Aaron Connor (27 page)

Back we were on the main road
with the grey tarmac running underneath us. The cars and lorries
drove alongside us and all around. The smell of petrol and fumes
were filling our nostrils. The dark morning haze was beginning to
lighten up as we travelled along. We came to love the road and the
way that it can lead you from one new place to another. Sometimes
it’ll take a minutes, hours or even days to get to where you want
to go. The journey of getting there can be just as exciting as
being there. The open road has a world of unexpected treasures to
offer. You don’t what you’ll find along the way or who you’ll
meet.

London wasn’t that far away
from where the Festival was situated. We came into the outskirts of
the city within the hour. It still took us at least another half an
hour to drive through the housing estates to get to the city
centre. We saw all the iconic images as we passed them: red buses,
black taxi cabs, west end musical theatres, Tower Bridge, the Tower
of London, the London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, the
Houses of Parliament and even the Gherkin.

London is a wonderfully bizarre
mixture of the old and the brand new. Among modern skyscrapers and
buildings of businesses, you can still find old houses, castles,
churches and such untouched and preserved structures. In some
parts, if it wasn’t for the red phone boxes, you would have thought
you were in New York.

There were so many people
packing out the streets, most of whom were foreign tourists. As we
drove through the city centre, especially when we stopped at red
lights, we heard such a wide selection of different languages and
accents. Britain has now become known for being the world’s
multinational empire, and I could see why. It was nice to see a
place where so many different races of people where all living
together and getting along, like those people back at the Festival.
Unfortunately we knew too well that there are still so many violent
and hateful incidents in London based on race. It made me so upset
that I just wanted to get a megaphone and shout out: We’re all the
same, we’re all humans, grow the fuck up people! Then again, having
your voice heard can easily cause controversy, even if your message
is one for peace.

The increase in the amount of
bars, clubs, pubs and X-Rated establishments told us that we’d
entered Soho. It was still daytime when we drove through, so the
streets were not filled with the drunken partiers that this
district is famed for. In fact, it was relativity quiet. I guess
that was because people knew that there would be nothing much to do
until it got dark. As we drove past, we saw that most of the places
there didn’t even open until after nine p.m.

At this point we still had no
idea where Barry was leading us. We could still see his car driving
in front of us. We still followed him obediently, not knowing
whether or not our new “friend” was trustworthy. Part of our
mission was not to make judgements about people, as it was the
discrimination against us that started this trip in the first
place, so we kept on riding behind Barry’s car through the London
streets. The black car finally stopped down a tight alleyway
besides a small iron door.

It looked like the back door of
an abandoned restaurant. There were cardboard boxes bin bags
scattered everywhere across the alleyway. Lizzie spotted a couple
of homeless people sleeping among the rubbish. We took off our
helmets as we saw Barry get out of the car. We put the helmets away
into the sidecar’s boot and walked up to the frightening man who
was now knocking on the iron door.

His large fist coming into
contact with the iron door made a loud banging sound that echoed
across the street. In the red, rusted iron was a thin slit which
could be opened so that people on the other side can look out. The
little door on the opening slid open, to reveal a pair of beady
eyes which looked out at us.

“
Ello boss”
said a deep voice, “Who are those geezers behind yah?”

“
They are my
new associates” answered Barry calmly, “They’d agreed to help us
with the more . . . delicate matter we have at hand.”

“
Ah, right
boss” he said, “I get yah, come on in then”

The thin slit was shut and
moment later the man opened the door for us. We walked inside to
find ourselves in a very damp corridor. The man closed the door
behind us. The only light came from a lamp was that swinging gently
from the ceiling. To the right was a staircase made of a rusty iron
mesh, which led up onto a second level.

