In Bad Faith

Chapter 80

I was running away with Misha Zaveri. He was a criminal that I'd been researching for weeks before I even got to New York. I had always thought he'd be pure evil, given the things he was wanted for. My dad had always taught me about how he fought these criminals to make the world a better place. But I hadn't been able to find an evil side in Misha yet. It would've made things so much easier. But the fact was that I had never felt the kind of love that I felt for him ever before. I would choose this man over anyone and everyone else.

Misha had a tight grip on me, and I could still feel the cold iron of the gun press against my temple. While we walked, it was awfully quiet around us. The distant voices were slowly getting drowned out by the harsh wind blowing into my ears, but I could still hear how furious they sounded. They didn't know what to do. They knew I would've been nearly unbeatable if I would've been carrying a gun, which wasn't the case. Right now, they assumed I was fighting Misha unarmed, while he was carrying a weapon. It would have been a hopeless fight if it were real.

"We're almost there," Misha softly whispered, sounding almost inaudible. I knew he was saying this to calm our nerves, as I could see just as well as him that the car was still parked several feet away. This must've felt very surreal to him, too. He was pointing a gun at the mother of his future child.

I didn't dare to say anything. I wanted to tell Misha that I loved him, and that I was proud of him. But I couldn't. I knew my team was watching every step we took, from different points of view. I was scared. So instead we both kept walking, fear still visible in my eyes. And only seconds later, we reached the car, where he roughly ushered me onto the passenger seat of. I still felt my shoulders sting from the way he had squeezed my skin tightly. As Misha also sat down, we were both panting and breathing harshly, but this couldn't be heard anymore the second the car's engine started roaring. Misha then immediately drove away at a high speed, resting the gun on his lap.

We were driving. We were driving away from my team, from the people trying to protect me. I was betraying them with every move I made, and my feelings were all over the place. My heart was pounding fast, and the rapid breaths I was taking were not helping anything with slowing down my heartbeat.

And all of a sudden, a realization hit me. I snapped out of my trance and bent forward to open the zipper of my shoes. It had to look like we actually landed in the water. This was going to be the hardest part. We had to jump out of a speeding car. It was the part Misha had talked about a lot. He was very protective over both me and this baby, and I knew doing something this dangerous bothered him. And it wasn't anything I hadn't done before, but it hadn't ever been this serious yet. This wasn't training, and this wasn't protocol. This was our plan.

"Hold it," Misha said, and I knew exactly what he wanted from me. We didn't need many words to communicate. I took the steering wheel and tried to keep the car somewhat in between the white lines on the sides of the road. But Misha was driving fast, and I was sitting too far away to be able to drive the way I usually would. Though it had to be done. It gave Misha the opportunity to shrug his jacket from his shoulders, after which he quickly glanced over his shoulder. I still hadn't heard the sound of helicopters or sirens, which was a good sign. They really were giving us the full five minutes. But knowing Floyd, he was willing to do anything to let our team get me as soon as possible.

I knew where Misha was going. We had discussed the specific route we were driving multiple times, and I recognized everything right now. Misha took the steering wheel back from me as soon as he got rid of his jacket, and just when I wanted to pull my hand away, he took it into his. "I love you," he said in a soft voice, his tone still sounding startled and stressed.  We were getting closer to the place we had to reach, and Misha was speeding up even further. "I love you too," I whispered, and softly squeezed his hand before letting go. I then pushed the shoe off my feet, and got rid of one earring, and my necklace. It was a necklace I got from my dad before he died, and Floyd would recognize it as mine if it wasn't going to disappear into the water.

"I hear nothing," Misha then said, which was something that surprised me too. I expected there to be a helicopter or drone flying above us by now, but until now, everything was still very quiet. "It's almost five minutes now," Misha followed, looking at the small digital clock on his dashboard. We had come across two or three cars that were driving in the other direction, but they seemed like regular passenger cars.

I didn't know what to answer to Misha's words, and I didn't have to anymore, since I saw the sign that was telling me it was only a few hundred meters before we were going to jump out of this car. Taking a deep breath, I put my phone on the leather seat and placed my hand on the door handle. I had to jump first, and Misha was going to jump out of the car just before the quay ended so that the vehicle would be crashing into the water, but without him.

"I'm going to jump," I then spoke to Misha, my voice sounding just as panicked as I felt. I had never been this nervous in my life ever before. I saw Misha's knuckles coloring white from the way he was tightly gripping the steering wheel. "Yes," was Misha's only answer, as he swiftly looked at me, before focusing on the road again. These could be our last moments together.

I decided to just do it. Without looking back, I opened the door and jumped. I landed on both my feet, but almost immediately tumbled over, crashing into the ground. The side of my body hit the gravel road. Usually, I would soften the impact of the fall by rolling over, but this wasn't an option with a baby inside of me. A loud groan escaped my lips, as all the air inside my lungs seemed to disappear completely. A wave of pain rushed through me, but I ignored it and tried to get up as soon as possible. I had to run to Sergio's car, which should be just behind a little harbor house that was situated several feet away. I could see the building from here, and it seemed like an impossible task with my left leg stinging painfully with every move I made. But I had to. I was now in survival mode.

I quickly looked at the ground my body had just fallen onto, and with a swift movement, I kicked some dirt over the place my body left a slight cave into the dust because of my whole body weight landing there. I could see tiny specs of blood, which were easily covered by some sand. 

The moment I started walking again, I heard a loud bang, and water splashing, making my heart plummet. I couldn't look back to check if Misha was okay, because then I would lose more time. So instead, I just kept running. I kept running, praying Misha got out of that car without any problems. But he had the most dangerous task. If he didn't jump out in time, he would be laying in the water now, and I got nauseous even thinking about it. He was putting me first by letting me jump out sooner than him. He was willing to risk his life for me and our baby.

My body wanted me to stop running. I wanted to crash down on the side of the road, so I would be able to catch my breath and give my muscles a rest. But that wasn't an option. I could feel a stinging sensation going through the whole side of my body I'd just landed on, and I knew my clothes were ripped, and the skin underneath was bleeding. I didn't dare to look. My legs kept moving, taking me towards the harbor building that looked completely deserted, except for two headlights shortly flashing, lighting up a part of the road. Sergio. He was here. Somehow, I'd always seen him as a risk factor in this plan. If his car hadn't been here, this entire plan would've been useless. But he was here, and he was going to take us to the airport. I could trust him.