Chapter 28

Valeria took just a second to pass the baby that him and then pull off her dress, there was so much blood it almost scared her but the pain was so sight, almost like she wasn't hurt. From experience she knew that such wounds were the worst. Still, determined to get to safety first with the adrenaline helping her out, she pumped on, splashing water in the tunnel until they both got to the door at the other end which led out to a golf course.
"Where's Pete" she asked.
"Pete?" Nick called out through the connection.
"At the entrance, get to the car, now!" Pete ordered
"Valeria's been shot, we're at the underground exit" Nic replied.
Pete swore loudly and smashed whatever was close to him.
"Where's the child?" He asked.
"I have him" Nick replied.
"And the money?"
"That too"
"Hurry to the entrance, now, the police are flooding the scene and vehicles will be restricted soon" Pete said hurriedly.
"Change of plans, we will not make it to the entrance, I'll get a car from here" Nick replied.
"Do not steal anything, that will only point fingers at you" Pete said.
"Valeria is bleeding out and there are six men chasing after us, we don't have time to get to the entrance, I'll call you once we're safe" Nick said.
"Listen to me goddamnit! We can not risk bein___"
Nick ended the connection and turned to Valeria.
"Listen, we'll be fine. Grab my shoulder and do just as I asked" Nick said and she nodded, blood seeping through her fingers.
Supporting her weight by his side, they both climbed up and out of the tunnel, closed the gate and found the closest car to steal away.
It was 36hours after the unfortunate incident. Valeria now sat on the single sofa, her midriff bandaged, a deep red stain by the side. She was slightly slouched and pampered her injured side with a cushion. The house was quiet, the TV playing mutely in it's usual fashion and the cold from outside seeped into the room that combined with the air-conditioning unit made the room almost winter cold.
Pete sat on the stool, tapping his left foot slightly on the floor, his hands twitching as well as his jaw. Since they had arrived hime that night, he had neither eaten, drank or said anything that didn't involve cursing and swearing and other such profanities.
After Nick and Valeria had left the amusement park with a stolen vehicle - as opposed to Pete's warning, they had met half way with Pete at a subway station where he brought along with him a change of clothes and a first aid kid to fix Valeria up seeing as they couldn't quite take her to the hospital, hospitals would attract questions and questions would inevitably bring the police and that meant more questioning and then one, two or more of them would end up in jail. That was no doubt a scenario he didn't want and couldn't remedy if by some twist of fate it did turn out that way.
The trio were used to patching up themselves, they - and by they that meant only Pete - knew the basics and stage two about medicine and clinical techniques and all the crap that doctors and nurses paid a huge amount of money and got away with it. Truth be told, they avoided the hospital like a plague, IDs and names and medical records always uncovered fake aliases quick as quick as a kite in the sky. It has hard to withhold medical records and reports, certainly not when someone was bleeding their lives away and in a critical and very dire need of a blood transfusion. So when Pete had offered to patch her up, Valeria didn't object, she allowed it eagerly although a little bit unsure at first. As it all turned out, fortunately, the bullet wasn't in her, it was a nasty slice wound by the side but the bullet had merely passed by her side, cutting open her skin and skidding through but didn't puncture anything.
Pete sighed again and swore under his breathe. He always prided himself in having a sixth sense and that day at the park, he was almost so certain something would most definitely go amiss, one reason he insisted that each of them had in mind an exit plan and a different getaway driver than the Nick they were all so sure of and whose skill was superb and second time none as long as the road and cars were concerned.
