PART 2 — THE IDENTITY THEY NEVER EXPECTED
His eyes moved across the photograph… then stopped.
The name beneath it made his fingers suddenly go numb.
VICTORIA ELENA MORGAN.
OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT.
SPECIAL FIELD INSPECTOR.
AUTHORIZED LEVEL: BLACK.
The first officer stared at the card for several seconds without blinking.
The second officer leaned over his shoulder.
His face changed instantly.
“That’s impossible,” he whispered.
Victoria remained completely calm.
“Read the rest.”
The first inspector swallowed hard and continued reading.
The card contained a government seal, a security code, and a photograph of Victoria that was unmistakably the same woman standing in front of them.
But there was one line that terrified him more than everything else.
“Authority to investigate law-enforcement misconduct… unrestricted jurisdiction.”
The second officer stepped backward.
“Put the cuffs back on,” he whispered.
The first inspector looked at him in disbelief.
“Are you insane?”
Victoria raised her eyebrows.
“Interesting. A few seconds ago you were both very confident.”
Neither man answered.
The first inspector slowly reached for the handcuff key.
“Miss Morgan, there seems to have been a misunderstanding.”
Victoria gave a quiet laugh.
“A misunderstanding?”
“You were driving. We stopped you. Things got out of hand.”
“You dragged me from my vehicle.”
“I apologize.”
“You threatened to take me to the station.”
“It was a mistake.”
“You put handcuffs on me without giving me a reason.”
The officer’s face became pale.
“I said I’m sorry.”
Victoria looked directly into his eyes.
“You’re not sorry because you hurt me. You’re sorry because you finally discovered who I am.”
Silence fell over the roadside.
The second officer nervously looked toward the patrol car.
“Maybe we can handle this here.”
Victoria’s expression became colder.
“No. We can’t.”
She turned her head slightly toward the dashboard camera mounted inside their patrol vehicle.
“Your camera recorded everything, didn’t it?”
The two officers froze again.
The first inspector slowly glanced at the patrol car.
The red recording light was still blinking.
Victoria noticed his reaction.
“Good.”
She took a slow breath.
“Because I want the entire recording preserved.”
The second officer immediately stepped toward the patrol car.
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“Don’t touch it.”
He stopped.
“I was only going to check the equipment.”
“No. You were going to turn it off.”
The officer said nothing.
Victoria continued.
“And before you ask, yes, I already know exactly what happened to the last three patrol recordings from this stretch of highway.”
The first inspector stared at her.
“How do you know that?”
“Because that’s why I was driving this road.”
The words landed like a hammer.
The officers exchanged a terrified glance.
Victoria finally revealed what they had failed to understand.
“This wasn’t a random traffic stop.”
The first inspector’s expression changed.
“You were investigating us?”
“I was investigating someone.”
“Who?”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“That’s the question you should be asking yourselves.”
The second officer looked genuinely frightened now.
“Who sent you?”
Victoria slipped the identification card back into its leather case.
“Nobody sends me.”
She paused.
“I choose where I go.”
The first inspector stared at the black case as though it were a weapon.
Then his eyes moved toward Victoria’s car.
“Is there something in your vehicle?”
Victoria didn’t answer.
The officer suddenly remembered something.
When they had first approached the car, he had noticed a small envelope lying on the passenger seat.
At the time, he hadn’t thought anything of it.
Now he understood.
“What’s in that envelope?”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because if you’re investigating something, then that’s evidence.”
“Correct.”
“Evidence of what?”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Corruption.”
The two officers went silent.
“Drug shipments. Stolen vehicles. False traffic reports. Bribes. Missing evidence.”
The first inspector’s jaw tightened.
“You can’t accuse us of that.”
“I didn’t.”
She looked at the patrol car.
“You just did.”
The second officer immediately became defensive.
“You have no proof.”
Victoria smiled.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
She pointed toward the road.
“You stopped me because you were told to.”
Neither officer moved.
“You didn’t know who I was. You didn’t know what I was carrying. You didn’t know what I had already recorded.”
The first inspector stared at her.
“Recorded?”
Victoria tapped her phone.
“You thought I was trying to film you when you grabbed me.”
She raised the phone slightly.
“I was already recording before you reached my window.”
The color drained from his face.
The second officer whispered, “Turn it off.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“Delete it.”
“No.”
“We can work something out.”
Victoria’s expression became ice-cold.
“That’s exactly what I was waiting to hear.”
The first officer suddenly realized his mistake.
“You set us up.”
“No.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You set yourselves up.”
She turned toward her vehicle.
“I gave you several opportunities to stop.”
Neither man understood.
Victoria continued.
“I asked why you stopped me. You refused to answer.”
“I asked you to identify yourselves. You refused.”
