Marcus looked at him.
“Why?”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“I understand.”
Marcus’s voice remained level.
“But I would like to know why you want me outside the vehicle.”
Travis opened the door himself.
Marcus immediately moved one hand away from the door.
Travis said:
“Because I told you.”
The words hung there.
Marcus looked toward the sidewalk.
Several pedestrians were passing.
One young woman had slowed down.
A delivery driver stood outside a restaurant holding two boxes.
Marcus looked back at Travis.
“Officer, I am not resisting you.”
“Then get out.”
Marcus unfastened his seat belt.
He stepped onto the sidewalk.
He was taller than Travis expected.
That seemed to make Travis more aggressive.
“Back up.”
Marcus stepped backward.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Marcus kept his hands at his sides.
Travis moved within inches of him.
“You think because you’ve got a suit and an expensive car, you get to question me?”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“I think every person you stop has the right to ask what the stop is about.”
Travis laughed.
“You one of those lawyers?”
Marcus did not answer.
“What?”
“You hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Then answer.”
Marcus looked directly into his eyes.
“My profession has nothing to do with whether you follow procedure.”
The delivery driver quietly set his boxes down.
The young woman raised her phone.
Travis noticed.
His face flushed.
“Everybody wants to be an expert now.”
Marcus said nothing.
“Phone cameras.”
“Internet.”
“People who’ve never worn a badge telling cops how to do the job.”
Marcus looked again at Travis’s body camera.
Then said:
“Your camera should make this simple.”
Travis stepped closer.
“You keep staring at my camera.”
“I’m glad it’s running.”
That sentence changed something.
Travis’s nostrils flared.
He pointed toward Marcus’s chest.
“Listen carefully.”
Marcus remained still.
“You’re going to stop with the attitude.”
“What attitude?”
That was the moment.
Not a struggle.
Not an attempted escape.
Not a raised fist.
Travis’s open hand moved quickly across Marcus’s face.
The slap cracked through the intersection.
Marcus’s glasses shifted sideways.
His head turned from the impact.
The young woman recording gasped.
The delivery driver said:
“What the hell?”
Marcus did not move for two full seconds.
Then he slowly straightened his glasses.
He faced Travis again.
A faint red mark had appeared along his cheek.
Travis was breathing hard.
Marcus was not.
Travis pointed at him.
“Now you understand how this stop works.”
Marcus looked at him.
His eyes had changed.
Not angry.
Cold.
“Your body camera is still running?”
Travis glanced down instinctively.
The green indicator remained active.
“Don’t worry about my camera.”
Marcus nodded.
“I won’t.”
Travis leaned forward.
Marcus quietly said:
“Keep your badge on.”
Travis frowned.
“What?”
“You’ll need it in twenty minutes.”
The witnesses became silent.
Even Travis stopped.
Then he laughed.
“You threatening me?”
“No.”
“That sounded like a threat.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Then what was it?”
Marcus looked toward his Mercedes.
“A suggestion.”
Travis placed one hand on his handcuffs.
“You think you’re somebody important?”
Marcus did not answer.
“Who are you?”
“You already have my identification.”
“I asked who you are.”
Marcus looked at the camera.
Then at Travis.