The Brazilian chick hired for the job had been the one to drive him out of the fairgrounds when the ruckus had broke lose and everyone was running helterskelter, finding a place to shield themselves from the danger and gunshot, running similarly to a scared and headless chicken would when led to the slaughter or when escaping after a knife had been put through the throat and the did was already done, it was a false sense of hope for the bird. In this case however, there was hope for the innocent passerbys as Nick didn't fire a shot aside the one he did just once to buy Valeria just the right amount of gun to make it out of there and make her way to the exit they had both mapped out for a scenario just like that. Once Pete was sure that they were out of harms way in terms of being caught by Senator Brownson's wife's bodyguard and goons, Pete had hightailed to the getaway vehicle and they drove off, his trial to contact Nick and give him directions was met with a suggestion from the man himself, he considered it foolish but now, he could see the sense in them taking different route to safety. For one, it had given him the time to get to a grocery store to get some alcohol and fresh line juice then he headed to a drug store for medical supplies that included bandages and antiseptic and a pair of clean scissors, he also got a knife and some tweezers as well as a clean blade. He didn't want to be optimistic and wish this wouldn't turn out to be a full blown surgery, it wouldn't be the first time he had done a quick patch job on his team, he usually did all the patches, until he could contact a certain crooked doctor who didn't mind seeing up knife wounds and taking out bullets for a fair price.
After that, he also knew ahead to a boutique after the line died and it was apparent that Nick and Valeria were taking alternate routes. The cops had gotten into the park shortly after the gun fire and the premise security had locked the whole place down. Parent shielded their children and lot children cried while searching for their guardians.
Once Pete left the parking space of the fair, he ordered the driver to speed down so he could get supplies. She thankfully wasn't the sort that asked questions and all through the ride she hadn't done more than hum in agreement to his instructions, her eyes were not questioning or fidgety like the curious sorts that asked a dozen and two questions just with their eyes and often didn't have to utter a single word.
Being the 'doctor' of the gang, Pete had patched many wounds in his life, bullet, knives, axe, and even bruises of all shapes and sizes. His only prayer was that the bullet hadn't touched any vital organ, he'd hate to lose an asset like Valeria for some trivial reason. As it turned out, the bullet had passed just shy of her internal organ and it wasn't even lodged, it was in her fake silicone bump.
They had cleaned up, changed into something clean fitting for the roles they were playing out a the apartment, Valeria had painstakingly managed to still appear in her pregnancy disguise despite her side injuries and the pains she was going through. As they entered the apartment building that evening.
Pete could vaguely remember the receptionist telling him about some single mother packing into the flat down the hall. He didn't care who packed into where, so long as they were left to their peace an quiet then she was absolutely okay with it. What he did know was that there was a CCTV camera at the porch of the building and if they returned drenched in blood and limping after what happened at the amusement park then they had a lot to explain.
As much as they could have easily lied that they were caught in the crossfire of the whole incident, Pete didn't want unnecessary attention because he knew unnecessary attention always meant curiosity and questions and later information to dish out to the police. So, he avoided the whole ordeal and they returned to their flat with Valeria feigning pregnancy aches and pretending to feel nauseous as Nick soothed and helped her inside.
Nick was on the sofa, biting on an apple with two more in a small tray before him. They had ran out of potato chips and popcorn earlier that evening after he had eaten more than four bags within the hour. Now, all he had that could pass as a snack in any way, shape or form was the apple an he quickly decided it was better than nothing. Of all that had transpired that evening, Nick had his legendary calm face. His serene exterior had over the years been one quality many admired and envied about him, and this he knew. It could not be helped, he knew the fickle nature of life and how much happiness and serenity had to be self made if someone wanted to get any at all.
Nick could just not help it, he was carefree about life. Cautious when he needed to be and knowing exactly when it was beyond him and there was not point crying over spilled milk. That was a philosophy he knew too well and held dear to hi heart and treasured it as preciously as he could.
Nicholas Nazi was from a very wealthy background, born an only child to a lesbian mom and a dad who just wasn't ready to let his wife go despite her sexual preferences, he didn't quite know if it was love or lust or something more sinister but his father was adamant to marry an remain married to his mother. This in it's self wasn't a problem and maybe would not have been, the only hiccup was that Mrs. Nazi wasn't so eager to be called Mrs. Nazi any longer and she made this known at every turn.
