Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel (3 page)

"You get
out, you get out, I call the police!” The short Asian man yelled in
broken English. He raised his bat again and made to strike at
Joseph. Martin looked at the open door behind the counter; it must
lead to the house in the rear. He must have been in there listening
to what was going on.

The man
was dressed in flannel pyjamas and looked comical waving his bat in
the air. Joseph had regained some composure and had turned around
to face the man. The girl, thankfully, had taken her opportunity to
escape and had disappeared back through the open door.

"Fuck you",
Joseph snarled, as he lunged towards the little man forgetting he
still had his trousers around his knees. His legs tangled in the
trousers and he fell forward, his head connecting squarely with the
side of the bat as it swung violently towards him.

The sickening
crunch of bone on wood was overshadowed the immense cracking sound
of pellets flying at high velocity from a small plastic shell
cartridge containing gunpowder.

"Fucking get
some you little bastard", Tama yelled, totally caught up in the
moment. Smoke was curling lazily out of one of the barrels as he
held the gun at waist level. The little Asian man dropped to his
knees, a look of surprised shock on his face. His mouth fell open
and he toppled face first onto the ground. Martin could see a
ragged hole in the small of his back, frothy bubbles of air mixing
with the spreading blood as the little man fought for breath.

He could
hear sirens in the distance over the ringing in his ears. Martin
watched helplessly as Tama took a step forward and raised the gun,
pointing it towards the stricken man.

"I'll finish
you right now you piece of shit". His voice had lost a bit of its
venom; a trace of uncertainty had seeped in on seeing what he had
done.

"Finish the
little fucker", Joseph said groggily from the floor. He was on all
fours, blood dripping off the back of his skull; his dreadlocks had
matted themselves together with the thick red substance.

"Don't do it Tama, let’s just get out of here. I can hear the
cops coming". Martin knew Tama was beyond reason though.
He watched as Tama raised his vacant eyes towards
him, then move them slowly over to Joseph, and finally back at the
wretched man on the floor. The next thing he heard was the
sickening click of the firing pin releasing on an empty
chamber.

"Shit..., you’re fucking lucky its empty dick head," Tama
said, as he looked at the now useless firearm in his
hands.

Joseph had
managed to get back to his feet, he spat a globule of saliva mixed
with his own blood onto the man on the floor, then turned and made
for the door without saying anything.

Tama turned
and followed him, holding the firearm over his shoulder like a
miner with a pickaxe.

Suddenly
he found himself abandoned in the store. Although he hated what had
just happened he now felt very vulnerable without Tama and Joseph.
Surveying the scene, he saw the girl had returned to the shop and
knelt before the man. The man was looking up at him, his eyes
boring into his head pleading for help. He could not move. His feet
felt like lead moulded to the floor. What in the hell had just
happened? Why did this man have to get involved? Why did the girl
not just do as Joseph had told her? The effects of the alcohol and
cannabis had completely worn off.

"This is
your fault, why didn't you just leave it, we would have been in and
out..., fuck you, you've screwed this whole thing up", he said
aloud. Tears were prickling at his eyes. The man on the ground did
not respond, his breathing was becoming shallow and he lowered his
head to the ground.  The girl was just staring at him,
accusations in her eyes.  Turning to leave, the sound of
sirens was getting louder in his ears.

Martin
saw the cash drawer was open on the counter, it was full of money,
money he needed. Money he deserved for what had just happened. He
was not going to leave empty-handed. Grabbing everything he could
and stuffing it inside his jeans pocket, he left the shop and
stepped back out into the calm darkness of the night.

This was not
what he had expected to happen, it was supposed to be easy, it was
slipping from his hands…

The sound of
the siren outside the patrol car was competing with the metallic
noise of the working parts on the police issue Glock 17 pistol
being racked back and forth, as Gillian negotiated the car through
another red light.

"Will you
leave that thing alone Steve, it’s loaded, you will shoot yourself
in the foot", she said.

"Shots fired
Gillian, you heard the call, I'm just being cautious", Steve
replied

"You're
supposed to be keeping an eye out for that blue Subaru Steve; I've
got enough on my plate while I concentrate on getting us there
safely".

"Point taken
Gill", Steve said, as he started scanning the vehicles flashing by
in the darkness.

There had been
multiple calls about an armed robbery at a corner store in the
north of the city; the first was from the shop owner informing them
of three men holding his daughter at gunpoint, followed by numerous
calls from neighbours calling about hearing gunshots. One of them
had mentioned seeing a blue Subaru driving away from the scene at
speed. All available units were responding.

It had taken
Gillian Holler and Steve Kirkland a few minutes to retrieve their
firearms from the locked box in the boot of the patrol car and a
minute more to put on the ballistic body armour but they were still
going to be first on the scene.

"It's just up
here", Steve said, pointing to the well lit building sitting in the
darkness that surrounded it. "We'll just go straight in Gill, stay
right behind me and clear the area to the left, I will scan ahead
and to the right, you got that".

Gillian nodded
in the darkness of the car’s interior; she was running through what
Steve had said in her head. Steve was the junior partner, but he
had been a member of the Armed Offender Squad for a good few years
and had done all the training so she was happy to defer to his
judgement on this occasion. She hated firearms but she was not
afraid to use one if necessary.

"Gill did you
hear me?”

"Yeah,
sorry Steve, I thought I had replied". She made a quick scan of the
surrounding houses as they neared the scene; she tried to make a
mental note of the pinpricks of light in the darkness indicating
which of them had woken up to the sound of gunfire, as they would
make up the first round of enquiries, but the whole thing was
moving too fast.

"Right then,
let’s do this". Steve said with conviction.

