Pruitt turned the monitor around. Dodd crossed the room and looked at the screen. He looked at the photograph. He looked at the name beneath it. He set his Styrofoam cup down on the nearest available surface very carefully, with the particular care of a man suddenly conscious of every movement he is making.
He had started to form a word, the beginning of something, some response, some order, when the windows began to vibrate. It started as a low hum through the frame of the building, the kind of sound that registers before the brain has named it. Then it became multiple engines. Then it became sirens, not one but several, not approaching so much as arriving. Then the red and blue light began flooding through the narrow frosted windows near the ceiling, bouncing off the concrete walls in overlapping waves.
One of the card-playing deputies stood up and pressed his face to the glass. Shepherd walked to the front door and pulled it open. The parking lot was unrecognizable. Six black FBI vehicles had taken up blocking positions at every exit. Four Georgia State Patrol cruisers flanked them.
Two unmarked cars sat behind the formation. Across the gravel, moving in organized lines, were 16 federal agents in navy tactical gear, with Federal Bureau of Investigation across the back in white, carrying document lockboxes, laptop bags, and portable server imaging equipment. At the front of the formation, in a charcoal blazer with her credentials case open in her left hand, walked Constance "Marlowe." She was not running. She walked with the unhurried precision of someone arriving at a situation that is already decided and requires only administration.
Shepherd stepped forward in the doorway, old instincts taking over. "Hey, you can't just This is county jurisdiction. You don't have the authority to. Constance Marlowe stopped in front of him. She held her credentials 12 inches from his face and looked at him for exactly 1 second with an expression that contained no anger, no triumph, and no mercy.
"Step aside, officer." She walked past him into the building. This facility is now under a federal warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, she announced, her voice carrying to every corner of the room. Every officer in this building will step away from your workstations immediately. Hands visible.
You will not touch any computer, any radio, any filing cabinet, or any piece of equipment in this room. Any destruction or removal of records or data will constitute a federal obstruction charge. That includes backup tapes, body camera uploads, and anything stored on servers or backup drives. The room was completely still. The card players hadn't moved.
Dodd was standing near his office door with his hands loose at his sides and an expression that had stopped trying to be anything. I want the server room first, Constance said to the lead technical agent behind her. Then every physical file in that office. She turned briefly. "Who has the holding cell keys?"