“Lieutenant,” Vance growled, his voice cutting straight over the noise of three hundred sixth graders like a truck’s air horn.

“Have you got any idea who you’re talking to?”

Wyler turned his left wrist to look at his gold watch, then squared his shoulders to face the older man.

“Master Chief Vance, this is an official school district Career Day panel,” Wyler said, fixing his collar.

“I’m handling Navy public affairs protocol.”

“You’re an embarrassment to the United States Navy,” Vance said.

Vance walked straight past the case of wooden ship models and stopped two feet from Wyler’s right elbow.