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Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY TOM CLANCY
  3. PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
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  82. 79
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

She stepped between Jack and the ICA officer, flashing him her SPF reserve badge and explaining who she was.

The man examined her credentials closely, then shrugged. “You still can’t cross the causeway. Too dangerous. The river is very high. Two cars were already thrown over the side earlier today.” The sergeant waved his hands in the air to illustrate his point.

Lian stepped closer. “It’s a national emergency. I’ll take full responsibility.”

“I can’t.”

Lian shoved her pistol in the man’s face. “I’m sorry to have to do this.”

The man’s eyes got wide as eggs. “Don’t shoot!”

“Just get back in your office and you’ll be fine.”

The man nodded furiously and backed into his booth, Jack and the others right behind him. Jack restrained him with ICA zip-cuffs while Lian kept the gun on the frightened officer. She apologized for the inconvenience, assuring him that what they were doing was necessary, and explained that tying him up was only a precaution against him calling ahead to stop them.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Lian said.

“But there’s one more thing we have to do,” Jack said, towering over the man.

The officer looked like he was going to cry.

—

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.