The seventeen days of preparation began the next morning, and Lucas Grey approached them with the methodical intensity of someone preparing for a military operation.
He drafted seventeen versions of the parole board statement, each one annotated with notes on pacing, intonation, and emotional regulation techniques. He prepared seventeen security protocols for the hearing room, covering every possible contingency from fire alarms to medical emergencies to "unforeseen psychological variables" that Kevin had identified in his risk analysis. He coordinated with Agent Morrison and the FBI, with the prison's security team, with the parole board's administrative staff. He reviewed the seventeen names Alexander had promised to provide, cross-referencing them with Kevin's existing database and flagging three that appeared to have connections to individuals still active in the financial sector.
