The hospital director offered one vehicle.
Tessa had asked for three. She listened while he explained the patients who could not leave his facility quickly and the possibility that his own district would need transport. His objection was not merely possession dressed as caution. A vehicle sent into the mobile reserve might be far away when the hospital’s doors filled.
She put the shared inventory on his desk.
“One, with a defined return condition,” she said. “We record where it goes and what it carries. If your local threshold is reached, its current assignment is reviewed immediately. Nobody promises the same vehicle to two places at once.”
The director read the proposed condition. He wanted a guarantee of return within an interval shorter than the known road allowed. Tessa showed him the measured route and bridge restriction. They revised the condition to something possible rather than signing a promise that would fail on its first journey.
He agreed to lend one vehicle. The other two remained at the hospital and stayed out of the mobile count.
Eli carried the confirmed list to the transport table. Theo was there on a shift he had chosen, seated beside the route board rather than assigned to heavy rescue work. He was coordinating the available vehicles, their sizes, and the drivers’ actual intervals. A small cup sat beside his elbow, untouched while he compared two turning measurements.
