My stomach complained waking me from a deep, troubled sleep. I had no idea what time it was. I was hungry, very thirsty and had to pee. I just let go and what came out was dark, smelly and hit the dirt to puddle on top before it slowly sank in. The smell of piss lingered and I wondered how I was going to crap when I was stuck on the board. I could roll onto my side but I was afraid if I rolled off, I wouldn’t be able to get up again. I drifted and the slow hours passed.
Chapter XV
“Holy effing Christ,’ I heard in accents and voices familiar to me; opened my eyes to see a pair of men staring down at me. Dressed all in black leather, they crinkled as they moved and held their bike helmets by the straps against their legs. I knew those narrow, foxy faces, even if they were in their forties.
“Aidan. Aidan Bloody Smyth,” Schnee and his brother Harry unhooked me and held me up.
“Christ, Aidan!” Schnee bleated. “You’re still a kid! We’re old!”
“I died, Harry,” I said faintly. “Again. The Moor Murderer got me.”
“That was you? Suzy looked for you for years. We all did. Never found a trace of you. Tom even put up a reward. Are you hurt, cold?” He pulled off his leather jacket and tucked it round me, careful when he came to my bloody wrists.
“What are you doing here, Harry, Schnee?”
“We run drugs for Tom. We’re delivering some special shit to the wacko that lives here. He’s got some kind of cult going, has orgies and wild parties. Buys lots of ecstasy and shit from us. Told us he had something special in the cellar and we decided to see what it was. Never expected you.”
His brow furrowed. “Aidan, you’re supposed to be like thirty something. How come you look like twelve?”
“I’m fourteen. Dunno, Schnee. I woke up only a few months ago in hospital. I knew my name and everything. Remembered when and where I was born, tried to go home but I couldn’t.”
“Why not?” Schnee asked.
“There was like a…barrier I couldn’t cross the closer I got to home. I couldn’t breathe, walk past it. Or go to town. I turned round and tried to come back. Walked to the next town, asked directions at a petrol station for the depot. The teenager who worked there gave me a ride to his flat and drugged me. I woke up in here. They said they’re going to fuck me up the arse and sacrifice me to the devil.” My voice quivered and Schnee cursed, hoisted me in his arms, and followed his brother up the narrow wooden stairs. I saw the glint of a big black gun in his hand and tucked my head into his neck.
“Bro,” Harry said once we were in the kitchen of an old house. “Find something to cover his bollocks.”
He ripped the tablecloth off and tied it around my waist and we three slipped out the kitchen door into a back lot with a high stockade fence. It was noisy outside, the sound of heavy lorries and planes coming and going. “We’re in Swansea, Aidan. About an hour from the city. We’ll take you to Tom’s. You’ll be safe there. Okay?” I nodded. “Schnee, you stay, take care of this asshole when he gets back?”
His brother jerked his head once, checked his gun, grinned wolfishly and disappeared into the garage.
Harry carried me out the gate, set me on the bike and lifted himself carefully behind me. His breath tickled my neck, lifted the hairs on it. “Okay, Aidan boy?”
“Yes,” I said faintly.
“Hang on then.” He kicked and the bike growled, leaped forward and he tucked me under his chin. We roared through the narrow streets and out of this semi-rural area until he reached the motorway through a roundabout and onto the M390, cranking it up until we were passing everything on the macadam. The motion lulled me, his warmth and muttered questions on my welfare making me feel at ease until I remembered the last episode. He felt me stiffen and whispered into my ear.
“Relax, Aidan. Suzy would haunt me if I didn’t help you. You’re safe. Tom never forgot you, always tried to look out for you. He’s a good ‘un, even if he’s bad.”
“Bad?”
“He’s the number one drug boss on the East side. Don’t do whores, though. Hates any scumbag that buggers little boys, because of what happened to him. Schnee will cut the bastard’s bollocks off and bring ‘em to Tom. Got quite a collection. Hang on now, sharp turn.”
