Human Conditioning (30 page)

Mr Baker paced up and down his hallway several times
before he decided to make some breakfast. When he entered his bedroom twenty
minutes later, he was carrying a tray with a glass of orange juice on it, some
toast and a plate of fried eggs and bacon.

Gina was on high alert, having
heard snippets of his telephone conversation, and she stared wide-eyed up at
him as he placed the tray on the bedside table. “What happened?” she asked, and
she was all ears as he began recounting the phone call to Aiden, leaving out
the part where Aiden had a girl with him.

“He couldn’t care less about
you or the kid, Gina, so why do you care so much about him!” he exclaimed when
she asked him if Aiden seemed upset about the baby.

She was overwhelmed by his
fury as he paced the room, telling her all the things he’d like to do to Aiden
Foster, and as he finally came to sit beside her on the bed, she placed a hand
over his. He instinctively curled his fingers around hers and squeezed her hand
affectionately.

“Kieran.”

“Kieran?” she asked.

“That’s my name,” he announced,
and taking a piece of toast from the tray beside him, he offered it to her with
a hint of a smile.

Gina shook her head. “I’m
really not that hungry,” she said.

He sighed. Dropping the toast
back on the tray, he gazed back at her. “You’re beautiful, do you know that?” he
whispered.

Gina was just about to respond
when there was a rap on the front door. Mr Baker reluctantly released her hand
and left the room. He closed the door behind him and Gina could only hear the
muffled sound of voices as she sat upright in her bed, listening intently. The
conversation didn’t last long, and she was sure she’d heard a thud, but the
loud crash that came after was indisputable and she slipped out of the bed and
slowly rose to her feet. She could hardly feel her legs as she walked across
the room, as quickly as she could, and she wobbled and had to grasp hold of the
doorknob to prevent herself from falling against the door. She listened for a
moment but there was only silence on the other side now.

She opened the door and poked
her head out. There was a small corridor leading to the main hallway between
the two bedrooms on that side of the apartment, and she crept down it in the
silence that resumed. As she came out into the main hallway, she saw that the
front door was open, then her eyes fell to the body of Mr Baker, which lay
still, a pool of blood beneath his head and expanding over the tiles before her
eyes. A bullet had been shot into his skull, directly between his eyes.

December 1989

When Aiden strolled into The Stag, Reggie was sitting at
the bar chatting to Damien. Reggie greeted him with a wide smile. “Happy birthday,
my boy! Twenty years today! How time flies, eh?”

“Oh, shit, yeah... I’d
forgotten...”

Reggie sensed Aiden’s unease
and ordered him a whisky. When he passed the drink to him, he surveyed his
demeanour. Trying to work out Aiden’s moods had got easier over the years.
Reggie could almost read the man like a book, but Aiden never failed to surprise
him. “What’s up?” he asked with concern. Truth was, he had some good news for
Aiden, and he would appreciate it if the temperamental bastard could be on good
form to hear it.

“Nothing, mate,” Aiden lied.
“Just a couple of Mr Baker’s girls have been giving me a bit of aggro. They’re
not happy that I’ve taken over.” He shrugged, conveying his total lack of interest
in their feelings. “They’re annoying the fuck out of me, getting above their
station.”

“Well, that’s what happens
when you try and work with independent women, mate. These girls are determined.
Most of them are fucking scarier than we are!”

“Tell me about it,” Aiden
muttered, taking a large gulp of his whisky.

“You should stick ’em on crack.
They’d pipe down then...”

Both Reggie and Aiden stared
at Damien in disbelief, unsure whether it was the nature of what he had
suggested or whether it was because it was
Damien
who had suggested it –
a man who had never expressed any interest in any element of their line of work
before. “That’s pretty sick, Damien. We leave that shit to the fucking Eastern
Europeans,” Reggie responded with distaste.

Aiden gulped his drink.
Damien’s suggestion wasn’t at all a bad one. He knew of procurers like him who
fed their girls heroin rather than pay them a wage. They hooked their girls up
so bad that they’d do
anything
in return for a buzz. The thought was an
appealing one as he thought of the shit he was receiving from some of the late
Mr Baker’s oldest and most loyal employees.

