PART 7
Agents flooded the lobby.
“Hands! Hands! Hands!”
Deputy Ellis dropped to one knee immediately, hands up.
“I’m not with them!” he shouted.
Henson panicked and grabbed Marlene by the arm.
Big mistake.
Three red dots centered on his chest.
A voice from outside said, “Release the civilian.”
Henson’s fingers opened like the command had cut the nerves.
Marlene stumbled back.
Two agents swept her behind cover.
Miller raised his hands slowly, but his eyes stayed on me.
“You set me up.”
I stood as much as the cuffs allowed.
“No, Sheriff. You built the trap. I just walked into it.”
An agent entered the room and unlocked my cuffs.
“Colonel Hayes,” he said. “You all right?”
The room went silent.
Miller stared.
Henson stared.
Marlene covered her mouth.
I rubbed my wrists.
“I’m fine.”
The agent handed me my badge case.
I opened it and placed it on the table.
Lieutenant Colonel Nora Hayes.
Joint Task Force Meridian.
Miller looked like he had swallowed glass.
“You’re military?”
“Among other things.”
The lead federal agent, Daniel Cross, stepped into the room with a folder thick enough to ruin lives.
“Boyd Miller, you are under arrest for conspiracy, evidence tampering, unlawful detention, obstruction, extortion, and trafficking of restricted military property.”
Henson whispered, “Military property?”
I looked at him.
“You thought you were moving stolen rifles through a county impound lot. You were moving weapons from a compromised National Guard depot.”
Miller’s face twitched.
He knew the words were true.
He also knew everyone had heard them.
Agent Cross turned to Marlene.
“Ma’am, is that the diner footage?”
She nodded and held up the flash drive.
Her voice broke.
“Back door camera. It shows Deputy Henson putting the bag in her car.”
Miller hissed, “You stupid woman.”
I stepped toward him.
“You threatened her son. You framed travelers. You stole cash. You planted drugs. And when military weapons came through your town, you decided a badge made you untouchable.”
His breathing got heavy.
“This town is mine.”
Marlene lifted her chin.
May you like
“No,” she said. “It was scared. That’s not the same thing.”
That hit him harder than anything I said.
