Pinned to the left lapel was his unpolished bronze surveyor’s transit pin, its miniature brass vernier etched with micro-graduations.
Strapped to my left wrist was his restored 1956 Admiralty Gold Chronometer.
Its sweep-second hand advanced with that deliberate, unhurried sixty-cycle cadence:
*tack… tack… tack.*
In my lap rested the blue vellum portfolio containing the 1944 Mercer Sovereign Lineal Charter, the emergency receivership orders from the Southern District of California, and the unsealed grand jury indictments tracing four decades of corporate defense embezzlement through The Valkyrie Trust.
Beside my boots on the diamond-plate deck, fast asleep with his heavy golden head resting across my combat leather, was Barnaby.
Across the mahogany conference table sat Vice Admiral David Mercer, Chief of Naval Operations, his service bridge coat unbuttoned, his four gold stars gleaming against the bulkhead lights.
Beside him sat Major General Michael Grant, Deputy Director of Special Operations Command, and United States Attorney Marcus Cooper, Chief Federal Prosecutor for the District of Columbia and Special Admiralty Master, flanked by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Bennett, Chief Trial Counsel for the Military District of Washington.
