“You have no idea what you just did, and judging from how empty your car seat seems to be, you didn’t get much money for that painting that’s easily worth a billion dollars,” I said, as the expression on his face dropped.
“What’s the matter, Eduard? Have nothing to say now? You shouldn’t be dabbling in things you have no business sticking your nose in. I fought for a long time to protect that painting, and it was that painting that nearly got Annika killed on many occasions. I’m going to get it back, and you’re going to tell me what I want to know, otherwise I’m going to have no choice but to blow your head fucking off,” I said, and I could see the fear start to creep into his expression as he realized I was serious this time.
“Hey, man. Listen, we just wanted to get even for you not telling us that it existed. We never wanted any harm to come to you,” said Feliks, but it was no use. I knew Eduard enough to know that he was just as greedy as I was.
“I’m not buying it,” I said, shooting them both again in the legs, listening to them cry out, waiting for them to tell me where that other vehicle was headed.
“Okay, okay! Please, we can’t die like this, Stephan. You can’t kill us, not after everything we’ve been through together,” said Eduard.
“Oh, so you’re going to play that card, are you? Well, I need you to answer one question for me.”
“Of course,” said Eduard.
“Were you the ones doing Ivan’s dirty work by following us trying to figure out where I was hiding the painting?”
“Y-yes, it was us,” he replied, and I was getting ready to shoot them both again, but I knew they were already at their tipping point, and it wouldn’t be long before one of them decided to tell me what they knew.
“He said he was going to pay us, he was going to give us a lifetime’s worth of riches, Stephan. We couldn’t pass that up, and we still felt bad for using him all those years ago. You have to understand, this didn’t have anything to do with you at first. Please, you have to let us go,” Eduard said.
“I don’t have to do anything, but I may spare you if you tell me exactly where he was heading. I assume you switched cars,” I said, staring at Ivan’s vehicle waiting right in front of me, while Eduard nodded at me.
“He’s heading to the airport to get on a jet and get out of here. If you want to find him, if you want to find that painting, you’re going to have to go right now,” he said.
“Come on, Stephan. Let’s finish this,” said Annika, placing a supportive hand on my shoulder and I was so grateful that she was there with me.
“I don’t want to see the likes of you two ever again, otherwise I will kill you. Do you understand?” I asked, and they both nodded.
They could already see how much I’d changed, how different I’d become ever since I embarked on this journey, and if we still had been running together, I may have given them inside information eventually, but I was right not to trust them with that kind of knowledge.
They already undersold one of the country’s most coveted paintings, and it hurt my heart to know that we were just a few moments away from losing it forever. I knew that someone like Ivan knew how to go undetected and trying to find him in a crowded airport was not going to be easy, but we didn’t have much of a choice.
Annika and I piled back into the car, driving away from the scene, leaving Eduard and Feliks to deal with their wounds. I was hurt, especially after what I’d done for them, but I knew better than to dwell on it because I had withheld important information from them as well. Though, I never would’ve taken a job to follow them around, to track down something that belonged to them, only to use it against them out of spite. That was the difference between us, and that was exactly why I had to leave when I did.
“We’re going to get to him before he can get out of the country, Stephan. I know you’re fuming right now, but if we’re going to do this, you have to stay focused, okay?” Annika said from the passenger seat.
“You always know how to keep me grounded, Annika. Thank you for being here, thank you for helping me with this. I know it may be hard for you to see me like this, but...”
“We live a dangerous life, Stephan. There’s nothing hard about it. I know what I signed up for, and I know where my loyalty lies. So, you can fume all you want, but we’re going to get to Ivan, and we’re going to retrieve that painting before it's too late. I love you, Stephan,” she said to me.
“I love you so much, Annika,” I replied, taking her hand in mine, kissing it softly while I sped down the road, driving us straight to the airport.
“We’re going to have to be very careful because there are going to be police crawling everywhere. They know what I look like, and they probably have enough information on your family to know to look out for you as well. We’re going to have to keep a low profile, corner Ivan, get what we need and get out,” I explained to her, and she smiled back at me.
“Business as usual,” she replied, and it felt so good to have her right by my side.
We got near the airport, parking the car in the lot, rushing through the automatic doors, looking for a sign of anything that looked out of place. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but I had to hold out hope that we were going to be able to pull it off. We sped through the airport as fast as we could, getting near the security check, and out of the corner of her eye, Annika spotted him.“Bathroom,” she said, and we rushed down to the public bathroom, pushing the door open to see a man standing there with his ball cap covering his eyes, carrying a duffle large enough to contain the painting.
“Going somewhere, Ivan?” I asked, watching him remove his hat, setting it down on the bathroom counter while he stared back at me with the guiltiest look on his face.
He didn’t think this through well enough. He didn’t think about what would happen if we actually got to him in time, and now I wouldn’t be surprised if he started begging for his life.
He clutched the duffle bag to his chest, and I pulled out my gun, waving it at him so he’d drop it.
“You really had us both fooled, Ivan. Here I thought you were the one that found the painting yourself, seeing as it was in the back of your building after all, but you just had to rope Eduard and Feliks in to do your dirty work for you, huh?” I asked.
“Listen, Stephan, you have to understand. I didn’t start out with the intention of double-crossing you, but I couldn’t help myself when I learned that you hid the painting behind my pharmacy. I didn’t think that you would come back for it after everything that you two went through, but I see it means more to you than I originally thought,” he said, trying to save his ass, but we both knew that was bullshit.
“Do you really expect me to believe that, Ivan?”