He had grown to have any thing he wanted - that was acceptable by his father - and so he most times had very little to worry about. His father was not the most flexible of men if he as being honest but then, young Nick was not a very demanding child and he was quite okay with the much his father gave him. When he was eight, he got his first bicycle and rode it all night, falling more times than he could count and injuring almost every inch of his exposed skin in the khaki shorts and singlet he wore. It was a night he could remember as clearly as he could remember what fueled his determination to ride in the first place.
In his school, he may not have been the best or brightest of student but he was popular amongst the students. His grades were certainly not too poor or laughable and it was hard not to notice a boy that usually appeared in a school dressing in the best of jeans and the month's new release t-shirts from Gucci or Hilad. If the costly clothes and expensive shoes did not gain him popularity amongst the students then he didn't know what did.
The preschool and highschool he attended weren't for the low income earners or for the children from homes that still did the house chores themselves, no, it was an elite school yet Nick still always managed to stand out with his outfit three days out of five and despite the money as wealth that several other children cold boast of, Nick was noticed in school and this gave him some sort of prestige he didn't argue or discard.
It was a bicycle from a child in school that had gotten his attention and before he knew it, it turned to an obsession and then his father had to get a bicycle for him. He tried his best to ride as swiftly and as effortlessly as that very student always showed up in school, with a grace and pose that made him seem like some ethereal god of he bicycle. The very night Nick got a bicycle, she had rode it all through the night.
The very next morning, he could ride without an helmet and since that day, anything that had tires, wheels or a gear wasn't easy for Nick to call command. In highschool, he won the championship bike race, bicycle race and skateboard race for so many times that the school refuse to let him compete anymore, claiming he was now "world class" material.
Despite his prowess with the wheels and everything, his father didn't see it and insisted that anything that didn't help him with the Medical School result was a distraction and so curtailed his time in the fields and training ground in school. Eventually, Nick stopped riding to school altogether and had a driver hired to take him to and from school.
Four months after, during a certain movie where the protagonist rode a car across a country to save his dying daughter, Nick started getting the flair to ride again. His very first car theft had been taking his best friend's father's car from the garage down the block and hiding it in an uncompleted parking lot. Two months later, he was caught one night by his father and that was how he stopped riding, that man was paid handsomely for his car and Nick lost his best friend.
After that incident, Nick committed many more, always involving cars and bikes and trucks and even once a tanker containing diesel. He almost got to jail but for his age and the strings his father pulled with his fat bank account. Nevertheless, he never allowed him to race or compete in any race.
It was Nick's first year in college when he returned home from school one day to meet his mother at home, this was a very rare occasion considering she never was home until after midnight or on Sundays to receive some very important guest or the other. Well, the news was that his father had passed on at the hospital after a gun shot to the throat. She hadn't waited up for hugs and his tears, she'd left and began proceedings for the funeral.
Not like he could say he lacked love, no, he could remember his mother baking him pies and kissing him good night in his early years. The truth was, he wasn't such a good kid either and so many found it hard to even show him affection, coupled with the 'rich kid' stereotypes, Nick learnt that the mushy and lovey dovey like wasn't just cut out for him and frankly he was quite cool with it.
Nick had always had a tendency to flip to the bad side of life, his father's death only cemented his believe. He figured that since the world was a horrible place then he could as well have his own brand of fun, after all, others were indulging. He started out with cybercrime, hacking ATM points and redirecting postal orders, company emails and personal emails just for fun.
Then, he had figured that if he wanted to get what he's always wanted, a 'car kingdom' of his very won, he had to do the old school stealing. His first car had been a old Mercedes and he had stolen it from his favourite anatomy professor. He had gotten away with it, mostly because the car was too old no doubt and the old man didn't want to bother about it.
His second steal however had been a fancier Maserati that he hid in a ravine for four weeks, on the fifth, he tried driving it out, the gas was empty and he had to tow, he got caught in a police checkpoint and his mom bailed him out with so much money he was sure the Inspector in charge could buy a small condo with it. All charges was dropped and he went scott free.
