“Fuck good luck! I want you to fix this, Sam!”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Up ahead, Billie saw a light turn red.
She began slowing down early, hoping that she wouldn’t have to come to a complete stop. Traffic was already building up at the intersection and she was worried it wouldn’t be long before she didn’t have a choice.
In the end, she had to stop.
She kept one foot on the brake, while the other revved the engine, ready to cross into the oncoming traffic if she needed to.
The yellow Vespa pulled up alongside her.
It was the same blond man who had been watching her at National Archives in Amsterdam. He wore an open faced helmet. He turned his head to look directly at her. The arrogant smile across his face made him look like any other man who was out for a great ride and had come across a beautiful woman stopped at the traffic lights.
Her eyes carefully kept track of the two Vespas behind her, now stopped a couple car spaces back. Certain that someone was going to get off their bike and take her she didn’t let her eyes stop scanning the area.
Billie hit the central lock button and all four doors locked simultaneously.
It failed to reassure her. The car was small and would do little in the way of protecting her from bullets.
The traffic light turned green.
And the man in the yellow Vespa grinned at her and waved, before speeding off ahead until he disappeared into the sea of traffic.
Well that’s something…
She was starting to feel more confident that Sam was going to reach her in time. Up ahead, she approached the intersection of Willemsbrug and Stadhouderskade.
Approaching the intersection, Billie was forced to slow down, as a man on a bicycle in front of her nearly came to a stop. Her eyes carefully monitored the closest Vespa behind her. Reassured that it wasn’t moving, she remained in the intersection for a split second longer than she should have after the bicycle had crossed the road.
She then floored her accelerator and pulled into the intersection.
Where a truck drove toward her at full speed.
By the time she saw it, Billie had just enough time to hit her accelerator in a vain attempt to avoid the collision. The truck struck the passenger side door, sending her forward and towards the wall of the dike.
After the initial impact, she realized she wasn’t badly injured. Deciding whether to run toward the truck driver or make a run for it down the street, she was about to reach for the door handle when the truck’s engine roared into life again.
It was pushing her toward the bridge.
She slammed her foot hard on the brake.
The side of her car struck the old stone wall with a jarring force. And then she felt everything give way as her car began rolling down the edge.
Until she struck water!
It floated for thirty or more seconds before the heavier engine block at the front of the car began dragging her down hood first.
With a gush of bubbles, the entire car disappeared under the water.
Chapter Two
Sam Reilly spun his BMW S1000 RR, one of the fastest road bikes in existence, south along the A10 at speeds that would make any police officer doubt his vision. Cutting through the backstreets of Houthavens he reached the intersection of Willemsbrug and Stadhouderskade.
He came to a stop at the intersection.
Broken glass and shards of metal were strewn along the middle of the intersection. A long stretch of tire marks could be seen skidding along the bridge. Starting in the middle, his eyes followed them until they went over the edge of the old bridge.
He was too late.
They had got to her first.
Sam pulled his throttle all the way back as he raced to the edge of the bridge where the remnants of the destroyed railing still remained.
Below him, he could see a thousand or more bubbles still piercing the surface of the water, and an eerie glow from the headlights of the car below. Presumably the only remnants of Billie’s crashed car.
It must have only just happened.
Sam then stepped off his bike and looked over at the broken large sandstone blocks, which had previously formed the top layer of retaining wall. Without waiting to see who else had been there at the accident, he lifted up one of the large blocks. It took all his strength just to lift the sandstone. He took a single step to the edge of the bridge and stepped off — into the white, frothing water below.
Chapter Three
Billie opened her eyes to the sight of bubbles running along the windscreen. Her hand touched her forehead. There was something wet running past her eyes. Slightly disoriented, she pulled her hand back, and looked at it.
There was blood.
Where am I?
In an instant, she recalled what had happened and where she was. Dazed for a moment, she quickly reached for the door handle. It didn’t move. She tried the unlock button, but the door wouldn’t budge.
She tried the electric windows.
Nothing happened.
Adrenaline raged inside her as the realization that she was going to drown inside her own car terrified her. She thought through all the ways she’d read over the years to exit a flooded car — there weren’t many that worked.
Billie fumbled as she rummaged through the glove box, desperately looking for anything solid enough to break a window.
Tissue box — are you fucking kidding me!
She squeezed into the back seat. Her shoulder bag rested there. She opened it and riffled through the contents. Her cell phone, wallet, and tablet. She cursed herself for leaving her laptop in the trunk today, instead of with her handbag next to her.
Car keys, all plastic. No, that won’t help.
The water was filling the car faster now.
Panic tried to grip her, and she fought to maintain control. If she was to survive, she was going to have to stay focused.
The water was now up to her neck.
With the downward angle of the car, the remaining air pocket was sitting at the back window. She tried to squeeze her head into the top to breathe the last remaining air. Trying the door handle again, she found the pressure outside was too great.
Billie returned to the back of the car and took another couple deep breaths, and then swam to the driver’s side door and tried to open it.
Still too much pressure.
She returned to take a final breath from the last pocket of air at the back window, before it completely filled with water.
Now’s the time.
I have to stay conscious long enough for the pressure to equalize.
A loud crunching sound told her that the car had struck the shallow seabed. Below her, Billie thought she could hear another crack on the window at the driver’s door. She swam down to the front door, where the car was now completely filled with water.
At the window, a masked man stared back at her.
Covered in a black wetsuit, tinted facemask, and SCUBA gear, there was something oddly familiar about the man. He could have been any diver, but there was something else she recognized from her past. Where, she could not place.
He smiled, and she recognized it.
It seemed sinister somehow, and she remembered where she’d seen it before.
The man tried to open the door, but the pressure was still too great. Holding her breath, Billie moved to the back doors as the diver continued to fight his way into her car. She hoped the pressure would equalize and she could escape through the back door while he came through the front.
The diver looked as though he realized what she was thinking at the same time. It gave him additional strength, and after fighting one more time with the door, he slammed his elbow into the window, sending a crack right across it.