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!”
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.”