His mum had blanked on him, calling only on Thanksgiving or Christmas and sending birthday cards, apparently, she'd cut him off and he wasn't sorry at all. It was that very year after receiving a huge sum of money along with a birthday card that he got his first contact with Valeria and Pete. Pete who had something for fancy cars had stolen a car he'd plan to steal for weeks. They had met at the charity function, dressed as valet and each thinking the other was the original valet for the event. Halfway through the event, Nick had been the first to discover that Pete was indeed a con artist and Valeria who was acting as a rich heiress was not the owner of the car but merely his partner-in-crime.
Right there, at the porch of the hotel, the three had plotted out a scheme to steal the vintage Ferrari and had succeeded, only for Pete and Valeria to scam him out of it at the end. They met again at a car auction and after a successful deal, Nick fled with the money, returned and presented the car four days later and offered to join their gang. That had been more than seven years ago.
Nick smiled at the fond memory and bit into his apple, scrunching it loudly. He casted a glance at Valeria and met her still at the spot, unable to turn lest she injured her side more. She was wearing an evidently worried expression, not dissimilar to the one she wore at the subway when Pete had insisted on patching her up himself. Her only care seemed to be Moses, she reached for him and tried to coo him to sleep despite bleeding herself, Pete had become pissed and told her to keep quiet before he mistakenly stitched her liver too.
Now, as they sat, all pensive and apparently deep in thought, Valeria still worried about the boy. He was sound asleep in her room - their room - after she had force fed him a bottle and washed him gently with a soft towel. Moses had cried all through the ordeal and even in her arms, he still sniffed and tossed, he as running a slight fever when he finally succumbed to sleep. She was worried he would wake again to the tears but she was assured that once he woke, he would forget all about whatever horrors he'd seen, he was that simple a child and that more than anything endeared him to Valeria, it was a stark reminder of her Lily. Easy going, simply, happy child.
Valeria closed her eyes, unwilling to revisit the painful memories. She had locked it away in the past and if she had her way then it would remain there for all time.
"So we not only lose our stack but almost lose Vee too?" Pete broke the silence that evening, his angry eyes casted on no where in particular.
"I'm fine" Valeria replied.
"This job is more than we bargained for" Nick agreed.
"I won't lose this and still go with nothing" Pete decided more to himself than the others.
"This whole thing is a mess and all for that...that thing?!" Pete yelled, pointing at the hallway where Moses slept soundly.
"I'm fine" Valeria repeated.
"This isn't about you, it could hold have been anyone, me, Nick? Then what? We'd have a funeral on our hands all for some useless child that isn't even worth much to his own family" Pete thundered.
"That's enough, I said I'm fine and you can't blame Moses for this" Valeria stated.
"Why? You saw the bony women double cross us, if not for him then we wouldn't even be hiding out here like nice" Pete replied.
"We knew what we were getting into" Valeria defended.
"And this isn't it, never was part of the plan"
"That's nobody's fault remember? You got trigger happy and shot Tommy in the head"
"To save your necks, both of you! It was us or him"
"You don't know that for sure" Valeria replied
"Didn't want to wait and find out, leave my life in the hands of a controlling old pig!" Pete snapped.
"Then admit this went South because they of your very miscalculations, genuis" Valeria mocked.
"Well, it's high time I corrected that then" he said and didn't say anything more.
The silence remained for a few seconds before he rose.
"Where's the thing?" He asked and went for the hallway.
"Hey! Leave Moses out of your madness" Valeria said and rose to meet him halfway.
"Madness? Madness is that bony lady pulling a fast one on us, trying to get you killed and then still burdening us with that twig!"
"I am the one bleeding and I have said countlessly that I'm fine! What had Moses got to do with this? He didn't pull the trigger" she said.
"But his bitch of a mother did! That makes him guilty"
"Really? That poor innocent boy that had faced nothing but discomfort from day one? I don't think so" Valeria replied.
"Then tell me, if it want for him would we have your face all over national TV? Or a gun at your kidney?!"
"My kidneys are fine! And it's my face all over TV and not yours! So I say it's fine!" She retorted.
"You're becoming his mother now? Huh? From hooker to mother Theresa?" Pete mocked with a bitter laugh.