Free Dream London by Tony Ballantyne

was working for him. What would he think when he found out I’d disobeyed his instructions and had taken up with the Cartel?
    I’d deal with that when it was time. For the moment, I wasn’t ready to go back to Alan’s house, despite Bill’s instructions. I had the afternoon to myself, and I had business of my own to attend to. I wanted to check up on how Second Eddie was managing in my absence. I was needed at Belltower End, the heart of my own little empire.
     
     
    B ELLTOWER E ND LIES just behind the location of a former tube station. The station itself is long gone, having wrenched itself from the ground, raising itself up on stilts to shuffle off and connect itself to the wider railway system.
    Before the changes Belltower End had been a shabby place, barely touched by the large commercial chains. The scattering of shops and bars and cafés on the high street were mainly small businesses, just scraping along on the money earned from the locals, mainly people renting the single-roomed flats formed by dividing up the old houses.
    Just off the high street itself there had been a gentlemen’s club: the Blue Parrot. This was the place where I had found work when I first returned to London. I started there as a bouncer, but a man with my charisma doesn’t stay at the bottom for long. Soon I was organising the other bouncers, looking after the girls, making sure that everything was nice and safe. After all, the ‘gentlemen’ would be more likely to spend their money in a safe, discreet environment.
    Then the changes began. The atmosphere in the club became nastier, and the girls looked to me for protection more than ever. They asked me for advice, and I gave them it. I suggested another place they could work, and they took my advice with gratitude.
    Don’t call Captain Wedderburn a pimp. I keep this area safe, I make sure that people can spend and earn their money in safety. Okay, I don’t tolerate competition – Luke Pennies would tell you about that – but then again, who does?
    Belltower End was originally a terraced row of town houses, just by the church with the large belltower from which the area gets its name. The houses have grown taller now, like so much else in this city. They’ve hunched around themselves to form a horseshoe and grown yellow and scarlet ivy across their faces to disguise themselves. There are little balconies on the upper floors where the girls can sit, there are steps leading up to the doorways where they do the same. There’s a little garden in the square formed by the arms of the horseshoe, and a man can sit amongst the dark foliage and watch anyone who enters and leaves the area.
    There were few people around at this time of day. A young black woman stood in the square, smoking a cigarette.
    “Afternoon, Marie. Have you seen Second Eddie?”
    “Sorry, Captain. I just got up. Busy night. I haven’t been on my feet for hours.”
    He wouldn’t have gone far, I was sure of that. Second Eddie took his duties seriously, particularly where the girls were concerned.
    “Tell him I’m looking for him,” I said. “I’ll try the Heights.”
    If I was going to be away for some time, helping out Bill and the Americans, I needed someone to keep an eye on things. Second Eddie fancied himself as my deputy: I trusted him enough to not let things go wrong when I was away. I trusted myself enough to wrest back control should he get a little too ambitious.
    “Okay, Captain,” yawned Marie.
    There was a little girl sitting on the pavement, drawing chalk pictures. She tilted her head at me as I approached, blonde curls bouncing delightfully.
    “Do you like my picture, mister?” she asked, with just a hint of a lisp.
    I looked down at her. She was a pretty little thing; I didn’t recall seeing her around her before.
    “It’s very nice,” I replied. She wore a pink silk dress that must have cost her parents quite a few dollars. Her pale arms were pudgy beneath the puffed sleeves.
    “Would