Cops Have No Idea Family BBQ PARTY Is Full of FBI — Cuff Black Man, Instantly Regret It
Chapter 2
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A woman wearing sunglasses stepped away from the table. Dana Brooks had set her drink down without spilling it. "Officer, I can help clear this up.""Stay where you are.""I have identification you should examine.""Then wait your turn."Dana stopped several feet away, her hand resting on the strap of her bag.Malcolm turned his wallet slightly. "You asked for this.""I asked you a question first.""I answered it."Harlan stepped around the grill. Malcolm stayed still."You always make a simple thing difficult?"Across the table, Tessa lowered the phone she had been using to record her grandmother's first taste of the food. Her thumb moved toward the stop button.Dana saw her. "Keep that running."Harlan's head turned. "What did you say?""She's recording her family," Dana said."She can record from back there."Tessa backed toward Evelyn's chair, keeping the phone upright. Her grandmother's hand found her elbow. "Don't leave me standing, sweetheart."Tessa helped her sit. The walker caught the checked tablecloth, pulling a paper plate toward the edge. Malcolm instinctively shifted his weight toward them.Harlan caught his forearm. "Where are you going?""Nowhere. My mother needed help.""She has help.""Then let go of my arm."Voss moved closer. For a moment, Malcolm thought the sergeant would ask Harlan to step back. Instead, Voss looked at the wallet still in Malcolm's left hand. "Put that on the table."Malcolm placed it beside the napkins.Dana opened her bag. "Sergeant, before this goes further—"Harlan pulled Malcolm's right wrist behind him.Evelyn gripped the chair arms. "Why are you doing that?""Stop resisting.""I'm standing still," Malcolm said."Cuff him," Voss said. "We'll sort the ID afterward."Dana came forward with a leather case open in her hand. "Look at this, both of you."Harlan dragged Malcolm's other arm back. The apron knot pressed into his wrists. One cuff closed, then the second.Malcolm looked past the officer at Tessa. "Stay with Grandma."Harlan reached for his shoulder microphone: "Dispatch, one male detained. Threatened officers with a metal implement."Beside the grill, the tongs lay untouched where Malcolm had put them.His mother heard the transmission. "You mean what he was cooking with?"Harlan pressed the microphone again, preparing to transport."Hold the transport," Dana said.Harlan tightened his hand around Malcolm's upper arm. "Move back."Dana kept her credential case open, its photograph facing the officers. "Supervisory Special Agent Dana Brooks, FBI. Read it."Voss leaned toward the case. His gaze moved from the photograph to her face, then down to the identification beneath the badge. Harlan stopped pulling."The man you've cuffed is Special Agent Malcolm Avery," Dana said. "His credentials are beside the napkins, where you told him to put them."Voss picked up the wallet. Malcolm watched the sergeant open the case he had refused to examine seconds earlier."Call our office," Malcolm said. "Have dispatch obtain the number."