Chapter 8 - The Second Setup
The idea changed everything.
If Lila was telling the truth, Vale had not staged a harmless accident.
He had tried to eliminate two problems at once.
Lila would be injured.
Avery would be blamed.
The team would be terrified into silence.
Avery asked the obvious question.
“Who moved the crash mat?”
Lila shook her head.
“I never saw.”
“Brooke?”
“Maybe.”
“Mercer?”
“I don't know.”
Lila reached into her backpack.
She pulled out a flash drive.
“This is what Vale thinks I destroyed.”
Avery stared at it.
“The donor list?”
“And payment records.”
“Why didn't you give it to the university?”
Lila laughed bitterly.
“Because the vice president investigating you is on it.”
Avery's stomach dropped.
The corruption went higher than the team.
Much higher.
Lila handed over the drive.
“If something happens to me, release everything.”
Avery closed her hand around it.
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“We can go to the police.”
“Vale knows officers.”
“Then federal investigators.”
Lila shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
A car engine started below them.
Lila froze.
Headlights appeared at the far end of the parking level.
A black SUV entered slowly.
Lila whispered, “That's him.”
They ran.
The SUV accelerated.
Avery grabbed Lila's arm and pulled her through a narrow pedestrian gap.
The SUV could not follow.
They rushed down a concrete staircase.
Behind them, a door slammed.
Footsteps followed.
Avery called Hannah.
“Get to the theater garage.”
She and Lila reached street level.
Hannah's car turned the corner.
They jumped inside.
A man emerged from the stairwell behind them.
It was not Vale.
It was university athletic director Martin Keene.
Avery stared through the rear window as they drove away.
The man who publicly suspended her had just chased them through a parking garage.
Hannah looked in the mirror.
“Was that Keene?”
“Yes.”
Lila began shaking.
“He's on the list too.”
Avery looked at the flash drive.
Suddenly, her suspension was no longer the biggest threat.
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These people weren't trying to save the university's reputation.
They were trying to save themselves.
