“That’s different.”

“How?”

“He’s a suspect.”

“No.”

Adrian shook his head.

“He’s a teenager leaving a pharmacy.”

“I observed suspicious behavior.”

“What behavior?”

Mercer looked around.

Adrian took one step closer.

“Tell me.”

“He matched a description.”

“What description?”

“Black male.”

Adrian waited.

Mercer said nothing else.

“That it?”

“Dark sweatshirt.”

Adrian looked at Malik’s gray hoodie.

“So Black male wearing a sweatshirt.”

“There was more.”

“What?”

Mercer struggled.

Adrian lifted the small camera from his jacket.

“Think carefully before you answer.”

Mercer’s eyes fixed on it.

“You recorded me?”

“For twenty-two minutes.”

Malik’s expression changed.

Twenty-two minutes?

That meant this stranger had been watching before Mercer ever stopped him.

Mercer finally understood the situation.

“This was a setup.”

“No.”

“You were following me.”

“Yes.”

“You set me up.”

“I didn’t tell you to stop him.”

Mercer looked toward Malik.

“I didn’t tell you to pull evidence from your pocket.”

The officer’s face went pale.

Malik looked at the clear bag still in Mercer’s hand.

For the first time, the terror began leaving his face.

Adrian pointed toward it.

“Put that on the ground.”

Mercer did not move.

“Now.”

Slowly, Mercer lowered the bag.

“Don’t touch it again.”

Adrian called Captain Sloan.

His first sentence changed everything.

“I have him.”

Backup arrived within six minutes.

Not regular patrol.

Internal Affairs.

Captain Sloan stepped from an unmarked SUV with two investigators.

Mercer looked like a man watching his own funeral.

Sloan approached Adrian first.

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

She looked at Malik.

“You?”

Malik nodded, then changed his mind.

“I don’t know.”

That was honest.

Sloan turned toward Mercer.

“Officer Grant Mercer, remove your duty weapon.”

Mercer’s face tightened.

“Captain, I’d like representation.”

“You’ll get it.”

“My union representative.”

“You’ll get that too.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

Sloan looked toward the bag on the sidewalk.

“You’ll have plenty of opportunity to explain.”

Mercer removed his weapon.

Another investigator took it.

Then his radio.

Then his badge.

Malik watched the process silently.

Ten minutes earlier, Mercer had been the most powerful person on the sidewalk.

Now he stood without his weapon, without his badge, surrounded by investigators.

Adrian approached Malik.

“What’s your name?”

“Malik.”

“Malik what?”

“Carter.”

“Are you hurt?”

“My shoulder.”

Adrian looked at the wall.

“We’ll get you checked.”

Malik stared at him.

“You were watching him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Adrian hesitated.

Because Malik deserved to know.

“Because you’re not the first person he did this to.”

Malik looked toward Mercer.

“How many?”

“We don’t know yet.”

Malik’s eyes returned to the plastic bag.

“He was really going to arrest me.”

Adrian did not lie.

“Yes.”

“For something he had.”

“Yes.”

Malik looked down.

“My grandmother is waiting for me.”

That sentence hit Adrian harder than expected.