He kept his voice low, but the microphone still on the stage caught every word.

“Captain Nwosu,” he said.

“It is an honor to stand beside you again.”

I had not seen Adebayo in three years, not since the last classified debrief, and I had not expected to see him tonight — I had asked for a preservation order and financial-crimes backup, not for the chief of police in dress blues.

But he had come himself, and I understood why the moment he saluted.

Adebayo had been a captain too, once, on the task force that built the case my operation closed.