I felt him lean and we went whipping around the curve onto an exit ramp and down a road bordered by stately old elms and long driveways. He slowed drastically. “Hyde Park’s not far. Tom has a nice Mayfair flat in an old town house. Used to belong to some rich nabob named Lord Paisley. Lost his life in WWI. Family sold it for a million pounds to Tom ten years back. Got him a butler, French chef, house maids and valet. A Personal trainer.”
“Personal trainer?”
“Bloke what keeps him in shape. He can bench press 400 kilograms.” He slowed, turned up a blue graveled drive towards fancy steel gates painted shiny black. They were locked and a guardhouse was just inside with a man in a gray uniform, armed with a huge handgun and a radio. There were cameras mounted at the gate and the man didn’t blink at the sight of me in a white lace tablecloth or black leather.
“Tell Tom I have a surprise for him,” Harry said and drove on. It took five minutes to reach the estate. It was in what he called a gated community and his flat was the top one of the Mayfair mansion.
Harry paused in front and another man came out of the Palladian portico and took the bike from him as he carried me inside.
The hallway was the size of a room with green marble floors, the staircase up was like two graceful wings, but he walked to a lift on the right and stepped inside. The doors opened on the fourth floor and a hallway broad as an avenue, elegant tables, and chairs lined both sides. He headed for the double doors at the end and licked it with his heavy boots. His buckles jingled.
The door opened slowly and a grand butler stood in it, behind him was another man with his hand on a gun. When he saw Harry, he holstered it, turned round, and said, “It’s Harry, Mr. Watson.”
Harry walked into a Salon like the one I remembered from my childhood, beautifully furnished, windows floor to ceiling with wispy curtains, hand waxed floors and priceless antiques. The home of a rich, cultured gentleman.
Before a white marble fireplace that was lit even this early in the fall sat a gentleman in well-tailored tweeds and drinking from a brandy snifter. His head was balding, his eyes hooded and dark but I knew him instantly.
He stood up, his eyes drawn to me in Harry’s arms and when he set me in the nearest chair, he looked astonished, his mouth hanging open in shock. “Aidan?” he asked, unbelieving.
“I found him naked, handcuffed in the Beast’s cellar, Tom,” Harry said. “They were going to bugger him and kill him in some bloody sacrifice rite.”
“Aidan,” he repeated helplessly.
“Tom,” I managed, holding the jacket around me. He dropped to his knees before me and touched my face. To my horror, I burst into tears and the two grown men hugged and comforted me. When I had bawled myself dry, Tom ordered Harry to get the butler and arrange for a doctor, clothes, and food for me.
An hour later, I was fed, clothed and sedated in bed and guarded by no less than two of my childhood friends.
I slept peacefully, no dreams, no fears. When I woke, Schnee was there and his grin told me I had nothing left to fear from the Queen’s barrister.
“Gave Tom his bollocks,” he smiled. “And a few other pairs, too. Fellow name of Zane. Go back to sleep, Aidan. Sleep tight. Tom’s got your back.”
I slept until late next afternoon and Tom was sitting by the bed in the spare bedroom with a beautiful redhead. Her eyes were green and made up with smoky brown shadow, coral lipstick and she had big diamonds in her ears. Her smile was sweet, her teeth white and even.
“Hullo,” she greeted. Tom smiled and I saw he still had that crooked eye-tooth that made his smile predatory.
“Hi, Aidan,” he grinned. “This is my lady, Cammy. Camilla Mowbray-Watson.”
“You’re married?”
“Well, yeah. I’m
not fourteen like you, Aidan. I grew up. Been married for five years.”
“Kids?” I asked my eyes wide. The thought of Tom changing nappies made me goggle.
“No, no kids. Cammy can’t have ‘em. Are you hungry? You’ve been out for nearly 16 hours.”
“Starving. Fair knackered,” I admitted and he yelled behind him and she tutted him, got up and went in search of the butler. She came back with the upstairs maid pushing a lunch cart with covered tureens.
We ate delicate French entrees and gourmet fare until I was finally full. They begged me to tell them what I’d been doing and I spent the next few hours regaling them with my tales of horror.
