I wiped down the back of my neck with a towel. Really, I hadn’t meant the house cleaning to go on that long. I’d told my security team what had happened to Vladimir. Not all of them were sworn in, but they knew my job and why people were out to get me most times.

That level of trust was scarce, and I looked at each of them, giving them an ultimatum. Either they would be officially sworn in, or I would provide them a glowing recommendation letter to their next place of business with three ...