The war room materialized on a Tuesday morning, exactly twelve days before the parole hearing, and it was, by every measurable standard, the most impressive thing Sophie Chen had ever created.
She had been planning it for approximately a week—ever since she had watched Lucas nearly collapse under the weight of his own fear and realized that what the household needed was not more individual preparation but a centralized command center. "Lucas has been handling everything alone," she had explained to Kevin during one of their late-night documentation sessions. "He's drafted seventeen scripts, seventeen protocols, and seventeen contingency plans. He's stress-chopped enough ginger to supply a small restaurant. He's been running on four hours of sleep and sheer protective instinct. What he needs is a system. A war room. A place where everyone can see the plan and contribute to the plan and stop feeling like the weight is on their shoulders alone."
