Lost Bird

20

James pulled up to Max's house and shut off her baby Range Rover. She took a deep breath and tried to gain the confidence to tell him all that happened since last night. He hadn't called her today, but she knew he would give her some time and space to go to him when she was ready to talk about it. She loved how well he knew her. She wasn't afraid to tell him about it, she was just really worried he wouldn't approve or be disappointed in her in some way. Max was pretty much the only person in her life she really worried about disappointing. She knew she worked hard most of her life to live up to the promises she had made Raven, but it was always from a distance and a faraway thought that if she ever met him again he would be proud of her somehow. But with Max, he was the constant in her life, her rock. She needed to know he would support her. She took another deep breath and got out of the car. She slowly made her way to the front door and knocked.

Max lived in a really nice gated community close to her along the river. His house was big but not obnoxiously so. He had 6 bedrooms and enough space for a gym, home theatre room and computer room. She always felt comfortable here. It was warm and inviting, but she only ever felt like she was home when she was in her plant infested super loft. Max wasn't a huge fan of plants or colour in general. He had a lot of cream, beige, white and natural woods. It wasn't as boring as it sounded, just not really her style.

Max answered the door with a huge smile on his face and pulled her into a hug. "I was wondering if you were going to get here today. Come in J. I have some news and I'm sure you have a lot to share." He smiled again and she followed him into the eat-in kitchen. She hopped up onto a bar stool along the island and thanked him when he handed over a steaming cup of coffee. God, he knows me so well! She took a big sip and sighed in contentment.

She opened her eyes and smiled at Max "I do have a lot to tell you, but let me know your news first. My story is going to take a while." He just nodded and took a seat beside her. He pulled over his laptop and turned it toward her. She gasped and looked over at him with a huge smile. "You already got the cameras set up? I thought you were going to scout it for a couple of days first." He laughed. "I was, but all the coaching staff and faculty had an emergency meeting. So the offices were empty. I got all the assistant coaches as well as some support staff. I checked on our camera in the coaches office, just in case someone got in there or had a conversation we need to hear. I also got in some cameras that we weren't really planning on putting up yet." She cocked her head to the side in question "What cameras?" "Well it seems the meeting was pretty important, so the Dean and the Assistant Dean were there as well. So I was able to get into their offices as well and set up some surveillance. The Assistant's office was actually harder to break into than the Dean's. He had an eight digit code pin pad on his inner office door. I am definitely leaning towards him in the higher up spot. But I wired them both just in case."

She smiled " You are a genius Max. Just loop me into the feeds and I'll start sifting through the images and audio tonight. I'm hoping another 3-4 weeks before we can start to identify the guys in charge. I'm not sure if it's cartel, Bratva or what, but there has to be ties for them to be covering their tracks so well."

Max leaned back on his stool and just stared at her expectantly. James just kept eye contact and tried to give nothing away. Max huffed and said "Well, now that is out of the way, I want to know how last night went. It was Raven wasn't it? It was actually him! But who the hell were the rest of those guys?" I gave a small smile and nodded. "It's him Max. He found me! I was so shocked when I saw him. The other guys with him are his brothers. Axel, Marc, Corey and Brandon. I met them all separately yesterday. It kind of freaked me out that they all knew each other and that they were here with Raven. Max you have no idea how incredible it was to see him again. He is sill the same but, different at the same time. There is just so much to tell you, I don't even know where to start." Max smiled fondly "How about you start at the beginning."