Chapter 14

"Don't play dumb. I saw it on TV, the Senator's baby in Washington DC, it's that baby, it's  Moses, how could you! You took an innocent child from the mother, you heartless monsters!" Tracy said and burst into tears.
"You're delusional woman" Pete replied flatly, his eyes on the suitcase under the couch, washing he could just get to it at once.
"Really? I trusted all of you! You betrayed me! Well, I had to do the right thing, I can't let you monsters harm that poor child" she continued and wiped fiercely at her tears.
"We'll have to take you in for questioning" the black man said.
"Please put your hands behind your head and move to the door"
Nick complied and rose from the couch.
"Slowly, we have the permission to take you dead or alive" the taller guy advised.
"Thank you Tracy, you did the right thing" the black man said and Tracy nodded eagerly.
Just then, Valeria emerged from the bedroom, the bay strapped in front of her.
"On wrong move and the baby dies" she said, her pistol at Tracy and a small knife at the child's throat. Moses was still playing with the Chinese bead innocently.
"You monster! How could you! He's just a baby" Tracy cried out, her hands over her mouth.
"Easier to bleed out" she replied "Drop your guns and lay on the floor"
"You're not walking out of here, there's a van outside filled with officers, we've surrounded the house, you're trapped" the black man said.
"Let me worry about that, o the floor, now!" She ordered, the knife moving dangerously close to Moses who began to wail.
The taller man dropped his weapon first and kneeled.
"This ends only one way ma'am, it'd be easier to just surrender"
"On the floor, it's my final warning" she said calmly. The two men dropped on the floor and Tracy began to weep.
"You just couldn't shut your wife mouth could you?" Valeria scowled at the woman.
"I thought I was your  friend, I told you everything" she cried.
"Stop whining, move" Valeria ordered and shoved her to the front door.
"Any one moves and the baby dies, let's see how happy the Senator will be with his baby in a body bag" she warned as she opened the front door and made Tray exit first. True to their threats, there was not one van but three vans filled with police man, two stood on either side of the building.
"I won't kill anyone unless I absolutely need to, including the baby. All I need is for you to let us go, no one has to die" she said and used Tracy as a shield, her gun at her skull and her knife still at Moses' throat.
Behind her, Nick and Pete had disarmed the men on the floor and locked them in the apartment.
"One wrong move and the baby dies, I swear" Valeria said as she moved herself and Tracy to their grey van packed a distance away.
"You can't hide lady, the whole country will be after you in seconds, where will you run? Huh? It's better you give up now" the superior officer said, his gun still pointed at her.
"That's my business" she replied swiftly and stood at the van door, allowing Nick and Pete enter and moving herself and Tracy in, Tracy sill shielding her.
"One shot and I'll drop the baby's body in tiny pieces" she said with a vicious look and closed the van door.
The men stood, guns still in air as the can reversed and they sped out of the block.
"Push her out" Nick said, looking at Tracy who was hyperventilating in the back seat beside Valeria.
"Please, please....I was only trying to save a baby, please" she plead.
"Stop the car, let's let her down" Valeria said.
Nick hit the brakes just as Pete cocked his handgun and fired twice between Tracy's brows. Blood splattered everywhere and the fat lady twitched once and fell on the floor of the van.
Valeria opened the door and rolled her out, closing it just as Nick sped off, sirens blaring loudly behind them.
"That was unnecessary. She was doing a good deed" Valeria stated.
"Good men are dead men" Pete replied and looked at the road ahead.
Nick was the fastest driver in the gang, the speed god and the best escape driver anyone could ask for. He could swerve cars at an odd angle, navigate between tankers and trams and took the risk on the road in a way that made it seem like no risk at all. In all the seven years he'd become a full fledged member of the gang, Pete didn't need help or assurance when it came to out running any chase, even the heaviest and most deadly pursuit couldn't compare with Nick's prowess on the road. In his years of driving the gang, he hadn't as much as gotten a scratch on the car or a miscalculated bump on a 'No parking' sign by the curb, even the street light, Huma, bicycles etc was something Nick didn't have to bump or scratch on.
When he did make or bump or scratch, it was something he wanted or needed to do, and most times he'd day things like. "I have to bump into the black car by the left, in six seconds" and once, Valeria had help a timer for him as he bumped into the mentioned car, it was 6.1 seconds exactly. Nick took pride in keeping the cars intact and still beautiful while be drove like the devil on wheels that he was, always escaping no matter how hot of deadly the road was.
As they took off that morning from San Jose, driving first into the city and then with Nick's perfect driving skills, they lost the hive of police vans in the bustles of California. From there on, Pete carjacked a small black Sedan with the cliche family sticker right by the passenger side of the windshield, children toys scattered behind and a baby seat strapped in the back seat. Thankfully, Valeria didn't have to explain why she didn't think about the safety of the baby to the police. The safety of the baby was none of Pete's business frankly, he was more concerned with finding a hole to hide until everything blew over and he could go claim his reward - clear his stack.
After stealing the Sedan from the family of five as they went into the mall, Nick checked for trackers and when he found none, Pete quickly switched registration numbers with an SUV whose driver was sleeping inside. They hit the road in less than an hour after Valeria had a total change of costume, taking off the itchy wig and replacing her contact lenses for a dull blue, she padded her stomach and breasts just a bit and abandoned her gown for a tight fitting blouse that made her breasts look like burnt offering, the padding enhancing her already ample cleavage. Her padded bottom was clad in a tight brown pencil skirt with a flare at the hem, she wore a see-through glasses and wrapped her hair in a chignon, dabbed some powder in her face, nude lipstick and completed the look with a small purse.
Moses had stopped his cry, thankfully but his fever had returned and he was slightly red as she slept. Valeria changed his diaper, wiped him the best she could of all the make-up, more than certain that information had already reached the police across the city that they were traveling with a baby posed as a girl, it was best she kept Moses as the boy he was after all, all she did was apply a little amount of concealer on his hair to make it a light brown color.
The journey to the highway was bumpy as Nick decided on the best diversion to make inorder to avoid checkpoints and traffick that they didn't need at all. The drive past the interstate border was the trickiest, the officers wasted time with trivial questions and Pete replied with his best charming smile was Valeria pretended as a French woman, cursing and accusing Pete of infidelity. The cops had to help separate the Marital conflict before sending the "couple" on their way.
The 11 hours 47 minutes drive from California to Oregon was completed by noon of the next day after their single stop at the gas station to refuel and wash their faces for a fresher look. They had learnt that the better you looked and less worn out your behaved, the lesser attention they would get from law officers and even ordinary folks. Thankfully, the car hadn't been found until they dumped it behind a Cafe's parking lot and swapped it for a silver Nissan Sunny that was about eight decades out of fashion.