THE ONE CALLED J

Chapter 39

Terry was hiding in the shadow cast upon by the chandelier etched on the roof of the restaurant. He had observed what took place between Max and Ivan.  Max wasn't aware that Terry was hiding in the chandelier.

"I could come down," Terry thought to himself. "But I have to follow Madame's orders strictly. She informed me to let her know of the battle proceedings."

With that, Terry vanished from the shadow where he was observing from.

No one in the restaurant was an entourage user so they hadn't seen Max's entourage which had punctured a hole in Ivan's stomach. All they just saw was a man suddenly bleeding from his stomach and in the next moment, he had collapsed to the ground dead.  They all had fear written on their faces as they stared at both Max and Ivan.  Some of them felt Max had something to do with it, he was fighting with Ivan before the mysterious incident had occurred.

Max ignored the looks he was getting as he walked towards the entrance, he was beaten up and he had exhausted quite the mental energy by using his entourage that long.

Immediately, he got out.  Joshua's ride pulled up to him, Hendrickson was in the back seat, he was hale and hearty. Dave and Joshua had first gone to pick him up. Luckily, no one had gotten there before them. Dave healed Hendrickson and the other people who had their life force sucked out of them by Ivan.

Max couldn't help but beam with smiles as he saw everyone healthy. He was happy with himself, he did it.

"Whatchu smiling for," Joshua grins at him. "Come on, hop in, we have got a girl to find."

"Aight," Max smiles as he entered. He couldn't help but feel he was now closer to Hendrickson, and Joshua. "Is there a plan?" He asks as he closes the door.

"First stage of the plan is ticked," Joshua answers him as he swerves into a corner. "The first was to get you out of that restaurant before anyone marks you or try to pin that dumbass' murder on you."

"Did you know about it?" Max nudged Hendrickson mildly.

"Na, they just told me to hop in the car and before I knew what was going on, I realized I was on my way to meet you," Hendrickson had an innocent look on his face.

"So what's the second stage?" Max asks.

"That's where are going to make a decision," Dave replies him as he puts his phone in his pocket. "While we were on our way to meet you, I called Sensei. Turns out he has been trying to interrogate Jin but he didn't budge no matter what so trying to interrogate any of the entourage-users we face would just be a waste of time."

"What's the alternative?" Hendrickson asks.

"We already on it," Joshua replies with a sly grin. "I have intentionally been driving around the public places of Moscow for a while, Dave's entourage and mine are presently underground. They are searching for any unusual activity in case Madame's base is somewhere underground in a public place."

"Moscow is roughly two thousand, five hundred and eleven square kilometers," Hendrickson tapped his forehead. "How do we cover the entirety of that?"

"That's the beauty," Dave answers, a sly grin had snuck into his face. "That's the entire area of Moscow but the area of Moscow that's accessible to public use is about half of that or so."

"So your plan is to first search for all the public areas," Max now had a disappointed look on his face. "Then we start snooping at private homes like some homeless teens looking for something to steal."

"You can give us a better idea if you got one," Joshua bit his lower lip angrily as he looked in the mirror. "Didn't have one? Thought so. Guess, y'all are just going to have to deal with my plan."

"Wait," Max sighs. "The journey we will take is gonna be extremely tiring and time-consuming. Can I at least get a handheld game console?"

"I am supposing you have money for that," Joshua asks as he stopped the car, they were in front of the Dandyland videogame store, the exterior was furnished.

Grudgingly, Max got down from the vehicle as he made his way towards the game store.

A few minutes passed by, Joshua was getting impatient in the vehicle.

"That's it, I have had it with this s**t!!" Joshua growls as he opened his car hastily, the door slammed against a little woman passing by. She was so short she could be referred to as a midget, Joshua didn't care as he hopped over her.

"J has a lot to learn," Dave sighs as he got down from the vehicle, moving over to the old woman, he helped her from her floor.  "Sorry about my friend," Dave forces a laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "He was in a hurry so he got a bit cranky."

"It's alright," the woman smiles sweetly. She looked about eighty, she had short white hair with a hunched back.

"If I may ask," Dave asks. "What are you doing in front of a game store?"

"It's my granddaughter, she's quite obsessed with games. I can't stand being in a game store, people are usually talking, filled with so many lights, it's so flashy for old eyes like me," the woman stopped for a while as her head dropped to the ground. "Though, I wonder what's taking her so long."

Joshua pushed the door open. There were several people there, each of them was involved in one activity or the other. Most were conversing with one another, some were playing games, and there were some people by the counter.

Joshua quickly scanned through the entire game store, his eyes fell on the only white-haired teen(Max) in the vicinity.

Max was chattering happily with a shorter girl. The girl was about 168 cm, she had long white hair, hazel eyes, and voluptuous lips, she was very pretty.

"Leave the kid for a while, then he finds a crush," Joshua stormed off to where Max was.  Max was still talking with the girl when he saw Joshua walking aggressively towards him.

"s**t!" Max had a crestfallen look.

"What do you mean s**t?" The girl asks sweetly as she began to check herself. "Do I have s**t on me?"

"Not yet but if you don't f**k off," Joshua tells her sternly from behind. "I will mess you up so bad you'd wish you look like shit."

She was quite shocked at his outburst that she didn't know what to say.

"You know, J," Max sighs. "That's not exactly what anyone says when they are meeting someone for the first time."

"The J isn't just anyone," Joshua had his haughtiest smile. "He is the infinite, He is the eternal, He is the immeasurable, and I," Joshua points to himself. "Am the J."

"So this is J," the white-haired girl smiles. "That explains his attitude."

"See what I deal with," Max mutters.

"Look man," Joshua sighs. "I don't have time for this crap. Time is of the essence and I don't want another entourage attack, let's just go now!"

"Entourage attack?" She asks with a puzzled look. "Is that a new game?"

"Go ask someone who gives a s**t about you.

"No need to be so feisty," she sighs as suddenly her eyes open up. "My Grandma, I totally forgot, she's outside and she's waiting for me, Max," she turns to him hurriedly. "Don't forget to play Fantasy Raiders, it's a really good game, I will say the best one so far in Nintendo DS product line."

With that, she ran towards the entrance.

Max was grinning sheepishly as he stared at her leaving the building but once he saw Joshua's visible anger, his smile faded as he spoke. "I just need to pay for this," he ends holding up his console.