The words were carefully chosen.
Suspected narcotics.
Passenger inspection.
Process the individual.
Nothing about the uncertainty surrounding the discovery. Nothing about Daniel's objection. Nothing about the officer's refusal to explain how the substance had appeared in the luggage.
Ryan stood beside the table, his expression increasingly uncomfortable.
When Miller finished speaking, the younger officer leaned closer to him.
OFFICER RYAN: "Are you sure you want to handle it this way?"
Miller lowered the radio.
OFFICER MILLER: "What are you talking about?"
OFFICER RYAN: "I'm asking whether we've covered everything."
OFFICER MILLER: "We've covered enough."
OFFICER RYAN: "I don't think that's what I mean."
Miller's stare became warningly sharp.
OFFICER MILLER: "Then choose your words carefully."
Ryan fell silent.
Daniel watched the exchange with the same steady expression he had maintained from the beginning. He was not interested in provoking the younger officer into saying something careless. He wanted to see what the men would do when given the chance to make their own decisions.
Miller turned back to Daniel and pointed toward the space beside the inspection table.
OFFICER MILLER: "Stay right there."
DANIEL BROOKS: "I haven't moved."
OFFICER MILLER: "Good. Keep it that way."
Daniel placed both hands loosely at his sides.
DANIEL BROOKS: "Before this goes any further, I want to make one thing clear."
OFFICER MILLER: "You've made plenty clear already."
DANIEL BROOKS: "No. You haven't listened yet."
Miller opened his mouth to respond, but Daniel continued in the same measured tone.
DANIEL BROOKS: "I am not going to fight you. I am not going to run. I am not going to interfere with your work. But I will not agree that something belongs to me simply because you say you found it."
Miller studied him.
OFFICER MILLER: "You think refusing to cooperate is going to help you?"
DANIEL BROOKS: "I have cooperated with every reasonable request you've made."
OFFICER MILLER: "And now you're challenging my authority."
DANIEL BROOKS: "I'm challenging your accusation."
The distinction was simple.
It was also one Miller seemed determined to ignore.
The officer stepped away from the table and spoke into his radio once more, asking for a supervisor. Ryan remained in place, his attention divided between Miller and Daniel.
For the first time since the confrontation began, Miller looked as though he was considering the possibility that the encounter might not unfold as easily as he had expected.
Daniel noticed the hesitation.
He also noticed that the evidence bag was still resting beside the open suitcase, exactly where Miller had placed it after displaying it to him.
Nobody had explained how the bag had been found.
Nobody had established who had handled it before the accusation.
And nobody had answered Daniel's central question.
How had the substance entered his luggage?
Daniel glanced toward the ceiling-mounted camera again.
Miller caught the movement.
OFFICER MILLER: "Stop looking around."
DANIEL BROOKS: "Why?"
OFFICER MILLER: "Because I'm talking to you."
DANIEL BROOKS: "And I'm looking at the room we're standing in."
OFFICER MILLER: "You have a smart answer for everything, don't you?"
DANIEL BROOKS: "Only when someone keeps asking the wrong questions."
Ryan lowered his eyes.
Miller turned away, visibly irritated, and began speaking to another officer over the radio. The words were too quiet to hear clearly, but his posture suggested that he was trying to regain control of a situation that had begun slipping beyond his expectations.
Daniel waited.
He understood that patience was more useful than anger.
He understood that a person who wanted to expose a lie could not afford to become distracted by the person telling it.
And he understood that Miller's greatest mistake might not have been the accusation itself.
It might have been his assumption that the man standing across the table had no way to challenge it.
A few moments later, Miller returned his attention to Daniel.
OFFICER MILLER: "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to remain here while we complete the necessary procedures. You will answer our questions, and you will follow our directions."
DANIEL BROOKS: "I will follow lawful directions."
OFFICER MILLER: "You don't get to decide which directions are lawful."
DANIEL BROOKS: "Neither do you."
The officer's face reddened.
OFFICER MILLER: "I've had enough of this."
DANIEL BROOKS: "Then let's stop wasting time."