“I don’t know what’s worse, the rattling of the bottles over every bump or the smell. From now on we aren’t taking any milk bottle returns unless they have been washed out. The whole car stinks like baby vomit”.

  “How could you know anything about baby vomit?” Amos asked not aware that Alanah had ever mentioned any younger siblings before. “ oh…I tried babysitting once, it went ok until it didn’t. It’s true what they say, you really shouldn’t have any strenuous activity after eating, especially young kids. Anyways, the mom overreacted big time to a bit of barf on the baby but in a small town that was enough to ruin my career as a babysitter.”

  “Ever since then, I have hated the smell of old milk and this car totally reeks of it. I told you we should’ve gotten a truck”.

  “We’ll see, maybe just maybe that might make some sense, getting a truck or a van.”

  “God no….no vans.. that’s the only car that can be both boring and creepy at the same time and of course you want one.”

  It was turning out to be a nice day, they were very close to the farm and Alanah was hoping for a horse ride if she could sneak off

  while Amos and Randy unloaded and loaded the car. Yes, she was playing the victim a little but for Simon and Andi but they seemed to like to dote on her and besides, loading the car was a two man job. She would make up for it by trying to sell out their stall later on at the Charlestown Farmers Market.

  They had done well last week and they were hoping to get there earlier, to connect with repeat customers and to sell a lot more overall.

  Just over two hours later they were fed, happy and back on their way to Boston. Amos thought again to himself how lucky he was to

  have connected with Jim. It was the old revolver in his pocket that had brought him to the shop in the first place, hoping for ammunition and instead, that enquiry had turned into so much more.

  This was the problem with fate however, sometimes it is just as likely that a small event, seemingly inconsequential, can also lead to one terrible outcome after another. A wrong turn or perhaps leaving five minutes earlier than usual could create unintended consequences that could lead to life altering outcomes.

  Their day at the market went smoothly and Alanah was in complete control. She was a natural at sales and Amos really only could help with moving and restocking their merchandise. Once they had accumulated a full case of empty milk bottles Alanah sent him off to the market entrance to find a hose so that he could wash out the bottles.

  He was reluctant to leave her but she insisted. At the height of the market, there were enough vendors and shoppers around that no one would likely bother Alanah. In the end, Amos had to agree with Alanah’s assessment and he trudged off with his first case of empty bottles to be washed.

  On his second trip back Amos noticed a young boy, no older than eight years of age, talking with Alanah. When he go closer he saw he was a smaller boy with large, fluffy black curls of hair and very striking pale blue-grey eyes. “It’s six dollars for a dozen. Do you have six dollars for the carton of eggs?”

  Alanah was leaning forwards and smiling at the boy who looked up at Alanah with a timid and slightly confused expression. “I go get the money from my Nonna. Please save me one carton. I will come back”.

  Alanah smiled and said “tell you what, tell me your name and I will write in on top and that way we can set them aside and we know not to sell them”. “”It’s Pietro, P-i-e-t-r-o. Ok, I will go and I come right back”. The little boy turned and ran off towards one of the park exits.

  “What a cute kid and he didn’t even stink like baby vomit. That reminds me, here is another case to be washed. Now off you go, we can’t have our fancy car smelling like cat barf can we?”

  Amos smiled as he walked away. Most of Alanah’s jokes were good natured and he was happy to be the butt of them if that meant that she was in a good place mentally.

  After the market had ended and as he helped Alanah pack up the last of the empty cases of bottles along with her bags into the car she remarked “that’s odd, we still have little Pietro’s eggs set aside here but no sign of him. I guess he forgot to come back so this means a few days of omelets for us then. …oh wait, here he comes.”

  Amos looked and saw the little dark-haired boy running over to meet them. Alanah went over to him and handed him the carton of eggs. After handing her a couple of bills he held out his short arms and took the eggs. He gave Alanah a big smile and then turned and started proudly down the walkway and managed to trip and fall onto the grass just a few steps away.

