Victoria had been driving down Route Nine when two county officers flagged her down without offering a clear reason. Deputy Vance hardly looked at the registration she held out the window before demanding her license, while his younger partner, Miller, lingered anxiously near the rear of her sedan. Victoria stayed calm, lightly touching the silver pin on her collar while keeping one hand tucked in her shorts pocket, where a gold state investigator’s badge and a live audio transmitter were concealed.

Neither officer ran her information through the state database, keeping the stop completely off the record. When Victoria pointed out that Route Nine fell under state jurisdiction and reached for her phone to record them, Vance suddenly seized her wrist and pinned her against the sedan. Miller cinched plastic ties tightly around her wrists and loaded her into the cruiser. Neither man realized Victoria had already been recording every single word through the transmitter hidden in her pocket.

As Vance pulled away, Miller began fabricating a story that Victoria was speeding, while Vance threatened her, boasting that his cousin was the local county judge and that outsiders meant nothing in Oakhaven. Seeing they intended to hold her overnight and jeopardize her undercover operation, Victoria decided her secret role had reached its end.

“Officer Vance,” Victoria said calmly from the back seat. “Look in my right shorts pocket.”

Vance steered the cruiser onto a dirt turnout near an abandoned timber mill. Annoyed and suspicious, he reached into her pocket and pulled out a black leather wallet. He flipped it open, expecting an ordinary driver’s license.

Instead, he froze. Inside gleamed the heavy gold shield of a state investigator, alongside a small transmitter housing with a green light pulsing steadily…