Chapter 19
It was almost 9;00pm when they could find a hotel affordable enough for the three of them. Pete paid his very last cash on the room for the night and they thankfully got complimentary dinner since they insisted they wanted that instead of the normal breakfast.
The place was a small two storey over looking the street, a neon sign long dead stood by the road to indicate a name that was no longer recognizable. The walls inside was painted a light green, the arts long faded and needing replacement. The receptionist that issued their room keies had been nice, very nice a actually seeing as she had eyed Nick all evening and no doubt made her move after Pete and Valeria moved to the rooms, hand in hand with the baby to settle in for the evening.
After the bland fish of mashed potato, bacon and a glass of water, Valeria stuffed the baby's bag into the wardrobe and laid on the bed she was forced to share with Pete just to keep up with the couple facade.
Pete was the first to use the bathroom, he had a very quick shower and changed into his already worn singlet and boxer briefs. Valeria simply washed her face and took off the wig before going to check on Moses who was now awake and playing with his bead peacefully.
"It's a good thing he isn't a troubled child" she stated.
"Who cares, if he was trouble he would be dead trouble" Pete replied and looked out the window, surveying the neighborhood which so far seemed to be quiet and serene, the window overlooked a small auto repair shop and the side looked off to a night club that was no doubt lacking in customer care and clients judging by the unkempt exterior.
"We should talk" Nick said as he slammed the door after entering the room.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Pete asked.
"Cut the shit Pete, I've about had it with your bullshit change of plans, what was that?" He asked angrily.
"What was what exactly? Are seriously asking this? What part exactly do you need clarification with, the part I saved our lives or the part I saved our behinds from being bursted open by flying bullets? What part are you asking ?" Pete responded with a daring look.
"Save our ass? We are broke as teenagers with no place to stay and no food, and you found it necessary to kill our only source, our one save contact and provision for this mission? isn't that madness?" Nick asked.
"Calm down pretty boy" Pete urged, closing the blinds and sitting on the bed.
"You didn't have to kill the Senator" Valeria interrupted, agreeing with Nick.
"Really? It's a tag team match now? Two against one now? I did what the hell I had to do under the current circumstances, he was cheating us and trying to keep us hostages and probably kill us too" he stated matter-of-factly
"How do you know that genius?" Nick snapped. " You're speaking like you had a conference in the man's head and know exactly what he was up to, how do you know what Senator Tommy was going to do? Is there something you know that we don't? Is there something you should he telling us?"
"What in the name of all things good are you talking about? Look, I have seen enough bastards like him in my lifetime to know. If he went ahead to kidnap his friend's only child then you can rest, absolute assured that he can and will do anything at all to get what he wants as well as eliminate anyone who dares to stand in his way" Pete replied
"And you? You went ahead to accept this stupid job, you risk our lives and now you kill people too? If you knew him so well, if your observation and discernment skills were so great then please why did you put us all in this mess to begin with? Huh? Why? Look self defense be damned, you put us there in the first place and now you're telling us how you knew what the Senator would do" Valeria stated.
"No point whining okay, it's been done and trust me I do not regret a bit of it, I saved my life and I saved your ungrateful asses too" Pete barked and rose, looking at them squarely.
"What we all need at this point is solution alone, there is absolutely no point sharing blames, it's no use dissecting the situation, I did it and it had to be done, so we can either work this out the right way or we can spend the rest of our time doing the blame game, you chose" he said.
"How? What do we chose exactly? To go on with the fucking mission? Has it somehow escaped your kind that our faces could be all over U.S media and and a dead body just waiting to be found and our names boldly written on it? Have you thought that far Pete?" Nick asked.
"There's no murder to our names, no one will mention us, if I can't assure you of anything else in this mission then I can assure you of that, the Senator's reputation can't be soiled even in death, if I do know politicians well enough and I can tell you in high confidence and boldness that I do know them, his family and close men will cover the death up like some arm robbery attack or assassination attempt, they can't afford to link us with the case or that will bring several congressmen into scrutiny and trust me no one wants that to happen. If I'm not wrong, then the news will be announcing the death of the Senator as a successful assassination attempt or some elaborate political scheme, they will know the truth but trust me that truth will hurt a lot of people if it's told so they will bury the truth and act like they have no idea whar happened and if they don't do that, then they'll plot some scheme and make it seem like it's a political rival, blame it on someone else in the government and buy the sympathy of the press and trust me whatever the press says is what the public will eat up" he explained.
"That doesn't cancel the fact that we killed seven men in cold blood Pete, all seven and for no good reason at all! Isn't this making you sick? Huh? When did we get this far?" Valeria yelled.
"Keep your voice down,Vee, or do you want the whole building knowing what exactly happened at the farm? I'd be happy to set up a press conference for you to do that" Pete advised as she rose and began pacing the room too.
"Really? So we're all going to act like that didn't just happen?" She enquired in astonishment.
"What do we suggest we do? Go hand ourselves over to the nearest police department and then proceed to write down our statement and get a good lawyer hoping we get a lower sentence?"Nick asked.
"No Nick, what I suggest is a lot simpler than that honestly and if you both have even half a brain then you'd do just that, let us drop this boy in the nearest hospital with a tag, a label or a note or anything and leave now while we still can" Valeria stated.
"That is not happening" Pete stated.
"You are crazy"
"Well, so are you Vee, for thinking I'd let all this go to waste, we've come so far to turn back Valeria and better believe this, the cops will come after us like the hounds of hell and even if we do manage to be stupid enough to drop this child off, do you think they'll get off our backs? News flash girlie, no, they won't, they will hunt us until we have nowhere else to hide and then we'll still have to pay for every single blood we have shed and every crime they manage to pin to our name and make no mistake, there will be a very long list of crimes and we will be spending the rest of our very bleak lives in jail, and they will get to us very easily, you want the know why? I'll tell you, it's is because we will no longer have Moses as our bargaining chip and then the police doesn't have to be careful about anything, they don't have to walk on eggshells or think about the poor child's life in our custody, do you know why the whole New York and California PD isn't on our tails? It's because we have the Senator's fucking son and he doesn't want him dead, no body wants to make the mistake that will end the boy's life" he started bitterly.
Valeria laughed bitterly with a shake of her head and looked at the baby on the mattress.
"That boy has been taken from his family, his mother, his safe place, his home___"
"No one cares! I don't for certain, and I frankly don't think you should either, not when our lives are on the line!" Pete cut her in sharply and glared at her menacingly. "Stop playing righteous Vee, you and I know you've done some really nasty shit in the past years" he reprimanded.
"With a baby? Look Pete, I can't be the devil that does everything, hell, I'm sure even the devil has some boundaries, we have tried, we truly have but apparently this isn't working so it's better we quit now, take our wounds and lick them in private, this is going to blow up in our faces very soon if we don't trade carefully" Valeria stood her ground.
"That is not happening" Pete insisted.
"Pete, I don't think you're getting the whole picture here, it's not about what we should do or what we would love to do, it's about what we must do, it's getting risky out there, you've killed Tommy now Mr. Genuis, what next? What use is Moses now?" Nick asked
Pete took a seconds before replying. "It's simple, we do what we were meant to do with the baby from the very start"
"Quit being an ass and talk, what's the whole riddle and proverbs bullshit about! I'm losing my mind I swear, Pete, explain" Nick said in a dangerously low whisper.
"We took the baby to get the ransom from Senator Brownson, am I right?" Pete asked.
Nick nodded while Valeria sat there, dumbfounded at both of them, her thoughts and worries about Moses increasing her witlessness and inattentiveness.
"So we'll do just that, get the ransom"