‘You just stick with what you know. Ignore the whole bloody lot of them, especially that Jonathan. They’re blowing smoke out their asses. You ready?’
We always do the developing together. I wish I could say it’s a sacred rite of the alchemical process, a communion, but really it’s because he doesn’t quite trust me with his expensive chemicals. I’m also not allowed to address him as Dan or even Daniel. Just Mr. Muller, which is so retro.
I reach up to push aside the black plastic bags and he gently takes my arm, pushing up the sleeve. ‘My goodness. What’s this?’ And suddenly I’m embarrassed.
He regards the glow logo seriously. ‘When I was young, I wanted to get my grandfather’s number from the prison camp tattooed on my arm. A sort of homage to suffering.’
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘Jewish. It’s not kosher. And it was in remarkably bad taste. I didn’t realise that at the time.’ He shrugs and takes another sip of ultra, gesturing to the darkroom. ‘Shall we?’
Tendeka
Sent Messages Folder / -
17/09 23h09. Toby. Not answering UR phone.
Did U get msg switching the
meet? Damn SAPS. SIM denied
entry @Don Pedros. Here it is
again. RendezV @ 19 lwr main
wdstock instead. Unimore Pack
ing co warehouse. Call 4
directions if U need. No rush
17/09 23h29 Still waiting 4U. Still coming?
Havent heard from U. Con
cerned?!?! Hour late now
17/9 23h51 Cant do it w/out our key guy!
Dont want 2 rip the plug at this
late. Get in touch!
17/9 24h12 Not cool Toby
17/9 24h17 WHERE U?!?!?!?!
17/9 24h23 FUCKER. FUCK YOU. YOU FUCK
‘Little tense, bro?’ Toby calls out, waltzing into the warehouse, and it’s only because I don’t want to set a bad example for Zuko, or scare off our new recruit, that I don’t fucking slam him through a wall of crates.
The bastard actually laughs. ‘Relax, china. I didn’t realise this was a military operation here. So we’re a little late. It’s quieter on the highway now anyways.’
‘Are you fucking high?’ Which is a stupid question, considering his pupils are so dilated his eyes are black.
‘Yeah,’ he says, looking round, unconcerned. ‘What is this place? Boxworld?’
‘Jasmine used to work here. She kept the keys. And the alarm code,’ Ashraf says, as if this conversational thread is a priority right now, as if I’m not going to see through him changing the subject.
Toby scopes her out with a leer. ‘I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure?’ But before he can kiss her hand, I intervene.
‘Oh, gosh. Where are my fucking manners? Let me introduce you. Jasmine. Toby. Jasmine’s a political-economy student at UCT who’s interested in joining the cause. Toby’s a fuckhead.’
‘Tendeka.’
‘Sorry, Ash. But this is not cool. Toby, you cannot fucking come here fucked up and fucking think you can fuck this for us!’
‘Ooh,’ he says, pulling a face. ‘Thanks, but not on the first date.’
‘What?’
‘All the fucking. Not on the first date. Sorry.’ Zuko snickers, and this time not even Ash can stop me. I shove Toby, and he tumbles back into a stack of boxes, spraying the floor with packing material. He rebounds, like one of those punchbag clowns, laughing.
‘Jesus, what a rush. Do it again. C’mon. Once more. Hit me. For real this time. C’mon. Just not in the face, okay?’ He bounces like a boxer, shaking out his hands. ‘Wait. Wait. Okay, I’m ready.’
‘Fuck you.’
‘Yeah. Already said that. Moving on … We gonna go wreak some havoc on capitalism or what?’ Ash has a gentle restraining hand on my arm. But it’s cool. I know the fucking score here. I shake him off.
‘Is your friend ready, Toby? Because if she’s not, you can just fucking go home.’
‘Waiting on my beck.’
‘Well, call her then.’
‘I’ll msg her when we’re imminent. Not
before. She doesn’t like prolonged chats. It raises her risk profile.’
I pull him aside, rougher than necessary, away from Jasmine, who is already looking nervous, and getting more so since Zuko started on a systematic sabotage half an hour ago, gutting boxes so they’ll spill everything as soon as someone tries to lift them, switching labels. ‘It’s bad enough you come here fried when you know how I feel about that shit, but don’t undermine me in front of my people, okay, Toby?’
‘Okay, china, we’re cool. I wouldn’t want to affect your status with your people.’
‘Are you fucking mocking me?’
‘No, Ten. No. How can you think that? Look, I’m sorry. Let’s just hit it, okay? Rewind. Press play. Back on schedule and everyone’s happy!’
‘All right. But this is serious. This is deep water.’
Toby looks confused.
‘We’re not playing in the shallow end.’
‘Right. Got it.’
‘Hey, Tendeka. Can he stop that?’ Jasmine says, worrying at her thumbnail with her teeth. The girl’s not going to last the night, I can tell. She’s got heart, absolutely with the cause, but she doesn’t have the nerves to endure the risk. It’s the same for almost everyone who joins us. Either they’re believers, or they’re just along for the ride, but they never last. It’s a complex operation and we’ve got a high turnover, to use the enemies’ lingo.
‘It’s standard anti-corp, Jasmine. Don’t sweat it. We can’t limit the sentiment to the largescale corporati. Every capitalist enterprise propagates the system that fucks people over, keeps the poor and the sick down and out of sight. Your boss has it coming.’
‘Okay. It’s just that my boss was, like, a decent guy, yeah?’
‘How decent could he have been if he fired you?’ Toby cuts in, getting a grateful look from Jasmine.
‘All right, whatever. We’re heading out. Now that everyone is finally here.’
As we pull up our hoodies, I can’t help noticing that Toby has ignored the very specific instructions to wear all-black.
Outside, the humidity from the rain earlier sinks down on us together with that musky smell of wet tar. I’m already starting to sweat. At least it’s deserted. The lofts above the warehouses are all lit up, but nobody bothers to look out the window. The loft dwellers are all locked away. All the stuff they need is inside, cafés and laundros and private gyms, so they go direct from garage to apartment, never venturing out on the street unless it’s in the security of their cars.
We turn left into Roodebloem, stepping up the pace. Zuko is playing handlanger, carrying the ropes and the harness. It’s a test run, his first major sabotage, and I have high expectations of him.
The rules are that the targets have to switch constantly. It’s self-evident, but you’d be surprised at how many wannabes don’t think that far ahead, and get bust when they hit the same board the third time round. It’s great that kids are doing it, that they’re actually getting out there, but they fucking have to think it through properly. It’s not like we haven’t made the information available.
Most of them do it for the thrill. And when it comes down too heavy, the first time they get crisped, say, then they’re out. They’ll still hang in the forums, they might make it down for a protest or a flash mob, but they won’t go on a raid again. Zuko is going to be different, though. I can tell.
I turn to tell him this, but he’s not behind me as I anticipated. Instead, he is tagging along with Jasmine, both hanging tight with Toby, who is spouting shit, dragging up the whole Hope Modise thing, as if Jasmine weren’t nervy enough already.