Max Arena (28 page)

Max whispered,
‘One. Two. Three!’ and he charged out from round the back of the
truck. As he did, Max unscrewed the nozzle and water burst from the
hose. Running right at the two women, Max managed to hit both of
them with the first initial spray, not hard enough to knock them
over, but definitely drench them.

A combination
of shrieks, squeals and kiddie laughter filled the air. Elsa and
Kris split up, so Max followed Elsa and he doused her some more.
Meanwhile, Kris stopped and started shouting at him, so Max turned
the spray back on her and chased after her as she scrambled away.
With his back turned on his wife, Elsa grabbed Max from behind and
tried to wrestle the hose from him. Kris saw her struggling and
charged in from the other side.

Max knew he
could fend them off, but instead he feigned a struggle. Holding the
hose with the same hand that held Jason, he reached up and pulled
Millie off his shoulders with his other hand. She was giggling like
mad. Then with Millie safely down on his chest, Max fell backwards
and the spray from the hose went straight up to shower down over
them all. Within seconds, everyone was wet through. Max was on the
bottom, while the kids, Elsa and Kris held him down as the hose
continued to rain down and then Max felt it again. Love.

This was what
he needed. This was Max’s fuel. Kris was as good as family for him
and right now, all the people he cared about were with him, safe
and happy. Life, no matter how many more days of it they would
have, could never get better than this.

And then, the
sirens sounded and their world suddenly changed for the worse.

Max was
instantly on his feet, his head turning from side to side, his
senses going berserk. Elsa and Kris both froze on the ground,
looking wide eyed at each other. The children were oblivious as
they continued to fight over the still spraying hose. Then a voice
called out.

‘Stay there,’
Peter yelled from a side door of the house. ‘We’re coming to
you!’

On cue, Peter’s
team scrambled into view from out of various doors and from around
both sides of the house. All of them had their pistols drawn.

Max turned and
shepherded the two kids into himself, while Elsa and Kris, with
their wits now intact, also rose and clustered in close. Looking
around, Max noted that every military patrol within sight was
running towards the front of the estate. Perhaps the dam wall had
finally broken and the outside world had broken in?

Peter and his
team reached them, immediately clustering around in a tight circle,
facing outwards in all directions, weapons drawn, but not
aimed.

‘Time to go,’
Peter said, his eyes skitting ceaselessly.

‘Go where?’
Elsa shot back.

‘Eastern lawn.
Choppers are already firing up for evac.’

‘Evac?’ Kris
shot back. ‘We’re leaving?’

‘Yes. All of
us. Right now,’ Peter returned. ‘My team will escort you out while
the troops hold the boundary line.’

‘And we’re not
coming back?’ Kris continued. ‘Just like that we’re out of
here?’

‘Just like
that,’ Peter replied without looking at her. ‘We’re no longer safe
here and we have to go
now
.’ Then Peter flicked a hand up to
his ear microphone. A pause ensued as he listened. A few seconds
later, Peter said to his team, ‘Eastern patrols have confirmed
another raiding party on their line. We’ve now got two fronts. The
front gate and the eastern perimeter.’

‘Which is where
the choppers are,’ Max added.

Peter nodded.
‘Yeah. That’s where the choppers are,’ Peter confirmed, ‘so let’s
get moving. I’ll take the lead. My guys will ring you all the way,
so stay inside the circle. We’re going to go fast, so get ready.
Are we good?’

Just then, the
first shots rang out. Automatic gunfire sounded from somewhere near
the front gate. The two children shrieked. Elsa and Kris shot
glances at each other. Max picked up both kids and murmured in
their ears to comfort them. Then he looked up at Peter.

Peter nodded
once and led off.

The pace was
hard and fast. Peter and his team all carried their guns in
two-handed grips, muzzles pointing down to the ground as they ran.
Peter’s focus was in an arc directly in front, while the rest of
his team covered all other angles. Elsa and Kris hustled to keep
up, while Max fluidly jogged along inside the mobile cluster,
unencumbered by the weight or bulk of both Millie and Jason. Both
children stayed quiet, not struggling or crying out, but rather
frozen in place.

