Zeyu watched the driver speak into the radio, his eyes fixed on the mobile base.
He turned only when his passenger said something, then lowered the handset and rubbed his thumb across his mouth as he listened to the reply.
Manager Chen stood beside the van with the notice still in his hand. When he tried to speak, the driver held up one finger without looking at him.
Zeyu knew the gesture. He had done it himself when someone interrupted a call. Seeing the manager fall silent made him lean toward the speaker.
"Let me hear who you’re talking to," Zeyu said.
The driver finally looked at Manager Chen and lowered his window a few inches. The van’s rattling engine grew louder through the microphone.
"We’re just here to collect," the driver told the manager. "If the load isn’t ready, we can come back."
The woman whose daughter had left on the first transport reached the window before Manager Chen could answer. She had left her scissors on the hood of a stripped car, but her hands were still clenched.
"My daughter went with the first group," she told the driver. "I want to know where she is."
"That wasn’t us," the driver replied after a glance at his passenger. "We weren’t driving that night."
"Then tell me who was," the woman demanded, moving closer to his window.
The driver started raising the glass. She caught its upper edge, and he stopped just before it trapped her fingers. Manager Chen reached for her wrist, but she shook him off without letting go.
"Keep the window down," Zeyu said through the speaker. "And tell me where Distribution Manager Gao is."
The driver looked across the lot at him.
For a moment, Zeyu expected the man to recognize him and start explaining. He wore a company shirt and sat in a van Zeyu had approved buying. A few weeks ago, he would have been getting out with the keys in his hand.
Instead, the driver settled his wrist on the steering wheel.
"If Distribution Manager Gao wanted to come himself, he would have," the driver replied. "I’ve got a job to do."
Zeyu sat still, staring at him. The men at the underpass had been strangers. This man wore his company’s logo and spoke to him as though he were holding up the work.
Beside him, Jingwei checked the passenger on the screen. Both of the man’s hands were visible now, but they still hadn’t seen what he had reached for beneath the dashboard.
"They can answer from there," Hanchuan said quietly. "Keep them away from our door."
Zeyu nodded. He hadn’t moved to get out, but he wanted to stand in front of the driver badly enough that the reminder irritated him.
"Are you here for fuel or passengers?" Zeyu asked through the speaker.
"Both, if they’re ready," the driver answered, looking toward the containers beside the service entrance.
The woman loosened her grip on the window. ℴℴ𝘮
"Are you taking them to the same place?" she asked.
The driver paused before answering. "That’s what I was told."
Behind her, the woman with the bag tied shut with electrical cord hurried toward the van. A man carrying a rolled blanket followed more slowly, helping someone between the parked cars.
Manager Chen stepped in front of them.
"Wait," the manager said, holding out his hand. "We need to check the list."
The man with the clipboard gave a short, bitter laugh.
"You’ve checked it enough," he told Manager Chen. "My wife is going."
Zeyu looked toward the woman being helped across the lot. She leaned heavily on the man carrying the blanket, dragging her feet in loose shoes. After a few steps, she stopped and rested her forehead against his shoulder.
Near the showroom, another woman waited with a bag held against her rounded stomach. Manager Chen glanced at her, then back at the van.
"We’ve got room for four," the driver announced, tapping his door. "Get the fuel loaded, then decide who’s coming."
Everyone started talking at once.
The woman at the window wanted to go and find her daughter. The man with the clipboard demanded to know why there were fewer places than they had been promised. Manager Chen raised his voice, trying to make them listen, but no one stopped arguing.
Two employees walked toward the fuel containers. The driver hadn’t answered their questions, yet they were already doing what he wanted.
"Leave those where they are," Zeyu said through the speaker.
One employee stopped. The other had already picked up a container and stood holding it while he looked between the two vehicles.
"If they don’t load it, we don’t go," the driver called to Zeyu. "You can argue about the fuel after we leave."
Zeyu looked at the people waiting with their bags. The driver knew exactly what he was doing. They wanted those seats badly enough to load the van without knowing where it would take them.
"Who’s in the back?" Zhiyi asked from behind Zeyu.
He glanced over his shoulder. Hanchuan had turned the screen toward her so she could see without moving her supported leg.
"The paper over the rear window moved," Zhiyi explained, watching the image. "Someone pulled it aside, then let it fall back."
Jingwei enlarged the rear window. One corner of the paper had folded away from the glass, leaving a narrow gap.
"Open the back," Zeyu told the driver through the speaker.
The driver’s expression changed.
"We’ve got deliveries in there," he replied. "They’re nothing to do with you."
"You said there was room for four passengers," Zeyu said. "Let them see where they’ll be sitting."
The woman at the window let go of the glass and headed toward the rear doors. The passenger jumped out, hitting a nearby container with his door.
As he came around the van, Zeyu saw the knife on his belt.
"Stay away from the back," the passenger ordered, stepping into the woman’s path.
Jingwei put his hand on his weapon. Zeyu kept his foot on the brake as the woman stopped a few paces from the passenger.
Something struck the inside of the van.
The man with the clipboard walked toward the rear doors. Manager Chen watched him pass without trying to stop him.
"Who’s in there?" the man demanded.
The passenger planted a hand against his chest and shoved him backward. The clipboard fell, sending loose pages sliding beneath the van. No one reached for them.
Another blow sounded against the door. Someone inside was calling out, but Zeyu couldn’t make out the words over the shouting.
The woman carrying the bag tied with electrical cord stepped closer, looking at the covered windows.
"Lili?" she called.
The passenger turned toward her. While he was distracted, the woman searching for her daughter slipped past him and grabbed the rear handle. She pulled twice, but the door stayed locked.
"Open it!" she shouted toward the driver. "There’s someone in there!"
The driver reached for his radio, but Manager Chen caught his wrist through the open window and held it against the frame.
"Give me the keys," Manager Chen said.
The passenger’s hand dropped toward the knife on his belt. Before Zeyu could warn the manager, the woman inside struck the door again.
"Don’t let them take anyone else!" she shouted through the locked doors.