"No more food until I say so" Brownson whispered as the chef and the servant scurried out of the room.

"I will keep trying darling. I'll find him" he begged as he held her weak bony shoulders.

She jerked from his hold and moved to the window, starinh out without a word.

"I'll get this cleaned up" Senator Brownson said as he kissed her hair lightly and exited the room.

Outside the door, he heaved a frustrated sigh, smoothened he s shirt, righted his tie and descended the stairs.

A uniformed man sat on the large white couch, he rose as Brownson entered and offered a hand.

"Good morning Sir, my name is Detective Bryan, thank you for allowing me in your home" the younger man said.

Brownson have a very brief handshake and sat opposite, refusing the tea the servant offered.

"I was contacted by the state Department, I've heard the incident and I wanted to ask a few questions" he said.



FOUR DAYS LATER

"Pack your fucking bags! We're leaving" Pete said as he barge into the apartment. It was grey outside and night was steadily falling. The TV was left on and the volume was almost too loud. Pete hissed at their inattentiveness and muted the TV. He passed a discarded shirt on the floor and cursed.

"Nick! Why you gotta be so filthy? Don't you ever take care of your stuff? Leaving your shit everywhere on the floor" Pete swore as he moved to the bedrooms located east of the house. Inside Valeria's room, the baby was wailing mindlessly, tossing and turning with a used diaper on the floor, leaking unto the clean rug carpet.

"Fuck!" He swore and grabbed a blanket, throwing it over the mess on the floor, he grabbed the baby by the left foot and frowned at the foul smell, crinkling his nose in disgust, with another curse, he grabbed the sheets and wiped him, cleaning his butt th

"What do you suggest then? Hightail?" Nick asked as he emerged from the backdoor where he had lit a cigarette.

"And let our stack keep wasting? For every week we let that stuff sir, we risk losing it to other thieves, risk it being discovered too and let's not talk about the value going down in the black market. It's been years already, we clean it now or I don't know when else we'll get this chance again" Pete replied angrily.

"Then we must continue the job then. Baby sitters for life" Nick said with a sarcastic smile and sat on the floor, cross legged in his usual fashion.

"The old man won't let me call the shots, he's a persistent prick, he's using us big time, not even a step to cleaning our stack, I bet you he could do that with just a signature and a call but no, he's making sure he has what he wants first. He's wasting my darn time" Pete stated still fuming.

"Have you spoken w

"No more food until I say so" Brownson whispered as the chef and the servant scurried out of the room.

"I will keep trying darling. I'll find him" he begged as he held her weak bony shoulders.

She jerked from his hold and moved to the window, starinh out without a word.

"I'll get this cleaned up" Senator Brownson said as he kissed her hair lightly and exited the room.

Outside the door, he heaved a frustrated sigh, smoothened he s shirt, righted his tie and descended the stairs.

A uniformed man sat on the large white couch, he rose as Brownson entered and offered a hand.

"Good morning Sir, my name is Detective Bryan, thank you for allowing me in your home" the younger man said.

Brownson have a very brief handshake and sat opposite, refusing the tea the servant offered.

"I was contacted by the state Department, I've heard the incident and I wanted to ask a few questions" he said.

"Considering that's all I've been getting all week, please ask" Brownson agreed tiredly.

"I'm sorry

Chapter 9