“He refused consent.”
Pierce gave Marcus a different look.
Not like a citizen.
Like an opponent.
Boone said:
“Step away from the truck.”
Marcus obeyed.
“Hands on the trailer.”
“For what reason?”
Boone stepped into him.
“You’re being detained.”
“Am I free to leave?”
“No.”
“What reasonable suspicion are you relying on?”
Boone’s eyes narrowed.
“Driver behavior.”
“What behavior?”
“Stop talking.”
Marcus placed his hands against the trailer.
Pierce frisked him.
Nothing.
Boone asked:
“Cash on you?”
“About a hundred.”
“More inside?”
Marcus remained silent.
Boone smiled.
“That silence tells me plenty.”
“No, officer.”
“It tells you I’m not answering unrelated questions.”
Boone grabbed Marcus’s jacket.
The shove came faster than Marcus expected.
His shoulder struck the fuel-pump guard rail.
He allowed his body to move with it rather than resisting.
Pierce seized his arm.
“Stop resisting!”
Marcus almost laughed despite himself.
It was exactly what the victims described.
The phrase arrived before resistance existed.
His cheek pressed against the cool side of the trailer.
Metal cuffs closed tightly.
Adrian’s voice remained silent in his ear.
The intervention threshold had not yet been reached.
Marcus breathed slowly.
Boone leaned close.
“You smart-mouth every cop you meet?”
“No.”
“Just the ones searching without consent?”
Pierce twisted Marcus’s wrist.
“Careful.”
Marcus’s tone changed slightly.
Not enough to reveal himself.
Enough to warn.
Pierce responded by tightening the cuff.
Boone walked toward the cab.
Marcus said:
“I am not consenting.”
Boone opened the driver door.
“Noted.”
He climbed inside.
In the command vehicle, Vanessa wrote one word:
SEARCH.
Adrian spoke:
“Audio clear?”
“Clear.”
“Video?”
“All six.”
Marcus remained against the trailer.
Pierce stood behind him.
“Where’s the money?”
Marcus turned his head slightly.
“What money?”
“Come on.”
“You drivers always have something.”
“Emergency cash.”
“Fuel cash.”
“Drug cash.”
Pierce laughed.
“Sometimes all three.”
Marcus felt anger.
Real anger.
Not because of himself.
Because Pierce sounded twenty-four.
Too young to have invented this.
Old enough to know better.
Inside the truck, Boone opened compartments.
Marcus could hear items hitting the floor.
Boone found the duffel.
Emptied it.
Then moved into the sleeper.
Pierce called:
“Check under the bunk.”
Boone answered:
“I know where to look.”
The casual confidence mattered.
Marcus closed his eyes briefly.
This was not a spontaneous mistake.
This was routine.
Boone reappeared at the cab door.
“There’s a safe.”
Pierce grinned.
Marcus let tension enter his voice.
“That belongs to the company.”
Boone climbed down.