Chapter 2: The Ten Seconds That Mattered
Marcus moved around her rather than arguing.
His partner, Elena Torres, appeared at the front door pushing the stretcher.
The patient lay pale beneath a blanket, an oxygen mask covering his face.
The woman stepped backward.
Then she saw the stretcher.
For a moment, everyone became quiet.
Her eyes followed the man’s face.
Marcus did not look at her.
“Clear the path.”
Elena and another responder guided the stretcher toward the ambulance.
The woman finally moved aside.
But she did not apologize.
Instead, she pointed at the driveway.
“You could have parked farther down.”
Elena stopped.
She looked at the woman, then at the narrow sidewalk, then at the stretcher.
“If we park farther down,” Elena said, “we add distance and lose room to work.”
The woman shook her head.
“You’re making this sound like my fault.”
“No,” Elena replied. “I’m telling you why we’re here.”
The patient coughed weakly.
The paramedics immediately turned their attention back to him.
The woman watched as the stretcher disappeared into the ambulance.
Her anger had nowhere to land now.
So she found another target.
She pulled out her phone.
“I’m calling someone about this.”
Marcus closed the rear doors.
“You can do that.”
She stared at him.
“You don’t sound worried.”
“I’m worried about the patient.”
That answer seemed to irritate her more than an argument would have.
She raised her phone toward the ambulance.
“You’re going to explain why you blocked my property.”
Marcus climbed inside.
Before the doors closed, he looked at the decal still stuck to the windshield.
It had left no mark.
But it had made something clear.
This was no longer simply about a driveway.
The woman had decided the ambulance was trespassing on a boundary she believed mattered more than the emergency happening inside it.
And she intended to make that argument in public.
