Deputy Commissioner Adrian Shaw.
The second-highest-ranking official in the department.
Shaw had no obvious reason to be monitoring an ordinary patrol officer's radio.
And he had responded far too quickly.
Jack looked down at Daniel, whose face had suddenly become pale.
“Who told you to stop me?” Jack asked.
Daniel swallowed.
“Nobody.”
Jack glanced toward the packet lying near the front tire of the sedan.
“Then explain that.”
“I found it on you.”
“You put it there.”
“Prove it.”
Jack looked toward the young man holding his phone.
“I intend to.”
At the far end of the street, two black police SUVs turned sharply around the intersection and accelerated toward them.
Jack watched them approach.
The vehicles stopped behind the cruiser, and several uniformed officers stepped out. Their movements were quick and coordinated, but none of them looked particularly interested in asking Daniel what had happened.
They were looking at Jack.
One officer raised his voice.
“Step away from Officer Reed!”
Jack held his identification wallet up.
“Federal agent. Your officer attacked me after planting evidence.”
The approaching officers hesitated.
Their senior officer, Lieutenant Victor Hale, stepped forward. He was a tall man in his late forties, with silver beginning to show in his beard and a rigid expression that suggested he rarely accepted explanations from people outside his chain of command.
Hale looked at Daniel, then at Jack, and finally at the crowd.
“What happened here?”
Daniel seized the opportunity.
“He attacked me! I attempted a lawful arrest, and he assaulted me!”
Jack did not interrupt.
He simply turned the identification wallet toward Hale and repeated his name.
“Special Agent Jack Morgan. There are witnesses, and at least one recording appears to show the entire encounter.”
Hale's eyes shifted toward the young man with the phone.
For a brief moment, the lieutenant seemed more concerned about the recording than about the officer who had just accused a federal agent of a crime.
Then he turned toward the crowd.
“Everyone needs to step back. This is a police matter.”
Jack's expression hardened.
“No. It is an investigation. And nobody is going to interfere with the evidence.”
Hale stared at him.
Behind the lieutenant, Daniel lowered his eyes.
The officer who had been so confident minutes earlier now seemed terrified of what the arriving backup might do next.
Jack recognized that fear.
It was not simply the fear of losing a job or facing criminal charges.
It was the fear of someone who knew that the consequences of this encounter extended far beyond the sidewalk.
And as the police radio crackled again, Jack began to suspect that the most dangerous person involved had not yet arrived.
Lieutenant Victor Hale held Jack's identification wallet for another moment, examining the insignia as though he hoped to discover some reason to dismiss it.
Then he handed it back.
LIEUTENANT HALE: "Agent Morgan, I suggest we take this conversation somewhere more appropriate."
JACK MORGAN: "I suggest you preserve the evidence before anyone has an opportunity to interfere with it."
Hale's expression tightened.
LIEUTENANT HALE: "Nobody is interfering with anything."
JACK MORGAN: "Then you won't object to securing the body-camera footage, the radio communications, and the security recordings from this street."
Hale glanced toward Daniel.
That glance lasted barely a second, but Jack noticed it.
The lieutenant already knew that something had gone wrong.
OFFICER DANIEL REED: "Lieutenant, he attacked me. I was conducting a lawful stop."
JACK MORGAN: "Then explain why you placed that packet in my pocket before pretending to discover it."
Daniel's face reddened.
OFFICER DANIEL REED: "That's a lie!"
JACK MORGAN: "The witness has a recording. You can explain yourself when investigators review it."
The young man outside the café raised his phone.
WITNESS: "I've recorded the whole thing. He put something in the man's pocket before pulling it out."
Several officers turned toward him.
Hale immediately stepped forward.
LIEUTENANT HALE: "Sir, we'll need your contact information."
JACK MORGAN: "You will obtain it through the proper procedure. Nobody takes his phone or deletes his recording."
The lieutenant looked irritated, but he did not challenge Jack directly.
Meanwhile, Daniel continued to struggle against the restraint. Jack released him only after another officer moved into position to secure him properly.
For the first time, Daniel seemed to understand that the situation had escaped his control.
OFFICER DANIEL REED: "You don't understand how this works."
JACK MORGAN: "I understand exactly how it works. That's why I'm here."