Inside, the room had been completely transformed. The bed was pushed against the wall, replaced by folding tables covered in laptops, radio scanners, and tactical maps. Agent Vance, a tall, broad-shouldered man with a military buzz cut, was staring at a monitor. Two other agents, tech-specialist Reyes and tactical lead Miller, were calibrating body cameras.
“Welcome back to the glamorous life,” Vance said, handing her a steaming paper cup of black coffee. It tasted like battery acid, but it was exactly what she needed.
“Daniels is spooked,” Naomi said, taking a sip and looking at the map spread across the table. “He played the incompetent card, but he’s sweating. He knows we’re here for more than a courtesy call.”
“You think he’s on the payroll?” Reyes asked, typing rapidly on her keyboard.
“I don’t think a truckload of contraband gets through Oakhaven without the Sheriff getting a toll,” Naomi replied. “What did we pull from Deputy Ryan’s cruiser data?”
Reyes tapped a key, and a map appeared on the main monitor. A red line traced a path through the county. “You were right to be suspicious of that traffic stop, boss. Ryan wasn’t just on standard patrol. His GPS data shows he was parked on a ridge overlooking Highway 27 for three hours. The second your Tahoe crossed the county line, he moved to intercept.”
“He was a sentry,” Vance noted, his jaw tightening. “They knew you were coming. They had a local uniform stall you.”
“Why?” Naomi asked, her mind connecting the dots. “If they just wanted to avoid me, they would have stayed quiet. Stalling me means I was moving toward something they didn’t want me to see.”
She leaned over the map, tracing the route she had been taking before Ryan pulled her over. “If I hadn’t been stopped, I would have crossed the intersection of Highway 27 and Old Mill Road at exactly 14:00 hours.”
“Pulling up traffic cam data for that intersection at 14:00,” Reyes said. A grainy, time-stamped video popped up on the screen. It showed a quiet, dusty intersection. At exactly 1:58 PM, a massive, unmarked commercial logging truck rolled slowly through the red light, turning onto Old Mill Road.