He turned slowly and walked over to where Haines was kneeling in the dirt. Officer. Haines, is it? Callahan said, reading the name tag on the terrified man's chest. Haines looked up, his face pale and slick with sweat.
The arrogant sneer was entirely gone, replaced by the pathetic wide-eyed stare of a cornered animal. So, please, you have to understand. We get a lot of smugglers on this route. They buy fake badges. They buy fake uniforms.
I was just I was just protecting my jurisdiction. Protecting your jurisdiction? Callahan repeated, his voice dangerously quiet. By pulling over an unmarked federal fleet vehicle, holding a gun to the head of a special agent, and detaining her on the side of a highway. I didn't know, Haynes pleaded, looking frantically toward Sloan.
Ma'am, tell them I didn't know. Sloan walked over, stopping right next to Callahan. She looked down at the man who just 3 minutes ago held her life in his hands, simply because he felt entitled to do so. I told you exactly who I was, Sloan said, her voice like ice. I presented my credentials.
You chose to ignore them because I didn't fit your narrow, prejudiced profile of what authority looks like. You saw a black woman in a T-shirt, and you saw a victim. No, no, that's not it. Save it, Callahan interrupted, holding up a hand. Here is the truly tragic irony of your day, Officer Haynes.
My task force has been out here for 48 hours rolling up the Jimenez cartel's local meth distribution network. A network that, according to our wiretaps, has been paying off local county deputies to look the other way when their product moves down Route 66. Haynes' eyes widened in absolute horror. The color drained entirely from his face, leaving him looking like a ghost. We didn't have names yet, Callahan continued, leaning down so his face was inches from Haynes.
We just knew there were dirty cops on this stretch of highway, and then out of nowhere you pull over one of the lead agents on the Jimenez case, point a gun at her head, and try to illegally detain her. Now, a reasonable person might look at that and think you were trying to silence a federal investigator to protect your cartel kickbacks. "What? No, God, no! I don't know anything about any cartel!"
Haynes screamed, thrashing against Gibson's grip. "I'm just a patrol cop. I'm not dirty. I just I just made a bad call. It was a bad stop.