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5 P.M., FRIDAY, JAN. 20, 2022, EWN newsroom — Miguel was sitting at his editing station. Sometimes he felt like he was glued to this chair — literally glued. He needed to insist that a couple other videographers developed their editing skills. There were classes, they should be able to edit their own video. But everyone — including him — wanted to shoot video, not edit it. Even though editing it was really where the story came alive. Karin and Jason could do simple edits, he acknowledged. But he needed to push them.
They’d finished the big package that Dona Torres had spearheaded. That had been fun. They’d used video online in some new ways. Click on a location, watch a walk-through clip. That had stretched his skills — his and Corey’s both.
But something was itching at him. Something about the night of the protest. Something about when Will got hurt. He’d seen it — but from a distance. He’d been up by the student union building; Will had been down by Lincoln Hall. But he was sure he’d managed to get his camera up in time.
He just had to find it.
“What are you so intent on finding in that footage?” Cage asked him. Miguel looked up startled. Cage often checked in about this time, just to make sure everything was good to go with the videographers. Miguel thought Cage walked on water. They all did.
“Cage? Did you see the man who hit Will over the head?” he asked.
Cage frowned. “Kind of,” he said. “I was filming the protesters. I saw someone get clubbed through my camera, and then realized it was Will. So I went to get him. He got hit hard, as you know. When I got there the guy was kicking him in the head, the bastard. And there was that nail. So I pulled Will up from the ground so he wouldn’t get trampled. Hauled him up to the Health Clinic.”
People had come out to listen to the discussion. Blair was at her computer and for once she wasn’t multitasking, just listening.
“Do you have your footage?” Miguel asked.
Cage sat down at the other computer, went into his directory. “Yes, I saved it,” he said. “OPB didn’t use it — we used J.J.’s of the parade down Broadway. But I have it.”
“I’m sure it was the same guy who threw the IED,” Miguel said. “Look.” He sat down at his workstation and went back through the dated folders to find that night of protests. Cage hovered over his shoulder. He called up his downloaded file. “We didn’t use all that much of this, so we’ve got to go through the whole file.”
“It was about 3:30 p.m.?” Cage estimated. “Before 4 p.m.’s editor’s meeting.”
Ben had drifted toward them.
“OK,” Miguel said. He found the time stamp, and started it up at half speed, watching for Will getting hit with the protest sign. “There!”
He backed it up a bit and played it frame by frame. Cage and the others now watched silently. Miguel hadn’t been all that close to Will, and it had been dark and wet. But the man who held the protest sign met the general description of the Molotov Guy as Ryan had dubbed him.
Miguel moved the footage forward. The man was kicking Will, and then when others crowded around, he turned and headed in the general direction of the EWN building. They all watched him, as he moved out of frame. Miguel had been more focused on Will; the camera was trained on him. They watched as Cage pulled Will to his feet. And then Miguel’s camera jerked, and the focus was gone.
“That’s when I got shoved,” he said. “I went to the Student Union building to call in for Zoom. And then I went after Ramirez, we went the back way here, and then....” He trailed off and just shrugged. He started moving through more of the raw footage he had from that night. Moving toward the events that gave him nightmares, when a man threw an IED through the door to the EWN building. And Miguel had run for it. Got it put out, but it had been a close call.
But there was footage. He’d seen the bastard rear back to throw through his camera.
Cage was frowning. He called up his own footage of the night. He hadn’t looked at it again. He’d rescued Will, and then he’d gotten footage of the parade down Broadway from J.J. for OPB to use. He found the same time stamp and started the frame by frame movement. “Son of a bitch,” he swore softly.
Miguel pulled up the clip of the guy who had thrown the Molotov cocktail through the EWN door. He’d gotten just one glimpse of him through his camera before he ran for the building. But he had a couple of frames.
“Put it up on the big screen,” Ben said quietly. Miguel did. He flipped through the three shots. His of Will getting hit. Cage’s clip of Will getting hit. The frame of the guy who threw the Molotov cocktail.
Ryan came out of his office too. “Son of a bitch,” he said. “I know that guy.”
Everyone looked at him. “Blair, you do, too,” Ryan said. “Remember? My first day as advisor of spring term, I had to throw a guy out of class. Then he went downstairs and was harassing you. That’s him.”
Blair frowned and studied the video clip that was frozen on the screen. She nodded.
“Do you remember his name?” Cage asked. He saved all three clips, and sent it to Ramirez’s email, copied to Ryan. “Good job, Miguel,” he said.
Ryan was shaking his head. “I don’t remember his name, but it won’t be hard to find,” he said. “Ramirez arrested him, remember?”
Cage sent that in a text to Ramirez, letting him know that, and about the email too.
“Do you think he deliberately hurt Will?” Blair asked tightly.
Ryan shook his head. “Probably saw the opportunity and took it,” he said. “He might have recognized Will from News101, however. But it is interesting that the man who would throw an IED at this building later, started the evening with a picket sign with a protruding nail, and heavy boots, isn’t it?”
Miguel frowned at the screen. We’re coming for you, you bastard, he thought. You aren’t going to get away with this.
He hoped.