“I asked what law I had broken. You had no answer.”
“And when I tried to document what was happening, you used force.”
She looked back at them.
“Every decision you made was yours.”
The second officer’s breathing became heavier.
“Who are you really?”
Victoria didn’t respond immediately.
Instead, she reached into her pocket and removed another small object.
This time, neither officer dared to touch her.
It was a tiny black communication device.
Victoria pressed one button.
“Unit Seven. Confirm status.”
A calm male voice answered immediately.
“Unit Seven online.”
“Two officers detained. Both subjects identified.”
The first officer’s eyes widened.
“Subjects?”
Victoria looked at him.
“That’s what you are now.”
The voice continued through the device.
“Do you want local authorities notified?”
Victoria paused.
“Not yet.”
The first inspector stepped forward.
“Please.”
Victoria looked at him.
“Please what?”
“Don’t ruin our lives.”
Her expression hardened.
“You weren’t thinking about my life when you put those cuffs on me.”
He lowered his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice became quieter.
“I understand perfectly.”
She walked toward the patrol car.
“There’s something else you should know.”
The officers watched her carefully.
“You weren’t the only people being investigated today.”
The second officer frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria stopped beside the patrol vehicle.
“It means whoever ordered you to stop me is already watching this conversation.”
Both officers looked around nervously.
The empty highway stretched in both directions.
No other cars were nearby.
No buildings.
No witnesses.
Then suddenly, Victoria’s phone vibrated.
She looked down at the screen.
One new message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Her expression changed for the first time.
The first officer noticed.
“What is it?”
Victoria didn’t answer.
She opened the message.
There was only one sentence:
YOU’RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.
Beneath it was a photograph.
Victoria stared at the image.
Her heart stopped for a moment.
It showed her own car from above.
Someone had been watching them.
But that wasn’t what frightened her.
In the photograph, Victoria was standing beside the patrol car with her hands cuffed behind her back.
The picture had been taken less than a minute ago.
She slowly raised her eyes toward the sky.
The officers followed her gaze.
Nothing was there.
Then the communication device in Victoria’s hand crackled.
“Victoria…”
She froze.
The voice on the other end sounded different now.
Distorted.
“Do not trust the officers.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“Who is this?”
A long silence followed.
Then the voice whispered:
“One of them already knows where the missing evidence is.”
Victoria slowly turned toward the two officers.
Both men stood completely still.
She studied their faces.
The first officer looked terrified.
The second looked confused.
Or at least he appeared confused.
Victoria’s eyes settled on the second officer.
“Where is it?”
“What?”
“The evidence.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Victoria took one step toward him.
The first officer suddenly shouted.
“Wait!”
Victoria turned.
He looked at his partner.
Then back at Victoria.
“You need to hear something.”
The second officer’s face became pale.
“Don’t.”
The first officer ignored him.
“He wasn’t supposed to be on patrol today.”
Victoria’s eyes sharpened.
“What do you mean?”
“He replaced another officer at the last minute.”
The second officer grabbed his arm.
“Shut up!”
Victoria immediately understood.
She reached for the second officer’s belt.
He jerked backward.
“Don’t touch me!”
Victoria’s hand stopped.
There was something attached beneath his jacket.
A tiny electronic transmitter.
Her eyes widened.
“You’re not traffic police.”
The man’s expression changed.
The friendly mask disappeared.
In one sudden movement, he reached inside his jacket.
Victoria reacted instantly.
She stepped backward and drew her weapon.
“Don’t move!”
The first inspector dropped to his knees.
“I told you!”
The second man froze.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then a black SUV appeared far down the highway.
It was moving directly toward them.
Victoria looked at it.
The unidentified man smiled.
“You should have left when you had the chance.”
Victoria tightened her grip.
“Who are you?”
The SUV accelerated.
The first inspector looked terrified.
“Victoria…”
She didn’t look away from the approaching vehicle.
“What?”
“There are more of them.”
The SUV was now only seconds away.
Victoria’s communication device suddenly came alive.
“Victoria, this is command.”
She answered without blinking.
“Go ahead.”
“We have just identified the vehicle.”
“Who is inside?”
A pause.
Then the answer came.
“Your own department.”
Victoria’s face went completely still.
The SUV screeched to a stop beside them.
Four doors opened at once.
Men in black tactical uniforms stepped out.
And on the chest of every man was the same silver emblem Victoria had seen on her identification case.
OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT.
But then the leader removed his sunglasses.
Victoria recognized him.
Her own superior officer.
The man who had trained her.
The man who had personally given her this investigation.
He looked at Victoria’s handcuffs.
Then at the two traffic officers.
Then he smiled.
“Victoria,” he said calmly.
“You were never supposed to discover this.”
