Chapter 36

Valeria hadn't slept all night. She was had taken a seat by the window of her bedroom and there she sat, trying all she could to break the boy's fever. At some point, it had broken but only for a few hours as he slept and once he woke, he had cried unceasingly throughout the night and the very next morning, his fever returned with greater intensity.
Drugs, a cold bathe, a lukewarm bath, an antiseptic bathe, a bleach bathe, she had tried anything and everything she could lay hands on from the internet that she felt was relatively safe. None worked and some minutes to the first night of dawn, Valeria made up her mind.
It was 5:08AM and Nick could be heard snoring from the living room, the TV was on and the neighbours had come to borrow a trowel some minutes ago. Pete was already wake and on his laptop once again, drafting out the details of their loot that seemed endless. His eyes red and ringed from staying awake most of the night just as Valeria had, but for an entirely different purpose.
Valeria padded softly to the living room and sat on the sofa, glad to be relieved of Moses even for a few minutes. He had finally drank very little from his formula after she had begged and sang for him to eat. He had taken a very tiny amount and was asleep shortly after, stirring every now and then but remaining so.
With a bowl of cereal in hand and a can of soda, she sat on the sofa and whirled away time with the morning news. The neighbors had knocked more than twice and Valeria had to go and change into her pregnancy disguise before opening the door. Now, she sat with her baby bump, eating a bowl of cereal and wishing Moses slept a while longer so she could get her much needed sleep.
Pete had told them just that night that Senator Brownson had sent an authentic document for a small jet he had stowed away in New Jersey. He was forwarding the papers via mail for his contact there to try selling it and see how that worked. They were making progress and Valeria could not wait for it all to be over.
"Hey beautiful" Nick drawled from the couch as he woke to see her.
"Hey yourself" she replied, eyes not leaving the TV screen.
"I don't mind waking up to this every morning" he said as he sat up, glad that she was in a better mood than she had slept the previous night.
Valeria simply chuckled and ate her cereal quietly.
"Sorry. I know you're still upset, that's no one's intention" he said.
"I don't want to talk about it Nick" she replied hastily.
"I know you like the boy and have__"
"Nick, drop it, please" she begged and he nodded, making an invisible zipping on his lips.
"You would look good pregnant" he said, quickly changing the topic.
She chuckled and turned to him , facing his sleep tousled face.
"I'm serious, all that curves and flesh, I could die happy within" he said softly.
"I can imagine it being real, you'd be the most beautiful women ever"
"I did look good pregnant, men couldn't get their eyes and hands off me" she replied with a smirk.
"What? You were pregnant? Where is__" Nick was cut in by a small knock on the door.
Valeria sat up, adjusted her bump and passed her hands through her blonde hair.
"When will these folks stop borrowing? What are they making there anyways? Statues? They've moved in for over a week and they are still fixing stuffs?" Valeria mumbled in irritation.
"I'll get it" Nick said and rose to open the door.
"Oh. Grace" he said and looked at Valeria on the sofa.
"Is this a good time? I left early yesterday so I figured I should resume early today" she smiled sheepishly.
"Sure, come on in" Nick said and opened the door wide for her.
Grace walked in, waved at Valeria on the sofa who waved back with a large smile on her face.
"Moses isn't awake yet. I took him to the hospital and he got some antibiotic shots, I think that knocked him out, he's absolutely fine now"  she replied.
"Did you need something? I don't think we'll be needing you anymore" Nick said as he closed the door.
"Ohh" Grace muttered, surprised.
"We'll be having family over and I think Moses will have people to take care of him when I'm busy" Valeria added.
"Okay Mrs Claire, I understand" the girl replied with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"I will just pick up my things then" she said.
"Sure, no rush" Nick replied and smiled apologetically.
"I'll pay you for the two weeks we promised, let me get my purse" Valeria said and rose.
"Oh no, it's nothing, I am glad to help, he's a lovely boy" she replied with a wide smile.
