The verification hit a problem on day sixteen.
Sable found it. She was working through the financial proof on the research foundation's income filings when she identified a discrepancy in the dates — the foundation's fiscal year did not align with the contractor program's federal budget cycle, which meant the matching income figures Ren had used to connect them were drawn from overlapping but non-identical periods. The connection was still real. The figures still matched within rounding. But a competent opposing lawyer would argue the date misalignment invalidated the direct comparison and use that argument to slow the review process past the sunset clause.
She told Hunter at seven in the morning, the day after the full network met in Ren's apartment for the first time.
Hunter looked at
