Max Arena (10 page)

10am, 4
^th
July (2 days later). Trials
and Politics

Elsa and the
kids walked together out of the western wing of the house and past
the massive pool complex. Crossing the faultless green lawn, they
approached the collection of vehicles and aircraft scattered on the
grass.

Three dusky tan
coloured Black Hawk helicopters sat clustered off to one side with
two prime mover trucks on the other. Around the perimeter of the
gathering, the security contingent had intensified with more
soldiers than Elsa had seen in the last day or so since coming to
the estate.

In the broad
space between the trucks and the helicopters, resembling an arena
of sorts, a familiar scene was unfolding. Elsa had partaken in
enough outdoor boot camps to know a fitness layout when she saw
one, except this looked far more hardcore than anything she had
ever seen before.

Sure there were
the usual medicine balls and kettlebells scattered around, but
there were also pre-loaded dumbbells and barbells stacked with
massive weights, gymnastics high bars and ropes and along one side,
a series of hurdles lined up, the white painted jumps gleaming in
the mid morning sun. The scene promised sweat and grind and right
in the middle of it all stood Kris, dressed in her lycra kit, cap
and sunglasses and surrounded by a pack of the most muscular and
athletic looking men Elsa had ever seen, all of them with their
shirts off and their physiques rippling.

‘What a
surprise?’ Elsa called out. ‘Here you are, ringed by a pack of half
naked, gorgeous guys. Typical.’

‘Stick to what
you’re good at I say,’ Kris called back as she laid some more
training cones out on the ground.

‘Jason, look at
these!’ Millie shrieked, pulling her little brother away and
running towards a pile of big padded shields.

‘You two be
careful,’ Elsa called out, ‘and stay out of the way!’

‘I see the kids
are settling in just fine,’ Kris added, smiling after the two
children.

‘Ducks in
water,’ Elsa replied, scanning the scene and casually eyeing off
some of the stripped down blokes. ‘As soon as they saw how huge
their bedrooms are and found the heated indoor pool that was it. No
care about not being at home any more. We’re on a permanent holiday
and they’re happy as anything. How are you doing?’

Kris stopped
laying the cones down and returned Elsa’s direct look. ‘Fine. My
brother and his wife have let mum and dad come and stay with them,
so they can all look after each other, so that’s good. As for my
friends, most of them have gone AWOL, but I can’t blame them. It’s
got to be pretty tough out there for everyone right now, so I guess
they’re all looking out for themselves? I don’t know how else to
think about it, so I’m trying not to? At least I can distract
myself by getting back to doing something I know.’

‘Punishing
people you mean?’ Elsa said, grinning.

‘Improving the
quality of their lives, is what you
really
mean?’

‘Yeah, right,’
Elsa said, waving the comment away. ‘So this is what you were
cooking up all day yesterday? How does it work?’

‘This is Max’s
first test,’ Kris replied, continuing to lay out more cones. ‘I
don’t expect it to be too hard for him, but the purpose is not to
test his limits, but to see how he goes against these blokes. It’ll
give me a benchmark for where and how to start.’

Elsa turned
back to look at the group of well-toned men, all of whom were now
doing a group push-up session. ‘And who are these chiselled hunks
of manliness? You call them up out of your little black book?’

‘They wish. The
Australian Army’s finest apparently. I asked Peter if he could
rustle up a bunch of the fittest blokes he knows and lo and behold,
these fellahs came tumbling out of these helicopters this morning
and ripped their shirts off.’

‘I’ll bet the
shirts only came off after they got eyes on you?’

‘Hard to blame
them really,’ Kris said shrugging.

‘Now all we
need is for Joe to get here and we can get this show on the
road.’

Kris smiled and
shook her head. ‘I love the way you’re on a first name basis with
the Prime Minister,’ she said. ‘It’s so cool.’

‘You will be
pretty soon too. He’s a nice chap. Now where’s Max?’ Elsa asked
looking around.

‘Over here,
gorgeous,’ a voice called out from behind her.

Turning around,
Elsa found Max walking down the back ramp of one of the trucks,
dressed in his black singlet, black shorts and orange shoes.