Chapter 16
Tom let me loaf at his place, put no demands on me and his wife babied me as if I was her child. I confess, I let her, I liked being fawned over even if I was uncomfortable with their comments about my eyes. Tom told me he’d know me a hundred years from now by my eyes.
I spent the sennight sleeping and eating, gaining back the stone I’d lost. The dark shadows under my eyes and the faint translucence of my skin had faded; I looked like any healthy, messy 14-year-old teenage boy.
I heard Tom and Cammy laughing often at my antics and wandered at the strange looks Harry, Schnee and his servants gave each other.
On the Friday at supper, surrounded by fancy china and gourmet wines and French food, Tom set his hands on either side of his plate and cleared his throat.
“Aidan,” he started and I looked up from Petite roulades of lamb with inquiring eyes to see both of them staring at me with soft, fond expressions.
“I called the Farm, Aidan. Talked to the manager, Mr. Pendennis sussed the place out. Doing a landslide business, they are. Wouldn’t talk about the tragedy, still fresh to his Lord and Ladyship, he said, even though it was nearly thirty years ago. Only son fell off the roof and was impaled on the fence. Died before help could be found.”
“Your Da was instrumental in securing the 999 system. Your ma has set up a scholarship in your name, Aidan. You know, Suzy left her savings to your rescue fund. Never put any out for leads on your whereabouts.”
“Why don’t you apply for it?” I asked.
“Don’t need the blunt,” he said carelessly. “What do you want to do, Aidan?”
“Go back to school. Finish. Go to college.”
“To do what?”
I shrugged. “I wanted to go to L.S.E. when I was at Suzy’s. Now, maybe something with languages or travel. Foreign Service.”
“Too dangerous,” Cammy shook her head. I snorted.
“I’ve died twice, Cammy. Death doesn’t scare me anymore. Been there, done that.”
“Cammy and I have discussed it. We would like it if you would let us adopt you as our kid and live here,” he looked expectant and her eyes were pleading.
I was astounded, grateful and uncertain. Looked at the both of them. “You deal drugs, Tom. No offense.”
“I keep that part out of my home life. Besides, Cammy wants me out of the life and I sort of promised I would.”
“What would you do?”
“Computers, finance. I’m good at both, already in those businesses legitimately. Won’t lessen my income noticeably much.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“To make Cammy happy I’d do it. She wants a kid. You’re as close as I can come. Adoption agencies won’t even see me. I don’t want no colored refugee kid. Besides, I know you.”
“I don’t want to offend you, Tom but I have a mum and a dad,” I said.
“I know, Aidan. We don’t want to replace them. I just want to give you a safe place to live for Suzy’s sake and give Cammy a kid to raise.”
“I’m pretty well raised on my own, Tom,” I returned uneasily. “I can’t promise I’ll even be here for long.”
“What do you mean?” he jumped.
“I might have another dream,” I said unhappily.
“So what? Everybody dreams.”
“Someone always dies,” I whispered. “Them. Or me.”
“All the more reason for you to stay here,” he argued but she put her hand on his arm and said something in his ear so softly I couldn’t hear her. His face whitened. He nodded slowly and she smiled at me.
“Aidan, I know you want to spare me the same heartache that your mother and father went through. I understand that. Just tell me one thing, if and when the dreams start, you’ll let us help you.”
“Even if it’s one of you?”
“Yes.”
“You’d let me die to save yourselves?”
“Yes,” both said and I knew they were lying.
“I’ll tell you if I have a dream about either of you,” I said finally. And to myself, but I won’t stay here.
“Oh, by the way, Schnee found your backpack and 10,000 pounds. I take it that was yours?” his eyebrow raised in that quizzical way I remembered from not so long ago. At least in my memory. “Where did you acquire it?”
I grinned. “Robbing high rises,” I said and shocked him. His image of me was that of a twelve-year-old quiet, bookish kid.
“Stealing?”
“There are other things I can do, Tom. You remember how I liked to climb things?” At his nod, I continued. “I still do. Only now, it’s skyscraper and big buildings . When I’m up there, I see things people don’t bother to hide twenty stories up. Safes, cash under their beds, pay-offs.”
