided CNN with excerpts from a taped conversation
between Mr. Haddad and an unnamed conspirator.”
    The so-called
taped evidence was chilling, not because of the content but because the words
had been doctored completely out of context.
    To assist the
viewers, the words from the somewhat crackly recording were written out on the
TV screen.
    BANDER HADDAD:
“I’ve got a bomb hidden in my undergarments.”
    UNNAMED
CONSPIRATOR: “I’m sure the security bozos would never discover an actual bomb.
They’re too busy looking for illegal drugs to detect any real threat.”
    BANDER HADDAD: I’m
a terrorist working for ISIS.”
    UNNAMED
CONSPIRATOR: “I smuggled a trunk load of rocket launchers over the border from
Canada today.”
    The newscaster
then continued the story by adding, “Mr. Haddad was not carrying the required
official Saudi government documentation at the time of his arrest and Homeland
Security is taking the position that he is thereby not entitled to diplomatic
immunity. The Saudi Arabian embassy has refused to comment on the matter. CNN
will keep its viewers informed as the story develops.”
    It was eerie
listening to my own voice on CNN, but it was crystal clear to me that I was
being used merely as a pawn in some complex government subterfuge.
    This whole
scenario was like something right out of a movie script. Poor Mr. Haddad was
being railroaded on false evidence and I was stuck in this luxury prison for
the duration of my vacation.
    Contrary to
popular belief, lawyers are not always the greedy scum they are made out to be.
Our extensive education in fact attunes us quite impressively to comprehend the
concepts of right and wrong.
    Despite the larger
matters mentioned by the General, I had come to learn and believe as a lawyer
that the process of justice also had to be fair and transparent. The ends rarely
if ever justified using tainted means.
    I concluded that
it really wasn’t important that my holiday was being fucked up by these
government morons. What was crucial was that the evidence being used against Bander
Haddad in the media was false. Whether he was guilty or not was a completely
different issue, but I suspected that the poor man was being used just like I
was.
    I decided that it
was my responsibility to set the record straight.
    How could I
accomplish that from inside this opulent prison?

CHAPTER
15 (Planning My Escape)
     
    The cheap beer and
peanuts arrived within thirty minutes after Matthews and the General had left
my room.
    By now it was
seven o’clock and I was hungry.
    I perused the room
service menu and opted for a clubhouse sandwich and fries.
    When I picked up
the telephone to place the order, a male voice said, “Yes, Mr. Kennedy, what
can I do for you?”
    I placed my supper
order and also requested a copy of today’s local newspaper. When the chap asked
me which one, I responded “I’m bored here already so I’d like the latest
edition of all of them.”
    Ten minutes later
there was a knock on my door and one of the guards handed me half a dozen
newspapers and I quickly scanned them all.
    I must be in
Washington as I had suspected since all of the papers were Washington editions.
    There was no
mention of Mr. Haddad in any of them. Presumably the