“Branch.”
“United States Navy.”
“Current duty status?”
“Active.”
“Purpose of travel?”
“Official travel.”
Vance moved.
“There it is again.”
I looked at him.
“There what is?”
“You won't say where you're going.”
“Because you do not require that information to verify who I am.”
“If you're legitimate, why hide it?”
“I am not hiding my identity.”
“You're hiding your orders.”
“Officer Vance, sealed orders are not public identification.”
His mouth tightened.
Ruiz held up a hand.
“That's enough.”
She wrote something down.
“Captain, can your identity be confirmed through the Navy without accessing the packet?”
“How?”
“Through the Department of Defense personnel verification process or through the duty office responsible for my travel coordination.”
“You said we should obtain the number independently.”
Ruiz nodded once.
Vance walked to the far side of the table.
“Or we open the packet and settle this in thirty seconds.”
“No,” I said.
His eyes came back to me.
“No?”
“You do not have my consent to open that packet.”
He put both palms on the table.
“You're detained by law enforcement.”
“That does not automatically authorize you to open restricted military travel material.”
“You expect me to believe there's classified material in a duffel bag?”
“I said restricted.”
“So now it's not classified?”
“I said from the beginning that the packet contains material that may be classified or restricted depending on the section. You do not need it.”
He looked at Ruiz as if I had just proven something.
“Listen to this.”
Ruiz closed her notebook.
“I am listening.”
Her tone had changed.
Not in my favor.
Not in his.
Toward the facts.
Her phone rang.
She answered.
“No, we're in Interview Two.”
Another pause.
“Yes, his identification is in front of me.”
She read my name, card information, and expiration date.
Then listened.
Her eyes shifted toward Vance.
“What time was that entered?”
Vance looked up.
Ruiz turned slightly away from him.
“No, I need the exact time.”
She waited.
She ended the call.
Nobody said anything.
Finally Vance asked, “What?”
Ruiz looked at him.
“Command desk received a coordination inquiry at 7:56.”
“For what?”
“For him.”
Something passed through Vance's face.
“That doesn't prove anything.”
“No,” Ruiz said. “It doesn't.”
I noticed the care in her answer.
She wasn't rushing to correct one mistake by making the opposite one.
That earned my respect.
“The inquiry came from where?” I asked.
Ruiz hesitated.
“A federal coordination office working with airport operations.”
I nodded.
That was consistent with my instructions.
Vance looked between us.
“What coordination office?”
Ruiz ignored him.
“Captain, were you supposed to make contact with someone after arriving?”
“What time?”
“Eight o'clock was the planned window.”
Ruiz checked the wall clock.
8:24.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Because Officer Vance stopped you?”
Vance straightened.
“I stopped him because he looked suspicious.”
Ruiz turned.
“What specifically looked suspicious?”
Vance pointed toward me.
“The uniform.”
“What about it?”
He hesitated.
“It looked wrong.”
I said nothing.
Ruiz waited.
“What looked wrong?”
“The whole thing. Too clean. Too formal. He's walking through a commercial airport dressed like that. I've dealt with people pretending before.”
“Anything else?”
“He wouldn't answer basic questions.”
“I answered my name, rank, branch, and told you where my military identification was.”
Vance looked at me.
“I didn't ask you.”
“No,” I said. “You mostly told me what you had already decided.”
Ruiz put her pen down.
“Captain.”
The door opened.
A watch commander entered, gray-haired, carrying a tablet.
He didn't offer his name.
He looked at me, then the identification on the table.
“Captain Hayes?”
“I need to confirm a few things personally.”
“Go ahead.”
He turned the tablet so only he could see it and asked me for my date of birth.
I gave it.
Last four of my service number.
A detail connected to my personnel record.
I answered.
He typed.
Waited.
Typed again.
Nobody moved.
Then he looked at Ruiz.
“Step outside.”
Vance started toward the door with her.
The commander stopped him.
“Not you.”
Vance froze.
Ruiz followed the commander out.
The door closed.
For the first time, Vance and I were alone.
He stayed near the wall.
I remained standing beside the table.
He looked at my identification.
“You military guys think everybody's supposed to know how your system works.”
“Sounds like it.”