Daniel did neither.
Instead, he stood as straight as he could while Ryan continued holding the front of his uniform.
DANIEL BROOKS: "You're making a serious mistake."
For a brief moment, the two men remained motionless.
The room seemed to grow quieter around them. An officer near the hallway entrance stopped halfway through a sentence. Another lowered the coffee cup he had been holding. Emily slowly turned away from her computer, now watching the confrontation directly.
Ryan interpreted Daniel's calmness as defiance.
His face reddened.
RYAN MITCHELL: "Don't you dare threaten me!"
Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly, but he made no attempt to strike back.
DANIEL BROOKS: "I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you to let go."
RYAN MITCHELL: "You don't give me orders."
DANIEL BROOKS: "Then use your judgment before you make this worse."
Ryan's expression changed.
The warning did not calm him. It seemed to have the opposite effect, intensifying the anger that had been building behind his eyes.
He released one hand from Daniel's uniform, drew his arm back, and struck Daniel across the face.
The blow landed before anyone nearby could intervene.
Daniel's head turned sharply to one side. His shoulder struck the desk, and several loose papers slid to the floor. For an instant, he appeared unable to process what had happened.
Then he steadied himself.
A small cut had opened along his cheek, and a thin streak of blood appeared against his skin.
The room fell silent.
Daniel slowly lifted one hand toward his face. His fingertips touched the injured area, and when he lowered them, he saw the blood.
He stared at it for a second.
The pain was sharp, but the shock of being attacked inside a police station was almost worse.
He had expected hostility from difficult suspects, angry witnesses, and people who had spent years distrusting law enforcement. He had dealt with arguments that escalated without warning and situations in which a single careless movement could place everyone in danger.
But this was different.
Ryan was a fellow officer.
They were standing inside a place where people were supposed to be protected by the very rules Ryan had just ignored.
Daniel took a slow breath and looked back at him.
DANIEL BROOKS: "Let go. Right now."
Ryan stared at him, breathing heavily.
For a fraction of a second, uncertainty crossed his face. He had seen the blood. He had also seen the way the other officers were watching him.
But instead of stepping away, he doubled down.
RYAN MITCHELL: "Or what? You gonna report me?"
His voice carried a mocking edge, as though he believed Daniel had no real power to challenge him.
Daniel did not answer immediately.
He was assessing the situation, trying to understand whether Ryan was acting out of personal anger, a misunderstanding, or something more deliberate. Every instinct told him that responding with violence would only make the situation more dangerous.
He kept his hands visible and his movements controlled.
DANIEL BROOKS: "You need to stop."
RYAN MITCHELL: "You don't get to tell me what I need to do."
Behind the computer, Emily pushed her chair backward.
She had witnessed the moment Ryan struck Daniel. She had seen the blood appear on his face, and she had watched him remain standing despite the force of the blow.
Her first reaction was disbelief.
Officers argued at work. They disagreed about procedures, questioned decisions, and sometimes raised their voices when a shift became stressful. But striking another officer in the middle of the station was not an ordinary disagreement.
Emily glanced toward the hallway, hoping someone with more authority would intervene.
Several officers were watching.
None had moved.
Her stomach tightened.
She could hear the faint buzz of the computer monitor and the distant ringing of a telephone. The ordinary sounds of the station seemed strangely disconnected from the scene unfolding only a few feet away.
Emily stood up.
EMILY CARTER: "Officer Mitchell, stop! He's bleeding!"
Ryan turned his head toward her.
RYAN MITCHELL: "Stay out of it, Emily."
EMILY CARTER: "You just hit him!"
RYAN MITCHELL: "I said stay out of it."
Emily hesitated, but she did not sit back down.
Her eyes moved from Ryan to Daniel. She could see the cut on Daniel's cheek, the blood marking his skin, and the way he kept his injured side slightly turned away from the desk.
Daniel looked toward her briefly.
DANIEL BROOKS: "Emily, stay where you are."
His tone was controlled, but there was urgency beneath it.