He had a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, and right now he was furious. "What in the hell is going on in my town?" Maddox bellowed. "Royce, why is there a chopper buzzing my diner?
And who are these people?" Dalton looked at his boss like a drowning man seeing a life raft. "Sheriff, thank God.
This guy" He pointed at Zeke. "resisted arrest, and now these feds are interfering with a local investigation." Maddox glared at Agent Jenkins. "Now you listen here, little lady.
I don't care what alphabet agency you work for. You are in Oak Haven County. That man is a suspect in a narcotics investigation.
I'm taking him into custody, and if you interfere, I'll arrest you for obstruction." Zeke watched, a small smile playing on his lips. This was the moment. The trap wasn't just for Dalton.
It was for the whole ride. "Sheriff Maddox?" Zeke said stepping forward.
Maddox sneered at him. "Shut your mouth. I'll deal with you in a minute." Zeke didn't flinch at the demeaning tone.
He just nodded to Agent Jenkins. "Agent, I think he just added a hate crime enhancement to the charge." "I think you're right, Colonel," Jenkins said.
She reached into her jacket. "You're not arresting anyone," Maddox snarled, his hand resting on his pistol. The silence that followed was deafening. The tactical operators from the shadows raised their rifles.
The FBI agents reached for their waistbands.
"Sheriff," Agent Jenkins said, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "Look at the roof of the diner." Maddox frowned and looked up. Perched on the edge of the roof, silhouetted against the moon, was a sniper.
The red laser dot from his rifle danced silently, landing squarely on the gold star pinned to Maddox's chest. "We have a federal warrant for the seizure of all files, body cam footage, and electronic devices associated with the Oak Haven Sheriff's Department," Jenkins announced, holding up a paper signed by a federal judge.
"We've been watching your department for months, Maddox. We just needed a trigger. Tonight, you pulled it." Maddox's face went purple.
"This is entrapment." "No," Zeke said, stepping closer until he was nose-to-nose with the sheriff. "This is consequences."
The diner parking lot had transformed into a command post. The flashing blue lights of the local police were now drowned out by the strobe of federal strobes and the harsh glare of tactical floodlights. Sheriff Maddox stood frozen, the laser dot still fixed on his chest. The bluster, the good old boy intimidation, the decades of unchecked power, it all evaporated in the face of a force he couldn't bully.
"You're making a mistake," Maddox grunted, though his voice lacked conviction.
"I know the governor." "The governor is currently on a conference call with the attorney general explaining why he shouldn't be indicted as a co-conspirator for ignoring the complaints against your office," Agent Jenkins said, checking her watch. "I wouldn't count on him answering your calls tonight." She snapped her fingers.
Two agents stepped forward. "Disarm them, all of them." Dalton looked down at his belt. Being disarmed was the ultimate emasculation for a man like him.
His gun was his identity. Without it, he was just a bully with high blood pressure. "Lane," Dalton whispered to Carver, "don't give it up." Carver, however, had reached his breaking point.
He looked at the sniper on the roof, then at the grim-faced FBI agents. He slowly unbuckled his belt.
"I'm sorry, Sarge," Carver said, his voice cracking. "I just wanted a job. I didn't want this." He handed his belt to an agent.
"Traitor," Dalton hissed. An agent approached Dalton.
"Sir, the weapon." Dalton hesitated. For a split second, Zeke saw the madness in Dalton's eyes, the urge to draw, to go out in a blaze of stupid glory. But Dalton was a coward at heart.