Chapter 6
The bush had an eerie red ting to the colouring, it made the green look purplish and Valeria hated purple a lot. She was crouched under a shrub, the wetness of the leaves dripping on her sweaty face, mixed with tears and snot and making a messy slime that dripped and ruined her makeup. Clutched in her arms was a baby, a girl not older than one year, a cotton wool stuffed in her mouth as she wailed mutely.
Valeria was holding her breathe, afraid a single inhale or exhale would draw the beast in the forest right to her, despite the darkness and the miles she had ran, she could smell him, right there, close, too close. Valeria gasped as a stiff hand fell on her shoulder. She leaked more tears from her eyes, unwilling to look at the sight she knew would be gruesome.
"Please, please" she begged brokenly, but yet, as she turned, her eyes met a headless baby, the neck had a rose protruding from it, Valeria yelled and turned to the bundle in her arm, it was the head of the girl she had just cuddled seconds ago, eyes blank____
Valeria tossed and jerked before sitting upright, the sleep far removed from her eyes. She panted and wiped the remnants of the tears that had followed her out of her nightmares. Draping a night dress over her sheer gown, she slipped on her comfy crocs and peeped at the baby that lay on the cot beside her. Moses was still sound asleep, clutching her valued Chinese beads, infact, the boy hadn't parted with the bead since he practically stole it off her neck that night.
Valeria tried prying it out of his chubby fingers but his hold tightened and he stretched, moving to the left and away from her prying hands. Valeria looked at the boy, he had messy brown hair, a round adorable face and skin as soft and smooth as porcelain. She decided he bore no resemblance to Senator Brownson who was a pale looking wry man, with blonde hair and a long tired looking face. The baby was the polar opposite of the Senator actually, he was fast grower and at the age of one year and a few weeks, he could sit up, throw a tantrum and babble when excited.
Staring at the innocence he radiated and the carefree way he slept, Valeria wondered if the boy knew what danger he was in, apparently little Moses didn't. He didn't cry as much as they'd speculated and when he was fed and his diapers changed, he became a little angel and just minded his business. Valeria felt pity for him, since the beginning of this operation, she was now questioning how she had allowed Pete talk them into this. The boy didn't know them and yet he innocently trusted them, not throwing as much fit like she had envisaged and allowing her hold him. That, was something that broke her heart no matter how much thick skin life had cloaked her with. When Pete and discussed this operation with them, he'd made it clear it would be fast and swift and she prayed it stayed that way, she didn't know what to do with a 12 months old baby and watching him everyday was fraying her heart bit by bit. Valeria sighed, bent and placed a small kiss on Moses' forehead, silently praying the Senator reaches them soon and Moses goes home to his mother, it must be hell for her, she knew it from experience.
The water was becoming cool, Valeria soaked in the lavender bath, lost in thoughts and humming an old childhood tone. One her mother sang for her when she scrapped a knee or lost a favourite toy. It was an old Catholic hymn about faith and hope and although she'd long forgotten the title and propose, two verses stuck in her head even after thirty years. As she washed her hair and sponged her bathe, she couldn't help but listen closely if Moses had woken from sleep yet. It was merely 7:03am but the sun was streaming unto the house and the noise from outside was complete with car honks and loud greetings. The summer was waking the city up way earlier than usual and Valeria didn't have a problem with that, she was an early riser, always had been.
The bathroom door creaked open and Pete strolled in leisurely, undisturbed by her nude state. Valeria herself had long learnt to be unashamed of her own skin, infact she'd learnt to be proud of it and use it to her advantage but if Pete's invasion surprised her, she didn't let it snow on her freshly washed face.
"Came to check if the boy was awake" Pete whispered lowly as he sat on the tub edge.
"He's slept fine tonight" she muttered back, eyes closed and head leaning back.
"Who wouldn't, when you're there with them?" Pete replied with a soft smile.
"Flattery don't work on me"
"Good, because it ain't flattery Vee" he said, his lips just shy of her ears.
"I don't know why you push me away Vee" he continued, hands slipping into the bathtub slowly.
"Simple, business and pleasure don't mix" Valeria replied, eyes still shut.
"We could be a lot more, we could marry, elope, leave all this behind and start an empire, make others work for us. Just you and me, with you beside me we'd be formidable" he whispered, his hands softly caressing her breasts covered in suds.
"I'm working with you Pete and that means we can't be anything more" she replied.
"One more time then? Why don't we try it out, you never know"
"I know, we'll start being skittish and jealous and that'll mess the team up, it's better this way, Pete" she responded, jerking herself away from his touch.
"Are you sure? I don't bite" he cooed softly.
