“What?”
“Your camera.”
Harlan looked down.
It was running.
“Good.”
Marcus nodded.
“Keep it running.”
That was the moment Harlan slapped him.
Deputy Chief Laura Mitchell was on the fourth floor when her phone vibrated for the third time.
She glanced at the screen.
Emily Torres.
Front desk.
Laura silenced it.
The command meeting had already run twenty minutes long.
Captain Russell Dane was arguing about overtime projections.
Lieutenant Karen Cho was presenting recruitment statistics.
Three other commanders sat around the conference table.
Laura disliked ignoring front-desk calls, but Emily could leave a message.
Then her personal phone buzzed.
City Administrator Nathan Bell.
Laura frowned.
She answered quietly.
“Mitchell.”
“Where is Carter?”
Laura straightened.
“What?”
“He texted me twenty minutes ago saying he was entering headquarters.”
“He hasn’t called me.”
“He said he’d check in.”
Laura stood.
Everyone looked at her.
“Did he come through secure parking?”
“No. Public entrance.”
Laura’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“Damn it.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She walked rapidly toward the door.
“I’m checking.”
Captain Dane looked up.
“Everything okay?”
“No idea.”
Laura entered the hallway.
She called Marcus.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
She called front desk.
Busy.
Then she keyed her radio.
“Dispatch, Deputy Chief Mitchell.”
“Go ahead.”
“Confirm whether a Marcus Carter has checked in at headquarters.”
Silence.
Then:
“Stand by.”
Laura reached the elevator.
The doors opened.
She stepped inside.
Her phone rang.
Emily.
Laura answered.
“Emily?”
The receptionist whispered.
“Chief?”
Laura’s pulse accelerated.
“What about him?”
“Sergeant Harlan has him.”
The elevator doors closed.
Laura stared at her reflection.
“What do you mean has him?”
“He thinks he’s trespassing.”
“You told him who he is?”
“I tried.”
“What is happening right now?”
A sound came through the phone.
Paper scattering.
Then Emily gasping.
Laura heard a man’s voice.
Harlan.
“You think you’re tough?”
Laura felt cold.
“Emily.”
“He hit him.”
The elevator descended.
Laura hit the emergency-call button on her radio.
“Dispatch, priority command traffic.”
Her voice changed.
Every commander in the building heard it.
“Chief Marcus Carter is inside headquarters. Front lobby. Confirm identification advisory immediately.”
Back downstairs, the radio revelation changed the air in less than five seconds.
Lieutenant Steven Polk reached Marcus first.
He looked horrified.
“Chief Carter, I—”