Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck Page B

was alive with the angst of the music; the posters were
jumping off the walls, the walls were bulging in and out as if the
house was breathing. He was king of the world, people will look at
him now, admire him, and fear him. He was a killer; he had killed
and did not feel a thing. Stone cold, fucking A.
    Standing
up unsteadily, he gathered his darkest t-shirt off the floor. He
did not have the mask from last night that was with the gun, he was
not stupid.
    Tama
looked at himself in the mirror, the man looking back at him
smiled, no trace of the boy he was yesterday. With the dope
boosting his confidence, he walked out into the gathering darkness
to collect the tools of his new trade.
    It was not
far; he found himself walking with a slight swagger, just a little,
probably not even noticeable but his confidence was building. It
was the walk of a man. He turned left into Isadore Road before
making the right into Hillhead Road then followed the side of the
Golf course until he reached the pine trees, all the while
practicing his walk.
    He could just
about see the pad across the park on his right as he sauntered
towards the trees, the high wooden fence blocking most of the light
from within. He knew the sentries would be on the other side,
checking over the top occasionally. He wondered if they knew what
was happening tonight, he wondered if they knew that Tama the
killer was going out on the town again. It did not matter, they
would know soon enough.
    He
 thought back to the previous night, he was the star of that
party, J man had told everybody what happened and then let him
revel in it, the drugs and the drink, the girls, they looked at him
differently to he had noticed that. He would have one of those
bitches tonight, now that he was someone. People like J man and
him, they needed girls, men have needs and those girls would feed
them. Tonight was going to be his night.
    Moving into
the shadows where he remembered Martin putting the bag with the gun
he crouched down and felt around blindly at the base of the tree.
He knew there should be a small hollow somewhere, moving himself
forward he pushed as many of the fallen pine needles as he could to
one side.
    He found the
hollow but the hollow was empty.
    He started to
panic a little bit, searching around frantically, blind in the
darkness below the tree. The bag and the gun had to be here, he
could not have lost it. J man would kill him if he had.
    "Are you
looking for this...?" The whisper of a voice came from somewhere in
front of him, hidden between the trees, almost sorrowful in
tone.
    "What...?"
    The
metallic sound of a shell cartridge chambering into a breach as it
closed rang out, the sound bouncing off the trees around him,
before ringing in his ears.
    He
looked into the darkness, trying desperately to see shape behind
the voice. Tama's stomach felt hollow all of a sudden, acid was
pouring into the empty space making him feel sick.
    "It has to be
this way", the voice said, no trace of emotion now.
    "What
does?”
    Tama sensed
some movement next to the closest tree, a shadow attached to the
voice stepped into view.
    "It's better
for all of us", the shadow said.
    Tama could not
speak; this was not going the right way.... He wanted to stand but
he did not understand what the shadow wanted, so he stayed on his
knees as if praying. Was this a bad trip? Was this the dope making
him see and hear things?
    The voice
sounded familiar to him but it was to quiet to tell. He thought he
knew the voice… it might be all right.
    The shadow
moved closer, a slither of light on his face, Tama's eyes widened
in betrayed confusion as he glimpsed the familiar face behind the
shadow.
    "W-Why...?"
    Light
flashed from the darkness, just a small lick of flame, which burnt
into the back of his wide-open retinas. The flash left behind a
white-hot stain, insignificant except for the noise that came with
it. His ears registered the loud crack milliseconds before his face
imploded and the back of his