The New Capital: The second book in the Human Zoo series

by Kolin Wood

  Pushing the glass in his direction once more, Clara looked up at him, her eyes glazed with booze. “Who is this Pit Boss anyway?” she asked.

  Tanner felt his jaw tighten. “Piece of shit called Teddy Braydon,” he answered.

  Clara’s glass shattered as it dropped from the table to the floor.

  21

  “Quite the transformation,” Teddy said with an appreciative nod, holding up a hand to Jan as Cole walked in and sat down.

  Cole ignored the comment. He was very aware of the dramatic change that the operation had made. The lump over his eye had been packaged with a fresh, clean, and sterile bandage. The swelling had gone down, considerably changing the shape of Cole’s face; he truly looked like a different man. But the transformation was not only with his face. Cole’s straggly hair had been shaved clean off save for a single ponytail which now hung down his back. The black Nazi uniform and heavy leather coat had been replaced with dark, suit trousers and a black shirt.

  Jan the Fez, clearly annoyed at the interruption, slammed his fist down on the heavily scarred table top, brave with a belly full of hooch and five or six of his cronies behind him.

  “But the bitch killed Barrett!” he protested.

  Teddy, with a buxom beauty sat astride his lap and a half-smoked cigarette dangling from one side of his mouth, raised his chin and fixed Jan with a stern look to let the man know that he was treading close to the mark.

  It worked as intended; Jan held his stare for a just a moment and then looked away.

  Teddy glanced over and rolled his eyes. It was immediately obvious that he had already drunk far too much to be pushed or tested in public. Clearly, being interrupted by matters as trivial as problems on the Gate was beginning to aggravate him. Cole, who had declined the offer to drink and who now sat sober and alert, prepared himself for the possibility of an escalation.

  “Barrett was my friend,” Jan spat. “The bitch stabbed him in the back and Tanner is refusing to give her up! He’s had her for days… holed up in his house without trial. He’s the bloody Gate Keeper for fuck sake!” The angrier he made himself the thicker his African accent became; until Cole had to really concentrate in order to understand him.

  Teddy patted the voluptuous posterior of the woman on his lap.

  “Go get us some more drinks, sweetheart,” he said, winking as she climbed off and headed into the throng surrounding the bar. Then with a twist of his neck and a cracking of the knuckles he turned to face the table.

  “Which one is Barrett again?” he said with a disinterested tone while picking something imaginary from between his teeth with a finger.

  His obvious attempts to rile the South African worked. Fury burned in Jan’s eyes and for a moment it looked as though he might snap.

  “Okay, listen,” Teddy said, eventually, a goading twinkle in his eye. “Calm yourself down. If somebody has broken the law in the Capital then they will face justice; no exceptions.”

  Jan sneered, “But Tanner…”

  “But Tanner nothing,” Teddy interrupted angrily, not willing to discuss it any further. “Tanner is a temp, an interim. Trust me; if I had my way, Tanner would have already been dead by now!”

  Candlelight twinkled on the rivulets of sweat as they ran from the crown of his stubbled head. The bar was hot, unbearably so. Cole noticed that Teddy’s hands had curled into fists. Wisely, Jan refrained from saying anything more; the sudden, imposing physicality of the big-set Pit Boss acting as a winning deterrent.

  After a few tense moments of avoided looks and flaring nostrils, Teddy slapped a heavily jewelled hand down on one of Cole’s shoulders.

  “Cole, my new number one here will deal with it. Won’t you, Cole?”

  Cole nodded but said nothing. Jan fixed him with a suspicious look.

  “So you needn’t worry your silly little self about it all, okay?” Teddy’s tone was intentionally patronising.

  Jan was now sat bolt upright in his seat. He made as if to say something but changed his mind.

  “Good,” Teddy continued, with a ‘thank fuck for that’ look. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m trying to relax, so do yourself a favour; take your little gang of rent boys and fuck off before I really give you something to moan about.”

  An underlying sense of menace inflected his voice.

