[2086] A Missing Brother/Thong Lor/izakaya

Walee walked through the corridor illuminated by pink lights. Her eyes scanned the room numbers on the doors to her right as her navigator blinked for her to keep walking.

This luxurious hotel was among the tallest buildings in Bangkok. The ceiling and windows were so high that she pitied the cleaners. From the windows, she could see the night time scenery of Bangkok and all of its busy roads.

The white building itself was illuminated by lights that gradually shifted from pink to blue to yellow to green, and that same light shone through the high windows into the dimly-lit corridor.

To her right was a narrow waterway, with hologram carps swimming slowly in it. Across the waterway were the doors to the rooms.

These rooms were actually penthouses. The room she was looking for was a night club with a swimming pool that belonged to her boss.

Walee stopped in front of Room X204, her boss’s personal getaway. When she stepped towards the door, a platform extended across the waterway, leading her to the entrance.

The door opened before she knocked. She stepped into the room, and dance music attacked her ears. The temperature sensors registered her face and temperature, then blinked green to let her through.

There were many guests inside, most of whom she did not recognize. People in party clothes eyed her uniform.

She went through a short hallway and saw the indoor pool. Along the sides of the pool were inflatable chairs and rafts. People were lying down, drinking, chatting, splashing. The window behind them extended from the floor to the ceiling. At one end of the pool was the DJ stand, while the other end was the party area where people not in swimsuits could sit.

She stepped to the side of the pool and scanned the faces. Her boss was not among these people. She turned around and saw the minibar, and so she went up to the bartender.

“Where’s he?” She asked.

“Bedroom. With someone.” The bartender pushed a plate of chips in front of her. “Eat while you wait.”

“I’ll go up there and make my presence known.” She said and ate a piece. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.” He said and went back to his business.

There was a small staircase which led to the second floor of the penthouse.

The boss’s pleasure room looked over the swimming pool, and was separated from the rest of the area with sound-proof windows. Inside the sound-proof layer was another layer of glass. This was the type where the people inside could see outside, but those outside could not see inside.

Walee knew that just by sitting on a couch next to the staircase, the boss would eventually spot her. Shortly after, her boss opened the door. He was wearing a pair of yoga pants, showing off his abs and well-toned arms. His hair was disheveled, and he had stubble on his chin.

“For the love of cucumbers, Walee.” He chuckled. “This is not in your job description.”

“This cannot wait until you come back to work the next day, boss.” She replied.

“But it could wait until I’m done with my little business.” He leaned on the door frame. “So, what is it? You know my channels are always open for you, so it must be important for you to come personally.”

He tapped his temples, indicating his communicator. She knew he actually took them off during his pleasure time, so despite what he said, she would not be able to reach him anyway.

“It’s the only thing I’ll come all this way to find you for. He’s been spotted again.”

The man’s expression shifted.

She handed him her tablet, and he scanned through the document she opened.

“This was only a few hours ago, huh? Let’s go, then.”

“Are you not going to put something on?”

“Whoopsie. I gotta tell my babe as well.” He shut the door behind him, and Walee waited for him to finish.

Her boss’s name was Srisuwan, but he preferred Suwan. He had a good head and was good-looking. Plus, he was reliable and carried himself with a certain charisma.

He was from a well-to-do family, and after some series of events, ended up being a special investigator. She heard that a woman murdered his entire family and left him critically injured, but she never asked him about it.

He came back dressed, with a bag slung over his left shoulder.

“How long were you waiting for me?” He asked as he descended the narrow staircase, Walee following closely behind.

“Not long.”

“You could try talking to some of the girls in the party to kill time.” He adjusted his tie, speaking briefly to the door. “Don’t let anyone else in. Make sure the guests leave in an orderly manner.”

Suwan and Walee exited the room and turned right, walking past others who inhabited the same floor or were otherwise just invited for a party. They had to descend an escalator to the floor below, before proceeding to an elevator.

“I don’t like talking to strangers for non-work-related matters.” She said, referring to his earlier statement.

“But you want to know what falling in love is like, right? Can’t hurt to go a little bit out of your way to talk. If you don’t try to reach out, get your heart broken a few times, maybe you’d really end up alone like you’ve feared.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“In the end, I’m just a spectator. Follow your heart. Don’t let me boss you around, even though I’m technically your boss.” He shrugged. “So, what’s up?”

“It’s Thonglor this time.” She replied. “No cybernetics or self-driving vehicles related accidents, but the entire area is still down.”

“Oof. That would suck for party-goers.”

“He appeared on the rooftop of an izakaya. Witness reports said he appeared only a few seconds before all comms went down. They could hear his music again.”

“Any idea what song?”

“The same obscure folk song that we could not find with a song-recognition algorithm and had to go to a professor in the field.”

“So, same song as always, but no injuries this time… He’s getting more advanced. The first time he came around, he caused a major accident due to the self-driving vehicles and cybernetic enhancements malfunctioning. That was why we had to take the case, since we ain’t got any enhancements.”

“Yes, I’m aware. No need for recap.”

Suwan shrugged in response. “I’m quite proud of not being at risk of getting my organs hijacked, you know. Let me brag.”

The elevator brought them down to the ground floor. The two exited, walking across the lobby to the front entrance.

Suwan’s car was waiting for them. As they stepped inside, the car’s cold air-conditioned interior greeted them.

“It almost seems like he’s avoiding major losses.” Walee said as she did her seatbelt.

“True. First time around, they called him a terrorist. Now he’s just an annoying prankster. I read a post the other day that called him ‘an anti-technology magician’. How cool is that?”