As they
approached the front corner of the house, more gun fire sounded.
Peter raised a flat palm indicating everyone to stop as he pressed
up against the wall. Cautiously he peered around the edge. A
pause.

Then without
turning, Peter waved his hand behind himself and stepped around the
corner. One of his team said, ‘Go,’ and they were all in motion
again, following after Peter.

Once around the
corner, they were all confronted with a sight they had never
expected to see up close and in real life. Soldiers everywhere and
on the move. Army jeeps full of armed men in camouflage, revved
away down the main road towards the front gate. More gunfire
sounded in the distance, accompanied now by shouting, some of it
clear military orders, but most of it just panicked yells.

Peter led them
quickly into cover under the main portico. Again he held up a flat
palm and they all stopped behind a large stone column. Peter’s team
kept the circle tight around them, guns still pointing down and
eyes scanning the surrounds.

The sirens
stopped blaring and the commotion settled down somewhat as most of
the soldiers finished streaming past them. The noise of the
speeding jeeps progressed a little further away down the road and
in just a few seconds, the group seemed alone at the house. The gun
fire and shouting still raged down towards the gate, but right now,
they were the only ones left by the mansion.

‘How much
further?’ Kris asked.

‘Round the
corner of the house and then one hundred metres out onto the
eastern lawn,’ Peter replied without looking at her. ‘Six Black
Hawks. The nearest one is our’s.’

‘Are
they...shooting at ordinary people up at the gate?’ Elsa asked
quietly, so as the children didn’t hear her.’

‘Rubber
bullets,’ Peter returned. ‘The Prime Minister wouldn’t let us load
anything else. He didn’t want the army shooting our own civilians.
Breaks every military principle.’

Elsa nodded
silently. Then she gasped, holding her left hand up in front of her
face.

‘What?’ Peter
asked, snapping around to look at her.

‘My wedding
ring,’ Elsa said. ‘I took it off before training with Kris. It’s on
the dresser in the bedroom.’

Peter just
looked at her. He then shifted his gaze sideways to Max, who looked
imperviously back. Peter opened his mouth to speak, but Elsa cut
him off.

‘I’m not
spending what could be the last few months of my life without my
wedding ring, Peter,’ Elsa said. ‘I’ll happily leave everything
else behind, but not my wedding ring.’

‘What about Jo
Jo?’ Millie asked from within Max’s clutches. ‘We can’t leave Jo Jo
behind.’

‘What’s Jo Jo?’
Peter asked evenly.

Elsa sighed.
‘She’s Millie’s bed time stuffed toy.’

‘And Jay Jay!’
Millie squealed.

‘Jay Jay!’
Jason joined in. ‘Got to get Jay Jay!’

Elsa tightened
her lips.

‘And Jay Jay is
Jason’s toy?’ Peter asked.

Elsa nodded.
Peter closed his eyes and took deep breath in through his nose as
he did a mental assessment of the situation.

‘We’re going
back into the house, mate,’ Max said. Peter snapped his eyes open
and Max continued. ‘It’ll take five minutes. In and out.’

Peter held Max
in a steely stare for a few moments and then nodded. ‘Okay,’ he
relented. ‘In and out. Two toys and a wedding ring. You know
exactly where they are?’

‘Yep. They’re
all in the main bedroom. The kids dumped their toys on our bed this
morning.’

‘Good,’ Peter
said and then turned to one of his team members. ‘Get everyone
straight to the birds and strap them in. We’ll be there in five
minutes with wheels up as soon as we board. Give me continuous
reports while we’re apart.’ Peter tapped his ear microphone to
emphasise the point.

His team member
nodded and Peter turned back to Max.

‘Let’s go,’ he
said. ‘Stay behind me and this time, I really mean
behind
me
.’

Max nodded and
let the kids down, allowing Elsa to take them both in to her. He
then stepped forward and kissed Elsa sharply on the lips. ‘See you
in five,’ he said.

Elsa nodded and
Max was gone.

Peter led the
way through the main entry under the portico, his gun lowered in a
two handed grip, his eyes scanning every inch of the floor plan as
they moved. Max hustled along behind, his own eyes smoothly
registering everything in sight.

Across the
broad marble floor they rushed and then up the wide, open staircase
to the first floor. Turning left, Max followed Peter along the
landing and into a hallway that turned twice more to lead to the
rear of the west wing where the main retreat was located, including
the main bedrooms.

