Leo's Prejudice-Laden Grill of Raqim Ali

Leo initiates interrogation by demanding explanation of the coiled older telephone wire from Ali's backpack, which Ali defensively clarifies as essential for upgrading M-waves on his outdated apartment computer's motherboard, a mundane relic transformed into a symbol of suspected sabotage amid lockdown paranoia.

The backpack serves as the inciting container for the suspicious wire, rasping open earlier but now focal as Leo questions its contents, embodying Ali's everyday life invaded by security scrutiny and heightening the scene's coiled tension in the shadowed office.

Leo picks up the crisp papers from the table with glasses on, scrutinizing dense lines to reveal Ali's father's Holy Land Defender contribution, hurling it as accusation that shatters Ali's cooperation; the documents anchor suspicion, rustling under fingers as evidentiary fulcrum of the standoff.

Leo perches the glasses on his nose to pore over papers before the donation question, yanks them off for a piercing stare at Ali, then snaps them back on to refocus on documents, the wire frames sharpening his interrogative gaze and punctuating shifts from personal confrontation to evidentiary scrutiny.

This shadowed White House office at night transforms into an impromptu interrogation chamber where Leo and Ali sit across a scarred table, lockdown isolation amplifying every verbal jab and defiant retort, the dim gloom mirroring post-9/11 suspicion's chokehold on personal dignity.

Holy Land Defender emerges as flagged peril when Leo cites Ali's father's contribution from papers, igniting Ali's fury and marking the breaking point from cooperation to defiance, embodying post-9/11 suspicion of charitable ties as potential terror affiliations.

M.I.T. surfaces as Ali's elite alma mater fueling Leo's suspicions—its math prodigies routinely recruited as White House cryptographers coding State-Pentagon messages—questioning why Ali shifted to clerical policy, underscoring underutilized talent amid security paranoia.

The White House looms as the crisis epicenter, its clerical staff roles and security protocols invoked in Leo's probe of Ali's demotion from math expertise, framing the interrogation as institutional vetting amid lockdown, where policy passions collide with terror-fueled suspicion.