The girl in the black cap

The girl in the black cap got on the same bus to Johor Bahru. She sat at the back with her face to the window. It was a poor disguise. Pathy knew that cap. It was Fiza's.

"Why is she following us?" he whispered.

Philip did not look up from his itinerary. "She thinks the whole trip is a scheme, a clever trick. She thinks I am a fraud who will jump into a car when nobody is looking."

"That's so rude!"

"Let her watch," said Philip. "Then she will know."

In Johor Bahru they took the fourth photo and ran for the night bus to Kuantan. Fiza was there again, lurking in a dark corner where she hoped they could not see her.

The bus left at ten. Pathy was weary after fifteen hours of travel, so tired that his eyes closed in the middle of a sentence. Philip stayed awake, reading the bus times again.

At two in the morning, the bus stopped suddenly on a dark road. One of its wheels was broken.

"How long?" asked Philip.

"Two hours. Maybe three."

Pathy looked at the flawless plan. It was already wrong. But Philip never acted in haste. He did not rush or panic. He just changed a few numbers with his pencil. "We lose two hours here. We will win them back in Terengganu."

Then Pathy checked the news, and his face changed. "Philip. Heavy rain in Kelantan. Roads are closing."