The eventual takeover of Mr
Baker’s business, apartment and a few other small brothels in his name – all
bought and paid for with a mix of his money and a generous payment from Kamal,
who had become a sleeping partner as a result of his contributions – had given
him kudos that he’d not ever achieved before. He was earning massively and, in
their world, the amount of money you made spoke volumes. From MPs to members of
the police force and court officials, they were all
his
clients now. He
had them in his pocket and this had given him instant power.

He was finally the master of
his universe, with far more clout than the big man standing before him with a
wide grin on his chops. He had to face facts: he had outgrown his old friend.
Reggie was nothing to the likes of the people he associated with nowadays,
nothing compared to what he himself had become. Reggie was, with all due respect,
a big fish in a very small pond, and though Aiden was grateful to him for his
start in the life, he knew that the time was coming to go their separate ways.
He didn’t even like going to the pub anymore. It was a shithole; it was beneath
him.

“Aiden, I’ve got something to
ask you.”

Reggie’s deep voice penetrated
Aiden’s thoughts and he automatically focused on his old friend. “What’s that,
then?”

“I’d like to offer you a
partnership! Instead of working for me, I’d like you to work
with
me.”

“Oh...” Aiden blinked at him,
not knowing quite how else to respond.

“Well, don’t sound too fucking
enthused!” Reggie laughed.

Aiden downed the remaining
contents of his glass and set it down on the bar, nodding at Damien for
another. “Sorry, Reg, you’ve just taken me by surprise...”

“So?”

Aiden smiled, but the smile
didn’t touch his eyes. “Yes, mate... of course...” His reply was strained.

Reggie was overwhelmed at the prospect
of their joint venture. Damien set down Aiden’s second glass of whisky and one
for Reggie, and, though Aiden couldn’t be further from happy, they both raised
their glasses and toasted their new partnership.

New Year’s Eve seemed a fitting time for Reggie to
celebrate Aiden’s agreement to become his partner. The pumping music
reverberated through the wall of the back bar in The Stag as Aiden drank heavily
with Reggie, Connor, Damien and Damien’s newly acquired bit on the side, Lisa
Maddox.

Two bottles of tequila and
three bottles of Glenmorangie had been placed on the table and, whilst Reggie
did a good job of polishing off the tequila, Aiden and the others took care of
the whisky.

Reggie stood and raised his
shot glass. “I’d like to make a toast!” He wobbled slightly and the others
laughed merrily. “I remember the first day Aiden came to my flat. I remember
thinking, ‘fuck this kid’s tall, but Jesus, he’s skinny’!” Everyone laughed at
that. “Do you remember what you first said to me, Aiden?”

Aiden smirked. “Yeah, I asked
if you were the bloke who sold
ash
!”

“
Ash
?” Connor laughed.

Aiden puffed a laugh and
Reggie went on, “He was only fucking twelve years old, bless him! I thought to
meself, ‘this boy’s got some bollocks, being so young and to come to some big
Rasta’s door looking for a smoke’! So, I let you in, didn’t I, Aiden? I asked you
if you’d ever smoked before...”

“I said ‘yeah, ’course’...” Aiden
announced, rolling his eyes at his own naivety.

“’Course you fucking did, and
you choked like hell when I gave you a toke. Now look atcha, eh? I knew you
were something special and you didn’t let me down!”

Reggie winked at Aiden and
felt all the respect he had for the handsome young man before him, dressed in
the Armani suit he’d bought for him for the special occasion. He had been like
a father to Aiden since he’d come into his life eight years ago. He’d felt the
need to look after him from the moment he’d seen his skinny frame standing
nervously at his door. He didn’t understand why he’d felt so compelled to stand
by Aiden Foster. The young man just had a way about him. Like a magnet, he drew
people in, making them want to know him better. He was a hard worker too, and
Reggie respected a grafter. He raised his glass higher and said, “To Aiden, my
new business partner!”

Everyone raised their glasses.
“To Aiden!”