"Oh" this time, Valeria was surprised.
"I'll just get my stuffs" she said and went into the room she had used.
Nick frowned.
"She probably needs that job for college funds" he stated with a sympathetic sigh.
"I'm sure she'd being modest, I'll still give her the money before she leaves" Valeria decided and turned her attention back to the TV.
The two stayed in companionable silence for a while, Nick still staring at Valeria.
"What will you do with your stack?" He asked.
She looked at him in confusion.
"When this is all over, what will you do with your stack? All that jewelry, will you wear them? " He asked.
"You know me, I will wear them. Not all of them though, just the ones that cost me the most sweat and blood" she shrugged
"This really is our last gig?"
"I've been in this life all my life Nick, I think it's time I retired" she said with a shrug.
Nick nodded, a thoughtful nod that clearly said he wasn't okay with her decision but he kept quiet instead.
"Move it! Bitch!" Came Pete's voice from the hallway and then he dragged Grace out by the hair, his gun at her temple.
"What the fuck Pete, let the girl go" Nick said and rose from the sofa.
"I was talking some water from the kitchen and guess what I walked into?" He said, glaring at Grace. "This skinny thing is making a fucking call and giving our our address to God knows who!"
"What?" Valeria and Nick asks in unison.
"Yeah, exactly"
"I'm sorry, please don't kill me" she begged.
"No one is killing no one" Valeria assured and rose.
"Put the gun down Pete, what if someone walks in here and sees you holding a gun to her head, huh?" Nick said.
"I don't give two shits, you better start talking bitch! I'm not very patient" Pete threatened.
"Hey, stop, I'm sure it's not what you think" Valeria cut in.
"Talk bitch!" Pete ordered and Grace trembled like a leave.
"Erhmm...I... I...was just calling my dad, he's a medical doctor and__"
"Don't fucking lie to me or you'll see your own brains on the fucking floor" he snapped
"Please_please, please don't" she begged.
"Talk" he urged.
"I... I know the baby isn't yours" she blurted.
"Shit!" Nick swore.
"Not again" Valeria hissed.
"I saw your real hair yesterday, it was black, you have a black shirt, and you wear a wig around the whole house? Why? And I saw him __too, he was making a call and talking to some man and threatening to hurt the baby. I heard it all__I just didn'__t think it was true until I got home__and processed all of this, that boy needs help __and I couldn't just leave him here to die, I know you aren't taking him to the hospital. He's still running a fever and you aren't his mother"  she stammered. "Please, please don't kill me, I was just trying to help the baby" she begged.
"Who knows you're here?" Pete asked.
"Just my brother, I told him bout it and he...please, I didn't know what to do__please_" she plead.
"It's okay, no one is killing anyone, I just need you to quietly go home and act like none of this ever happened okay, you never came here, you never worked here and you never met__"
The gun shot went off and Valeria had to step back from the blood that splashed everywhere.
"What the fuck!" Valeria yelled as Pete shoved the body away and grabbed the car keys from the table.
"Show's over. We're moving" he said as he went into his room.
"What? Why did you do that? She wasn't going to say anything" Nick yelled.
"I'm not taking that chance. She is a loose end and has to go" he replied.
"You are a fucking monster" Valeria said, her eyes still wide
"Really? The whole building is going to hear that" Nick stated.
"They've heard it and I'm guessing called the cops already. In less than fifteen minutes they should be at the front doors so pack up fellas" he said as he threw in his clothes and shut his laptop, dropping it in his duffel bag.
"Pick up the baby and let's move" he ordered and shut the door behind him.
________________________________________________________
The moment they drove out of the estate building, they could hear sirens blaring loudly ahead and Nick in his usual manner drove squarely and without panic and bypassed them without a hitch. In the back seat of the vehicle was Valeria, clutching a very sick Moses who was still very feverish and the wound had began leaking fluids again.
