Max Payne

CHAPTER 5: Let The Gun Do The Talking

JUST OUTSIDE LUPINO'S MOTEL
"Turn around, walk away, blow town. That would have been the smart thing to do, guess I wasn't that smart. Lupino's tenement buildings were a seedy hangout for all kinds of sleaze. A liquor store, a pawn shop, a laundromat full of mobsters bookies and loan sharks. The list went on, the how and why of it was a mystery to me but they knew I was a cop. They knew I was coming and they were going to get real trigger happy about it. I got to see Lupino's hangout all lit up. A bomb went off, turning the snow into liquid gold. A pillar of fire lifted the remains of a car straight up into the air. The flames were highlighted on the hood of a black Mercedes Benz, as it coasted down the street, real slow, as if the driver didn't have a worry in the world. I got a good look of the man riding shotgun.. It was Vladmir head of the local Russian Mob, the fly in Don Punchinellos soup. The ringing in my ears was a sound of a mob war being waged. Another bomb exploded inside the closest slum building. It was a lucky break, the goons inside were spooked but luck always came with a price tags. More bombs could still be ticking inside, and the cops would already be on there way. Jack Lupino's suite was on the top floor.. At least it used to be, before the explosive makeover" Ahead the Mercedes crashing into a near truck causing it to explode and block the path, makes was going to have to find another way up there. Max decides to make his way to the nearest pawn shop to see if their is anything useful he could obtain. He puts his ear to the door and hears two Thugs speaking.

THUG #1: I don't know man.. I.. I don't know about this.
THUG #2: Quit worrying ah, think of it as Christmas. In Russia once, I was Santa.

The two Thugs stop speaking and leave through a door in the building. The sound of the door locking means they are gone and there's no way through there. Max walks into the pawn shop quietly and investigates the shelfs. Bullets and magazines lay on them. He takes the bullets and leaves the Pawn shop, he continues down the snowy road and comes to a news board. "The headlines were screaming bloody murder. The storm was screaming duet with the approaching prowl car sirens. It was all a scream when you were down for the count and wanted for murder" Another explosion goes off in a nearby building, Max thinks to himself. "The whole building was rigged with explosives" As the sirens get closer, Max runs into a building not far from the News Board. Fences and lockers crashed onto the floor, doors broken and graffiti all over the walls. This building was for sure abandoned, Max has to be careful as more Thugs or strangers could be around the corner. The air was cold, like he entered a new world, no heat had been circulating for a while. Suddenly a phone rings in the distance, his curiosity got the better of him, so he picks it up. "A beaten up phone in the entrance hall was ringing. It could have been just a junkie in need of a fix, but it turned out to be something sinister than that"

VOICE: Am I speaking with Mr Payne?
MAX: Who wants to know?
VOICE: My name is Alfred Woden. You must hurry, the Police are on there way.
MAX: Tell me something I don't know
ALFRED: They know your there
MAX: How? What's it to you?
ALFRED: I will contact you again.

"The cops arrived, sirens singing in the off key harmony of a manic depressive choir. I had a few minutes while the SWAT team would go through their usual routine. By the time they busted in, I needed to be long gone" A familiar voice speaks out through a megaphone.

LOUDSPEAKER: Max Payne, this is Deputy Chief Jim Bravura from the NYPD. Drop your weapons and come out with your hands above your head.

Max couldn't take his chances so he runs down the halls of the abandoned building until he comes across a locked door. "A locked door barred my way, I needed a key" Where was the key? Max would have to backtrack through the halls and find another room. He walks down the halls once again to come across a white door. He pushes the door open to find himself in the back of the Pawn Shop, this is where the Thugs must of exited out from. This is where they keep their supplies and accessories. Someone had left a letter on the counter, Max reads it. "Suddenly it all made sense, the bombs, the Russian Mob Boss making an appearance in person. Cognitti was his usual self, all talk and no walk.

COGNITTI: After our hit, the Russian has only a couple of guns left, an they can be bought. There's no freakin way he has the guts to try anythin after that.."

"As it turned out, the Russian had plenty of guts. One thing you could count on, you push a man too far and sooner or later he start pushing back" Max packed supplies for his guns and at the back, a key sits on a box. He takes it and heads back to the locked door. He unlocks the door and ends up in a house, someone had been staying here recently, maybe some Thugs or Cognitti, either way he wasn't going to stay here. He heads for the nearest window and breaks it open, entering a balcony.