“
This is
Lucas” said Barry, “He’s one of the lads working for me”

Now that we were inside, we
could see Lucas in full. He was very skinny, had a shaven head,
several tattoos, piercings and skin as pale as snow. This guy
wasn’t like those cool metal guys I used to like chatting with,
this bloke genuinely looked very unpleasant. He didn’t smile at us,
say hello or offer us to shake his hand. Instead he grunted at us
before disappearing up the iron mesh stairs. I could hear him
cracking his knuckles as he ascended, the noise they made were so
loud!

“
Don’t mind
him” said Barry, “He’s just a bloody miserable git. Come upstairs.
We have business to discuss.”

Barry led the way up the rusty
iron mesh stairs up onto the second level. At the top of the stairs
was one huge studio room. Inside this room was a fair amount of
luxuries including huge beds, shaggy carpeting, fancy lamps and
expensive gadgets. This was defiantly a contrast to the corridor
below. It was like being in a multi millionaire Vegas pad. There
was even a Jacuzzi bubbling away in the corner of the room.

Barry led us over to the
Jacuzzi. In the Jacuzzi was a very pretty woman wearing a gold
bikini. She looked up at us with large blue eyes. There seemed to
be a permanent expression of mischief across her face. It was as if
she was constantly thinking of a dirty joke, to be honest she
probably was. I could tell by the sly smile she had on her face,
that she was the kind of woman who’d use her beauty for immoral
gain.

“
Barry” she
said in a seductive whisper, “nice to know that you’ve finally
brought some friends round for tea”

“
Cut the crap
Nikki!” replied Barry, “This is important. I got some people to
deal with Tyler.”

“
Splendid” she
said, “Where are they?”

“
That’s them
there” he answered pointing to us.

Her smile melted away and her
lips fell into a disturbing expression of anger. Her teeth were
gritted, I could hear her breathing loudly, her chest was rising
and falling rapidly and her eyes shone like fire. Barry didn’t
react in anyway. He must have been used to this sort of behaviour
from this woman. Either that or he just had a very dismissive
personality.

“
I hope your
joking” said Nikki,

“
No I’m not”
said Barry, “My cousin Joe told me about them, they are apparently
a very reliable couple”

“
I require a
trained assassin!” barked Nikki, “not some Chavs that you’ve just
plucked up from the fucking council estate!”

“
Alright love,
no need to go f-ing and blinding over it” said Barry in a
surprisingly calm tone, “If Joe trusts them, then I trust them in
return. Now, I suggest that you stop pruning up in that tub and get
Tyler’s files”

Nikki stared up at Barry. Her
body looked stiff and defiant. I could still hear her breathing
loud. Her hands were now closed into fists as her irritation grew.
Barry still looked extremely calm. His face was unmoved by the
woman’s behaviour. For some reason this made Barry seem even more
intimidating. By not reacting to Nikki’s anger, he came across as
the better person compared to her. The atmosphere this scene
created in the room was unsettling and intense. The woman still
didn’t budge from the Jacuzzi to collect the files that Barry
wanted.

“
Now
would be nice” Barry added,

“
Fine!” Nikki
suddenly blurted out.

Nikki got out of the tub in a
huff. She snatched a soft, white towel that was hanging up by the
tub. In a strop she stomped over to a filing cabinet that was
standing next to a thick, silver, metal door that could only be
opened by using a combination. Nikki opened the first draw of the
filing cabinet and started to rummage through, trying to find a
specific file.

“
Barry?” I
asked, “What did she mean, when she said she needed a trained
assassin?”

“
Well, that’s
what you two are now” replied Barry, “Assassins. That’s what we
needed help with. The police are aware of us and any crime we go
forward with could lead to us being caught. So, we needed someone
else to do this very important task for us, someone who was unknown
to the authorities and so less likely to be caught. I know it’s
kind of risky, but we’ve got enough wonga for yah, so we’ll make it
worth your while”

“
You mean?”
asked Lizzie shakily, “You want us to . . .”

