try begging
Why? What happened?
Deep blue eyes with a faint greenish tint asked that question. Ellie's eyes, which had been wide open, soon lowered indifferently and began to slurp the scone in her hand again.
"Ha, really...."
I was speechless, but I burst out laughing.
"Elevators are scary, but gunshots don't bother you?"
There was not a single sign of crying or surprise on her pale face. While her mother was running around the huge passenger ship, filming a brawl and even an escape, her daughter was enjoying dinner peacefully by herself. It was absurd, yet admirable.
"Ha... You really... ."
Who on earth does he resemble? I burst out laughing again and again during this uneasy time.
Ellie stuffed a piece of scone, already as small as the first knuckle of her thumb, into her mouth, then pursed her tiny lips and munched. Grace wiped her mouth and hands, which were covered in spit and crumbs, with her chin and searched through her bag.
I uncuffed my right hand with a large clothespin that I used to fasten Ellie's diapers, and looked back toward the departure area. The man from earlier was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he had gone to the ferry to tell Winston that she had slipped away to the dock.
The break was over. Grace pulled down the hat she was holding in her hand.
After jumping between cars like stepping stones, she finally reached the last car. Grace hid among the drums and huge piles of rope lined up on the outside wall of the cargo warehouse and checked for an escape route.
There was a gate in front, guarded by a security guard. There were only a few trucks in the empty space from the cargo warehouse to the gate, so it was so empty that if I kept driving like that, I would definitely get noticed.
'furthermore....'
Grace looked down at her foot, which was wearing only one shoe. If she walked out in this suspicious manner, the security guard would immediately notice her, and even if she made it through safely, she would be caught before long.
'What should I do...?'
Grace turned her head back for a moment to check the situation, and the corners of her mouth slowly rose.
Leon tapped the railing with his fingertips, muttering harsh words quietly under his breath.
The chief steward, who had been acting rudely to Campbell, saying that he could not close all the doors because it would cause problems with boarding, only listened when Leon appeared in person and spoke to him.
As I was walking up to the stern of the upper deck, hoping that I hadn't escaped in the meantime, looking down at the dock, my eyes met with those of a woman heading towards a black sedan parked on the dock.
At that moment, Leon felt as if he had turned to stone and could neither move nor breathe.
Is this what it feels like to be on a sinking ship? No, I'd rather sink right now. I could escape this trap where I'm trapped alone and go catch Grace.
In despair, Leon turned his gaze to the center of the dock. Damn it. There was no way he could recognize the soldiers in plain clothes mixed in with the crowd.
When she turned her gaze back to him, Grace was smiling as she read the look of defeat on his face.
The moment she opened the driver's door as if to tell him to look straight in the eye, Leon lifted up what he had been holding like a rag.
I vaguely saw Grace twitching her lips as she looked at my shoes. When she held out her hand as if asking for them, Leon raised one corner of his mouth and wiggled his fingers as if to tell her to come and get them. I hoped that the corner of his mouth wouldn't be seen twitching from where that woman was standing.
The woman shrugged her shoulders as if she had no other choice, then took a step back. It was foolish to have hoped for a moment that she would not get into the car. Grace gently grabbed the hem of her skirt with both hands, then stepped back with her left foot and elegantly bent her knees.
As if saying goodbye politely to a nobleman.
It was a moment when his fingertips, which had been twitching wittily a moment ago, visibly trembled. The baby in Grace's arms suddenly swung his hand upward. Grace, who almost got hit in the face, staggered in surprise and stood up, and Leon burst out laughing without realizing it.
The question of who the child resembles has been resolved. I have not yet seen his face, but I can tell just by looking at his punches.
She's just like my mom.
At that moment, the child roughly pulled off the bonnet with his own hands. The laughter stopped as soon as I saw her hair shining in the strong midday sunlight.
The child resembles me. No, he resembles us.
When I saw with my own eyes the evidence that no one could deny, I was overwhelmed with indescribable emotions.
I can't miss it.
The ecstatic smile disappeared in an instant, and Leon's face hardened as much as his determination. His eyes flashed as he quickly looked around. Leon ran to the end of the deck, snatched the loudspeaker from a sailor's hand, and shouted toward the gate at the end of the dock.
"Close the gate now!"
Damn it. This wasn't the time to be leisurely teasing that guy. Grace quickly unwrapped the blanket, laid Ellie on the passenger seat, and flipped the switch under the dashboard. Then she released the parking brake lever on the left, and quickly adjusted the spark and throttle levers on the left and right of the steering wheel, and ran to the front of the car.
"The target is attempting to hijack a vehicle and escape through the cargo gate. Everyone, stop it immediately!"
The moment Leon shouted, his men scattered throughout the dock began to move towards the vehicle.
"Fuck...."
Grace pulled the hook under the headlight and turned the crank on the lower center of the front a few times. Then she returned to the driver's seat and flipped the switch in the opposite direction, just as Winston's men rushed through the crowd.
"If you come near, I'll shoot!"
She pulled a gun from her pocket and fired a warning shot into the sky, swearing at it as well.
"This fucking old model!"
But the reason I chose that damn complicated old sedan was because I could start it without a key.
Grace walked forward, aiming her gun to keep the soldiers at bay, and roughly pulled the crank. Only then did the car start up with a jerk. She backed up into the driver's seat, aiming her gun from side to side.
If I get caught like this, I know I'll change my name from Grace to the biggest idiot in history. I gritted my teeth and stepped on the reverse pedal, glaring as several soldiers started to start a car.
"Fuck... ."
Leon, standing on the railing of the stern, also gritted his teeth. When Grace started the engine, he drew his pistol and aimed it at the engine room, but he couldn't pull the trigger. His eyes were on the baby lying in the passenger seat, struggling.
Eventually, as the car began to back up, Leon had no choice but to lower his pistol-holding hands. He stuffed the sweaty pistol back into its holster and grabbed the loudspeaker instead.
"Gate! I told you to close it immediately!"
In the distance, a lone security guard was pushing the large iron gate. It was only half closed. At this rate, Grace could easily squeeze through the gap.
"Stop it with your vehicle immediately!"
In any case, the men who had been ordered not to shoot or use force had little choice. All they could do was corner the woman and let her run out of bullets and come out on her own.
As soon as she gave the order to her men in the car to block the gate immediately in case of a possible pursuit, Grace turned the car around and started running toward the gate. And then she did something ridiculous.
She stuck her head out the window for a moment, kissed Leon's fingertips, and blew them towards him.
"under...."
While he was speechless, the woman's car picked up speed and raced toward the gate.
"Get out of the way! Stop, stop!"
Grace shouted at the guard who was closing the iron gate, and even blew the horn loudly. The guard, who still did not listen, jumped up and ran away only when he was close enough to see the gun in her hand.
It was easier to slip through the half-closed gate than to take the food from Ellie's hand. Winston's men continued to pursue her in a car behind her, but after circling the maze of harbors a few times, they finally lost sight of her and fell away.
"Ellie, look carefully. This is how you drive. Is Mom good at it?"
Grace looked down at the baby playing, leaning against her thigh. The socks were on the floor, not sure when they had been taken off, and Ellie was eagerly tasting her toes. Grace, who had been smiling happily and stroking her hair like the morning sun, suddenly narrowed her eyes.
"Ellie, you... ."
"Heh, ugh... ."
"What about the bonnet?"
"Whoa-!"
"Oh my... ."
The mother and daughter burst into laughter as they drove out of the port and into the city.
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