At the very end
of the corridor, the space widened and a massive set of wooden
doors stood open, revealing Max and Elsa’s bedroom. Pausing at the
threshold, Peter scanned the room and listened. Nothing.

‘Grab the
stuff,’ Peter said crisply.

Max hustled
past to the dresser where he plucked Elsa’s wedding ring off the
polished surface. Slipping it into a pocket, he turned to the
enormous, super king size bed and surveyed the space. There they
were. Jo Jo and Jay Jay, a stuffed elephant and a stuffed frog,
resting atop the mass of pillows and cushions at the head of the
bed. Dashing around to the side of the bed, Max grabbed both toys
and shoved them under an arm.

‘Done,’ he
said. ‘Let’s roll.’

Peter silently
nodded and said into his wrist microphone, ‘Got the goods. We’re
coming out.’ Then after pausing to listen to the reply in his
earpiece, he said, ‘They’re at the chopper. All they need is
us.’

‘Right behind
you,’ Max replied.

Without another
word, Peter turned back to the doors, gun lowered, but ready to
use. Max followed him out and back down the corridor. Quickly, they
made their way towards the landing above the main entry, their
senses still firing. Then suddenly Max reached out and grabbed
Peter’s shoulder. Peter flinched, but halted as Max forcibly pulled
him up.

‘Wait,’ Max
hissed.

Peter shot a
look back over his shoulder. ‘What?’

‘There’s
someone in the foyer.’

Peter squinted
back. ‘How do you know?’

‘I just
do.’

Peter held Max
in his steady gaze for a few moments and then slowly nodded. ‘Okay.
Let’s do this real careful. Stay here and I’ll have a sneak peek.
If there are any bad guys, we back track to another exit. Got
it?’

‘Got it.’

Turning back to
the landing, Peter stepped carefully up to the threshold and then
pressing up against the wall, he snuck an eye out for a look. There
was no one in sight, but this was no time to be rash. If Max’s
instincts were squirly, that deserved respect. Peter paused and
kept looking. Then he saw it.

The khaki
coloured and oval shaped object sailed up from below the landing
and arced gracefully over the wrought-iron railing to drop onto the
carpeted floor in front of Peter. It took exactly that long for him
to realise what it was. A grenade.

‘Go!’ Peter
yelled as he turned and started to run back in towards Max. Max
took only a split second to take it all in, but instead of running,
he reached forward and grabbed Peter by the front of his shirt to
pull him even faster into the hallway and hurl him down the
corridor.

A moment later,
the world erupted as the blast ripped into the hallway, stripping
wood and plasterboard from the walls. The ensuing shockwave lifted
both men off their feet and hurled them even further down the
corridor. Dust filled the air as the noise ricocheted around.

Silence settled
and Max popped his head up. He had a slight ring in his ears, but
otherwise his senses all seemed fine. Snapping his head sideways,
he found Peter face down and groaning. Rising to his haunches, Max
checked the hallway behind them and found a mess.

Splintered wood
and broken plasterboard lined the walls, while the floor had been
completely blown away at the threshold to the landing where the
full force of the blast had centred. The space literally looked
like a bomb had gone off and now, Max could hear voices.

‘Get up there
and finish them off!’ a voice shouted.

‘But we blew
them to...’ a second voice started.

‘Just get up
there!’ the first voice cut-in. ‘They’re all military in here, so
they might have survived that. Finish them off and hurry up!’

‘Ahhh,’ Peter
moaned as started to rise up on all fours.

Max looked at
him and in that split second, made his decision. They were going
out the same way they had come in and that meant going straight
through whoever it was coming up the stairs to kill them.

Standing up,
Max scanned the remains of the hallway and quickly judged the
distance between himself and the hole in the floor and the width of
the hole.

‘What are you
doing?’ Peter asked, his voice hoarse and heavy.

‘Getting us out
of here.’

Peter looked up
and immediately saw that Max’s expression had hardened into steel,
his clenched fists clearly broadcasting his intent. Footsteps
sounded on the staircase outside. Max took a step forward.

‘No,’ Peter
croaked out. ‘We need to double back.’