“Routine check,” he said.“What kind of routine check? And you haven’t introduced yourselves.”
Something shifted in his face. Just slightly. The look of a man who wasn’t used to being questioned.
The second officer pushed off from where he’d been leaning and stepped closer, a smirk pulling at his mouth.
“Little smart, aren’t you,” he said. “Sit tight and let the adults talk.”
Victoria looked at him, then back at the first officer, and didn’t back down an inch.
“I am talking calmly,” she said. “You two are the ones being aggressive, stopping a driver for no stated reason. I’d like your names and the reason for this stop, please.”
The tall one’s jaw tightened. He tossed her documents down onto the roof of her car, not even bothering to hand them back properly.
“Get out of the vehicle.”
“On what grounds?”
“I said get out.”
She could see it now, clear as day — this wasn’t about a traffic stop anymore. This was about two men who’d pulled over a young woman alone on an empty road and decided they didn’t like that she wasn’t scared. She’d seen this pattern before, more times than she wanted to count. It never ended well when you let it keep going unchecked.
