The panel appointment notification posted at six forty-three in the morning. Ren had the monitoring flag active and his phone in his hand when it came through. He called Hunter before Hunter had finished reading the subject line. Boateng was not selected, Ren said. Hunter exhaled slowly. He was sitting on the edge of his bed in the eastern district with his boots already on, the charge running at its early morning level, the lamp still the only light in the room. Who was selected, Hunter said. Two individuals with no connections to the capital group or the contractor program at any level I can identify, Ren said. One is a former infrastructure compliance officer who spent twelve years in the public utility sector. The other is a retired federal procurement auditor. He paused. Both are

