The Max Effect. 3

Kurtz Tyres

"You heard the news I trust? Asked Max

"Indeed, good work Max," said Langer

Max & Langer discussed the situation. Was there more of the chemical on the streets, did they have other operatives?  Langer quizzed Max on what she knew.

"It's not over yet Max" I know that she replied.

"The city still has around 85 missing people who
we know are related to this drug and we still have no idea where they are or if they're even alive!" Langer sounded desperate.

"Hopefully we'll get some information from the Cheeseman's phone," said Max

There was a silence on the phone call.

After a short pause...." Ah you mean John Goodes"

"I'd always wondered what his name was" said Max

"His story checks out. It will take the tech team a little time to go through the encryption of the files, hopefully, it will throw up a few secrets. He's cooperating with us so far...good work" said Langer.

He was about to end the call when he asked Max a strange question.

"Max, do you remember your training?"

"It was a long time ago, why?"

"Remember the book that made you laugh?" said Langer mysteriously

"What?"

The call ended as Max spoke.

Max didn't have a clue what Langer was on about. She drove home. All the way home she wondered what he meant.

Max arrived home getting out of her loan car whilst hers was being repaired. She went to put her keys in the front door before the key met the lock it was opened from the inside, all that she remembers was seeing a fist coming towards her and as she stepped back dodging the punch, a hard piece of wood hit her on the back of the head.

Max woke up in a damp poorly lit warehouse, she could hear water dripping and occasional wind blow through the gaps. She still felt quite weak from the concussion and passed out again. When she woke again it was daylight, shining through the broken windows. She could hear forklifts and men chatting outside. From the noises she heard she figured she was down the docks. Her hands were bound by rope as were her feet. She needed to get her wound dressed. She tensed her muscular arms, the muscles started to flex. The rope was pulled with the slack rope now becoming tight, her arms stopping for a second as the rope resisted, Max then ripped the rope apart, the rope tearing apart as her strength ripped the fibres apart. The rope around her legs also offered no resistance as it fell loosely to the floor, torn apart.

Max got up, a little unsteady on her feet and still feeling weaker than normal. She removed her new leather jacket and staggered over to a bench. Max tore the lining from the inside of the jacket and wrapped it around the wound at the back of her head. Looking around she located some bags of grain. She moved them around and made a makeshift bed, she needed the rest.

It was dark when Max woke again, she was cold, the temperature dropped, and it was quiet from the occasional unknown sound. By her rough calculations, Max reckoned she had been slipping in and out of consciousness for at least 24 hours. She could hear noises, a chain & padlock rattling, it was someone was coming in. There were bright lights and Max could hear the sound of a motor. She rolled off the grain sacks and stayed low, the noise of the unknown machine became louder. It appeared that it was coming straight at her, Max couldn't be sure because of the bright lights. She paused and waited, best to attack first she thought. She waited for the machine to become level with herself.