“
Kill someone
for us?” said Barry finishing her sentence, “exactly, I think you
two will be perfect. Come over here and I’ll explain
fully”

CHAPTER TWENTY – THREE

What a horrible mess we found
ourselves in. I was completely gobsmacked. Helping people out is
one thing, but actually committing murder is where I draw the line.
This was horrific and deeply terrifying. Without needing to say
anything to each other, we both knew that we needed to get out of
there. How I had no idea how. There were lots of people hanging
around, some had guns down their trousers and others were holding
their flick knives. This is what happens when you trust people too
much.

There was no point trying to
escape with all of those other people walking around. Most likely
if I even tried I’d get shot. Fear gripped my heart. I could feel
my body turn cold. It was as if the entire colour from my face was
being drained from me. I tried to keep these signs of fright from
showing with all of my might. I took Lizzie’s hand. She was shaking
violently. We both took a deep breath and took some steps forward
towards Barry. The only thing we could do now was try and get out
of this mess using words alone. I knew very well that this wasn’t
going to be easy.

“
The bloke’s
name is Tyler Unwin” said Barry, he handed us the file to look
over, “He bought five grams of cocaine from us and hasn’t paid the
£300 that he owes us. It’s been six months now, so the time has
come to intervene. I want you two to track him down. You are to
give him a choice. Either he can pay the full £300 up front, which
you shall give back to me, or you will shoot him and take whatever
he has in his wallet. That includes his credit cards, we have some
real clever blokes who can hack into those and take the money out.
Is that part of the brief clear?”

“
I’m sorry” I
said shakily, “but I’m afraid we can’t help you”

“
What?” asked
Barry.

That was far too blunt. Even as
I said it I knew that it was going to be a massive mistake. I
needed to break it to him slowly and gently. It must had been the
fear mixed with the pressure of getting the two of us out of this
mix up, which then led me to this seriously nasty slip of the
tongue. Barry’s expression still didn’t change but I could see a
flicker in his eyes. Something had just sparked deep inside of him.
That was the moment that my increasing fear threatened to
completely take over my body. I could feel my head shaking and my
teeth chattering. My breathing patterns had become noticeably
uneven and jittery. I was on the verge of a full on panic
attack.

“
If I may be
so bold to ask” said Barry, “Why is that?”

“
B-b-because .
. .” I stuttered, “W-w-when you said you wanted our help, we
thought you meant like a-a-a . . . normal problem. We can’t . . .
kill someone”

“
Only if he
refuses to pay off the debt” said Barry, from inside his jacket he
took out a hand gun which he held threateningly towards us, “I
suggest you co-operate Mr Connor. Don’t want any . . . ha-ha . . .
casualties. Do we?”

Neither I nor Lizzie answered
his question, as our eyes were glued to that gun. I’d never seen a
gun before. That gun had the ability to take both our lives, if it
takes the fancy of the gunman. To us, the gun was the only thing we
could see in that room. The people, the objects, the walls and even
the sky disappeared to us to only show that black gun. For a while
Barry’s voice was just an echo in the far distance.

“
CONNOR!”
Barry bellowed, “PENNY!!”

This snapped us out of our
dark, hypnotic faze. To our appsolute horror we had discovered that
during our zone out, Barry had walked forward and was now only a
few centimetres away from our faces. Barry pointed the gun at me.
Lucas came out of nowhere, stood before Lizzie and pointed his gun
at Lizzie. Before we knew it we had found everyone bloke in the
place surrounding us, all pointing their guns at us and closing us
into a tight circle. That was it. There was no escape. We were
officially buggered.

“
I said, we
don’t want any casualties, do we?” Barry repeated,

“
No” we
replied meekly,

“
Good” said
Barry, “nice to know we’re on the same wavelength. Now, on that
there paper is Tyler’s address. He lives near the South Bank. The
bloke’s a crack head, an absolute mess, so he never leaves his
house. We’re going place a camera on your person Mr Connor, so if
there are any slips ups we’ll know about it. Are my instructions
clear to you?”