A case of foul play

Just like Max had hoped, Steve gave him the green light once he heard what Max had come up with, but only after a small addition. Max told Steve about how he was planning to approach the matter and what he believed needed to be done in order to get the information they needed without arousing suspicion or tipping off the people who did this. But the more he heard, he realized that this wasn't a one man job.

It was also during Max's explanations, that the bodyguard intervened and said, "There is no way you can do all of this in just one evening by yourself. Let me help you. I am positive that my experience will be useful to your plan and my being a witness to everything will also make it easier to piece the parts together once we gather everything. I might also point you at things that might go unnoticed by someone who wasn't there when it happened or in directions that might not cross the mind of someone without my type of experience. But most of all, I need to do this in order to be able to live with myself. After how well everyone has treated me, especially Mrs. Stephens. After Mr. Stephens trusted me to protect his wife, his world. I can't face him without at least catching the bastards responsible." With a voice of barely contained anger and a chilling expression on his face, he added, "They had better hope that Mrs. Stephens and their unborn child makes it out of this alive or otherwise they will spend whatever little time they have in this world, praying for the sweet release of death once I find them."

His words and his expression convinced Max and Steve that he too should be a part of this mission and fill the position of the second man in this two man job. There was too much to look into and too much at stake. Besides, it was clear that he felt responsible for this happening in the first place. He needed to be a part of the hunt for the people who had planned and caused the accident that got them here. If not for the sake of the mission itself, then for his own sanity. Because if he wanted to be able to look himself in the mirror and sleep at night after today, he needed to be a part of this missions success in order to compensate for sleeping on the job like this. Besides, if he didn't want to be the one to be killed by Noah and Steve once the dust had settled, he needed to find another body for them to bury. Meaning that there was more than one thing at stake, among which was finding the person that his employers could turn their anger towards.

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While Max helped the bodyguard process the papers for his unadvised early discharge from the hospital, making today the day he had filled out more hospital paperwork than ever before in his life, Steve returned to where Noah and Maria were waiting for news on Laila's operation. It wasn't long before Steve was watching the light above the operating room in the same trance-like state as Maria and Noah, whereas Max and the bodyguard's eyes were focussed on a different type of hospital light, the one that hung above every exit. They passed through the well-lit sliding door and made their way towards their first destination. The scene of the accident.

When the bodyguard, whose name was revealed to be Jack, and Max arrived at the road where the crash had taken place, there were still police everywhere. Since the accident was so severe, a police report needed to be made and the person responsible needed to be determined and brought in for questioning. As leaving the scene of a crash is illegal in almost every country imaginable.

The moment Jack and Max came to the scene, they moved quickly and swiftly. Seemingly not having to discuss who would do what, but naturally knowing what their role was. Max used his parent's connections to help him and Jack gain access to not only the statements of the first responders and the reports of what the officers had found so far, they even allowed them to look around the scene for themselves. As long as they didn't damage any evidence, having an extra set of eyes looking for said evidence, didn't hurt. Especially two people with their background. At least that was the conclusion after Max managed to calm the officer in charge down, since Jack didn't even wait for permission.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, he went straight to examining the site of the crash and the two cars, before Max had time to even introduce the both of them and explain what they were doing here. Jack used his skill to see if there was anything the officers could have missed, while Max stopped the officer in charge from ordering his men to remove Jack or even worse, arrest him. Jack probably could have used his connections to get the men to back off as well or at least prevent being locked up in jail should it have come to that, but that would have caused a delay they couldn't use right now.

It didn't take long for Jack and Max to find out that the driver of the other car was never found and the car which had been used, appeared to be stolen. This reinforced their theory that this was a case of foul play, and there were still only two people that they could think of, that would benefit from something like this and would know someone that would stoop as low as this and have no boundaries in the people they are willing to hurt to reach their goal. Even in the underworld there are certain morals and attacking a pregnant woman, especially in a cowardly way like this, wasn't something that many of them would be willing to do.

But as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. In this situation, the only people that would be guilty by association for knowing a person willing to commit a crime like this, in this fashion, were Harold and Olivia. Although at this point, even Harrold seemed like he would be above a thing like this, making them lean more towards Olivia. Now they only needed to find the proof that supported Olivia being behind all of this.