Airport Posturing

Three men in their early twenties are standing near the airline gate with a couple of bags each. They speak in hushed voices, but not so quietly that the people directly around can not hear. Nodding his head at a Middle Eastern man who is browsing the newspaper stand nearby, one says,
“This fella here better not be on our flight, all I’m saying”. The others laugh.
“Aw, you see that? In his pocket, that’s looking like a pipe bomb to me,” says another. The young man looks around, smiling, to other passengers sitting nearby, making eye contact with another young man who gives him a half-smile and then looks away.
A middle-aged woman passing at the time looks hears and looks from the young men to the man they are discussing, and her eyes go to the pocket in question. She continues walking.
One of the young men begins to take a confrontational body posture. He puffs out his chest, flexes his arms and takes a step with one leg toward the man.