The Life by Martina Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

world, sons were their father’s ammunition – and they were always on their side. If they were big, handsome lumps all the better. Seven boys between him and Daniel made the Baileys a formidable family. Peter and Daniel were just biding their time until they could bring their sons into the business, introduce them properly to the Life.
    Daniel was back in the car now, and they were speeding along the M1 towards London. They had been up to Liverpool, brokering a deal which would cement their standing in London, and make sure that there would be no chance of anyone allying themselves with the North without them knowing about it first. ‘Good job I phoned! She was early. Tania, Lena’s calling her. And you will never guess what, Pete – Davey was there when she was born! He helped bring her into the world. Fucking rather him than me!’
    Peter grinned. ‘Poor Davey. Be enough to put him off women for life! Well, let’s get back and meet this new daughter of yours.’
    Daniel shook his head. ‘I want to finish what we started, Pete, let’s stick to the original plan. We go and see Alfie Clarke and sort him out once and for all. If he
is
giving our friends in the North grief then we have to show willing, don’t we? Otherwise this was a fruitless exercise.’
    Peter sighed, but he nodded in agreement. Daniel was hyped up, determined to make his mark, create another legendary bust-up to be talked about in the years to come, and all to placate the Northerners. He understood that on one level, but he wondered how he could put such a minor job before the birth of his only daughter. But since they had taken over, Daniel had really grown into his own reputation. They were like good cop, bad cop now; Peter was the level-headed one, the voice of reason, whereas Daniel was the hothead, the one people were really wary of. It worked for them, just as it always had, but Peter felt that now all eyes were on them Daniel should tone the violence down a notch – at least stop the public displays if nothing else.
    A few weeks earlier, Daniel had kneecapped someone who owed a debt. Peter felt it was beneath them to do such a task themselves – they should give those jobs to the men who they employed. As his mother always said, why have a dog and bark yourself?
    But Daniel felt it kept them on top, made people realise that they were still very involved and knew what was going on. He didn’t allow for the fact that, if he got his collar felt, he would end up going down for what amounted to no more than what a local thug would be tried for. Plus, it would bring all sorts of Old Bill down on their heads, from the Serious Crime Squad, to the Sweeney themselves, as well as other newly formed task forces that, as yet, no one had managed to penetrate.
    It was a new world, and they had to work out how to live safely and securely within it. It wasn’t the sixties any more, andthe police were suddenly acting like they knew what they were doing. The newspapers didn’t glamorise the underworld now, Princess Margaret didn’t fraternise with them – not in public anyway – and the Krays were a distant memory. The tabloids asked questions these days, wanted to know why certain people were not being nicked. The front pages of the Sunday papers demanded to know why certain people were still walking about even though they were almost certainly living off criminal proceeds – usually immoral earnings. It was an anomaly to him how newspapers that made their poke off sex scandals involving vicars and politicians could have the cheek to talk about living off immoral earnings, but there you go. That was the new world, the new order.
    This should be the era of the low profile for men such as themselves, but Daniel couldn’t or wouldn’t accept that as a fact of life. Since they had become the new Faces, he seemed more determined than ever to be known, to be lauded – to be feared. And Peter felt that was wrong; they should be content simply with