“Holy Christ on a crutch,” he said. “You’re him. The Ghost. The Spider Bandit!”
“The what?” Cammy and I both said.
“The cops and the underground are both buzzing about the last two years. Some unseen will-o-the-wisp cat burglar has been ripping off drug dealers, criminals and corrupt politicians and coppers. Always cash, leaves the jewelry, art and hard to fence stuff behind. How’d you get in without breaking windows?”
“I do. Floor below or to the side. I watch to find out where they hide their spare keys, their combinations, their hiding places. No one hides things from twenty stories up in view of their windows. I learned how to pick locks, too.”
“What’s the cash for? You don’t do drugs? Gamble?”
“To live on. I was homeless for a while. You know you can’t open a bank account without ID?” I asked naively.
“I’ll open one for you, Aidan. Is this all of it?”
“I buried the rest. I was taking it home. I told you what happened there.”
“Aidan, we want you to stay as long as you can, want. Just enjoy being a kid. Just tell us when you have to leave. Where we can find you. Promise? For Suzy. For me and Cammy, so we can sleep at night.”
“I promise, Tom.”
Chapter 17
I stayed with them for six months. Tom wheedled out of me when my birthday was and we celebrated at a kids place, an idea that had come over from the states; pizza parlor, game room and play area. I was still mentally only about seven---I had died the first time at five years old, lived unchanged and unknowing for five more in the group home to emerge as a ten year old but with the mental attitude of that earlier five year old. Since then, my learning had approached that of my peers in the academy but deep down, I was still that scared five year old in a fourteen-year-old body.
“How old were you when I disappeared, Tom?” I asked around a piece of chocolate marble cake with white whipped frosting. Gooey sweet.
“Sixteen. You’d been with Suzy only about a year. Small, quiet, runty kid. Told us some great stories. Were they all true?”
“I wonder myself. I know I used to embroider them some, especially about Neddie.”
“He was real, Aidan. I looked him up in the history books.”
“You looked up a book?” I was agape and he cuffed me on the head.
“You daft nit! I can read, you know,” he growled, sounded just like my dad.
I grinned. “The Tom I knew would have thrown the book at me.”
He grumped. “I’ve learned a bit since then, brat. There’s the newest craze f
rom the States. Want to give it a go?” He pointed to a flat wall that rose twenty-five meters high with nubby projections that several kids were attempting to climb. A padded mat was set around its base. “Climbing wall.”
I studied it; saw it had two possible routes that would take you to the top. Any other sequence would leave you hanging until you fell off because the next hand or foot hold was out of reach.
Tom said, “Go for it.”
I was up in a flash and climbed it easily; my fingers and feet knew exactly what to do. Once at the top, I looked down from my flat perch and was disappointed it had been so easy.
“Alright, you monkey. Come down, you made your point.” Tom yelled and I scampered down faster than I’d go up.
“Weren’t you scared, Aidan?” Cammy asked. “I’m afraid of heights. How do you do it?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. It’s like breathing. I just do it without thinking.”
“Well, happy birthday, Aidan. Let’s go back to the table and open your present.”
“My present? You bought me a gift?”
They handed me a small box and I tore it open with all the eagerness of a kid at his first Christmas. Inside, I found a wallet of beautiful leather and silver. Inside that was my own ID in my real name with my DOB, my enhanced passport so I could travel through Europe, a railway pass with unlimited mileage and dates; a bankbook with an ATM card. “I’ve put your ten thousand in there, Aidan. Plus a bit more.”
I didn’t know what to say, in fact, I was speechless. I was going to start bawling but Tom gave me such a stern look I paused.
“Don’t be such a waterspout,” he said gruffly. “I know you think you’re only nine or ten but you’re really older than that. We just celebrated your fourteenth.”
“Technically, I’m 36,” I sniffled. “Hey, does this mean I’m old enough to drink?”
“No,” both of them jumped. “Let’s finish your pizza and go for a movie.”
“Do I get to pick?”
“It is your birthday. No horror flicks, okay? I don’t like those,” Tom shuddered.