Chapter 4

"Mr. Tom has made his deal, thsi gig couod be our retirement funds if we pull this off right" Pete assured as he sat at the edge of the mattress. "You keep saying that" Nick mumbled. "And it's true" "Let's hope it is" "It's simple, the boy stays here, we get the ransom, 70%-30% and___" "Greedy old fool" Valeria muttered. "That's not our concern. He's cleaning out stack, that's something we can't do on our own, remember? He's promised genuine-fake IDs, death certificates, immigration settlement, untraceable buyers for our stack, what more can we ask for? And we make lots of money while at it" Pete decided with a shrug. "Still, that's like highway robbery" Nick grumbled. "Not if the ransom is a hundred million dollars" Pete smirked. Valeria snickered. "He'd pay that for a child?" Nick wondered. "Let's find out, we'll need to coax him a little but I'm sure money's easy to spend when guy have it" he replied. "How long will this be? I'm looking forward to the Japan tour" she said. "You and jewelry Vee" Pete laughed heartily, a rare laugh. Valeria shrugged "Our Intel on that isn't coming yet and frankly I don't think we'll need another mere jewerly gig after this" he replied. "I don't know about you but I'm not done with the jewelry market just yet" she stated "This job first, we'll talk about the hood and diamonds later, shall we?" he decided and they both nodded, agreeing. "The baby is Moses" Pete said as he rose. "His name is Gary Jnr actually" Nick pointed out. "We can't go around calling him that, can we? He's Moses from now, our baby and your nephew" he said and watched the two as they looked about confusingly. "Why Moses? Why not Ben or Billy or___" "Those are names for puppies Nick, no one calls their child Billy or Ben" he ad with a frown and then added "This whole thing reminds me of the biblical Moses, stole at night" Pete replied with an ugly smirk. "Moses wasn't stolen" Valeria cut in with a frown. "He was taken by the Egyptian Pharoah's daughter" "Taken, stolen, potato patato, he's Moses because we took him" he decided. "That's absurd, the story doesn't go that way at all, the Princess takes Moses from where the mother hid him so he would be found and she asks the mother unknowingly to take care of the child for a reward later on, it isn't___" "I don't care Valeria. The boy's name is Moses and that's all" Pete said conclusively. "Drawn out of water" Nick said. "What?" Pete asked with a confused look. "That's what Moses means" she provided aptly. "I see you all know your Bibles stories. I don't care, he's Moses and he's taking us to the promise Land" Pete said and with that left the bedroom to smoke his marijuana wrap in the kitchen where the windows over looked the side of the lawn. "Moses doesn't get to the promise Land, he dies before then" Valeria announces as Nick guffaws at the whole ordeal. "Well, Moses is awake and needs his mama" Nick teased and left as well, leaving the baby with a very pissed off Valeria. The first night at the apartment passed uncomfortably as Moses cried through it, tossing and turning, keeping Valeria awake who in turn woke Nick and Pete and together they tarried wearily, wondering what the neighborhood would think about a wailing baby at night - all through the night actually. At first light, barely even 5:00am, Nick left the apartment, murmuring and cursing as he drove off in the old Ford, saying he needed a beer. Valeria now sat across the dinning room space, the baby laid on the couch, asleep and red after his night long wails. Pete wasn't in a better mood either, he paced the room from wall to wall, muttering and swearing all sort of obscenities. They both sat, appetite gone and so they ignored the lame breakfast of omelette and toast they had ordered from the cafe down the block. "Tom isn't paying me enough for this" Pete stated with a frown. "We could hire a nanny" Valeria suggested weakly, eyes sleep ridden with dark cycles around them, her shoulders lagged and head pounding. "I am beginning to think about that. Mr. Tom didn't agree though, it's supposed to be between us three, third parties are always loose ends" he replied and continued his pacing. "Then what? I can assure you I am not ready to make a repeat of last night for any reason" she declared and raised, stumbling over the side stool and wincing. "Nick is drinking this early? We need ideas not complains" he snapped "You got this job Pete, figure it out" "Really? Fine! I'll call you giysy for the next heist, rest assured this deal won't involve you, at all" he said and made