This is Fan Fiction based on the Max Payne Computer game series. It is based on a fictional (yet looks to follow the original) time line of events set years before the first Max Payne game, in particular the years before Max enrols into the NYPD academy.
Chapter 2 – A Change of Plan
Leaving the subway, I picked up a modest bunch of flowers and headed towards the hotel entrance. I took a moment to check my hair and gather my thoughts before I went into the lobby. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a couple of police officers at the reception desk talking to who looked to be a member of hotel management. I headed into the open elevator and pressed the button for the 14th floor, as per instructions from Jen's message earlier. The elevator seemed to take forever but it gave me the chance to drift back in time again and in particular to the first time we actually took things a little further than normal. We were both nervous and fairly inexperienced, but Jen made things feel right. I wondered if this situation would be a similar one as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. However all thoughts of that nature were torn straight out of my mind like bullet bursting out of a gun, as the corridor was littered with police officers. At first I thought that some poor drunken bastard must have took his own life, as for all that the situation was busy it was fairly quiet. As I got closer to Jen's room, I was stopped forcibly by a police officer.
"Sorry Sir, you can't come past here. Please turn around. Thank you,"
"Officer, I'm here to see a friend who is staying in room 1403," I replied defiantly.
"Room 1403?"
"Yeah – Jennifer Henderson," I said firmly, presuming that Jen never got married. "Is she ok?".
"Stay right there please Sir," The officer said, as he then turned and shouted down the corridor "Detective Birch, I think we have a friend of the victim here that you might want to talk to".
"Victim! What the hell do you mean! What the fuck is going on here!" I blurted out with a sense of panic. A thin suited man in his late 40's or so stormed straight towards me. "Son. How do you know the victim?" he said quickly and assertively. I tried to push past the officer that now had an arm across my chest, but he restrained me by grabbing my arms.
"Stop calling her a victim! What has happened to Jen –"
"Calm down," Birch said as he pointed at me. "She isn't here. She has been taking to Hospital as it is appears that she has been assaulted and we suspect that she was raped." I suddenly felt numb, and I found that I had to lean myself against the wall.
"Wh…when…when did this happen?"
"Come with me. Let's get out of the corridor and I'll tell you what we know" Birch said more calmly, as he made a gesture to the officer who released his grip on me. As we walked into the room, my body somehow started to feel even more numb than it did before as it was clear from the mess that something bad had happened here.
"Please detective, tell me what the fuck has gone on here!"
"The hotel reception received calls from nearby rooms about two to three hours ago complaining about screaming and what sounded like a man and woman arguing. By the time that we had got here there was no-one else here other than your friend– "
"Jen!" I quickly corrected him.
"Yeah Jen," Birch continued "who we found lying on the floor unconscious, her clothes ripped and with face and leg wounds."
I felt a strong urge to grit my teeth and start hitting something – and hard. I asked myself "Why Jen? Why did this happen to her!"
"We are starting our investigation immediately and I can have one of my officers take you to the hospital she is at if you would like?"
"Yeah, I need to see her please".
Birch stepped out of the room and I swallowed hard. My head was full of images that no-one should ever have to think about. I looked about the room, and tried to take in what could have occurred. As I scanned the room, my attention focused on something on the floor near the bed. It was a book of matches with a couple missing. The writing on the front said "Flanaghan's Bar" and the address was here in NYC. Jen wasn't a smoker, or at least she never used to be, but either way – this was information. My initial instinct was to give it to Birch but something switched in my head which told me to keep this to myself for now.
Something told me that it was me that needed to serve and protect Jen.