Just then, the door opened and
one of the temporary barmen, hired just for the New Year celebrations, walked
over to Damien. He whispered in his ear then left. Damien downed the dregs of
his pint and disappeared to the front of the bar. When he reappeared in the
back room, he announced, “Aiden, there’s a bird in the bar asking for you...”

Aiden frowned. “Who?”

“She wouldn’t say, but she’s
sitting at the bar. I’ve given her a glass of champagne to keep her busy.
Pretty girl... well-kept by the looks of her.”

Aiden looked at Reggie and
Reggie raised his eyebrows. He took his drink and left the table. Strolling out
into the main bar, he searched the crowd. Damien caught his attention and
pointed to the far end of the bar. When Aiden’s eyes fell on his visitor, he
felt a lurch in his stomach so strong that he thought the ground had collapsed
beneath him, and the rush of blood to his head sobered him immediately. Draining
his glass, he dropped it onto the nearest table then, walking through the
crowd, made his way over to the young woman who was sipping from a champagne
flute, glancing uneasily around the bar.

When her eyes fell on Aiden
emerging from the crowd, her glass froze halfway to her mouth and she stared at
him anxiously, and when he finally stepped up to her, she placed the glass on
the bar, cleared her throat and said, “Hello, Aiden.”

He immediately took her hand,
and pulling her gently off her stool, he led her outside where only the hum of
the thumping music could be heard. It was freezing, and condensation bellowed
from their mouths as they breathed, but neither could feel the cold now.

Aiden stared at the young
woman for a moment. He was aware that he hadn’t yet spoken, but he wasn’t quite
sure what to say. The surge of longing inside him made him want to whip her up
in his arms and embrace her, but he knew that wouldn’t be appropriate. Still silent,
he pulled a box of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and offered the box to
her. She shook her head and he proceeded to light one for himself and pulled
hard on it. Exhaling quietly, he stared intently at the pretty blonde before
him.

“You pleased to see me?” she
asked shyly.

Aiden took another long drag,
exhaled, then began to bite his thumbnail. It was a sign of nervousness that he
didn’t show much these days. “What you doing here, Lils?” he finally said.

A timid smile crept on Lily
Summers’s pink lips. “My aunt’s having a house party. She lives around the
corner...” she paused then went on to explain, “I went to Carlton House earlier.
I bumped into your sister’s friend Jennifer. She told me you’d moved out and
Kate had mentioned that you’d be here celebrating... you’ve gone into
partnership with somebody?” she tailed off and watched Aiden as he puffed on
his cigarette, uneasily. She gulped. “I just wanted to see you,” she finally
admitted. Aiden flicked his drained cigarette onto the road and immediately lit
up another. “I see you still haven’t kicked the habit,” she said bashfully.

“You know me. I don’t ever
change,” he replied.

“No.”

Lily stared down at her hands,
with a yearning inside of her that she knew all too well. To finally be before Aiden
Foster now, after what seemed like a lifetime, only made that feeling stronger.
Their conversation was waning, and she wanted it to last forever. Aiden had
never been one for expressing his true feelings very well when it came to
matters of the heart, but she knew him at least well enough to know that he was
overwhelmed to see her. She stared back at him, her gaze filled with wondrous
scrutiny.

“You’ve grown... and you look
smart,” she said, attempting to hold onto whatever time they had left.

A quiver of a smirk crept onto Aiden’s lips at both
compliments. He knew he looked good enough to eat. The long hours doing weights
in Reggie’s spare room plus the physical labour of his debt collections and
working for the KKKs had left him more ripped than ever, and he looked trim in
his new Armani suit, crisp white shirt, black tie and winkle-pickers. He not
only looked very handsome, but also sophisticated, and he knew that this would
be intriguing to Lily, who had never had to experience the humiliation of
poverty like he had. She had never seen him so well turned out.

He cleared his throat. “So,
what have you been doing for the past few years?” he asked.

“A levels and an HNC.”

His eyebrows lifted and his
lips quivered in admiration. He wasn’t surprised to hear that Lily had achieved
a quality education and he was genuinely proud of her. “In what?” he asked.

“History...”

He nodded. “That makes sense.
I remember you used to like all that Tudor stuff. You were obsessed with Henry
VIII and Anne Boleyn... if I remember rightly.”