He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper.

“And your correspondence with the Senate Armed Services Committee was never about classification.”

He unfolded the paper with deliberate, agonizing slowness.

The crisp white sheet crinkled in the silence of the ballroom.

“This is a letter dated March fourteenth,” Drummond said.

“Sent from your personal email address to the promotion board chairman.”

He looked down at the page, reading the printed text.

“You requested a formal review of Colonel Rogers’ record, citing ‘temperamental instability’ and suggesting her file be archived permanently.”

A collective murmur ran through the back of the room.

The Admiral’s wife stepped back, her gold bracelets clinking softly in the quiet.

Helen’s face drained of what little color remained under her makeup.

“That was a private family matter,” Helen whispered.

“There are no private family matters when you attempt to alter official military promotion tracks,” Drummond said.

He handed the paper to Captain Hayes.

“Especially when you did so while simultaneously requesting an expedited command track for Lieutenant Commander Michael Rogers.”

Michael flinched as if he had been struck in the face.