Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck

stopping when his father went to jail.
He had no escape, it was no wonder Tama was as messed up as he was.
 When his stepfather had started on him, it must have been
because he had grown bored with Tama and wanted to experience the
thrill of someone closer to home.
    That shame
still burned in the pit of his stomach but it had long since turned
to hatred. He wanted to kill that sick predator that had taken his
innocence but he knew that it would destroy his mother. He did not
blame her, he had never told her about what went on so how would
she know. She just kept toiling away in the hope that her family
would be all right.  The same story repeated itself throughout
his world, the plight of so many shielded by the need to
survive.
    Things
were starting to fall apart for him now; he could feel it slipping
away. Last night had probably sealed their fate; he would be
destined to a life in jail. Like so many others before them, it all
came down to a choice. Martin hated the fact he was in this life,
he only did the things that came naturally to him in order to
survive, to have what everyone else had, a normal life.
    Tama was
supposed to be his brother in arms, them against the world. He was
someone who had shared similar experiences and could relate to how
he felt.
    Martin felt he had more to offer to the world than what he
had given so far, the man had told him that it would happen. He
just had to wait. However, things were not going the right way. If
he could just get out, he would go to Auckland maybe and start a
new life where nobody knew where he had come from. He would be free
from people's knowing stares; the images of what he had lived
through reflected clearly in their eyes. These thoughts always gave
him a warm feeling, as if they were real; they were supposed to
happen, as if he could actually achieve them. He had spoken about
them with Tama often enough and at first he thought Tama had felt
the same but he knew in his
heart that Tama would never go with him, despite all his talk. Tama
was going to hold him back, as much as he hated the idea he needed
to cut the connection and move on before his friend dragged him
even further from his desired life.
    His
phone beeped in his pocket and Martin pulled it out, retrieving the
text message he saw it was from Joseph Kingi.
    'T's bn pulld, he btr not tlk or I'll fkn kill
him' .
    'Shit' he
thought looking at the message in crude text speak. He hoped Tama
was in the right frame of mind to keep his mouth shut but he could
not be sure given the state he was in back at the house.
    The
message had unnerved him, he had not really thought about Tama
being a grass, not seriously. He could not let that happen, he
wanted too much from his life to have it snatched away by Tama's
loose lips.
    Tama's
smiling face jumped into his head, poor simple Tama, he could not
be sure that Tama would have the mental strength to keep everything
to himself. He would let himself get confused, maybe say something
he did not want to, and then he would sink everyone with his
ineptitude. A sudden sadness washed over him.
    Martin
knew this was the end of the line for Tama, Joseph was not going to
believe him whatever he said about his unplanned visit to the
police station, if they even let him out. Prison would not even be
a safe place given the fact that Joseph’s father controlled the
inside as well. He knew in his heart that he would never be able to
move on with Tama still hanging around his neck.
    Sadly, he knew
what he had to do; it would be the kindest thing for Tama in the
end. He just hoped he would have the guts to do what he needed to
when the time came.
    For now,
he would just have to wait and see if the police would release Tama
from his nightmare.
    Martin
stood up and looked at the view before him, he would miss this
place, but he would never look back.
     
    They had
to let Tama go, Matthews was not going to let them keep him in the
station any longer than was necessary, the evidence just