Chapter 38

Pete sat on the arm of the chair, his feet tapping ceaselessly on the floor, his hands nursing a marijuana stick as he smoked away, face contorted in anger.
Nick was seated almost beside him, just slightly backing him, he nursed a glass of vodka and it's half empty bottle in the right hand, his eyes slightly glassy, his face expressionless.
Pete had paced the length of the house earlier, swearing and throwing everything he saw at the wall of the hotel room. He had successful broken three mugs and a hand mirror before Nick had reminded him that they were in fact in a public residence and any minute room service or worse still, the security could walk in and demand an explanation for the damage caused.
"She fucking conned us!" He said, spit flying in all directions as he spoke.
Nick merely nodded, a slow frown creeping up his face.
"She took about over two hundred thousand dollars with her" he added, still enraged.
Nick once again didn't offer more than a slow nod.
"Did you know about this?" Pete asked.
"Don't be absurd Pete, I'm as shocked as you are" he responded.
"Then why the fuck aren't you mad? Huh? How can you be so fucking calm all the fucking time?! Are you some zombie?" Pete asked angrily.
"Maybe you are the zombie, you let everything and anything ruffle you up, learn to calm the fuck down sometimes Pete, your anger and bullshit got us in this mess in the first place remember?" He asked, glaring at him.
"Ha, she fucking can't con me! Hell no! I'm the king of con, I say when, I yday how, I fucking say who"
"Well, it's happening for a change"
"What? Who's side are you on pretty boy?" Pete asked, frowning at him.
"Truth. Valeria had said she didn't want anything to happen to the child, maybe, just maybe we should have listened to..."
"What we should have done is never let her hold that fucking child! All that maternal bullshit is messing with her head!" He cut in, then resumed his pacing about.
"Or not. I think we messed up" Nick admitted after a long thought.
"I think she's messing up and will fucking pay for this waste of time" Pete stated.
"You think she'll come back?" Nick asked.
Pete nodded. "I know Vee much longer than you have. She can't be lonely for long, she'll come back" he replied.
"What about the baby?"
"That's what I'm not so sure of. She can be stubborn as a mule sometimes, if she's gone this length to take him away, I'm almost certain she will get him to the Brownsons before looking for us again"
"That can't happen, what will happen to the loot?" Nick asked.
"You're right, it can't happen and it won't"
"What if she gets herself caught and this all leads back to us"
"Vee may be a lot of things but she isn't foolish. One stupid good deed won't cancel the years she's stolen and been an accomplice good murder and other criminal offences. If she's caught, that's life in jail for her, or better still, the electric chair or whatever fancy methods they use these days, I don't think she's quite ready to die yet" Pete replied thoughtfully.
"Had Brownson responded yet?" Nick asked.
Pete nodded. "And just as I thought, he's asking to see Moses"
"Fuck!" Nick swore. "Isn't there something you can tell him? Some lie? Some threat?"
"I don't think that will work. If we do have the boy, it only makes sense that we let him see the boy, if we don't, he'll know there's something wrong and trust me, Senator Brownson doesn't want to be paying for a dead child" Pete replied with a curse
The duo went silent, each wracking their brains on what to do next. The gig was almost successful, like if they could stretch their tips they could practically touch their stack, cleaned and ready, their years sweat and blood. Now, with one foul move, they could see it drifting away right before their very eyes. Something that upset Pete the most, his plans didn't fail and whenever they did then it was blood and carnage afterwards.
"We can buy a few days"  Pete  stated.
"What do you have in mind?"
"I'll need you for this Nick and I'll need you to trust me on this" Pete said.
"I don't think this will be good, whenever you ask anyone to trust you, then another person is dying, who's dying?" Nick asked.
"No one's dying, trust me" Pete replied.
Nick levelled him a stern stare and then sighed. "Not like there's another choice" he muttered and nodded.
The rain was heavy, so was the thudding of Valeria's heart, thumping and thumping like an ancient African gong and threatening to leap right out of her sternum. It was late at night, a little before midnight and the streets were quiet, only a few drunk college teens roamed, in pairs and groups of three, holding hands and kissing and trying not to fall all over themselves.
The bar across the road had closed and she had to move outside before the bartender had to ask her to leave, that would be extra attention and she knew from experience that was trouble and trouble was the least thing she needed at the moment.
