Street Soldier Read Free Page B

them away. And now he knew why. If there was one joke at last night’s party that Sean hadn’t found funny, it was the one about the body search – lads miming snapping latex gloves onto probing hands.
    Well, if he was going to tough it out for the next year, this was where he started. He nodded and let King guide him. The screw walked with all the grace and threat of an overweight Rottweiler. He had muscles, but he also had a belly straining against his shirt – not that Sean was considering having a go. What would be the point? Where would he go afterwards?
    Through the door, a screw with a face like an angry rat waited in a small, bare room. His name tag read PRISON OFFICER CAGE . There was a table with a screen and some kind of kit on it, but Sean’s gaze went straight to the thing next to it. It looked a bit like the electric chair used in all the movies.
    ‘Remove everything except your underwear,’ Cagesnapped. Sean realized he had just been standing and staring at the chair. ‘Today, if you can.’
    Sean stripped down to his boxers and passed the pile of clothes to Cage, then stood in the middle of the room for King to make a visual check that he had no contraband taped to his skin. Next the warder ran hard fingers through his hair, peered into his ears, and held his mouth open with a spatula. Finally he patted down Sean’s thighs, arse and balls through the fabric of his shorts.
    ‘Nothing of interest here,’ he said with a huge smile. Sean guessed it was an old joke. ‘And now we look where the sun don’t shine.’
    Sean swallowed, but he remembered how he had resolved to get through this. He hooked his thumbs into the elastic of his boxers and started to slide them down.
    ‘Don’t be soft!’ Cage shot King a glare. ‘Mr King likes to think he’s a comedian.’
    ‘Hey, it never gets old. The look on their faces!’
    Sean felt his face flushing red and hid his confusion in as much anger as he dared show. ‘So what do I do, then?’
    ‘You keep yer knickers on and you sit down there.’ King gave Sean a gentle push towards the chair.
    ‘Just sit?’
    ‘Just sit,’ Cage confirmed.
    ‘What does it do?’ Sean asked. He carefully placed his arse on the hard plastic surface. It was even lesscomfortable than the seats in the van. At least those were roughly bum-shaped. This was just a hard, flat surface.
    ‘Scans you. This is the Body Orifice Security Scanner – Boss for short. If the alarm goes off, we know you’ve got something inside you that you shouldn’t have.’
    ‘What, drugs?’
    King shook his head. ‘We’ve already checked that,’ he said. ‘You saw the dog, right?’
    Sean remembered the dog. He’d thought it was just being friendly. So it was scoping him out for possession? Sneaky four-legged tosser.
    ‘Nah, we’re talking way more exciting than drugs,’ said Cage. ‘We’ve had weapons, mobile phones . . . one guy managed a grenade. Had to call in Bomb Disposal to give him an enema.’
    ‘Mr Cage has been in this job long enough to remember when the only way to find out for sure was to have a good old root around ourselves,’ said King. ‘Progress is an amazing thing.’
    ‘Christ, it made my fingers sore.’ Cage pressed a number of buttons and looked at the screen. Sean heard a few whirs and buzzes, saw some flickering lights. ‘Boss says you’re clean.’
    ‘That’s it?’ Sean had been through so much bullshit since getting nicked that he couldn’t quite believe anything could only take a couple of seconds.
    ‘Unless you’d like us to get the gloves and Vaseline out for old times’ sake,’ King said. ‘This way. Bring your clothes.’
    Next stop was a narrow room with another counter and a door at the far end. This counter had a grille from the top to the ceiling. They made Sean stand against a measuring stick stuck to the wall.
    ‘Tall,’ said the screw behind the counter. ‘Shoe size?’
    ‘Eleven.’
    The counter screw pushed a pair of packages