Max Arena Read Free

the light!’
    Blinding light
filled the room and Elsa clamped her eyes shut, unconsciously
pulling the two children in even closer, both of them burrowing
their own faces into her chest as they huddled on the bed.
    ‘Don’t move,
mate,’ said the same foreign voice, the person’s voice firm, but
covering an edge of uncertainty. ‘Nobody wants to bring you
down.’
    ‘You already
tried that,’ came Max’s voice, even in tone and absolutely without
fear.
    Hearing this
riposte, Elsa couldn’t contain her angst any longer and popped her
head up. The scene that assailed her was like nothing she could
ever wish for.
    Their bedroom
had been invaded by four black clad soldiers, completely
surrounding the bed at close quarters with handguns extended in
front and pointed directly at her husband. The only flesh she could
see were their eyes inside balaclavas and all four pairs were
fixed, wide open and jittery, on Max. In contrast it appeared as
though Max had not budged a muscle, his stance exactly the same as
it had been while standing in the dark, waiting for the assailants
to come into the room; rock solid and unflinching. Then he did
move.
    ‘Are you okay,
honey?’ he asked as he turned to look her and the kids over.
    Then she saw
the two deep bruises spreading across his chest. ‘What are they?’
she cried out, her hand shooting forth to gesture at the
injuries.
    ‘He shot me.
Twice,’ came the simple reply.
    Elsa threw
glances at each of the men. ‘Who did that? Which one of you…?’
    ‘It was him,’
Max said calmly, turning and flicking a finger towards the
shattered sliding glass door, ‘and he can’t hear you.’
    Elsa directed
her glance through the smashed portal and noticed the soles of a
pair of boots on the edge of the shadows in the courtyard. ‘What
happened to…?’
    ‘Like I said,’
Max cut-in, ‘he shot me and there was no way he was going to shoot
me again, let alone you or the kids, so I showed him the door.’
    ‘That’s
enough,’ the foreign voice interrupted. Elsa looked across to note
the owner of the command as the tallest and broadest of the four
intruders. ‘We’ve got orders to bring you back with us,
unharmed.’
    ‘You’ve already
botched that,’ Max replied, ‘and I’m not going anywhere. I’m
staying here with my family and if you want this to turn out
differently, you’ll have to ditch your rubber bullets and put real
ones in to even stand a chance.’
    ‘I don’t think
you appreciate the seriousness of your situation,’ the gun-toting
man pressed.
    Max’s gaze
burned into the man’s. The black clad intruder nervously shuffled
his stance, while remaining firmly behind the cover of his gun.
    ‘I know exactly
why you’re here,’ Max said in a low voice, ‘and if you think you
four and your other two men out in the living room are enough to
apprehend me, then it’s you that doesn’t appreciate the
seriousness of your situation.’
    The team leader
of the assailants flicked his gaze towards the door leading into
the living room, then back at Max.
    ‘Good move,’
Max added. ‘I’d reassess my options right now too if I were
you.’
    ‘You’re coming
in with…’
    ‘No,’ Max shot
back firmly, a slight rise in his tone. ‘Get on the phone to your
boss and let him know if he wants to talk to me, he can come here . I’m not leaving my family. Now get out or I’ll
put you all through the window.’
    The team leader
held his ground, his eyes looking Max up and down, a myriad of
options clearly scurrying through his mind. ‘Okay,’ he finally
said. ‘You sit tight. My guys are stepping out to cover the
perimeter while I get some advice.’
    Max did not
move, his stance still unflinching. One by one, the four intruders
backed out of the bedroom and through the smashed glass doors. As
they retreated into the darkness, two of them picked up their
unconscious colleague and dragged him away.
    It was not
until all sight of the four intruders had