"As much as I want this to work," Fletcher said, "I need proof that somebody can pay the amount required to cure the loan. A conversation about a future contract isn't enough."
"What if I can get a letter of intent?"
"A serious one, with credible funding and a closing schedule, would help the committee evaluate options. But we would still need the actual funds or a formally approved extension before the sale."
Kora crossed her arms against the cold. "You think I'm going to lose it."
Fletcher did not pretend to misunderstand. "I think you need more than the birds themselves. That isn't an insult to your work. It's how the bank has to make its decision."
His answer angered her because it was not obviously wrong. She had found something living in a place where everyone expected only waste, but a flock was not a bank transfer. The difference was the hard part of her days now, the place where hope kept encountering numbers that refused to change.
She called Amelia Brooks again. The cooperative director had already spoken with two veterinarians and a university breeder interested in the preliminary characteristics of the line. Amelia said the early evidence was promising, but nobody would pay a large advance on a disputed flock under a health hold without an enforceable agreement and independent confirmation of the breeding rights. She proposed a site visit once the agency permitted it and offered to begin preliminary due diligence immediately, using documents that could be shared lawfully.
"How much could a program like this be worth?" Kora asked.
"If it is what we think, the value isn't simply the number of birds," Amelia said. "It's a foundation flock that could support many farms over years. But a foundation flock must be healthy, traceable, and governed under rights we can defend. Otherwise we're buying the same trouble you're in now."
Kora glanced at the bank letter. "I have less than a month."
Amelia was quiet. "Then we'll prepare everything we can before the next decision arrives. I won't promise money we haven't approved. But I won't waste your time pretending this is just a nice story about rescued animals either."
That conversation gave Kora something more useful than reassurance: a list of verifiable tasks. She sent copies of her signed receipt, the source manifest, the health logs approved by Leah, and the photographs documenting individual flock groups. Amelia arranged a preliminary review by the cooperative's legal counsel and an agronomist who specialized in regional breeding programs. They worked within the government hold rather than around it, and every answer they could confirm reduced the number of reasons the cooperative might have to walk away.
Meanwhile, Nolan Pierce found the courage to tell his wife what had happened at the hatchery. Evelyn listened at the kitchen table while their daughter slept in the next room and the television played without anyone watching it. He showed her the maintenance tickets he had filed through the proper system, the rejection he had received, and the subsequent order to dispose of V-17. He told her about the calls to Kora and the possibility that Harrington would accuse him of disloyalty if he testified.