  Jan swallowed hard. There was no way that he had the bottle to challenge Teddy Braydon one on one. Teddy, now the provider of the most sought after entertainment in the country, was as close to what used to be known as a celebrity; people in the Capital worshipped him.

  Behind Jan, some of the other gate guards were busy drinking and laughing and not one of them looked in his direction as he glanced over for support. In the wake of the uncomfortable silence and realising that he was currently swimming well out of his depth, Jan stood. On the table before him sat the half-empty bottle that he had brought over, and he reached out to take it.

  “Ah, ah, ah, leave the bottle; there’s a good lad,” Teddy said with a theatrical fluttering of the eyelashes, the smile now returned.

  Jan hovered for a moment as if weighing up his options.

  Teddy opened his hands in an offering gesture and suddenly Jan was gone, his courage only fleeting. Nobody followed him out.

  Teddy turned to face Cole.

  “Thank fuck for that. Anybody lets that man anywhere near me again, I will string em up by their intestines.”

  He reached for Jan’s bottle and poured a shot, holding the bottle out for Cole who declined. Teddy shrugged and poured the last of it into his glass, filling it to the brim.

  Cole watched him.

  “I think you do need to be careful,” Cole said, carefully planning his words. “If what he says is true and Tanner really is not playing ball, others might get ideas.”

  Ever since his initial meeting with Tanner, the thought of the way he was spoken to had left a bad taste in his mouth and an uneasy feeling in his gut. The man knew more than he was letting on; the sooner he was dealt with and out of the way the better.

  Teddy seemed to consider the statement, his face blank and distant.

  “It seems he may have taken a liking to this floozie,” he said from nowhere. It was as if he was talking to himself.

  Cole nodded, unsure of the implications of the statement.

  “So, do you want me to go and see him?” he asked.

  Teddy blinked, now back in the room.

  “Tell him to come and see me,” he said, “I wanna know who this slut is and why she’s causing problems.”

  Cole picked up his glass of gritty water and drained it with a grimace.

  “And what if he refuses to give her up?”

  “He won’t want to risk losing out on all he bargained for in the name of some woman, he’s a lot of things, but he ain’t stupid.”

  Cole shrugged.

  “But if he does refuse, I will inform him that, should he regress on his end of the bargain, then it would be very difficult for me to honour mine. Remember this though, my friend, as frustrating as it is, without Tanner there is no fight. I hate the man so much that it makes my blood boil, but it means we need to play this clever. It is something that the rest of these brain dead arseholes can’t quite seem to grasp.”

  At that moment, the buxom blonde from before returned, a fresh, plastic bottle of hooch clutched in one hand.

  “Ah good,” Teddy said, some of the brevity from before returning with the arrival of fresh alcohol. “Finally some real entertainment has returned.”

  He clapped a hand down on the woman’s buttock with a firm whack.

  “Now, unless you fancy watching, will you all, please, just fuck off and leave a man to enjoy in peace?”

  Cole smiled and stood. It was late and the atmosphere in the bar was beginning to turn sour anyway. Eyes fell on him from every angle as people watched, curious as to who this man was who all of a sudden seemed to be held in such high regard by the Capital’s flashiest high roller.

  W
ithout another word, he turned and moved through the crowd towards the door, ducking under the low-slung tarp of the entrance and out into the night air. A light, summer rain had begun to fall as he pulled the collar of his thick leather jacket, grimacing at the sky. The rain would get the bandage wet, which in turn would lead to the risk of further infection; something he was not willing to risk.

  Picking up the pace, he strode away up the street, eventually crossing over onto Tier road where he was admitted without a greeting. On his left stood Tanner’s house, a virtual carbon copy of his own and every other on the street. He slowed to a stop and looked up at the boarded windows.

  This next fight held high stakes; not just for Braydon, but for himself too. Aside from the obvious risk to his own safety, if Tanner won then Braydon Enterprises would effectively fall under the full command of Farringdon and his entourage of wealthy, deviant lords. Without the Pit, there would be no more power, and no power for Teddy would mean nothing for him either. The risk and therefore the responsibility of seeing that Tanner lost the fight was both of theirs to share. One way or another, he would have to die.