Valeria had barely packed enough, she had merely picked up her disguise - which Pete insisted - as well as her handgun. The bags of dollars which totalled three travelling bag, two leather suitcases, one duffel and a baby bag packed with dollar stuffed diapers and baby dolls. Pete had ensured that no penny was left behind and had cleaned out the house of all identification as much as he could in the fifteen minutes gap they had.
They had left Grace's corpse right where her brain waad blown off and Pete had insisted they didn't touch her or move her, that would only waste time but risk their fingerprints being left all over the apartment.
to remedy that however Peter had decided that the shortest am sure is way to get read of all forensic proof of the being in the apartment was just to set it on fire.
Nick had gotten some gas from the basement and the flat had been engulfed in flames before they drove out of the building. Now, as the police blared past, Valeria was thinking if it was the police that was truly needed more than the fire service department. She genuinely was concerned for the new tenants in the building and indeed everyone inside of it, she hoped the fire they had started was merely a distraction and a means of clearing evidence like they hoped and not an massacre. After all, it wasn't even 7:30AM and from what she knew, most neighbourhood in Oregon were still fast asleep until their 8:00AM alarm woke them up.
"Where are we doing now?" Nick asked as he emerged from the busy intersection and sped into the metropolis.
"Any train station would be fine" he replied.
"Are you thinking this through? Where are we running to? We have over a billion dollar in cash and frankly I don't think that's something we want to be caught with" Nick stated.
"Exactly why we're leaving. There's a safe house in Florida where we will be safe for a while" Pete said.
"I'm thinking this is as good a time as any to let go of this child and move on, we could loose him at some hospital and leave, that way he's safe and we are free" Valeria suggested.
"Hell no. Brownson is still responding positively to all our demands, he's began cleaning our loot, all we need is time and Moses is our bargaining chip, were not letting that go, that would be foolishness" Pete stated, turning to glare at her as if she had six heads and a tail.
"Really? You just shot a girl dead and all you can worry about is some loot! Pete?! You are un-fucking-believable and I have no idea how I got tangled in all of this with you" she said, was disgusted look on her face.
"Same here Vee, I don't know when you became such a pussy!" He snapped.
"I've always been one, just not yours" she stated mockingly and hissed at him.
"Will you guys keep it down for one fucking second? I'm trying to think here! " Nick said as he pumped the brakes and turned to glare at both of them.
"I say we drop the baby and move on. There's a hospital southeast, let's keep driving there and I'll drop the baby myself, we'll leave and then forget all this madness" she offered.
"That's not happening" Nick stated.
"What?" She asked, astonished at how Nick had joined Pete's madness.
"You heard me Valeria, that's not happening" he repeated.
"Really? You both are stark raving mad? Can't you see it? This whole gig had been from one mess to the other bad frankly I am fed up with all of it! I am" she said.
"Exactly why we can't let it waste. We've spent too much already, sacrificed too much to just let it all go just when we can almost touch the benefit of all this" Nick reasoned.
Valeria shook her head. It all sounded like madness to her and as she looked between the two, she was convinced that there was only one way out of all of that madness and she knew it, it just wasn't pleasant and may as well be another form of madness altogether.
"You're right. This is part of the job, I'm so sorry I've been a bother, I just get so caught up sometimes" she apologized and put her hands up in surrender.
"Better"  Pete mumbled and even Nick muttered an agreement.
The drive to the train station took about thirty more minutes and they had arrived with all their luggages and properties, their clothes a measly amount, most bags were filled with dollar notes under a thin layer of clothing, hoping it wasn't discovered at the train station.
Nick bought five tickets for them and insisted that the two seats, one to their right and the other to their left be kept vacant. He didn't want stares and he sure as hell did not want the friendly drive chat ad chatter that came with public transportation. Pete also insisted they buy a magazine at the waiting area so they pretend to be occupied and further drive away all forms of conversation with strangers.
About forty minutes after the passengers were seated, some technical issue was still delaying the drive and Pete kept swearing and swearing and whining as he sat on his seat.
