F1 Chaos Squad!

CHAPTER 03 || Where is Max?

"Hey Charles. Are you all right?" Daniel asks the Monegasque with a grin. "Fits like a glove. But Kelly went to see Max again last night." The younger informs him. Danny looks surprised. Kelly and Max had broken up three weeks ago.

"Everything's fine with you and Charlotte though, isn't it?" He assures himself. "Completely going down the drain." Sighs the Ferrari driver dejectedly. "Oh Charlie." Daniel murmurs and pulls Charles close.

The two hug for a few seconds before Charles breaks away and says "I'm going for a jog. Say hi to Max for me." Danny smirks. He knows exactly that the last sentence is meant ironically.

With a small smile, the AlphaTauri driver climbs the stairs. He holds the bag of croissants tightly in his hand as he unlocks his best friend's flat. He looks forward to Sunday breakfast with Max. Once a month, he and the Dutchman have breakfast together.

As he enters he puts the keys in a bowl that looks like a red bull. He walks down the hall into the bright kitchen. There he puts the croissants in the basket provided.

The fact that he hasn't seen Max yet surprises him. So the curious Aussi sets off in search of his friend. When he enters the spacious living room, he stops in horror.

Everything is destroyed, the pictures are on the floor, the cushions are torn, the cupboard doors have been ripped off their hinges and a window is broken.

Panicked, Daniel sprints into the Red Bull Racing driver's bedroom. All he sees there is chaos. And not the fun chaos he sometimes creates out of boredom, but a chaos of destruction.

He runs back out of the flat and rushes down the stairs to flat 16C. Charles lives there. He rings the doorbell and Charles opens the door in confusion.

"Do you know what happened yesterday in Max's flat?" Danny asks in a panic. "Something clanged and you could hear screaming, but when I asked, Kelly said a vase broke and Max cut himself." Charles replies.

They both look at each other for a moment and you can only see one emotion even on Charles' face. Horror. In a panic they run back into the flat to look for Max.

Just before they are about to start looking, Charles stops. "We have to call the police!" The older one pauses in his movement and then agrees. Impatiently, the two wait for the police.

When they finally arrive, they have to explain exactly what happened and how.

~•~•~

The evening before

With a soundless sigh, Charles puts the dinner on the table. He tunes out Charlotte's complaints about not wanting to eat the food. "My God, then make your own food!" he says to her, pissed off, and continues eating his pasta.

She rolls her eyes and Charles' mind wanders again. Just as he wonders how Max had broken up with his girlfriend, a scream is heard. Then, as a glass rings, Charles runs out of the flat and upstairs to the higher floor. Max lives in flat 16D. And the scream came from him.

Charles rings the doorbell several times and Kelly opens the door. She looks at the man, waiting and slightly disgusted. "Is everything all right with Max? I heard the scream!" Charles wants to know from the ex-girlfriend of his biggest rival.

"He cut himself on a fallen vase. Relax." She eyes him briefly and then hisses "Now fuck off!" Charles sighs quietly and goes down to his own flat again where Charlotte waits for him.

"So, what was so important now? Does your little lover have an injury?" She asks angrily. "How many times, I DIDN'T CHEAT ON YOU! Especially not with Max. Why are you putting me up to an affair with him? He's the one it's LESS likely to happen with. Because I like him the LEAST of all the drivers. Just get it through your head and stop blaming me!" Charles shouts and glares angrily at her.

"I'm at a friend's house tonight." She just says and the Ferrari driver says "Like the last 5 weeks too." Charlotte is now looking at him angrily too. "Yeah, think about it!" She shouts.

"Why should I think about you running away from all your problems, dragging our relationship through the mud in the process, and on top of that, making me think that YOU are cheating on ME and not the other way around?!" Shouts the Monegasque. "Maybe that's the way it is. Maybe I'm with my affair and not with a friend!" Shrieks Charlotte and storms out of the flat.

~•~•~

"I think I heard someone outside my window. As if Max had climbed from his balcony onto mine and then onto the tree in front of my balcony." Charles adds.

The policemen check it immediately and sure enough, there is a bit of blood on the tree.

"Why could Max have fled?" The policeman, who introduced himself as Stephan Sindera, asks. "Well, his father Jos and his ex-girlfriend were there." Says Charles uncertainly. "Do you have names?" Asks the second policeman. "Kelly. Kelly Piquet is her name. And Jos Verstappen." Charles answers the two.

"Get some rest. It could be days before we find him, if ever." Paul Richter, Stephan Sindera's partner still says. Charles and Danny nod and drop onto Charles' couch in despair.

Where is Max?

~~~~~~~~~~

Starting with drama!

What do you think. Where is Max? Is he okay?