TWO COCKY OFFICERS DRAGGED ME INTO A SHADOWY BASEMENT AND SHAVED MY HEAD TO UTTERLY DISGRACE ME BEFORE MY MOST IMPORTANT DAY. THEY BELIEVED I WAS ONLY A POWERLESS WOMAN THEY COULD CRUSH WITHOUT EFFORT. BUT THEIR SMUG GRINS DISAPPEARED THE SECOND THEY ENTERED THE COURTROOM AND REALIZED WHO WAS WEARING THE JUDGE’S ROBE…

He tossed my federal ID onto the ground, grinding his heavy combat boot over the laminated seal.

Next to him, Officer Thorne sneered, his hand resting casually on his holstered weapon.

“Right. And I’m the President,” Vance hissed, his breath hot and smelling of stale coffee.

“We got a tip about a fraudster trying to breach security. You don’t look like a judge to me, sweetheart. You look like you don’t belong in this building.”

I knew exactly who they were.

Officers Rick Vance and Kyle Thorne.

They were the center of a high-profile civil rights and brutality case — the exact case I was assigned to preside over this morning.

Chief Judge Sterling had handed me this political landmine on my first day, hoping the pressure would make me fail.

Now, these two thugs, assigned to security desk duty pending their trial, had cornered me before I could even reach my chambers.