"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 its true"
"Lets hope it is"
"Its simple, the boy stays here, we get the ransom, 70%-30% and___"
"Greedy old fool" Valeria muttered.
"Thats not our concern. Hes cleaning out stack, thats something we cant do on our own, remember? Hes 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, thats like highway robbery" Nick grumbled.
"Not if the ransom is a hundred million dollars" Pete smirked.
Valeria snickered.
"Hed pay that for a child?" Nick wondered.
"Lets find out, well need to coax him a little but Im sure moneys easy to spend when guy have it" he replied.
"How long will this be? Im looking forward to the Japan tour" she said.
"You and jewelry Vee" Pete laughed heartily, a rare laugh.
Valeria shrugged
"Our Intel on that isnt coming yet and frankly I dont think well need another mere jewerly gig after this" he replied.
"I dont know about you but Im not done with the jewelry market just yet" she stated
"This job first, well 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 cant go around calling him that, can we? Hes 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 wasnt stolen" Valeria cut in with a frown. "He was taken by the Egyptian Pharoahs daughter"
"Taken, stolen, potato patato, hes Moses because we took him" he decided.
"Thats absurd, the story doesnt 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 isnt___"
"I dont care Valeria. The boys name is Moses and thats all" Pete said conclusively.
"Drawn out of water" Nick said.
"What?" Pete asked with a confused look.
"Thats what Moses means" she provided aptly.
"I see you all know your Bibles stories. I dont care, hes Moses and hes 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 doesnt 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 wasnt 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 isnt 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 didnt agree though, its 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! Ill call you giysy for the next heist, rest assured this deal wont involve you, at all" he said and made to grab the baby off the cushion.
"Hey, didnt mean it that way. Its just been a rough few days, didnt see this whole kidnap thing being so tedious, well be lucky if no one spots us carrying a baby forcefully across the state, so far, Brownson Jnr - u mean Moses - isnt accepting of any of us, how are you supposed to play the happy couple with a disagreeing baby?" Valeria asked incredulously.
"Youre a woman, if anyone should be liked by Moses then its got to be you"
"Thats a cheap line, stop it" she snapped, a little aggressively.
"Easy tigress, I was only reminding you of your job. Youre the serpent remember? queen of deceit, chameleon, thats all you, figure it out"
"If he was thirty years older and with a working cock then Id 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.
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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 citys 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 dont 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.
"Dont 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 thats 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 dont 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 Valerias neckline a little too long.
"Have you contacted Tom? Its too quiet, theres ought to be negotiations by now" Valeria said.
"My thoughts exactly. I cant reach Tommy. Theres a tendency the whole Capitol Hill is under investigation and their lines could be tapped. Well be meeting tomorrow at an undisclosed location" Pete said as he ate his food much more slowly than Nick had.
"Cant wait to go back to Russia, we had a better deal there" Nick murmured.
"We need to clean our stack first, thats more important that whatever petty deal we had in Russia and this is the job thatll help us do that, and dont forget, its our bid, our price, our call" Pete stated.
"Our trouble too, I hope we sleep this time, I wont 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 dont 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.
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