That had been useful more times than she could count.
Mercer pointed toward the front of the car.
“Stand there.”
Elena did.
He circled her vehicle.
“You got anything illegal in here?”
“No.”
“Weapons?”
“Yes.”
His head snapped toward her.
“Where?”
“Secured.”
“Where?”
“In a locked case in the trunk.”
His hand moved more deliberately toward his holster.
“What kind of weapon?”
“A service-authorized sidearm.”
Mercer stared at her.
“You military?”
Elena said nothing for a moment.
The question was not unlawful. The tone was not relevant. But something about his face had changed when she said service-authorized.
“Yes.”
“What branch?”
“United States Armed Forces.”
He barked a laugh.
“That’s not a branch.”
“No.”
“Then answer the question.”
“My specific assignment isn’t relevant to the reason for this stop.”
Mercer took two steps closer.
“You don’t decide what’s relevant.”
Elena studied him.
He was right about one thing.
At that moment, he believed she did not.
He ordered her to place both hands on the hood.
She complied.
He patted her down.
The search was unnecessarily rough but brief. When he finished, he walked back to the open driver’s door and leaned inside.
Elena turned her head.
“What are you searching for?”
“Stand still.”
“You do not have consent to search the vehicle.”
“I smell alcohol.”
Elena almost answered too quickly.
She stopped herself.
“I haven’t consumed alcohol today.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“You said you smell it.”
“I do.”
“Then administer a sobriety test.”
Mercer looked at her.
The stillness between them sharpened.
He had expected denial.
Maybe panic.
Maybe anger.
He had not expected procedure.
“Fine,” he said.
He conducted the field sobriety test badly.
Elena followed every instruction.
Walk-and-turn.
One-leg stand.
Horizontal gaze test.
She did not stumble.
She did not sway.
She did not argue.
When it was over, Mercer looked more irritated than before.
“Breath test,” Elena said.
“What?”
“If you suspect alcohol impairment, administer a breath test.”
His expression hardened.
“You don’t tell me how to do my job.”
“No. The law does.”
For the first time, his face lost the trace of humor entirely.
He walked to the patrol car.
Elena remained beside her sedan.
Wind moved a strand of hair loose against her cheek.
She looked toward the dashboard of his cruiser.
A camera lens stared back.
Good.
Mercer returned without a breath-testing device.
Instead, he held her license.
He looked at it.
Then at her.
“You know what your problem is?”
Elena said nothing.
“You people get some title somewhere and think the rest of the world has to salute.”
“I never told you my title.”
That stopped him for half a beat.
Then he smiled again.
“No. But I know the type.”
He bent the license between his fingers.
Elena watched.
Mercer seemed to notice that she was watching.
Something reckless entered his expression.
Maybe he thought he was proving a point.
Maybe he thought the plastic card belonged entirely to her and therefore destroying it would only inconvenience her.
Maybe this was not the first time he had done something like this and nothing had happened.
With both hands, he snapped the license down the center.
The card did not separate cleanly.
So he tore it again.
The two pieces came apart.
“Well,” Mercer said, dropping them onto the road, “looks like you don’t have a driver’s license anymore.”
He laughed.
Elena stared at the pieces.
Not because she cared about the card.
Because printed along the back—beneath the state information—was a federal credential notation linked to her security status.
Mercer did not know that.
He had not looked closely enough.
Her civilian driver’s license itself was replaceable.
The encoded credential attachment was something else.
She raised her eyes.
Mercer’s smile faltered.
Elena stepped away from the hood.
“What are you doing?”
She walked to the passenger side of her car.
“Stop moving.”
“My identification wallet is in the glove compartment.”
“I didn’t tell you to reach for anything.”
“Then you can retrieve it.”
Mercer hesitated.
He had placed himself in a problem he did not yet understand.
“Open it.”
Elena opened the passenger door slowly, then the glove compartment.
Inside lay a black leather credential wallet.
She took it out using two fingers.