‘You can take
your eyes off the man candy now,’ Max added, coming up to Elsa and
giving her a big squeeze.

‘What man
candy?’ Elsa replied, looking exaggeratedly around.

‘I could hear
you two drooling from inside the truck. So shallow.’

‘Enough
kanoodling, big fellah,’ Kris quipped. ‘We’ve got work to do. Come
over here and meet the opposition.’

Max released
his wife and gave her a peck on the lips before he walked away.

‘Go get ‘em,
tiger,’ Elsa said winking.

Kris led Max
across the grass to where the other men still clustered around,
each of them doing their own stretching exercises now. Peter towed
along a few paces behind. Without his jacket on, Peter’s automatic
handgun was clearly visible in his shoulder holster and while his
movements were relaxed, his tension was palpable. Behind his dark
sunglasses, he eyed off the group, one by one

‘On your feet,
boys!’ Kris called out. ‘Time for some introductions.’

All ten of the
men straightened up and shuffled around to form a half circle
focusing on Kris and Max. Peter stayed in the rear, his hands
crossed in front of him.

‘I’d like you
all to meet Max, so say “Hi, Max”,’ Kris added.

Not a single
word came back as all ten men shifted their focuses to Max, squints
and frowns the norm. Max impassively returned the looks.

‘Well, that’s
friendly,’ Kris said, raising her eyebrows. ‘Max, meet the lads.
These guys are apparently the Australian Army’s fittest and finest.
They’ll be your competition today and you’ll be theirs’. This
morning we’re going to see just how fit you are while you and them
slug it out on the course I’ve set up for you.’

‘Can we have a
tour, please?’ a tall, blonde and finely hewn young man queried
from out of the group, ‘and I think you might need to hold my
hand.’

‘Your buddies
have got plenty of hands,’ Kris shot back. ‘Maybe you can ask one
of them to hold your’s?’

The group
smiled and chuckled. Max and Peter didn’t.

‘Come with me,’
Kris said, striding right through the circle and further out onto
the grass.

Max let the
group turn and follow Kris, so he could fall in at the back with
Peter tagging along behind. Kris talked as she walked, gesturing at
the various coloured markers and equipment on the ground as she
approached them.

‘It’s a four
hundred metre course and you’re doing it three times with no rest,’
she said. ‘First station is squat jumps over these hurdles. Ten all
up. Easy start. Then high tail it down here to station two where
one of my friendly helpers will drop a twenty kilo plate on your
back, so you can do thirty push ups while wearing it.’

‘How’s about
you
sit on top of me?’ the blonde piped up.

‘If you’ve
still got enough breath to be funny,’ Kris continued, ‘station
three is ten clean and jerks, which should be right up your alley,
pretty boy? she said over her shoulder to the blonde. ‘Hope you can
handle the weight?’

‘I handle heavy
objects all the...’

‘And then for
station four,’ Kris said over the top. ‘Leaping lunges with fifteen
kilo dumbbells in each hand.’

The blonde
bloke opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he heard a voice
speak quietly from behind him.

‘Do your legs
run as fast as your mouth?’

The blonde
snapped around and found Max right behind him. Max’s cool blue eyes
speared back at him.

‘They’ll run
all over you, mate,’ the blonde answered, his face scrunching
up.

The group
turned to focus on the two men as the blonde squared up on Max, who
remained stock still, his bulky shoulders tense.

‘Stay with me,
boys!’ Kris called out, a faint smile fluttering on her face. Max
walked past the blonde, revealing Peter who was standing behind
him. A grin split Peter’s face. The blonde sneered at him and
turned to follow the group as they returned their attention to
Kris. ‘Station five is a rope pull. You’ve all got a twenty kilo
plate at the end of a twenty metre rope. Haul that rope in as fast
as you can and then run it back out the other way and do it again.
You got twenty to do.’

Kris paused and
let the group stand there for a moment as they visually imagined
doing the exercise Kris had just explained. Glancing at the blonde,
she found his demeanour far more serious now that Max had geed him
up. As for Max, he looked like he always did. Rock solid. This was
going to be
very
interesting.