Moses as wrapped securely in a white fluffy stripped blanket, his face the only exposed part of his body. His fair was wet with the droplets of the rain that leaked on them despite the tacky shade they stood under. If was an ice cream truck shade by the looks of it and it was closed for the day. The place looked a little untidy and the roof was in apparent need of quicky repair. Valeria had picked the corner mostly because she was sure the beams of the headlights of passing cars wouldn't flash directly at them.
The day had been very very eventful and Valeria hated the fact that she hadn't had the hindsight to sleep the previous night when she could, at least a couple hours would have done her good, now, with her nerves spiked and her heart beating to a heart attack, she needed a place to close her eyes even for a second and as it seemed, the night wasn't going to be one of such nights. The very raindrops seemed to be after her and Moses and she couldn't risk a blink.
Valeria sneezed and looked around, afraid that maybe that soft sound had given her away to whoever lugged in the shadows, waiting for her to make a move so they would pounce and n her and eat her and the baby alive. If Valeria had known that the day would take a turn for the worse, she would have left the hospital the moment Moses had woken up and smiled his toothless smile at her. Instead, she had waited for him to be checked on by the nurse and maybe even let him stay and fully recuperate in a few days. Well, she didn't get that chance. Late that afternoon, just as she had returned from a bland lunch at the hospitals cafeteria, she had returned to armed men in her room, looking about and asking questions.
Luck was no doubt on her side and she had seen them quickly and heard them even from afar. Her next move had been to duck into the storage room and disguise as a nurse, with a spare scrub and pulled it on, pinned her hair just above her nape and walked on like a fellow nurse, calming her breathe and nerves to remain in control and act as normally as she could.
The cops had informed the two nurses being herself and an actual nurse to watch after the baby and alert them once the 'woman' returned. Well, as soon as the men had left, the babbling nurse went ahead to tell her conversationally why the mother of the baby was needed. Apparently, she someone had overheard her phone call and alerted the hospital authority just as she went for lunch and they in your had alerted the local police who were no doubt informed by some manner of elaborate Intel that she was the same person associated with the Senator's child's kidnap.
"You can choose to die for your job or live to actually get your paycheck" she had said as she pointed her empty handgun at the nurse. The trembling lady had made her choice pretty quickly and Valeria was happy she choose to live. She wasn't as eager to kill anyone as Pete was and it would have been a shame if the lady allowed her self be harmed for a story she knew nothing about and infact stood to gain nothing from.
With a gun at the nurse's temple and Moses clutched in her left hand, Valeria had left the hospital, threatening to blow the nurse's brain to a thousand pieces if anyone as much as tried stopping her by word or action. As it turned out, the police did the honorable thing like they always did and let her walk out of building with Moses and the nurse.
Valeria had used the same tactic to steal a black Sedan from the parking lot of the hospital before telling the nurse to run, she had ran without looking back and was probably still running till now, considering how shaky she had been. Valeria had only driven for three hours when the gas emptied and stopped her in the middle of a highway with Moses. As her dumb luck that day turned out, she hadn't looked at the tank of the car, in he'd defense, that was Nick's specialty and she had been more eager to escape than she was to actually get far away.
Now on foot, Valeria wished she had simply checked for a car with a full gas tank. The car emptying on them was only the beginning of the day's ill luck. She had also discovered that the baby bag containing the dollar bills stuffed in diapers had been left behind at the hospital in the hurry to get away. It was simply under the foot of the  hospital bed and she hadn't looked or even thought about it as she hightailed out of the place. Now, as she felt hunger gnawing at her tummy and her clothes soaked with rain, she knew money would have paid a hotel for them even for the night.
With the night club not too far from there still flowing the patrons, Valeria was almost tempted to go in and see if she could hustle a man willing to pay her a couple bucks for a night in a warm room and some change of clothes and diapers for Moses who was wet and crying. Buts he had a second thought, she couldn't trust anyone, not after the news that evening had clearly reported the incident at the hospital. And certainly not after the experience she'd had with the police earlier.
So, after fleeing the hospital, Valeria had done the only sane thing she could think of doing at the point that would not only ease her burden but no doubt put the chase off her back for a while. She had gone to a nearby police station and attempted dropping the child, well, as ill luck that day went, she was seen by a middle aged police man who took the baby immediately and went ahead to hide him in his patrol car before calling on someone to come and take the baby away.
Valeria didn't have to be a genuis to figure out that that very police man had no intention of turning Moses over to the government or even to Brownson directly. The proper and easier thing would have been to take the child to the station and seek the advise of his superior.  Instead, he'd make a suspicious phone call hid the baby in the trunk of his car.
