CHAPTER NINE: THE BORDERLAND
Location: Peace Bridge Port of Entry, Buffalo, New York. Time: Late May 2023. 16:45 EST. Status: Crossing Over.
The sun glinted off the steel-truss bridge like a knife on a whetstone. The line of cars stretched back half a kilometer, a sluggish artery of impatient American metal waiting to pump back into its own heartland. Their hired black SUV, with its New York plates and tell-tale Ontario registration stickers peeling at the corners, drew slow, assessin