37 Snake in the Grass
1555 Words
Ivan returned the next day to the old art room to find everyone was already hard at work. He looked through the window in the door and spotted the girl with red hair. She was in the center of the room, and it looked as if she was drawing something at the art table in the middle of the room. With a deep breath, he gathered the courage and knocked on the door. He saw Max make a scramble for the door, which allowed him to lighten up even just a little. He opened the door and looked at Ivan in surprise.
“Ivan?”
“Um… Hey.”
“Hey yourself. What’re you doing here? It hasn’t been a couple of days yet,” Max said, although still pleasantly surprised that Ivan was here.
“Well, I thought I could take the opportunity to get a read on what everyone does here, and how I would fit in that mix,” Ivan replied.
Max gave Ivan a warm smile, however, he still harbored some feelings of suspicion. He opened the door for Ivan to walk in.
“Then, by all means, come on in!”
“Thanks.”
Ivan walked into a room filled with chattering and running around. Everyone seemed to be busy with the respective jobs that they had been given. However, this did not stop them from communicating as everyone seemed to have a hand in what everyone else was doing. Trae was doing his research while Charlie stood behind him and told him exactly what he should be looking for. They were doing research on new algorithms for the AI to follow for future updates. Jules talked to Lina regarding the casing designs for the CDs to be packaged in, as she was already on the phone with the supplier. Charlie made sure to check up with Lina to see if designs were user friendly. While Trae would do research on the best partners for Jules to contact.
For the moment, Ivan was completely stunned at the teamwork that was being displayed in this room. Before long, Max kind of dragged him in by the shoulder and had him stand beside him on the elevated wooden platform that teachers stand on. Almost immediately, the people in the room that were running around, were now focused on the two standing in front. It was not because of Ivans presence. It was purely because this is the kind of aura that Max exuded. Max cleared his throat and began to speak.
“Alright, guys! I know I told you all that Ivan would be back in a couple of days, so we could get ready to welcome him into the team,” he said, looking at all of his friends. “However, plans have changed. Ivan here took initiative and looked to visit us to see how he could mesh himself with you all. Because once he joins, it won’t be him and us. It’ll just be us. All of us. So please welcome him, and answer any questions he may have. Cool?”
In unison, everyone replied back.
“Cool!”
They immediately rushed toward Ivan to greet him officially.
“Hey, Ivan! I’m Jules! I’m handling HR. Nice to meet you!” she said as she aggressively shook his hand.
“Ah, Ivan, and likewise.”
“What’s up? I’m Trae. I’m one half of R and D. It’s cool to meet you,” he said, as he dapped up Ivan, who was completely not used to being dapped up.
“A-ah, ok. I’m Ivan.”
Charlie butted in, not giving Ivan time to breathe from all the introductions.
“And I’m the other half of R and D. Call me Charlie,”
“Alright Charlie, nice to meet you.”
And finally, Lina mustered the courage to walk up to Ivan to say hello.
“I-I’m Lina. It’s nice to meet you, Ivan.”
“Oh, same! It’s nice to meet you too,”
They immediately toured him around the room and made clear to him all of the responsibilities that each of them held. All the while, he chatted with each member of the room, trying his best to keep up with all of the information that they were unloading onto him. That being said, they never did anything to let him feel unwelcome. If anything, they wanted to make sure that he felt at home in this classroom, as in their eyes, he would be joining them for a long journey as associates. Ivan looked like he was having a good time becoming closer with all of the members of XMC Tech. Before long, the entire team took on a whole day's work, with Ivan there every step of the way.
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“Thank you all so much for allowing me to join you guys today! Is it alright if I come again tomorrow?” Ivan asked, losing a lot of his initial worries.
“Of course! Come back at any time!” Max said, as he waved his recruit off.
He smiled for as long as he was within sight. As soon as Ivan turned the corner at the end of the hall, Max rushed back to his computer and put on some headphones.
“Alright, I might lose some money over this, and he might notice it sooner or later. But I gotta hear what this is all about. If he happens to be bad for the company, I’m gonna fire him,” Max said mumbling to himself.
All of the other members were about to leave when they noticed Max.
“Max? You gonna join us? We’re just gonna grab dinner!” Jules said as she watched him type frantically on his keyboard.
“I’ll catch up, Jules. Just gotta do something.”
“Don’t overwork yourself y’hear?” Trae called out as he closed the door behind him.
It was now only Max and his task of finding out just what was going on with this suspicious potential new hire. While Ivan was distracted by all of the information that was dumped onto him by his overly excited colleagues, Max had slipped a microphone into his bag. This microphone was hooked up to a wireless rig that would allow Max to turn it on and off as he pleased with the simple click of the enter key on his keyboard. With that, he turned on the microphone and began to listen to the conversation that Ivan was having with an unknown man.
“What do you want this time, sir?” Ivan asked, his voice shaking.
He couldn’t hear another voice, so he could only assume that it was a phone call. Nevertheless, Max proceeded to write down everything that Ivan was saying.
“Yes sir, I was able to talk with all of the members...”
“No sir.”
“Yes sir, the one with red hair, I got it. I will take her to the back courtyard of the school. Then once she is there, I’ll leave her to your men.”
Max’s eyes widened. Suddenly a rage began to fill his heart, as he gritted his teeth. There was only one red-haired person in their midst that was so high profile, that people would go to such extents to kidnap her. Jules. Max stayed his anger for the time being and continued to listen to the rest of the conversation.
“You promise, that if I do this… You won’t kill me?”
Max’s eyes widened again. Suddenly, this story had gotten a lot more elaborate. Nevertheless, the only people that would ever try to attempt a kidnapping on such a high profile figure, like Jules, would be the Wolfpack. Somehow, Ivan had gotten himself wrapped up in a dangerous game with the Wolfpack. At this point, both the lives of Jules and Ivan were at stake here. The disgruntled student wracked his brain trying to find out the most effective way to deal with the situation. For now, he called Trae.
The phone rang for a moment but was then picked up by Trae, who seemed to have his mouth full with something.
“Herrr Maksh. Werrshup?”
“Trae, I need you to swallow that food and step outside.”
An audible gulp could be heard on the other line, followed by the sounds of choking coming from Trae. Within moments though, everything went quiet and Trae finally replied.
“Alright man, I’m outside. What’s up?”
“I think the Wolfpack is trying to go for Jules again,” Max said frantically.
“What?!” There was a pause on Trae’s end, before he replied again, with his voice significantly lowered.
“How do you know this, Max?”
“Trae, trust me. I’m sure.”
“Alright man, so what are we gonna do?”
“I’m calling a day off for tomorrow. Help me come up with an excuse later, alright? For now, we gotta make sure that Jules is present with us the entire time. People can’t come into campus after dark, after all.”
“Ok, I got it. What about Ivan?”
“I’ll explain all that later. And I’ll make sure to tell everyone the reason why I called the day off tomorrow. Ok?”
“Ok man, I trust you. Aight?”
“Yeah… Thanks, man. Let’s just make sure she stays safe,” Max said, immediately ending the call.
With that, he sent an email to all of his associates that tomorrow would be a break for all of them. They all replied with glee, not knowing the gravity of the situation that they would come face to face with tomorrow.
- Writer