Suwan closed the door and entered their destination into the car’s navigation system, holding the steering wheel in case something went down. The car pulled out of the driveway and onto to the road.

“What do you think he’s doing this for, my dear Watson?”

“He never had any letters, no official statements, no accounts on social media. The only thing we know about him is his name, from a scrap of paper he left at the scene. So,” She flicked her tablet, “my guess is that he’s trying to get someone’s attention.”

She turned to face her boss and found him looking at her, his face and eyes smiling.

“Interesting. What else?”

“The name ‘Apaimanee’ must mean something to that someone he’s trying to reach. Do you have any idea who?”

“I thought you did the background check.” Suwan turned his eyes back to the road.

“I did. I just wanted to hear from your own mouth.”

Suwan chuckled. The car turned into a small street to avoid congestion on the road.

“Well, I’m not obsessed about trying to find him for nothing, as you have already guessed. But I don’t think I’m the one he’s trying to reach.”

“Oh. Then who?”

“I don’t know. My brother Apaimanee went missing when he was sixteen, and when he came back twenty-two years later, he kept slipping away from me. There must be something more important to him than reuniting with his long-lost brother.”

“Don’t tell me he’s on some secret mission to revolutionize society and change the world.”

“Could be. Someone’s got to back him up, though.”

The car dropped them off a distance away from Thonglor. The two had to walk about five hundred meters, past paralyzed vehicles parked on the streets.

The izakaya that their target visited earlier was next to the main road. Party-goers were strewn about the place, bored. Some were chatting away while some wanted to be anywhere but here.

Suwan walked up to a vaping man.

“What’s going on here?”

“Of course, it’s that Apaimanee guy! I didn’t think he’d visit this place.” The man blew a stream of white smoke. “I wanna post about this encounter on my social media, but my phone is dead and the damn police are making me stay and give a statement. Ugh, can’t they do it online or something? I wanna go home and shower.” Then, his attention shifted to Walee, eyeing her uniform. “What? You guys stuck here as well?”

“You could say that.” Suwan glanced at his phone. No signal. “How do you think he did that? He took down signal on the whole grid. That’s insane.”

“I don’t know, man. Some kind of jamming bullshit. What’s it called? ECM? EMP? One of my buddies crashed his car the first time that Apimanee dude showed up.”

“Woah, is he alright?”

“Yeah, he was too busy making out to notice that his car was out of control.”

Walee gave Suwan a nudge, and the man turned to look around the izakaya.

“Well, I’m gonna see if the place still got food. Thanks for the info.”

“Yeah, welcome.”

The police were questioning those in the izakaya. Suwan walked up to a middle-aged man and pressed his hands together in a wai.

“Suwan, glad you could make it, but I’m afraid we have nothing going.” The man patted Suwan on the back. “Every single person said the same thing. He appeared, then he went. Nobody even saw where he skidded off to. We’re still looking at CCTVs, but you know how useless those things are.”

“Those things are a waste of state money. So, he didn’t leave any clue again.” Suwan sighed. “Walee, anything on your side?”

“He used the same song again this time; that’s all I have.” She shrugged. “It’s a clue. The person he wanted to find must be related to that song somehow. Considering how obscure it is, finding someone who knows the song would be a challenge in itself.”

“Ugh, and I thought that would point to our suspect.”

“Might I remind you; we do not have any suspects.”

The middle-aged man observed the exchange, hands on his hips.

“Hey, Suwan, I thought you had a brother named Apaimanee. Isn’t that a huge-ass clue?”

“I don’t even know if it’s him or just somebody with the same name, lieutenant.”

“Boss, get up to the rooftop and stay there for two hours. See if he comes to you. He might just come, you know?”

“I don’t even know if he’s my brother or someone using his name. He was into music at the time, but definitely not folk or anything traditional. I don’t know shit about folk songs, so that music he’s using? Not a message to me.” Suwan shrugged. “But oh well, it’s worth a try.”

Suwan waited for two hours, scanning the perimeter for any signs of suspicious people. Nobody came. The night was hot and he was sweating.

The police were done with the interviews, and they decided to call it quits. Signals went back up, and people were happy to be back on the network.

Suwan made his way down the stairs and found a drink, plus a few grilled skewers waiting for him.

Walee tapped the tip of her stylus on her tablet’s screen. Suwan sat down next to her, and she confirmed that the treats were indeed ordered for him.

“Nothing again tonight.” He took a sip of cold beer. It was a benediction compared to the hot weather earlier.

“I was expecting it, but you must be disappointed.”

“I wonder if this person really is my brother. Who knows, he could be a shell of his former self, transformed into some… brainwashed machine thingy-mingy.”

“That’s not a word.”

“I know, Watson.”

Walee took a skewer from his plate and munched on it.

“I’m looking at the map to see if there’s a pattern to his appearance. So far, I know he’s appearing at densely-populated places. The algorithm can’t find any meaningful connections aside from that either.”

“Huh. You might be right. He’s trying to get someone’s attention. Someone who knows the song, probably someone he met during his disappearance. He doesn’t know where that person is and is trying to lure that person out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We need more information.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Are you watching cat videos?”

Walee did not answer. She flicked something on her tablet and bit the last piece of chicken off her skewer. Then, she turned the screen off and turned to her boss.

“Can you tell me more about your brother? If he really is the Apaimanee we are looking for, we might be able to glean something. If not, then you may be able to organize your thoughts on the matter. I can see that it’s eating at you.”

Suwan chuckled.

“You’re surprisingly sharp when it comes to reading me.” He downed his glass of beer. “I think we should find another place. This izakaya is about to close up.”