Chapter 39

By 2:32pm, Nick was at the amusement park, having taken a train immediately he went off the phone with Valeria. He had surveyed the grounds, made sure she wasn't being smart with him and then went down to the underground tunnel where they'd both escaped from during the shooting at the fair. In a way, he felt a sense of responsibility towards her, he wasn't sure if it was because he had slept with her more than once and infact was still attracted to her, or maybe because she had been part of the team he now belonged to. Perhaps, it was because she too had saved his life more times than he could count.
It was an unspoken rule and as he stood there, hands shoved in his pocket and a hoodie over his wet hair, he knew he couldn't let her be harmed, not without at least attempting to help her. And the boy. He didn't want to admit it out loud but he felt bad when that boy was dipped in hot water but his criminal instincts took hold of him quickly enough before he broke down like Valeria had. Since he was a child, he had learnt that bad things happened to just anyone. There wasn't a timetable for who it happened to or when or how or where or what exactly would be happening but it did happen to anyone and sometimes good people got hurt in the process. He of all people knew this, his father after all had died in a stupid shooting by boys young enough to be his son.
As Nick stood, trying to fight off the slight cold wind that blew into the empty parking lot, he thought back at everything that had happened to him before he joined the gang. Well, it hadn't necessarily been a tiring life but neither had he felt the ease he did when with them. He didn't have to plot out every mission again and whenever he needed to lay low, it wasn't just him and an underground basement in some remote place. He now had home, a family and more than anything, he felt at ease with them, like he could trust them to take care of him when he really couldn't do that and then belong to something bigger than himself. Also, if he was being honest, his stack was thanks to the team. There had been some gigs he almost shied away from, thinking it was impossible, but Pete and Valeria had urged him and almost all of the time, they came out successful and without a scratch.
It was while Nick was deep in thought that Valeria slowly moved behind him, dressed in a large hoodie, loose jeans and a backpack, Moses no where to be seen. She was dressed like a man and unless you looked really closely, one could not see her bounded breasts through the large cardigan. Her long hair was cut short and tucked under a cap and a hoodie over it.
Nick knew when she got behind him. He allowed her creep closer and raise her hands to tap him before he turned to face her.
"Hey" he said, looking at her face. It was tired looking and not entirely clean. Her hair had been cut hastily by a scissors that he was sure wasn't so sharp and no doubt she had made the cut herself.
"What do we do now?" She asked, hands tucked in her pocket and moving from foot to foot.
"Relax Valeria, we are fine here, I checked the grounds, no one is here, the place is still sealed off after the shooting, it's only a handful of security men at the entrance.
"What's Pete's problem? Isn't this gig causing too much fuss already?" Valeria asked.
"Why did you do it?" He asked
"I had to, it was the right thing to do"
"We are a family, you can't just betray us like that" he insisted.
"You won't understand Nick" she replied.
"Make me, we had a plan, you promised, we agreed and you..."
"You won't fucking understand! Stop, okay, I lost a child once, again lost a child because of a gig, a job I could have turned down, I let an innocent child die, there's no way in hell I'm letting that happen again" she snapped.
"Then you should have spoken with us, you should have told us what this was all about, we could have found a way around it all, we could've..."
"Could've done what? Left the boy? Given him back? No, I don't think so. You and Pete had your eyes so fixed on the stack I'm sure as hell nothing could talk you out of that" she replied
Nick looked away guiltily, he did want his stack cleaned and he knew she was right.
"So, what do we do now?" She asked.
"You give me the baby and fucking do as I say" Pete spoke, emerging from the tunnel and pointing a Glock right at her.
Valeria gasped, turning the look at Nick with hate and disdain.
"Nick? How could you? You pig!" She cursed and turned to Pete before taking off her cap and hoodie and facing him.
"I don't like what you've done with your hair" Pete stated with frown, his gun still at her.
"Put the gun down Pete, we can talk this out" Nick said.
"Talk? You led him to me with a gun to talk? How could you Nick? I trusted you" Valeria spat at him.
"And we trusted you, and want did you do? Take the job and run" Pete said and gave a shallow chuckle.
"He is a living and breathing child" she replied.
"He is a job! I know that and so do you. Now, let's not drag this any further. Brownson want to see his son before any more negotiations so I'll just take a few videos and you can do what you want with the child, I promise" Pete said with a shrug.
"That isn't happening" Valeria replied.
"I'm not kidding Vee, I'll let you have the child, it's a promise" he stated.
"Your promise isn't worth shit! You never keep to promises." She snapped and turning to Nick she asked. "How did you know I was still in Oregon?"
"Dumb guess. I knew you wouldn't go too far without us and you'd want to take care of the baby first." Pete replied for him.
"So you agreed to fish me out? Huh? You son of a bitch! " Valeria yelled at Nick.
"I know you trusted him, maybe because he's had his dick in you a couple of times or maybe because you both are weaklings that can't get anything done right!"  He said exasperatedly.
"Calm the fuck down Pete! We can work this out" Nick said and moved in in front of Valeria.
"Get out of the fucking way Nick, tell her to hand over the baby and get out" Pete ordered.
"Stop this, don't be stupid, we all know this isn't what we want, it's the bab..."
"I am not handing the baby over Pete, do your fucking worse" Valeria said and retrieved her gun, pointing it at Pete too.
Pete chuckled, nodded and stared at her.
"I know that gun is empty, I know we had the ammunitions stacked in a suitcase and I just counted them this morning, it's complete. Meaning your gun is empty Vee, don't be stupid, hand over the boy" Pete ordered.
"Not happening" she replied, pointing the empty gun at him nonetheless.
"Hey guys, stop it" Nick said and retrieved his own gun, pointing it at Pete.
Pete chuckled.
"Really? Two live birds huh? I should have known you'd be stupid too" Pete said.
"No one here is stupid but you, blood isn't always the answer, Valeria wants to safe a child's life, that isn't so difficult the understand. Why not let ushear her out and come to some neutral ground?" Nick asked.
"And lose my stack? I have come so close to be messed up by a bunch of pussies, you know what? Fuck you all, hand me the baby and you all can go to hell" Pete stated and waved the gun at both of them.
"Get to the car Valeria" Nick ordered, his gun still aimed at Pete as Pete's own was aimed at him.
"What? I can't just leave you__"
"Get to the fucking red jeep! Now!" Nick ordered and Valeria began to jog to the Jeep.
"You've never been so good at aiming Nick" Pete reminded him.
"That why I brought a 6 rounds revolver Pete, I can't miss all twelve, can I?" He asked.
"Is she worth it?" Pete asked.
"I don't know about her but I know that boy's been through enough, let's end this madness and give him back" Nick said.
"I will find you, know that" Pete said.
"I'll be waiting" Nick replied as Pete slowly retreated back into the dark tunnel until darkness engulfed him completely.
Nick went to the Jeep and climbed into the driver's seat before zooming out of the parking lot like the devil's minion were at his heel.