  As he fell he let go of the egg cartoon and it landed on its side with the cardboard top opening and eggs spilling out onto the grass. Alanah put her hands to her mouth and gasped, more out of pity than anything else and as Pietro looked up at her his face looked like it was soon going to break out into tears.

  Alanah moved to comfort the small boy and Amos went and bent over to salvage what he could of the eggs. From a small distance away, the older boy Silvio had been watching his much younger cousin Pietro put on an award worthy performance as an innocent little child. Pietro was actually a very important part of his fledgling pick pocket operation that had been working well lately if they were able to find suitable marks within a crowd.

  Today his marks were very specific and so far Piero had done splendidly. As the older boy started to repack eggs into the cartoon Silvio came up quickly behind him and as he bumped into Amos he deftly fished out his revolver from his pocket. It was the same pocket that Silvio had observed Amos fussing with last week and now this week and he was certain that the gun would be there.

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  “Hey, watch it. I don’t want to fall into these eggs” Amos caught his balance and straightened up to see who had knocked into him. As he turned around he came face to face with a larger boy, probably sixteen years of age who had a mean, hardened set to his face. This boy was somehow holding his revolver at his chest and his desperate pat at his side pocket confirmed his fears.

  “Turn around and walk slowly towards the girl” Silvio hissed at him in a low, even voice. “Do not yell or run, I can still shoot you and get the reward you know.”

  Amos stomach did a quick, uneasy turn inside of him as soon as he heard the term reward. Damn it, this was what Jim was warning about. For Christ’s sake we should not have come here, the North End is just across the Washington Street Bridge and now we have gotten too close to Giorgio’s buddies. What does this kid want?

  Alanah was joking with Pietro as she helped him up and soon he had a big smile on his face. It must have seemed off to Alanah or perhaps she wondered what the small boy was staring at behind her. She quickly turned her head and then suddenly stood up in surprise as she saw how Silvio had his gun trained on Amos as they moved towards her.

  “Grab her gun Pietro, it’s in the right side pocket on her pant leg.” The smaller boy moved to her leg and extracted the gun with quick, graceful motion developed from practiced misdirection and theft from people on crowded streets.

  He looked at Alanah “Get in the car now, you ride in back with my cousin and you” he said jabbing the revolver into the small of Amos back, “you come with me to the passenger door. I want you to climb in and over to the driver’s seat, I get in right behind you and I will shoot you if you try anything.”

  Amos tried to catch Alanah’s eye but it was too hard to do so and climb over the seats at the same time. By the time he was settled in the drivers seat Silvio had closed the passenger door and was turned towards Amos with the gun pointed right at him.

  “Now you drive and take it easy, any wrong move and I shoot. We still get the reward even if you don’t live. Now drive to the bridge, we’re going to cross it nice and slow.”

  Amos slowly fished out the keys under the calm watchful eyes of Silvio and then started the little car towards the route that would lead them to the bridge. He was sure that they would be driving into the North End of Boston and that any reward for them had to be coming because of their attack on Giorgio’s restaurant.

  This is bad, this is so bad. Think, think…what do I need to do first? Amos was trying to calm himself down. He knew that they absolutely could not be delivered to anyone in the North End or else they would really be in trouble. Somehow, he had to get himself and Alanah out of the car.

  As he drove along Common Street his mind jumped from option to option. He couldn’t hope to grab the gun and what about that little rat in back, did he have Alanah’s gun out?

  Amos stole a look in the rearview mirror but the kid was sitting directly behind his cousin looking right at Alanah and Amos couldn’t see his hands. The next time he looked Silvio shouted “eyes on the road” at him but he was able to catch a glimpse at Alanah and in the brief moment they made eye contact she nodded her head slightly at him.

  Shit…even the small one has a gun on us. Both of them will shoot me if I try to make any lunges at them. Shit…shit…shit…think..

