Point of Contact

Jack headed for the far side of the checkpoint, following a line of abandoned cars queued up to cross but not allowed to because of the storm. He pushed the alarm button on the key fob. Lights flashed on a blue Honda Odyssey parked in front, right where the officer told him it would be. He felt bad taking the man’s van, but they needed an accessible vehicle.

“There.” Jack pointed, and killed the alarm.

The three of them made their way to the sergeant’s vehicle and climbed in. Jack knew that modern cars were nearly impossible to hot-wire, despite what TV crime shows suggested.

This time Jack took the wheel. A wooden barrier blocked the Honda’s forward movement. Its headlights pointed directly at the rising causeway and what he assumed in the dark was the Malaysian peninsula on the far end.

Jack cranked the engine over and the headlights lit up. Rain slashed through the high beams.

“Only a mile and half across, right?” Jack asked.

“Go as fast as you can. There won’t be any cars out there. Should be clear,” Lian said.

Jack nodded. “Like driving through a car wash.”

“A really long car wash,” Paul added. “A car wash that can kill you.” He pointed forward. “How do we get around that barrier?”

Jack floored the gas and crashed through it.

68

The fuel-injected Honda accelerated briskly up the incline of the three-lane causeway, despite the fierce winds.

Jack wasn’t sure how much water was on the road; even on the incline, it was pouring down the asphalt. Hydroplaning would be fatal on this road at high speeds, especially if they flipped off the bridge and into the river. He backed off to sixty kilometers per hour.

All Jack could see was the road in front of him and the sheets of rain blowing nearly sideways through the high beams. There weren’t any lights on the Malaysian side. He didn’t know whether that meant they’d lost power, too, or there just weren’t any.

The rain sprayed against the side of the van like a fire hose. Jack fought the wheel as the cyclonic winds tried to shove the Odyssey across the three northbound lanes. A few minutes later he sensed more than saw when they crested the incline and began the descent toward the Malaysian border. He kept his speed steady.

The causeway flattened out. It was a straightaway shot to the other side, but they were closer to the raging Johor River than before, surging just below the barriers.

“Less than half a kilometer to go!” Lian shouted, smiling.

The van shuddered as it plowed through a puddle of standing water. For a second Jack felt as if the van was airborne — or maybe it was just his ass coming out of the seat. His guts tingled as if he were in free fall, but he corrected the steering and the wheels found secure pavement again.

“Whoa!” Paul shouted from the backseat.

Jack saw Lian still had one hand clutched on the “Oh, shit!” handle above her head, and the other braced against his seat. She wasn’t smiling now.

“Any cell signal yet?” Jack shouted back to Paul.

Paul stared at the phone in his hand. “Not yet.”

Jack’s eyes focused on the road in front of him. The high beams reflected in the heavy raindrops like a million tiny silver mirrors. It was distracting, almost blinding. He tapped the lights to low beam just in time to see the looming shape rocketing toward them over the rail.

* * *

Lian screamed as the wave smashed into the van like the fist of God, crashing on Jack’s side and throwing the vehicle in the opposite direction, lifting the van off of its two right wheels. It slammed into the concrete barrier on the far side before it could tip all the way over.

Glass shattered and steel crunched when the Odyssey hit the barrier. The surging rush of water groaned against Jack’s door. The glass near his face cracked but didn’t break as water seeped in through edges of the door. The van’s engine stalled, but the headlights stayed on.

“Everybody okay?” Jack shouted as he twisted the ignition key and pumped the gas.

“All good,” Paul said. “Storm surge.”

Jack shot a glance at Lian. She nodded. “Fine.”

Jack turned the key again. The engine wouldn’t fire. “We’re not going anywhere in this thing.”

“What do we do?” Lian asked.

“Can’t stay here. If another wave comes, it might push us over the side,” Paul said.

“And we’re running out of time,” Jack said. He could see the end of the causeway up ahead. “Five, six hundred feet. We can do this.”

The three exchanged glances. If another wave came when they were on foot, they were dead.

69

Let’s go!” Jack pushed against his door, but it was wedged shut. He shouldered against it three times before it gave way. He jumped out and turned around to help Lian crawl over his seat to get out. Paul manhandled the sliding passenger door open, breaking the handle in the process.

For a moment the three of them faced east into the howling storm, hunched into the wind that was trying to knock them down. They held their hands up to protect their eyes from the stinging rain.

“Stay close to the rail,” Jack said. “And let’s haul ass!”