The
adrenalin in her system increased tenfold as she pulled the car to
a stop a short distance up the road. Steve was immediately out of
the car and moving towards the store but using the side of the
building for cover. Gillian fell into step behind him; her heart
was beating against her tight fitting ballistic vest. Steve had
holstered his Glock and was holding his Bushmaster semi automatic
rifle in the ready position. He had moved up to the door and stood
just to the side, he looked at Gillian and held three fingers in
the air. Then, just like in the movies, he started a silent count
before turning and going through the door.

"Armed Police!
Armed Police! Don’t move!” he yelled, as he scanned back and forth,
his finger sitting just outside the trigger guard, ready for any
hostile confrontation.

Gillian
followed Steve inside, she stayed right on his shoulder and scanned
left as she had been told, it was clear. Bringing her head around
in line with her weapon, the scene she saw before her was awful.
The offenders had clearly retreated leaving behind the bloodied
casualties as proof of their venture. A young Asian girl was on her
knees in a pool of blood that clearly belonged to the older male
lying face down on the floor. She was looking at them with
uncomprehending eyes, questions of inhumanity left
unsaid.

"Make sure an
ambulance has been called, Steve", Gillian said, regaining control
and holstering her pistol. She worked better when she was on
autopilot and when she was in charge of the situation. Although she
had been in the job for almost twenty years, she had never sought
promotion. She preferred to work alongside her colleagues on an
equal basis, but that did not stop her taking charge when the
situation needed it.

Crouching down beside the girl, she felt for a pulse on the
male. It was very weak, but it was still there. "Is this your
father?” she said to the girl. The girl just nodded. "Are you
hurt?” The girl shook her head. Gillian looked around for something
to help stem the flow of blood. She saw a black ski mask lying
close by, it was synthetic and not woollen. Not even bothered about
its evidential value she grabbed it and held it over the wound on
the old man’s back applying as much pressure as she could, the
blood seeped from under it but seemed to stem the worst of the
flow. "Steve come and hold onto this until the ambulance arrives
will you".

Steve slung
his rifle onto his back and crouched down, the ballistic vest
making it difficult to stay upright in the squatting position. He
put his hands onto the makeshift dressing and pressed. "I'll be
good here Gill, you can take the girl somewhere more suitable".

They
could hear the sound of more sirens approaching on the night air.
It was hard to distinguish the difference between the sirens but
Gillian hoped that one of them was the ambulance. Looking at the
state of the male, and the amount of blood pooling around his prone
body, he would not have long.

Gillian
stood up and put a hand on the girls shoulder, "Stand up and come
over here with me, I need to ask you some questions".

She had
dealt with many victims in the past and knew that niceties were no
good when someone had suffered a trauma. They needed a firm hand
and clear direction; otherwise, you could end up going around in
circles as they broke down into various states of dark
emotions.

The girl did
what Gillian asked and they both moved over to the shop counter
near the door. The girl looked at the open and empty cash drawer,
then back at Gillian. Her eyes were deep pools of emotion. Gillian
thought she could detect a lot of anger behind the tears as if she
was fighting to suppress it. "What's happened?” Gillian said. The
first question was designed to get straight to the facts, there was
no point wasting time on assumptions when the actual incident was
completely different from what you were lead to believe from
panicked phone calls.

The girl
looked Gillian in the eyes she had made a decision. She was not
going to be a victim.

"They
robbed us, the pathetic cowards". There was no trace of an accent
in her speech. "There were three of them, the big one had a gun,
and he was the one doing the talking". The girl looked down at the
man on the floor as she spoke. "They had masks on, it was just like
you would expect. Then the big one, he...” she paused and closed
her eyes, a slight catch of breath coming from her throat, "He got
his penis out, he was going to rape me, just because I wouldn't put
my hands it the air…” she took another deep breath “I could smell
his breath, it was vile". The determination had returned to her
voice, she opened her eyes and looked at Gillian. "Dad must have
heard what was going on; he came out with his bat and hit the big
one on the head. He sort of... fell into me, his face was so close,
I wanted to bite it, but he still had the mask on. That's when the
other one shot my dad in the back". The girl started crying, "He
was going to shoot him again but the gun didn't go off".

"You're doing
well", Gillian encouraged, "Is that when they left?”

"Two of
them ran out, the big one and the one with the gun, the other one
just stood there, he looked like he was crying, he tried to tell me
it was my fault". She stifled a sob. "I was looking after dad, then
after a while he turned his back and took his mask off. He went to
leave the shop and I couldn't see what he did after that, you two
were here only a couple of minutes to late".

"Steve
driving to slow was he?" The voice behind them made Gillian turn
around. "All those muscles and he still has no strength in the foot
used on the accelerator". Sergeant Gary Stone stood there grinning,
dressed in his customary black jumpsuit and bristling with weapons.
"You won't have any need for us here I take it", he
added.

Gillian looked
behind him and saw three other black clad members of the Armed
Offender Squad standing around Steve and offering him
encouragement.

"I'll let you
know if we come up with any leads once I finish talking to that
poor man's daughter here", she said, not bothering to hide the
inflection in her voice. Gary Stone could be insensitive
sometimes.

"Right you are
Gill", he said, "Let's get out there and do a quick area search
boys, you never know they may be hiding in the bushes". Gary gave
Gillian a smile before leaving the store followed by his merry
men.

The
ambulance had arrived while Gillian was distracted and were now
tending to the male on the floor. They looked so calm and
professional as they did their thing. They did not seem to be too
worried about his condition, but then it was their job to portray
calm in a chaos. Steve, released of his wound duties by the medics,
had stood up and was now standing next to Gillian.