It took her about thirty minutes and a knife wound to the thigh to get the baby from him and run away once again. But not before the cop warned her that there was a large bid on whoever could get the baby back and it wasn't coming from Brownson himself. It was from another Senator who's name he refused to mention, but he warned her and bragged that wouldn't be safe anywhere, not even in a hole and that every police in Oregon that got hold of the child would still send the child to the Senator for the price, he apparently didn't Know why the Senator wanted Moses but it as clear that this had turned so some political agenda and she once again could see Moses being used by a set of greedy men to get their wills done.
With the cop tied to the backseat of his own vehicle and a large ugly bruise on his unconscious head, Valeria left him and took off with Moses again. She didn't get far before hearing the blaring of sirens and the whole city was once again on high alert and flooding with cops that she now knew cared nothing about the fact that she was a kidnapped or that Moses was infact a kidnap victim, they had their own motive and that motive was go further out Moses danger, maybe much worse than he'd been before, considering that she wouldn't even be there to solicit for him, no one would be there for speak for him, he'd simply be in the next of the men that were paying the cops to get him to them.
Valeria didn't also need to be a genuis to know that anyone who went the extra mile of bribing the cops and had the money to bribe most of the police department in the state, such person not only had money and influence but was hoping to gain even much more than that using Moses as bait. She could not stand the idea of get another plot being made with the poor child as bargaining chip.
Now, as she soaked under the rain and heard the clapping of thunder from the distance, she was questioning her actions right from when had accepted to he part of a gig that involved a baby to the point where she allowed herself get attached to the child and then abandon a 'family' she had known for over a decade to protect a boy she had barely known for there months. It was absurd and she knew it but try as she could, she knew she just couldn't bring herself to let Moses face harm again.
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The next morning came with a little hope. Firstly, the sun shone brightly and dried up the wetness of the rain. Valeria was huddled beside a bench next to the ice cream stand. Somehow she had fallen asleep and Moses was now on the ground beside her, wide awake and babbling away as usual. Valeria picked him up and cradled him to her chest before raising from the still damp floor and checking if he was fine.  Other than his wet diapers and clothes, the baby was relatively fine and she was glad. Her major concern then was how to get a place for the baby and fetch him clean clothes too.
The city was awake and people went about, driving speedily to their work and businesses, kids were riding to school and many car honked from afar. Some of the stalls next to hers was opend already and some owners began to give her curious looks. She refused to be cowed by their stares and instead held onto Moses tightly, hoping that she still had some body heat to shield the child from the cold. Just as she decided it was time to start moving, her cell phone rang and she fished it out of her Jean pocket. It was Nick calling.
"I am not going to give in, you could as well stop trying" she said as she took the call.
"Look Valeria, I need you too listen and do exactly as I say. Pete had tracked your phone and is coming after you and trust me he doesn't seem reasonable anymore" Nick said in a hushed tone.
"That's impossible, I changed my codes and..."
"You're not listening Valeria, he is coming after you and you know how Pete can be when he has his mind made up. I'm taking a risk to make this call and I'm believing that you will trust me and do just as I say" he plead with her.
"Nick, I don't know what this is about but it's high time Pete learnt that it must not always go his way" Valeria replied stubbornly.
"I know you're a tigress Valeria, I'm not doubting that but for the sake of the boy's life whom you're trying the safe, listen to me. Pete had gotten in contact with some corrupt police men and trust me, they will find you" He stated.
Valeria sighed, she had no place to go and not a dime on her, she was hungry and she was sure as hell that the baby was starving too. Any moment now he would begin to cry and she had no idea what to do with him. It was a decision she had to make for his sake and she trusted whatever connection she had with Nick - sexual as it may be - will be enough to make him want to help her behind Pete's back. He was after all not as unreasonable as Pete and maybe, just maybe had come to his sense.
"Are you there? Valeria?" He called out
"Yes, I'm here, what do I do?"
"Meet me at the amusement park at 3:00pm, I'll be at the underground exit" he said and hung up.
Valeria sighed, pocketed her phone and shoved her empty handgun under her T-shirt before exiting. She had seen the owner of the ice cream shop coming, she'd never met him no doubt but it wasn't hard to sum it up. Just few men in their late thirties were three times their normal size and wore pink t-shirts with ice cream drawn all over it.
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