"What shit is this? Why didn't we pick a better train?" He mumbled to himself.
"Relax, it's all the better. We need time to think anyways" Nick replied.
"I got nothing to think about, we're taking a flight to Florida once we get off this bullshit train" he replied.
"IDs?" Nick asked.
"I have a contact to fetch us that real quick" he replied.
"We got to ba careful Pete, or else were heading right for doom. I don't think travelling is the best option at the moment, certainly not by plane, if I'm correct then there's still eyes on the airport watching to see us run away. That's a move we can't make, not with such money stuffed on us" Nick cautioned, whispering the last part.
"I have thought everything through pretty boy, like I always have. I'm the brain of all of this remember? Let's do this my way because that is the only safe way. We will get our tickets processed once we are far from here then we head to the safe house in Florida and let all this blow over before going to clear our loot" Pete responded.
"There's a dead body and that is pretty serious, the local police will be on our case too, it isn't just about Brownson now you know" Nick stated
Pete nodded.
"Nothing we haven't seen or done before" he said.
Nick nodded, clearly dissatisfied with the answer. For all his sta with the team, that was the one day he was afraid and it didn't sit well on him, neither on Valeria. Hi calm exterior had always been some form of assurance, seeing him this panicked have her a reason to almost be panicked too. But she knew Pete, when he said he would take care of something, he meant it and in the end, he always kept the team alive and going, the team. It was always his priority because the team meant more gigs and more gigs meant more money.
"How long do you think we can hide in Florida?" She asked.
"It's dependent on how long it will take for Brownson to clear all our stack" he replied with a shrug. "Two months tops" he added thoughtfully.
"And there is absolutely no where we can leave Moses behind? In some hospital while the stack is be__"
"Fuck it Vee, we talked about this. Moses is our bargaining chip, once Brownson gets him back deals off, all the deal if off!" Pete said, clearly irritated by her suggestion.
"I don't think he will survive that long" she muttered softly, glancing at the baby who was breathing raspier by the second and sleeping for too long at intervals.
"I have a plan for that too. My guess is Brownson will demand to see Moses once in a while. We'll make about ten videos of him with us, safe it in a drive and give it in sessions to Brownson whenever he asks to see Moses, that way, he thinks he's still fine with is and he complies with our demands" he said.
"What do you mean think? Why do we need to do that?" She asked, scared of the reply.
"You said it yourself, he may not last for the two months we're holed up in Florida. We'll make the video once we get to Florida and then discard him, taking a dead body will only slow us down" he replied just as the train announced that all passengers should please take their seats as they would be moving soon.
"I'm afraid he is right, that is the only way" Nick replied lowly and shoved his hands in his pockets, badly wishing he could have a glass of anything strong to wash down his nerves a notch.
"I'll clean the baby up before we move, we don't want too many concerned glances" Valeria said and began to unwrap the baby. The smell that oozed from the infected wound was getting worse and even Pete crinkled his nose in disgust.
"Hey, get him to the bathroom and do that please, you're stinking the whole place up" he whispered and turned to see that many curious eyes were following her movements.
"Is he awake?" Nick asked, concerned.
Valeria shook her head, no.
"There's some antiseptic and some antibiotics in the baby bag, maybe you should change his dressings" Nick suggested.
"I'll do that" she replied and left her seat, clutching the baby and moving to the bathroom area.
"Fuck" Nick muttered as he watched her go, sympathising with the child, he didn't deserve any of the pain but, shit happens and he of all people knew that the innocent somehow always got caught in the crossfire.
"We'll be fine. Once our stack is cleared we'll be able to hide better and hopefully get some much needed rest" Pete said, his face was noticably thinner, all the sleepless nights and stress had hit him the hardest. His eyes were bulged and red and his face shrunken to an ugly shape, his hair too had grown out and he looked a mess.
"We need that rest, Nick agreed and sat on his seat, wishing badly that he had a pack of chips or anything to chew on.