“You never have to thank me for protecting you,” I said.

“That’s my command for life.” They had thought my uniform was fabric and ribbon.

They had thought my rank was a title to be out-lawyered and threatened.

They never understood the simplest thing about a mother in uniform — about Colonel Soraya Adeyemi, whatever the eagle on her collar led them to assume: that she is not dangerous because of the stars on her shoulders, but because she knows how to fight, and she will not stop — not ever — until the people she loves are safe.

THE END.