  The rain began to fall harder and Cole pushed on for home.

  22

  Blinding light burned his retinas as Teddy opened the door to his office. Cole, still dressed smartly in a suit, grimaced at the stale funk of sex as it escaped the room around him.

  “What the fuck do you want at this time?” Teddy said, shielding his eyes from the bright sun.

  He was only partially dressed; the fly of his trousers undone and his shirt creased all over and open at the front. A large ornate yet faded tattoo decorated one side of his chest below his thick tangle of grey, wiry hair.

  Cole pushed a full bottle of slightly brown-coloured water into one of Teddy’s hands.

  “Tanner,” he said simply, motioning behind with his head. “I sent a guard to his house this morning. He’s on his way.”

  After a second of confusion, the memory connected the dots inside of Teddy’s mind and he nodded, turning back into the safe confines of the dark, stuffy room.

  “Oh, right. Well, at least close the fucking door behind you, will ya? It’s as bright as hell out there.”

  Inside, the stale smell of sweat intensified. Curled up on the crumpled beige-leather sofa against the far wall, Ondine Farringdon had not moved. She was naked aside from her panties and her hair stuck up in all directions.

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” Teddy said as he padded his way over to the large desk with the slight stoop of a man suffering from the effects of a hangover. “I think I’m having a nightmare!”

  “Go fuck yourself, Teddy,” Ondine replied meekly.

  She looked tired and sad as she gathered up her clothes and made her way across the room, head bowed. Cole stood aside to let her past and Teddy could see his mind working.

  “Mouthy little tramp, that one, but she fucks like a nympho on coke,” Teddy said with a smile as he reached for a crumpled pack of smokes, lit one, and crashed backward into his chair, one hand rubbing his crotch. “Knowing my luck the posh bitch just gave me the clap!”

  Cole sat down in another chair opposite him at the desk, but said nothing. Teddy was sure that by now he knew exactly who the woman was. But he no longer cared who knew or saw him. He now took her whenever he saw fit, whatever time of day or night. There was no more hiding, no more secrecy. And if Farringdon already knew? Good. Fuck Farringdon.

  Several slugs of hooch and a few more cigarettes later and Teddy was once again dressed to impress. He’d shed himself of the crumpled shirt and replaced it with a clean one, fresh from the packet; as crisp and white as any shirt that Cole had ever seen. The blue tie of yesterday had been replaced with a crimson one smartly tied and plump in a Windsor knot at his throat. His hair, only recently a straw-like mess, was now waxed back and combed straight. A five o’clock shadow of thick stubble covered his neck and lower face.

  “Ta Da!” he said, looking at Cole, arms outstretched, “Now tell me you wouldn’t…”

  A loud bang sounded.

  Teddy checked his tie. Cole straightened in his seat and turned his body towards the door.

  “Enter!” Teddy called out, as he lit yet another cigarette and sat upright in his chair, elbows on the desk.

  The door opened and Tanner walked in confidently, flanked on either side by a guard and another two following behind. He turned and looked at each of the guards in turn with a smile before turning his attentions towards Teddy at the other end of the room.

  “Tanner, you son of a bitch, glad you could make it. You remember Cole, don’t you?”

  Tanner walked towards the desk without once looking down or acknowledging Cole. He stopped a few feet behind him, enough to one side that the man would either have to completely swivel in his chair or else sit with his back to him.

  “What’s all this about, Braydon?” he said.

  Teddy linked his fingers.

  “This, Tanner, is about you not doing your job.”

  The booze swam in his blood stream and re-energised him from the inside.

  “Oh? How so?” Tanner replied, one eyebrow cocked.

  At this point, Cole laughed.

  Anger tensed Tanner’s jawline.

  “Something funny to you, big man?” he said, dipping his brow in the direction of the back of Cole’s head.

  Teddy motioned over to him and Cole stopped laughing.

  “The woman,” Teddy said, wanting to get straight to business. “The one that killed our guard on the bridge. I believe she’s currently shacked up with you?”

