Laura looked at the address. "Confirm it."
The agent worked for several seconds, then nodded. "It matches a warehouse connected to one of the disposal companies."
Laura looked at another screen: a signal was stationary inside the property beside the location data. A live audio waveform moved across the display. Laura put on a headset. At first, she heard only warehouse noise, then Mercer's voice became clear: That was the point.
Laura stopped moving. A second voice followed: Boone, you are making this worse.
Laura looked at the agent beside her. "Start preserving everything."
The waveform continued to move.
Laura Chen listened through the headset as the voices inside the warehouse continued. She heard Mercer argue that Boone had instructed him to create grounds for seizure. She heard Boone deny telling him exactly how to damage the identification area. Then Mercer admitted that breaking the headlight and denting the fuel tank had been done to reduce the motorcycle's condition rating.
Laura removed one side of the headset and looked at the agent beside her. "Is the feed being preserved?"
"Yes."
"From the beginning?"
The agent nodded. "From before the roadside contact."
Laura looked back at the screen. The signal was coming from a concealed device installed on Maya's Harley before she entered Ashford County. The equipment had been authorized as part of the ongoing public corruption investigation. Its purpose had been simple: preserve location data and ambient audio if the motorcycle was moved, seized, or transferred through a facility connected to the suspected network.
Mercer had searched the saddlebag. He had inspected the frame. He had looked beneath the seat. He had never found it.
Laura opened the archived recording from the roadside stop. "Start with the identification check."
The agent moved to the correct timestamp. Noah's voice came through first: The VIN is normal, Wade. I checked it twice.
Laura let the recording continue. Maya's voice followed: I ask that you do not strike the engine case.
Then came the first impact: a hard metallic strike. A second followed almost immediately. Laura watched the timestamps appear beside each sound.
Mercer's voice came next: The VIN shows signs of unlawful tampering. It cannot be identified at the scene.
Laura paused the recording. "There."
The agent looked at her. "Valid return before the strikes. Damage after the return. Claim of tampering after the damage."
He nodded. "The order is clear."
"Preserve that segment separately, but do not alter the original."
Laura restarted the audio. The next sound was the headlight assembly breaking. Then the fuel tank was struck.
Mercer's voice came through: This thing is in rough condition.
Noah answered: It wasn't when we got here.
A little later, another exchange appeared in the recording.
Noah said: That motorcycle is worth a lot more than a thousand dollars.
Mercer answered: Not anymore.
Laura stopped the playback again. "He knew the damage changed the condition."
The agent beside her said, "Then later he called it pre-existing."
"Exactly." Laura found that section.
Maya asked: So your valuation changed because of its current condition?