He tossed the phone.
Not onto the seat.
Onto the pavement.
It hit once.
Skidded through gravel.
Maya stared.
“Pick that up.”
Doss smiled.
“You ordering me around now?”
Maya’s heart was beating harder.
Not from fear.
From effort.
Restraint.
Every instinct from years of prosecution told her to memorize.
Words.
Sequence.
Positions.
Actions.
She counted.
Keller right hand on wrist.
Left hand on shoulder.
Doss four feet from passenger door.
Phone approximately eight feet away.
Dash camera in cruiser.
Body cameras?
Keller wore one.
Its status light appeared dark.
Doss’s also dark.
Interesting.
“You both have body cameras,” Maya said.
Neither responded.
“Are they recording?”
Doss looked down briefly.
Then up.
“Don't worry about our cameras.”
“I’m not worried.”
That irritated him.
He kicked the Rolls’ passenger-side mirror.
The first impact cracked the housing but did not break it free.
Maya stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
Doss kicked again.
The mirror snapped.
Plastic and glass struck the roadway.
For the first time Maya’s composure fractured visibly.
“That vehicle is evidence now.”
Keller laughed behind her.
“Evidence of what?”
Maya looked over her shoulder.
“You.”
The smile left his face.
He shoved her flat against the hood.
“Careful.”
he said.
Her cheek touched the cool metal.
“People have accidents out here.”
There.
A threat.
Clear.
Maya’s mind changed gears.
This was no longer an abusive stop.
This was evidence.
Potential witness intimidation.
Potential assault.
She needed the federal team closer.
Her government phone remained inside her coat.
There was a concealed emergency trigger integrated into the side button.
Three presses.
She could not reach it with her arm pinned.
Then Doss walked around the hood.
He picked up a small metal tire tool from his cruiser.
Maya saw it.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking vehicle identification.”
“With that?”
“Sometimes VIN plates are altered.”
He tapped the tool against the lower windshield.
Once.
Twice.
Maya stared.
“Do not damage the vehicle.”
Doss smiled.
Then drove the metal end into the corner of the windshield.
Glass exploded into a spiderweb of cracks.
Not through completely.
But enough.
Maya involuntarily jerked.
Keller used the movement.
“Stop resisting.”
“I did not resist.”
Doss struck again.