‘On we go,’ she
said. ‘Station six is ten burpees, but none of your standard, easy
peasy burpees. For these I want you doing a handstand press instead
of jumping up into the air and a proper man push up when you’re on
the ground. If you need help with your handstands, there’ll be some
more of my friendly helpers here to catch your ankles.’

Kris led the
group around the last curve of the four hundred metre course and
back to where they had started. Looking up, she saw two of the
black armoured Land Cruisers coming to a stop next to the trucks.
Body guards piled out first and then she recognised Prime Minister
Tollsen emerge from the back seat of the first vehicle.

‘And station
seven is some good old fashioned muscle ups,’ Kris called out,
coming to a stop at a collection of horizontal bars high off the
ground. ‘The bars are nine feet off the ground, so your feet will
be clear of the turf when you’re hanging and if you can’t get your
big, manly bodies off the ground and up to the bar, there will be
the usual friendly helpers around to give you a milk crate for
assistance, but I don’t think any of you will be asking for help
will you?’

Silence.

‘Then, to
finish off,’ Kris added as she watched the Prime Minister start
walking towards her, ‘a sprint. Here to the far end and back again.
It’s two hundred metres and when you get back here after your
sprints, haul arse right back into station one for your squat jumps
again, unless if it’s circuit three, in which case you’re done.
Clear?’

More
silence.

‘Good,’ Kris
called out, clapping her hands. ‘You’ve got three minutes to get
ready before being over there on the starting line, so stretch up
and I’ll see you in a tick. If you’re not there when I blow the
whistle to start, you’re out.’

The group
slowly moved closer to the starting line and began preparing for
the challenge. Max held off towards the back of the pack and found
some space on his own. Kris couldn’t help but notice the blonde guy
staring him down. Max was oblivious.

‘It’s Kris
isn’t it?’ the Prime Minister asked, stepping forward and extending
a hand.’

‘Ah...yes,’
Kris replied, woodenly accepting the handshake. ‘It is.’

‘Nice to meet
you and please, call me Joe,’ the Prime Minister replied. ‘I think
we’re going to get to know each other well enough to be first name
friends.’

‘Okay, Joe.
Nice to meet you too.’

‘How do you
think Max is going to go against these chaps?’ Joe asked, waving
his hand towards the limbering young men.

‘Well, sir,
ordinarily I’d say this is a pretty formidable bunch of blokes to
race against...’

‘
Ordinarily
?’ the Prime Minister interrupted.

‘Yes, sir.
Ordinarily, but I don’t think there’s anything ordinary about Max,’
Kris replied, turning to look at Max who was standing stationery on
the starting line, hands down by his sides and his stance wide.
‘Fair enough I’ve only seen him in action once, but that was
freakish. I’ve never even heard of anyone doing what he did and
then there’s the way he moves. Everything he does has purpose. He
doesn’t waste his movements and when I think about it, I can’t
recall ever seeing him look even a little bit awkward in any
way.’

‘You think
he’ll beat all these stallions?’ the Prime Minister asked, looking
her squarely in the eye.

Kris returned
the look. ‘Joe, I don’t think he’s going to just beat them. I think
he’s going to blow them away.’

A pause ensued
as they both looked at Max, still standing like a stone pillar at
the starting line. The blonde guy stepped right up next to him,
brushing Max’s shoulder. Neither man turned to look at the other,
but Kris knew that daggers were flying in their minds.

Joe smiled.
‘Let’s just hope they all behave themselves. Nice to meet you,’ he
said as he walked back to a safe place just past the finishing
line.

Kris watched
her Prime Minister walk away, his body guards discretely forming a
wide perimeter around him. She looked down at her watch. The three
minutes were up.

‘Show time,
boys!’ Kris called out.

The men all
lined up at the start with Max in the middle. A little bit of
jostling took place, so Kris gave them a few seconds to settle in.
She then placed her whistle between her lips. Max had not moved.
All of the other men stood crouched in some shape or form, but he
simply stood upright, his feet planted. Then she blew the
whistle.

All ten
soldiers launched off the starting line in a dead sprint to the
first station, their feet thundering on the turf. Kris squinted.
One man had stayed behind. Max, absolutely unmoved. Kris took the
whistle from her mouth and walked slowly over.