  Tanner did not reply but looked up from the back of Cole’s head.

  “Well, I’m afraid that I’m gonna have to ask you to hand her over. You see, it seems that her trial is long overdue and there is growing dissatisfaction in the ranks. My men are not happy.”

  “Your men?” Tanner asked. “Far as I was aware, you were an employee, just like me.”

  Teddy felt his temper begin to flare. The fucker was pushing his buttons again, as he seemed to do so well. He looked over to Cole, who was watching the encounter intently.

  “You do still have this woman in custody?” Teddy asked.

  Tanner considered the question. Eventually he nodded.

  “And?”

  “So, what’s the problem?” Teddy said. “Just hand the tartlet over.”

  Cole finally turned in his chair. He straightened his shirt and fixed Tanner with a look from his good eye. Tanner clenched his fists.

  “Do you know what this sick fucker was up to before he came here? Huh?” he said, still looking at Teddy.

  Teddy glanced over at Cole, who was still smiling but now clearly confused.

  “Trying to survive, like the rest of us, Tanner; what’s your point?”

  “Has he told you about his true involvement at the prison? About the women… the girls… the people that he murdered to placate his twisted little army? Did he?”

  Cole laughed nervously and for a moment Teddy thought that Tanner was going to step forward and cave the big brute’s face in. When Tanner looked back to him, he shrugged.

  “It’s a tough world out there, Tanner; you, more than anybody, ought to know that,” Teddy said, his tone purposefully bored.

  Tanner looked back to Cole. “The woman, the one back at my house, she told me what you did to her, what you did to all of them. She found your journal, brought it out as a keepsake.”

  A flicker of uncertainty crossed Cole’s face. He fidgeted, looked over at Teddy then smiled, but the smile seemed suddenly forced. Teddy watched him, interested.

  “Oh, it’s all there,” Tanner continued. “Clara told me all about it. The lottery system, the numbers, the surgeries… You twisted, depraved maniac.”

  The feet of the chair scraped on the floor beneath the worn carpet as Cole stood, his face angry.

  “Enough!” Teddy interrupted, in an attempt to stop the altercation before it got out of hand. “Bloody hell! Will you sto
p bleating on, Tanner?!”

  He stood as well and loosened the neck of his shirt collar with a thick finger. It felt as though he was now sweating pure alcohol and his head began to throb.

  “Christ almighty, anyone listening would think you two were a bleedin’ married couple. Ya giving me a headache!”

  With his eyes closed, Teddy took a deep breath in an attempt to quell the steadily returning hangover that he had so far managed to avoid.

  “She killed one of my guards,” he said, finally. “That’s all there is to this.”

  Teddy walked over to stand behind his chair and placed both hands on the back.

  “Now, thanks to you two, I have a fuckin’ bastard kicking the living shit out of me from behind the eyes.” To emphasise, he rubbed his temple with one hand. “Listen, Tanner,” he said, looking him dead in the eye. “I’m gonna make this real easy for you. Either you hand over the broad, or else I’m gonna have to default on your payment for the fight.”

  The look on Tanner’s face was one of shock and disbelief. He pointed his finger at Teddy and shook his head.

  “Don’t play the hard man with me, Braydon,” he said with a snarl. “That woman came here to the Capital, looking for help, and I ain’t about to turn her back over to this pervert. Either you let her free or the fights off.”

  This time it was Teddy’s turn to be surprised— he was being double bluffed. He certainly had not expected the conversation to have gone this way, not over some woman.

  “You’d risk everything you’re owed for some bitch?” he asked, genuinely shocked at the decision. After all, Tanner must hardly know the woman. But then again, neither did he; and he still needed the man to fight.

  With a shrug of the shoulders, he said, “So be it.”

  Cole shook his head as though what he was hearing had not computed properly in his brain. He spun in his chair and looked at Teddy who ignored him.

  “Keep her,” Teddy continued. “But you get half of what we agreed on. After all, I’m gonna need some sweeties of my own with which to bribe all my booing children.” As he said it he gestured in Cole’s direction. “The little darlings ain’t gonna be happy.”