  He turned onto Park Street and slowly made his way towards Warren Street. The bridge was close now and soon they would be across the Charles river and in the North End. As he turned left onto Warren Street Amos was cut off by a newer two door Mustang as he came up to the stop sign ahead at Chelsea Street.

  Amos looked at the sports car ahead that had just cut in front of him and he that is when he saw his chance. Instead of coming to a stop behind the Mustang Amos allowed the little Corolla to run right into the back of the sports car just as it was starting to pull away from the stop sign.

  Even at a slow speed it was a sudden and jarring impact that caught Silvo off guard and threw him forwards into the dashboard. Amos had his seatbelt on and was saved from hitting the wheel by the automatic tensioner in the seatbelt. Alanah and the smaller boy were not so fortunate and both crashed into the seatbacks ahead of them.

  “Hey, what the fuck did you just …..”

  Pfffwooosssshhh

  Silvio did not finish what he was saying because Amos had grabbed for the small fire extinguisher in the front door pocket and had hit Silvio with a blast of the dry chemical powder from a three foot distance.

  The inside in the little car was immediately filled with an acrid, white, powdery cloud that billowed everywhere. Holding his breath and closing his eyes Amos aimed anther blast where the smaller boy had landed against the front seat.

  Pfffwooosssshhh

  Amos reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt and threw open the door. His eyes were stinging and he could barely see let alone breathe. As he stumbled out of the car he saw that the driver of the Mustang had also gotten out of his car and was staring at the scene unfolding behind him.

  A gun shot rang out from the front of the Corolla and the drivers window broke away at the top. Amos dove to his hands and knees and started to scramble around the back of the Toyota. As he did two more shots were fired through the drivers window completely blowing it free from the car door.

  Once he was safely behind the car he stood and ran around to the front passenger door and yanked it open. The cloud of white chemical dust was starting to settle and Amos could easily make out the back of Silvio’s head which he targeted with the half empty fire extinguisher.

  The metal container smacked into the back of the boys head with a thud and his body started to go limp in the seat. Amos reached in and wrenched the gun from his hand and then allowed Silvo and the fire extinguisher to fall into the road.

  He moved to the rear door and yanked it open next while holding the gun towards the smaller boy. All the fight had left the poor young boy as soon as he had been hit in the face with the blast from the extinguisher. Allanah had already grabbed for her revolver and taken it back from the smaller boy and he was in now tears and covering his head with his hands.

  “Are you ok Alanah?” Amos called into the car. “I can barely see but yeah, let’s get out of here.”

  “Ok, I am going to pull both of them completely out and then I will get us as far away as I can”.

  The small boy came willingly and was left on the side of the street. “Stay here, don’t move until we go. Do you understand?” Amos did not wait for a response and proceeded to pull out Silvo from the car and then closed the door. The older boy was covered in white powder from the waist up and still seemed dazed from the blow to the head.

  Amos slammed the door and started for the drivers side. The driver of the Mustang had seen enough and when Amos pocketed his gun and started coming back around his car, he hoped back in his car and took off.

  Amos did not linger either. Fortunately the little car had only suffered a dented and misaligned bumper as a result of the impact and Amos was able to drive off as if nothing had happened.

  “Are you sure you’re ok?” he asked Alanah once again. “Yes, fine, what about you, that bastard was shooting at you.”

  “I know, I know…it was a risk, I just did not know what else to do and as soon as that Mustang cut in front I thought if I hit him then maybe it would be enough of a distraction to get the spray. I was also hoping the driver would have stayed around and helped us out.”

  “What now?”

  “We need to go to Jim’s. He can help clean us up especially our eyes and faces and then the car as well.

  We need to tell him what happened. He had been warning us for weeks and weeks now and he was right. These people have been looking for us the entire time and now we need to take this seriously and know what we are up against”.

  They drove towards Jim’s place in silence, Amos was deep in thought.

  When they were almost there Amos almost whispered to Alanah “I’m so sorry Alanah. This is getting out of hand and I think we need to get out of Boston. Do you have anywhere safe that you can go for a while?”