[2086] Not the Time

26th March, 2086

Suwan was locked up in a guest room after pulling a stunt against Chan. Cut off from the world, he resorted to studying every object in the room to calm his frazzled mind. He found hidden cameras and microphones among them.

The man finally sat down and thought about the recent events. He and Walee were investigating Apaimanee, the mysterious oboist who caused major disturbances downtown. This Apaimanee could be his long-lost brother, and they found a lead that led them to Malee, Crystal’s current boss and backer of the current regime. However, he messed up, and now both him and Walee were imprisoned in Malee’s mansion.

He sighed as he fiddled with his thumb.

He let emotions and ego take control. He should not have said anything, but even so, there was no guarantee that he would not land himself in this mess. It was alright if he was here alone, but he ended up dragging Walee into it as well.

“Ugh… I’m a terrible boss.” He rubbed his face.

There was a knock, and Malee entered.

Suwan shot up from where he was sitting. He could see Chan escorting her, but the young man quickly closed the door and stood guard outside.

“Where’s Walee, my partner?”

“She is safe. We had a nice chat and I lost track of time.”

“I hope you meant that literally.”

“I do. You have an interesting subordinate. If she was not an investigator, I would recruit her into Crystal so she could work alongside Chan and Su.”

“Well, I’m glad she declined your offer.”

“She said she will give it some thought.”

The two stared at each other.

Suwan cleared his throat and offered Malee a chair. The woman sat down and crossed her legs, while Suwan sat on the bed, hands clasped in front of him.

“So? What do you want from me?”

“I will be the one asking questions.”

“I’m sorry. Please go ahead.” Suwan quickly gestured for her to keep going.

“What do you intend to do after you have found your brother?”

Suwan thought he had an answer, but he could not put the words together.

Malee observed him quietly for a few seconds before asking another question.

“What will you do with the information that I can give you?” She blinked, slowly, almost like a doll. “And what do you know about me?”

“I have to be sure we’re on the same page before I answer any of that, ma’am. Please just tell me one thing: Apaimanee the prankster is the Apaimanee both of us are talking about, correct?”

“Correct.”

“That makes things easier.” Suwan lifted a corner of his mouth into a smile. “I’ve been rewinding our conversation earlier in my head, and I found something quite interesting. Khun Malee, how many of those things have you been sending to space recently?”

Malee narrowed her eyes. The air grew tense.

“There’re a few years gap between the time that project was announced until this year, when Apaimanee appeared, so I didn’t connect the dots at first.” Suwan rested his elbows on his knees. “But the power outages and the signal disruption were not Apaimanee’s doing. You’re the one behind it.”

Malee tilted her head slightly to one side, and Suwan took it as a sign that he was right.

“What’s your motive?”

“So? Are you going to report me to the authorities?”

“Crystal is backing the current government, so that will not do me any good. I simply want to know for my own peace of mind, investigator shtick and all that.”

“You actually want to understand what your brother is doing, do you not?”

Suwan’s smile froze. He wanted to deny that just so that she would be wrong for once, but she was right.

“It is not the time. You will know soon enough. After that, whether Apaimanee returns to you or not is solely his choice.”

“It’s not the time, it’s not the time… When is the time, then? When he’s caused a few more power outages? When I become an adult capable of handling the truth of the world?”

“When this city is mine.”

“Come again?” Suwan heard her clearly the first time, but he wanted to make sure that was really what she said.

“I will end this endless battle of factions fighting over the city. Whoever controls Bangkok controls the whole country, so if I have to be a tyrant to lead this country to peace, then so be it.”

Suwan furrowed his brows. He rubbed his chin.

“Don’t you already own the country, though?”

“There are complex internal struggles at play here. I do not wish to disclose all of the details, for they are exceedingly boring.”

“I see. Will I know when the time comes?”

“We will see.”

“Fair enough.”

Malee got up and left the room.

“Oh, one more thing, Khun Malee.” Suwan got up. “Can I at least see if Walee is alright? How long do you intend to lock me up in here?”

“I will connect you two via an internal line. As for your latter question, we will see.”

The door closed, and Suwan was left alone in the room with his thoughts. Soon, the empty picture frame on the wall lit up, and Walee’s face was projected on it.

“Walee! How’s your fish doing?”

“Bloopy is doing fine, thanks for asking.” Walee sighed. The name of her Siamese fighting fish was his way of confirming that it was really her. “I’m fine as well, boss, but not sure about you. Why did you lose your cool back there?”

“I might’ve gotten too emotional about my brother. Or maybe I was too hasty.” Suwan sighed. “That woman is really something. Now I know why she kicked all her siblings out of the way, and took over Crystal even after Khun Silrach tried to marry her into Langka.”

Walee nodded. “Anyway, something big is about to go down, boss. We can’t just sit around here.”

“What’s that something? Did Khun Malee tell you about how she plans to take over the country as well?”

“Yes.”

“And we have to stop her?”

“Maybe. I, for one, wants to see how she’ll succeed.” The woman nodded to herself. “Anyway, first order of business is getting out of this room. I am certain that somebody is listening to our conversation right now, so you have to figure out an escape on your own, boss. I will as well. Goodbye.”

“Wait, Walee…and there she went.”

If only he could just waltz out of here.

Suwan walked to the door and touched the knob. It was locked, as expected. He did not have any enhancements or any fancy equipment on him, so he sat down to think. The only chance he had would be if someone opened the door from the outside.

Then, it really did happen.

“Hello, boss. I’m here to bail you out.”

“Walee?!”

“Khun Malee intentionally left my room unlocked. We have to move fast, before any of her minions discover us.”

An off-season monsoon was blowing outside. Suwan and Walee stole a small boat and escaped using a small canal outside the mansion’s backyard.

The wind and rain batted against them as the boat went through the black canal water. They could barely open their eyes, and were soaking wet from head to toe, but somehow, they made it to a hostel’s back entrance and went inside.

The manager quickly gave them towels and ushered them to a shower room for the staff, but by that time, their skin had already flared up in red rashes.

When Walee came out of the shower room, she saw that Suwan had already arranged for lodgings.

“You really should put on some medicine, boss. You look like a tomato.” She said, handing him a tube.

“Thanks, but let me get this dealt with first.” He bit the inside of his cheeks. “I’m going to contact HQ.”

“I’ll look into the satellites, then.” Walee reached inside her bag and found her tablet. Luckily, her bag was water-proof. “Apaimanee’s mysterious musical ability is now solved, but we still have a lot to do…”

“What?” Suwan noticed her trailing off, and went to look over her shoulder at the screen.

“Khun Malee left a date in here. I don’t know what for, but looks important.”

“When?”

“April 13th, two weeks from now.”