"And I'd make you my queen, remember how we were?" He asked.
"I was drunk Pete and so were you and that was before I knew who you were" she replied, eyes now open.
"Doesn't matter, I still want you, Vee" he murmured.
"We have a job Pete, let's focus" she said and sat up "The baby's awake" she added just as the cry could be heard from the bedroom, she slipped out of the tub, strode to the shower and turned it on, taking a bathe right in front of him before toweling herself and wrapping up a towel.
Pete gave one final hard look at her and left without another word.
Valeria heaved a sigh and sagged on the shower floor, it was wet as expected and the cold water flowed around her comfortingly. Pete was not the sort of man she wanted, infact if she was being fair then neither was Nick. It all had happened and although she wasn't very regretful of the act, she didn't exactly bask in it or feel all loved up over it. She knew it was simply a necessity and she treated if as such.
There had perhaps been a time in some far off future when she didn't treat sex with the same mentality and spirit she treated it now. That time was no doubt very far fetched and she couldn't quite remember it anymore, at least not as clearly. It was like a far off and very sketchy memory that she needed a good couple of minutes to actually bring to the fore front of her mind.
But if she did think hard and long enough, she could remember a time when she was eager to please men and got none of the pleasure in return. A time she believed and lived like getting some pleasure herself was something to be shy or scared or nervous about. A time she would rather go home today her vibrator at home even though she had just clearly made a man very very satisfied with her own body.
Well, that time had long passed and she wasn't sorry or at the very least remorseful to say that the time wasn't ever coming back to her life. She now knew her worth and discovered that whatever mindset she had at her earlier years were infact doctored by the very patriarchal society she lived in and as expected, the women were made to cow and now to the male population without having a mind of their own, like a glorified zombie or a doll or puppet to be controlled.
It was in her late 20s, she was still rocking the body that most women of the age would literally pay to get. It wasn't under he knife, no, hard work and a great genetic build that she did owe to her late mother had given her quite the perfect body for the dresses and the right ones at that. She was a little - maybe not so little anymore - girl just exploring the world of sex and physical pleasure that she had been introduced to from a very young age. It was something she almost felt embarrassed about, like her body was some useful tool yet she couldn't be satisfied with having it.
It was a certain meeting with a Swedish lady that changed such mindset. It wasn't like she had sex with her no - but her initial intention and mission had been to - after all, it wasn't at all a new or strange task to her. It was all part of the job and she knew and did it as such. She had found out that it didn't matter what she had to do, or who she had to pretend to be, she become a dozen different people within a month or week, depending on how steady the jobs flowed in. Infact, in her whole life time, she had become not less than a couple hundreds of thousands of people, male, female, shemale, lawyers, doctors, pilots, fashionistas, mother, father, stripper, artist, writer, painter, musician, dancer, school teacher, waitress, spy, cleaner and as many occupations as one could think of within the U.S soil and outside it's shores.
Well, her Swedish target had turned out to be bisexual and Valeria had been turned into a voyeur, simply sitting down to enjoy the show which in all honesty was one hell of a show. The way she had responded and gave out was what had thought Valeria that day how exactly a women had power over every sexual encounter and how she had to use it to the best of her abilities and to her utmost satisfaction and heart's content.
Valeria had gone home that day, from a successful mission and a lesson learnt that perhaps, being a woman did not mean bowing to the men all the time. She didn't have a problem with bowing though, she often did when the situation demanded and more often than not, it demanded just that. The men, men in general with just a handful of exceptions fed off of fear and the respect they had from women. At first, many would want to think it and call it just respect but the more you dug in, the more you realised that fear was what they actually lived off and not the respect they pretended to.
Sometimes, it was even subconscious and she admitted it. Some men were hungry for power and desired to be feared by both men but most especially by women. Why? Well, she had her theory. Respect demanded that you feel humbled, proud of and so submit willingly to the person, doing what will please them both in their before which is their presence and behind them which is their absence. Respect isn't a thing demonstrated only when the subject is seen in sight or when word would get to them, that becomes sycophancy and she knew it.
Fear however was not as demanding. Fear simply required that you do what pleased the subject at all times because you do not want the consequences or the counter effect and the results that would come if you didn't. It was quite simple, it was fear that men wanted, not obey them was just what they thought they want. What they actually sought for in actuality is fear and each day they strive to suck it out of women. A typical man didn't care if you loved him or respected him, if you simply feared him enough then that was all, you would follow his instructions and he would be happy to be pleased.
Valeria hissed at the thought, she was getting chilled from the running water and the cold tiled floor, she rose, wrapped the still wet towel over her body and went into the bedroom.