Tessa read the rescue briefing in the passenger seat while Kellan checked the access road.
The employer had reported two people trapped in a damaged storage building. Its entrance lay inside the registered gate-incident perimeter, where the temporary restriction barred Eli from working even without crossing the portal. The road was narrow but passable. A previous public complaint concerned standing water at the entrance; Eli had sent the notice and its date without claiming it proved the present route unsafe.
Sera sat behind Tessa with a map and a marker case. “The count says two. Who counted?”
“The employer’s supervisor,” Tessa said. “He hasn’t given us the list he used.”
Kellan stopped before the gate. A shallow pool covered one side of the road. He got out, tested the depth with a pole and found the surface firm enough for the vehicle on the dry edge. He marked the deeper section for the ambulance route.
Leah called at the agreed check-in time. Tessa reported their arrival, the water on the road and the fact that no one had entered. The employer’s second outside contact, a site worker named Hana, stood beside the gate with a clipboard.
“Two people inside,” Hana said. “The supervisor saw them enter before the wall came down.”