to grab the baby off the cushion. "Hey, didn't mean it that way. It's just been a rough few days, didn't see this whole kidnap thing being so tedious, we'll be lucky if no one spots us carrying a baby forcefully across the state, so far, Brownson Jnr - u mean Moses - isn't accepting of any of us, how are you supposed to play the happy couple with a disagreeing baby?" Valeria asked incredulously. "You're a woman, if anyone should be liked by Moses then it's got to be you" "That's a cheap line, stop it" she snapped, a little aggressively. "Easy tigress, I was only reminding you of your job. You're the serpent remember? queen of deceit, chameleon, that's all you, figure it out" "If he was thirty years older and with a working cock then I'd explore my options" she retorted and left the apartment too. "I need a drink" Pete decided and grabbed his handgun, tucked it into his jacket pocket and exited the apartment with the baby stroller. __________________________________ Nick sat the the corner table of the small cafe, Pete and Valeria at the cafe counter making orders. The baby was still held by Valeria who now wore a sea green ankle length flowing, a scarf around her neck, her delicate feet clad in low heeled sandals and a large "mummy bag" to complete the look. Despite all this, eyes still turned at the cafe when she passed, men staring at her like some over covered piece of cake. Valeria relished the attention, it always worked in her favour at the end of the day, she walked alongside Pete, clutching the baby in her arms. Pete dropped the tray and dutifully pulled out the chair for Valeria who sat and passed him a loving smile. "You guys are making me sick with the whole love thing" Nick snickered as he emptied his cup of coffee and slouched a bit on the padded bench. Pete sat down, completely ignoring his comment and instead pulled out his phone and handed it to Nick. "Mr. Tom sent us the city's blueprint. I think you should study it" Pete said. "When are we taking applications for the nanny?" Valeria asked as Moses still clutched at her v-neck line, scratching her cleavage with his stubby nails and wiping saliva on her. "I don't think the baby needs a nanny just yet" Pete replied absentmindedly and ate his first bite of meal that day, a bit muffin laced with syrup and a cup of latte. "Like hell he does" Valeria snapped a little too loudly and slammed down her fork. "Don't make a scene Vee" Pete shot her a cold warning and patted her back for show. Valeria smiled dramatically and passed the baby to him of which he took him and rocked him, dropping his fork. "There are three police stations around the city, one at the boundary, one down the game reserves and another about a mile from here. Thankfully none is making the papers so that's good right?" Nick said as he passed back the phone. "My thoughts too. Lower crime rates mean lazy officers and lazy officers mean slow response. Hopefully we don't need that information at any time" Pete said as he took the baby formula and handed it to Valeria, nodding at the baby without another word. Valeria took the boy and began to feed him, he drank greedily from the bottle, almost letting himself choke on the milk. "The little guy was starved" Nick noted as he stared at Valeria's neckline a little too long. "Have you contacted Tom? It's too quiet, there's ought to be negotiations by now" Valeria said. "My thoughts exactly. I can't reach Tommy. There's a tendency the whole Capitol Hill is under investigation and their lines could be tapped. We'll be meeting tomorrow at an undisclosed location" Pete said as he ate his food much more slowly than Nick had. "Can't wait to go back to Russia, we had a better deal there" Nick murmured. "We need to clean our stack first, that's more important that whatever petty deal we had in Russia and this is the job that'll help us do that, and don't forget, it's our bid, our price, our call" Pete stated. "Our trouble too, I hope we sleep this time, I won't hesitate to use a duct tape" Nick threatened with a frown at the baby. The trio all smiled at the thought. "So we wait?" Valeria queried. Pete nodded and leaned to whisper to Valeria. "I think the baby needs to burp after the meal, something about digestion" he said with a shrug. "Here darling, why don't you help me make the baby burp, I really need to use the restroom" Valeria responded a little too loudly and with a sickly sweet smile, she rose, smoothened her dress over and made a sashay to the bathroom, eliciting a laugh from Nick. __________________________________