Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck

as the large wooden gate swung
open in front of them without having to knock. Inside, the two
young men on sentry duty said nothing as they walked through. They
were looking at Tama with jealous expressions, eyes that betrayed
envy and awe in the same instance. Tama's posture had taken on a
confident swagger as he walked through the yard, parading his
newfound status to those that cared. One of the two sentries
recognised Martin and flicked his chin in the air as a greeting.
Martin returned the gesture; he knew the face, but he had forgotten
his name.
    "What were you
doing over in the trees Star?” The sentry asked.
    The
question was innocent enough but he was not about to let on the
truth. "T needed to take a leak didn't you T". He looked at Tama
hoping he would realise what he was doing.
    "Yeah...
that's right, hope you didn't see too much bro, don't want you
getting jealous or something". Tama grabbed his crotch with his
left hand and grinned.
    "Yeah
right", the sentry replied, then pointed to the main building "J
mans in there".
    Entering the
dark musty hallway of the building Martin saw Tama's shoulders drop
again, confidence seeping out of him.
    The
smell of stale beer and Cannabis had permeated into the carpets and
walls giving the place a distinctive smell. He had only been in the
place once before but it was the same smell he
remembered.
    Tama seemed to
know where he was going so he followed closely behind, conscious of
the doors he passed, partially open, glimpses of a twisted humanity
inside them.
    He saw a
dreadlocked male with a belt around his bicep, in one room, needle
in his hand. There was a partially naked girl with dead eyes in the
next; a fat hairy man was taking her from behind on a bed with no
sheets, while another male had passed out in a chair beside them,
oblivious. Two women were in another, crying onto each other’s
shoulders. Music was pumping out of the room at the end of the
hallway. He could feel the heavy beat and heard crass lyrics that
spat out of the speakers with the angst of the oppressed. The party
from last night had not stopped.
    "Star…, good
of you to come". Joseph said looking up from the floor as they
entered the darkened room. His voice was only just audible over the
loud music.
    He could
not see his face clearly in the smoky gloom to read his expression,
but his tone was unnaturally chirpy. The wounds Joseph got from his
beating in the store were not visible, and his matted dreadlocks
were shining as if he had just washed, which he knew was
improbable. It was common knowledge that Joseph preferred the old
way of creating and maintaining his dreadlocks and that was to wash
them as little as possible, if at all.
    Joseph
indicated that he and Tama sit on the ground next to him.
    The two
girls who were fondling him in various places, modesty protected by
the dim light, got up and scuttled away into the darkness. Martin's
eyes adjusted to the smoke and darkness of the room, he could make
out more people sitting around the periphery. These would be the
chosen, his most trusted thugs. The hierarchy of the twisted world
he presided over.
    "What's
up J man?" He queried.
    Joseph
smiled a black and gold encrusted smile; he took a deep lungful of
smoke out of the butt end of a cigarette, before stubbing it out on
the carpet beside him. He regarded Martin for a moment before
answering.
    "Where
did you get to last night Star? We waited for you to come out of
the shop but you did not show up. Did you have a go with that tasty
piece of arse?”
    Martin
remained silent and watched as Joseph shook his head in
amusement.
    "Anyway
I just wanted to thank you for last night, is all", Joseph said,
looking directly at him now. "We all showed what we were made
of..., we certainly showed that little fuck what we were made of as
well". Low voices came out of the darkness, grunts of
congratulations towards Joseph and Tama.  
    "Pity we
only got away with that synthetic shit and a few chocolate bars.
All