Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Chapter Twenty-Three: The End of the Hall

Max thought for a moment and looking up saw that Wanna was putting her things together but also that she kept looking at Chakrit. When she looked around, she noticed that Max was looking at her, but even though she paled a bit, she didn't break eye contact. Max nodded toward the door, and she nodded slightly back at him. He hoped she got his meaning. He then turned toward Prin and Tul.

"Can I speak to the two of you for a moment?"

Prin was about to refuse. He wanted to see what Chakrit was going to do with Ann's phone, but he noticed that Chakrit gave the phone back to one of the others to look at and headed toward the door. He sighed and followed Tul and Max into the office.

When he closed the door, Max spoke first looking directly at him.

"You saw what I did, didn't you? I think he must have put something on Ann's phone and then changed his mind."

Prin nodded grimly but Tul looked surprised.

"Tor recommended the company. He said they were clean and reliable."

"I don't doubt it," Max replied. "But individuals can be bought or even convinced that they are doing their job by incorporating something like this. We don't really know what he was told."

When Tul looked confused and a bit defensive, he continued. "For example, if he was told that Ann was a target, he might have put a special tracker on her phone in secret so she wouldn't act suspicious about it in case she was kidnapped. We know you didn't make the request. The real issue here is who did."

Tul looked at Max sharply, "Kidnapped? This seems to be going pretty far, Max."

"I'm not saying that would happen," Max replied. He didn't want Tul to start worrying more than he had to. "What I'm saying is that we don't know what Chakrit was told. I believe that Tor is very careful, so I think someone must have convinced Chakrit somehow that doing something sneaky was a good thing."

Prin was restless. "How do we find that out though? That other guy has probably swept the phone again, so we won't even know what was put on there, let alone who asked him to do it."

Tul picked up the phone. "I should call Tor and tell him about the company."

Max stopped him. "Not yet. We may be getting some information . . ."

He was interrupted by a light knock on the door.

Tul called out, "Come in."

Wanna entered the room hesitant and flushed, but her eyes were bright and focused.

Max asked right away, "Did you hear anything?"

Both Tul and Prin looked between the two curiously.

Wanna looked right at Max. Tul still made her nervous, but she had always felt comfortable with Max. She knew that it might look rude to her boss, but she needed to focus, so she focused just on Max's face when she responded.

"I didn't like how he kept looking at Ann, Max. Why did he want her phone back? And why did he change his mind when he heard about Khun Bagnet? I followed him out to hallway, and he went towards the stairwell. There is a pillar there by the door. I frequently slip behind it when I don't want to see people."

Wanna glanced nervously in Tul's direction. Tul couldn't see this, but Max did. He wondered how often Wanna had seen Tul coming and stepped behind the pillar to hide. He would've smiled if the situation wasn't so serious. Tul really needed to work to make Wanna not so afraid of him. When she continued to hesitate, Max prodded.

"It's okay, Wanna. Just let us know what you heard. Any information might help us."

"Okay," she said taking a breath, refocusing on Max's kind and patient face. "It was weird. I didn't expect him to sound so angry. I think he might've hit the person on the phone if they were face-to-face with them."