Point of Contact

Lian and Jack draped Paul’s arms around their shoulders, and the three of them managed a stuttering half-jog. A hundred steps into their journey, Paul shouted, “Wait!”

They stopped in the lashing wind.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

Paul frantically patted himself down. “The drive! I don’t think I have the drive!”

“Where did you leave it?” Lian asked.

“We’ve got to go!” Jack said. “We can’t worry about it!” He grabbed Paul’s arm, but Paul pulled away.

“I’m not leaving without that drive. It’s the only evidence I have against Rhodes.”

“Forget Rhodes.”

“And whoever else is behind him,” Paul added. He turned and started hobbling back toward the van.

Jack cursed to himself, then grabbed Paul by the jacket. “You and Lian keep going forward. I’ll run back and take a look.”

Paul frowned, conflicted. Finally he said, “Hurry.” He draped an arm over Lian’s shoulder and the two of them paced their way toward the Malaysian border.

* * *

Jack lowered his head and ran full-tilt back toward the bright headlights of the dead Odyssey. He was crabbing against the wind, but he was making a lot better time than the other two.

Paul’s sliding door was still open. Jack leaped in. The dome light still shone and the van’s tan leather interior made it easy to see. He didn’t see the USB, though. He jammed his hand between the seat cushions but didn’t feel anything. He knelt down and checked the floor. His fingers bumped into a small flat object underneath the seat. The USB drive.

Relieved, Jack shoved it deep into his pants pocket, turned, and ran for the others.

* * *

Lian was strong but not invincible, and running under the weight of the obese American against the wind was wearing her out. They were less than two hundred feet from the shore when their pace slowed to a walk. She thought Jack would’ve caught up with them by now.

“Wait a second,” she said. The two of them stopped and turned around, both gasping for breath.

Lian saw Jack’s tall frame running toward them, silhouetted in the headlights of the van.

Saw the giant hand of the wave sweep across the barrier.

Watched him disappear.

* * *

Lian screamed and ran toward Jack.

The wave that hit him was smaller than the one that had smashed the van, but it was big enough to pick him up and slam him against the concrete barrier. By some miracle it hadn’t lifted him higher, otherwise he would have been swept over the side.

By the time she reached him the wave had disappeared. He lay on the asphalt, crushed against the concrete barrier, coughing up water and gasping for air. She dropped down beside him.

“Jack! Where are you hurt?”

“I think I broke my arm.”

Jack caught his breath and cursed. He cradled his left forearm.

“Let me see that.” She gently touched his forearm, examining the length of it. He winced violently.

“It’s probably broken, but the break hasn’t punctured the skin. Can you walk?”

Paul limped into the headlight beams, gasping for air. “I thought you were dead, Jack.”

“You and me both. Let’s get moving before the next one takes us all out.”

Jack struggled to raise himself up, but he was badly shaken. Lian started to help, but Paul pushed her aside. Despite the searing pain in his left hand he grabbed Jack with both fists and lifted his heavy body to his unsteady feet.

Jack threw his good right arm around Paul’s neck and the three of them hurried the best they could, Jack setting the pace, their eyes fixed on the safety of the far shore. Lian kept swiping the matted wet hair out of her face, and Paul’s limp was more pronounced than ever. He was determined to stay at Jack’s side, and keep him from falling again, no matter the pain. Jack’s injuries were his fault, and the guilt fired his limping steps.

Jack shuffled more than walked, pressing his broken left forearm against his chest, wincing with every step, praying that another wave wasn’t looming in the dark, waiting to devour them.

70

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

The Reconnaissance General Bureau agents were rousted from their beds behind the crumbling walls of the DPRK embassy compound at twenty minutes after midnight by the RGB chief of station himself. The panic in his eyes underscored the urgency in his barked orders.

The station chief had only seven men in his command at the embassy. The task was straightforward enough: Find three spies who were in transit to Kuala Lumpur from southern Malaysia.

Photo IDs of the three were handed to the agents.

“Won’t finding these three people on a peninsula inhabited by thirty million people prove difficult, sir?”

The chief parroted the explanation given to him. The three spies were almost certainly traveling by car, and two of the three spies were white. Moreover, no one was driving on the roads this time of the night, especially under current conditions. So, in fact, the assignment was not as difficult as it seemed.

“Agreed?”

“Agreed!”