'There's a young girl in the room next door, and she is only seventeen and your screaming is terrifying her.'

Jackie wiped her running nose with the back of her hand. She felt bad, she was hurting and she needed a drink. Not that she would say that out loud of course. She knew Maggie had a bottle of champagne in her bag and she wished it was all over so she could neck it and settle her nerves.

She wished that just once Freddie would be there for her, see the child born. She had read somewhere that it gave the man a better bond with his children. She couldn't see it herself, she had been at her children's births and it had not made any difference at all. They still got on her wick.

'You have been out of order and if you ain't careful they will refuse to treat you, Jackie, and your threats will end up with Lily Law at the end of the bed. Now just once in your life, Jackie, stop thinking about yourself, think about someone else.'

The fact that Jackie took it from Maggie told her she was nearly home and dry. But Jackie always caused ructions when she was in labour and she had always got away with it before. This time the staff were not willing to swallow it and Maggie didn't blame them one iota. She wouldn't have taken it either. They were threatening to call Old Bill in, and that automatically brought social services. Jackie was such a mess, and if she wasn't careful she would end up with social workers breathing down her neck again. Maggie loved her sister but at times she really didn't like her.

'You are going to let the doctor examine you now, because if the baby's breech they have to get it sorted.'

Jackie nodded then, digesting her sister's words. Even she knew she had gone over the top, but it was in her nature. Everything with Jackie had to be a fight, had to be a drama, she couldn't help it. She had to have the spotlight on her, and her bad behaviour had always guaranteed that she got it.

Now, though, Maggie's sensible words had made her think about what she was doing. She had threatened one of the nurses with her water glass and she knew that, unlike years before, that could now get her a court appearance and Freddie would not be impressed if that happened.

'Bring them in.'

Freddie was watching the different expressions on the man's face and he knew they had him by the short and curlies. He had seen it before so many times with the tame filth and he loved the feeling it gave him.

People like Halpin had to be brought down gradually, it was a psychological thing. For a while you had to make them feel that even though they were the takers, they were the ones who were actually in control of the situation.

It was easy to do, you just pandered to their natural vanity. Halpin had been under the illusion he was in some way the aggressor in the partnership forged by his old boss, who had in effect served him up to Freddie Jackson as a favour. This manipulation of anyone weaker than yourself was something the likes of Freddie Jackson learned very early in life. Where he had come from you had to learn what his father had jokingly called psychological warfare.

From a kid, Freddie had understood that if you weren't clever enough, or strong enough, to beat people at their own game, you made sure you either cultivated an innate cunning or learned to use a weapon and developed a good rep as a nutcase, otherwise you became someone else's gofer.

Halpin was his gofer now and he was going to enjoy explaining that to him. Halpin, like most of the police who were on the take, had been on the receiving end of people like Freddie all their life. It was the main reason he had turned to crime fighting. The natural respect for the uniform, the very nature of the job, it was an automatic choice for a lot of people, because it was the only way they could ever be in a position of authority. But the Halpins of this world didn't just want the respect from Joe Public, they also wanted inside the wallets of the criminals.

They were so easy to bring into the fold, they were like lambs to the slaughter, and they were also what made Britain so great.

There was a fine line between the robber and the filth, and in most cases the robber would rather have a capture off a decent Old Bill. Not off a taker like Halpin. In its own way that was an insult to them and their craft. It was hard to get to the real strong policemen, they were decent men who were quite happy to live their lives on the right side of the law and they did not see the dealers' or the bank robbers' lifestyles as something to emulate. They saw it as something to destroy.

Now Halpin, who could sense the change in Freddie and young Jimmy, was just beginning to understand that the people he thought he controlled, actually controlled him.

Freddie loved this bit, it was what he lived for. Freddie Jackson loved to bully, it was instinctive and it was what got him out of bed every morning.

Jackie was in agony, real agony and Jackie being Jackie was letting everyone know that once more. At least now she had good reason, as she was well on for the birth itself.

'Oh, keep your noise down, you silly mare.'

Her mother's voice was not as sympathetic as she expected. It was upsetting for Jackie to hear her mother talk to her like that, considering her mother-in-law was also in the room with them. Maddie was not impressed and Jackie could see that, but Jackie was the one having the baby and she was determined to make the most of her time in the limelight whatever her mother thought.

Maggie had shot off somewhere and Jackie's good intentions had flown out the window again. It was late and no one seemed able to track Freddie down. She was convinced he was with a prostitute. The picture of him with some young girl with tight skin and no stretchmarks was becoming larger in her mind by the second.

A young Chinese nurse was trying to get her to sip at a glass of water, and Jackie was abusing her loudly, trying to knock the glass from her hand. Lena was ashamed of her daughter and the way she was acting. From her bad language to her racist comments to the nurses, she was a disgrace.

The young nurse, who had been brought up in Upney above her parents' chip shop, was losing her patience.

'Fuck off, and leave me alone, you fucking Chinky bastard!' Jackie's voice was loud, determined and full of hate.

The girl, a superb nurse who was already sick and tired of her job and the abuse she had to take on a daily basis, said angrily, 'Sod you, too. You want to make it harder then you go for it.'

As she left the room in a huff, Lena smiled at her apologetically. At least the girl had a bit of spunk, which is more than could be said for her daughter.

She walked over to the bed, where Jackie was kicking the bedding on to the floor for the umpteenth time, and writhing around as if she was possessed. Anyone would think this was the first child ever to be born. She knew the child was OK, the doctor had already assured them it was a normal delivery, so now Jackie was back to her normal obnoxious self. She had alienated all the nurses and all the doctors again, so even a cup of tea was now out of the question.

Lena felt she was just about ready to blow herself. 'You have to stop this, Jackie, you are making a fool of yourself. It ain't like it's your first, is it?'

Jackie was clenching her fists once more, in temper, but her mother's voice was telling her she had pushed them all to the limit and she knew when to let things go. Freddie's mother was looking at her like she was nothing as usual, and it was hurting her. But Freddie loved his mother and if it took Maddie Jackson to get him here then she would do whatever it took.

'Has anyone tracked him down yet?'

Lena shook her head and said in exasperation, 'What do you think? What do you want him here for, anyway? He would only get in the way.'