Setting the trap required Whitfield's cooperation, which he gave with visible reluctance and a great deal of careful instruction about what would and wouldn't hold up if this went sideways.
"You request a meeting," he told Rae the next morning, over coffee neither of them had time to actually drink. "Frame it as coming to accept terms — that you're prepared to withdraw from the team voluntarily to protect the program, provided the board doesn't formally investigate the relationship. Halloran's been angling for exactly that outcome. If she thinks she's getting it handed to her without a fight, she'll want to close the deal fast, before the board meeting, so she can walk in tonight presenting it as already resolved."
"And if she just says thank you and hangs up?" Rae asked.
"Then we've lo
