Anyone can invent a title to impress a roomful of people.

Where’s the proof?

Where has this grand career been for two years?”

General Salazar opened a folder without a word and laid two things on the mahogany table beside the dog collar’s evidence and the text logs.

The first was an official portrait of Marisela in dress uniform, taken at her promotion ceremony, the eagle plain on her shoulder.

The second was a set of certified credentials, verifiable, stamped, real.