He had no idea how deep the hole he dug actually was. The heavy door clicked and swung open. Agents Jonathan Paul and Samuel Hayes walked in. They had showered and changed into sharp, immaculately tailored dark suits.
They looked like the apex predators of the justice system.
Behind them walked a tall, severe looking man holding a thick manila folder. Assistant United States Attorney Robert Kavanaugh followed them. The three men sat down across from Jenkins. The silence stretched for a full minute.
Jenkins shifted uncomfortably, the steel handcuffs clinking against the table ring he was tethered to.
"Where is my union rep?" Jenkins demanded, trying to summon a fraction of his former bravado.
"I know my guaranteed rights. I am not saying another word until Frank Hodges gets in here."
AUSA Kavanaugh opened the folder, his face devoid of any emotion.
"Mr. Hodges was turned away at the lobby three hours ago, Mr. Jenkins. He handles administrative disciplinary hearings for the Atlanta Police Department. You are currently facing a federal grand-jury indictment. Your union cannot help you here."
Jenkins swallowed hard. "I want a lawyer."
"You'll get a public defender assigned at your arraignment tomorrow morning," Kavanaugh replied smoothly.
"Before we officially book you into federal detention for pretrial holding, Agents Paul and Hayes wanted to show you what our evidence response team found."
"Found?"
Jenkins frowned, his heart rate suddenly spiking.
"Found where?"
Jonathan leaned forward, intertwining his fingers on the metal table.
"While you were sitting in here shivering, Brian, our tech team executed a federal search warrant on your APD cruiser. Standard protocol for a bad stop usually involves pulling the dash-camera and body-camera footage to establish civil-rights violations. We did that, and it is damning. You did not activate your lights. You did not run our descriptions. And you texted another officer on your personal phone three minutes before approaching us." Sam slid an 8x10 glossy photograph across the table. It was a screenshot of a text-message thread.