Maya felt tears forming, but blinked them back. She wouldn't cry. Not here. Not in front of all these people, and definitely not in front of Sullivan.
"Officer Sullivan," she said quietly. "May I please call my mother? She should know where I am."
Sullivan's laugh was cruel and loud. "Oh, here we go! 'I want to call the FBI agent mommy!'" He turned to the growing crowd of onlookers. "This eighteen-year-old thinks her mama works for the FBI. Can you believe that?"
A few people in the crowd shifted uncomfortably. A teenage girl whispered to her friend, "This isn't right."
"Let me guess," Sullivan continued, his voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Mommy's going to come rescue you? The big tough FBI agent's going to show up in her government car?"
Maya's phone buzzed with an incoming text. Sullivan glanced at the screen, and his grin widened.
"Well, well. Text from Mom." He read aloud mockingly: "Case wrapping up early, home by 4:00 p.m. How's the interview going?"
The crowd grew quieter, sensing the cruelty in Sullivan's tone.
"'Case wrapping up,'" Sullivan repeated dramatically. "I bet her case is finishing up the toilets at some office building downtown."
Rodriguez stepped closer to her partner. "Derek, that's enough. Let's just—"
"I said stay out of this!" Sullivan whirled around, his face flushed red. "I'm dealing with a potential threat here!"
"A threat?" Rodriguez looked at Maya sitting quietly on the curb, her school materials scattered around her. "She's eighteen years old, doing homework."
But Sullivan was beyond reason now. The crowd's attention fed his sense of authority. He was the law here, and everyone needed to remember that.
"You want to know the truth about your FBI mama?" Sullivan leaned down toward Maya, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "She's probably cleaning their offices right now, emptying trash cans, mopping floors. That's what people like your family do for the government."
The words hit like physical blows. Maya felt something break inside her chest, but she forced herself to look Sullivan directly in the eyes.
"My mother is a federal agent," she said clearly, her voice carrying across the silent crowd. "She's dedicated her life to protecting this country, and she raised me to treat everyone with respect, even people who don't deserve it."