Bitesize 4.6

Bitesize 4.6

Ed wondered all the way to the Stadion about the best way to approach Maximilian. In the end he decided to stick with the simple honesty that had served him well with Odolf. It seemed so far that the men whose Onigawa were awake were loyal to Crowley while those that weren't had nothing but fear for him. Ed hoped to use that fear to persuade Max to immediately abscond with him, back to England, just as Odolf had done. With a chance to finally gain leverage over Crowley the last thing Ed wanted was to screw this opportunity up. Deep down he was still worried. So far they had no idea what Crowley was truly capable of and it was only a matter of time until a confrontation occurred.

Ed slid the car into a parking space a short distance from the Stadion. They still had an hour until Max's training session would be complete. Ed didn't know which part of the Stadion Max would emerge from but this road he had parked on would surely be his route home, based on the address that Alf had pulled from the police files. Ed's plan was to linger outside the Stadion and try to spot Max leaving so that he could confront him on foot. But, just in case, he had told Katia to keep the car's engine running.

Ed waited nearly the full hour then left Katia with the car and made his way towards the Stadion. He bypassed the main crowd entrance and went down the side of the stadium. Here the road was a quieter one, lined with cars down one side. The cars were sportier than the average family vehicle and no doubt belonged to the footballers. He located the side door and hung around. He wasn't the only one. two more men stood in conversation nearby, both holding cameras. He didn't understand the German they were speaking but guessed from the cameras that they were members of the press waiting to snap a few photos of the team.

Minutes passed by, eventually turning into half an hour before the doors finally opened and the footballers began leaving. Ed looked at their faces one by one, mentally comparing them to the photo he'd studied of Maximilian. None of them were familiar. One by one they left through the door, posed upon the photographers' requests and made their way to their cars. It wasn't long before only two cars remained. Ed was starting to get nervous. What was holding Max up? Were there mirrors in the changing rooms? He mentally kicked himself. There were bound to be mirrors. Maybe Crowley had already got to him. Ed was about to try the door himself when a man wearing a suit exited the building. Ed took a deep breath and stopped him.
"Excuse me. Do you... speak English?" he asked hopefully.
"English. Ja, a little." the man replied in a heavy German accent.
"I'm looking for Maximilian Haas?"
The man shook his head.
"Max. He did not come today, for training."
Ed looked surprised and the man added,
"He did not say why. You know Max?"
"No. No I don't."
The man shrugged, clearly unsure of what else to say.
"Thanks anyway." said Ed.
He walked away and as he left the man's sight he broke into a sprint. Max hadn't turned up for training. Why didn't he think to check his house first? He ran across the street, back to the car where Katia was waiting and wrenched the door open, clambering into the driver's seat and gunning the engine.
"Did he leave already?" asked Katia.
"He never arrived." said Ed.
The sentence hung in the air, the silence broken only by the screech of tires as Ed pressed down on the accelerator and drove off down the road. Max's house was twenty minutes away. No matter how fast he drove Ed knew already it was probably too late...