Thorn jumped up. "Can I help you?"
The FBI agent, a woman named Agent Sterling, didn't smile. "Captain Elias Thorn, you are being placed under investigation for conspiracy to violate civil rights and falsification of police records. We are seizing your servers. We are seizing your body-cam data, and we are taking custody of Mr. Cain."
Dez stood up from the wall where he had been leaning. He straightened his shirt. He looked at Agent Sterling. "Took you long enough."
"Traffic was bad, Master Sergeant," Vance said, offering a hand to Dez. "Good to see you, Dez. You look like hell."
"Rough day at the office, sir," Dez replied, shaking the hand.
Thorn looked around, wide-eyed. "This is a misunderstanding. It was Harlan. He told me there were drugs."
"We'll see what the logs say," Agent Sterling said. "We pulled the cloud data from Mr. Cain's home security system minutes ago. We have 4K video and audio of Officer Harlan admitting he didn't like the way Mr. Cain looked. We also have footage of him planting the drugs just now."
Thorn slumped back into his chair. It was over.
"Where is Harlan?" Dez asked.
"He's on his way back," Lang's voice came over the speakerphone on Dez's mobile, which he had left running. "And he's crying."
The drama was peaking, but the hard karma was just getting warmed up. Harlan thought he was going to lose his job. He didn't realize he was about to become the face of a national movement and the primary target of a federal indictment.
Dez walked out of the office, flanked by the Colonel and the FBI agents. He walked through the booking room. The other officers, the ones who had laughed earlier, stared at the floor. They knew the storm had made landfall.
As Dez stepped out into the evening sun, the press cameras flashed like lightning, but Dez wasn't looking at them. He was looking at the cruiser pulling into the lot. Harlan was coming back, and Dez was going to be waiting for him at the door, not as a suspect, but as the man who was about to end his life as a free man.
The parking lot of the Oak Haven Police Department had transformed into a carnival of accountability. Three satellite trucks were idling, their masts extended like robotic giraffes. A dozen reporters jockeyed for position near the back entrance, the place where suspects were usually paraded for the cameras. Officer Royce Harlan steered his cruiser into the lot, his stomach churning like a cement mixer.
He saw the circus. He saw the black SUVs with government plates blocking the exit. He saw Harrison Lang giving a sound bite to a reporter from the Washington Post.
Harlan gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles ached. He was still clinging to a shred of delusion. "I can fix this," he told himself. "I just need to explain.
"It was a mistake. Thorn will back me up. The union will back me up."
He parked the car. He didn't see Sergeant Kowalski waiting by the back door. He didn't see the two FBI agents standing in the shadows of the awning. Harlan stepped out. The flash bulbs erupted immediately, a stroboscopic assault that blinded him.
"Officer Harlan, did you plant evidence? Officer, are you aware the suspect is a decorated veteran? Why did you turn off your body camera audio?"
Harlan put his head down and pushed through the crowd, shoving a microphone away. "No comment. Back."
He reached the heavy steel door, swiping his key card. The light blinked red. "Access denied. He swiped it again. "Access denied.
Panic flared in his chest. He pounded on the door. "Open up. It's Harlan."
The door clicked and swung open, but it wasn't a friendly face welcoming him inside. It was Sergeant Kowalski, and Kowalski wasn't smiling. He wasn't eating a sandwich. He was standing with his arms crossed, blocking the threshold.
"It's Sarge, let me in. The press is eating me alive out there," Harlan pleaded, trying to squeeze past.
Kowalski didn't move. He put a heavy hand on Harlan's chest. "You're not coming into the squad room, Royce. Not as an officer."
"What?" Harlan laughed nervously. "What is this, a joke?"
"Gun," Kowalski said, holding out his hand. "Badge, keys, now."
"You can't do this. I have rights. I have..."