Pause.
“What kind?”
Carter looked at Isaiah.
Then away.
“Military.”
Dispatch answered.
“Stand by.”
The waiting lasted forty-seven seconds.
Isaiah counted.
Higgins tapped his fingers against the steering wheel.
Carter looked through the windshield.
Then dispatch returned.
The voice had changed.
The normal dispatcher was gone.
A supervisor came on.
“Unit 23, confirm subject name Isaiah Nathaniel Montgomery, DOB August fourteenth, nineteen sixty-eight.”
Carter swallowed.
“Affirmative.”
Another pause.
Then:
“Hold position.”
Carter frowned.
“We are holding.”
“Do not transport.”
Higgins looked toward him.
“Repeat?”
“Do not transport.”
The radio channel went silent.
Then another voice came through.
Not dispatch.
Lieutenant Nathan Shaw, Pine Valley watch commander.
“Unit 23, this is Lieutenant Shaw.”
Carter picked up his mic.
“Go ahead.”
“Where exactly are you?”
Carter gave the intersection.
“Subject secure?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause.
Then Shaw said:
“Define secure.”
Carter looked toward Isaiah.
“Handcuffed in rear.”
The pause that followed was longer.
When Shaw spoke again, his voice sounded very different.
“Do not remove cuffs yet.”
Isaiah’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
Smart.
Evidence preservation.
Shaw continued.
“Do not question him further.”
Another pause.
“Do not move the vehicle.”
“Lieutenant—”
“Sergeant Carter, acknowledge.”
Carter’s face reddened.
“Copy.”
Higgins whispered, “What the hell?”
Then every radio channel on the car erupted with traffic.
Supervisor requests.
Command notifications.
A unit being redirected.
Another ordered to station.
Then the phone in the evidence pouch rang again.
This time Higgins handed it carefully toward the cage opening.
“General?”
Isaiah looked at him.
“You can’t pass it through while I’m cuffed.”
Higgins stared at the cuffs.
For the first time, he seemed to see them.
Not as equipment.
As evidence.
He looked toward Carter.
“Should we—”
Carter shook his head.
“Lieutenant said leave them.”
Isaiah nodded once.
“Correct.”
Higgins held the phone near the partition.
Isaiah saw the caller.
Major General Evelyn Parks.
His chief of staff.
He looked at Higgins.
“Answer.”
Higgins pressed the button.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice came through.
Controlled.
Military.
“Identify yourself.”
Higgins swallowed.
“Officer Blake Higgins, Pine Valley Police Department.”
“Where is General Montgomery?”
Higgins looked at Isaiah.
“In the rear seat.”
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
The silence did more damage than explanation.
General Parks spoke again.
“Officer Higgins, I need you to state clearly whether General Isaiah Montgomery is currently under arrest.”
Higgins looked toward Carter.
The sergeant finally answered.
“He is detained pending burglary investigation.”
Another silence.
Then:
“Put your watch commander on the phone.”
“He’s on the way.”