Chapter 3
"Corporate Security Covers"
Having just paid a visit to Mr. Plaskett, May and I proceeded down to Pan Am's corporate security offices. But it seemed that they knew of our arrival courtesy of Mr. Plaskett.
"Are you the two ladies that visited Mr. Plaskett?" asked a man in a dark suit as he stopped us at the door. "Are you?"
The snapping in his voice made us both push back slightly.
"Yes, yes we are," I stammered, showing my badge to the man.
"Don't bother, he told us who you are. You're bounty hunters."
"Well, we're gunshop owners and I'm the bounty hunter and she's the explosive specialist. Anyway, we have some questions about the Helsinki threat."
It was apparent that we were going to have a rough time in corporate security. Now, you have to remember that Pan Am's reputation at the time…was, uh, falling apart. So, neither May nor I could really blame the people that worked for Pan Am for being under a lot of pressure.
The man lead us into a small office and it gave both me and May the impression that Pan Am's corporate security was either small to begin with or Pan Am's corporate security was…just as falling apart.
"If you don't mind my saying so, you have a small office, Mr…"
"Thompson, Doug Thompson," the man answered as he walked over and began to snoop around a filing cabinet. "Head of Pan Am corporate security. Here is the transcript."
Doug handed us what appeared to be a small transcript that detailed a phone call that was made on December 5th, two weeks before the downing of Pan Am 103.
"A Finnish woman?" asked May as we looked over the transcript. "Why bring someone from Finland in this mess?'
"They needed a courier, a scapegoat, someone to cover their asses when they blow up one of our planes? Why should I know?"
"Where did you get this transcript?" I asked.
"It came to me from the US Embassy in Helsinki. I didn't want to pass it on to Mr. Plaskett because we are in enough shit as it is with the company losing money."
Of course, I was very cross as I handed the transcript back to Doug.
"Mr. Thompson, do you even realize what you've done?" I asked firmly. "By withholding this information, you may have played a part in killing 259 people and who knows what else!"
"Shame on you," added May.
"Who is the representative from Helsinki that gave this to you?" I asked, leaning on Doug's desk and tapping my fingers sharply. "Tell me!"
"I…I don't have anything else to say to you!"
It was then that I proceeded to use another tactic to scare him.
"Fine, then I'll call my friends at the FBI to raid…"
"Okay! Okay!" he cried. "It was an American. I can't think of his name, but he had an Irish sounding name. Um…um…Patrick…Patrick McCoy!"
"Thanks," I said as May and I proceeded to the office door, but not before I had one last bit of advice for Pan Am's corporate security officer. "And if I were you, I would consider finding another job, Mr. Thompson."
"Why?" he asked, his guard letting him down.
"Because I think you may not be holding this position for very long or any position for that matter."
Leaving Mr. Thompson, to eat his words and actions, May and I left Pan Am's corporate offices and proceeded to the lobby to catch a cab away from the Pan Am Building. It was then that I began to get another thought.
"May, I'm wondering something," I said as scratched my pantyhose clad right leg. "Do you think that Pan Am deliberately ignored any warnings against them? They had a route picked out and a timetable. Plus, it just so happens that the route chosen was a route that many people would normally take if they worked in the government."
"Or what about that Pokemon academy in West Germany?" she suggested. "The one that Pan Am said it would be the official airline of?"
This gave me another idea that would start to connect the case a little bit. But, I still needed to be sure that all of the possible suspects were considered. After all, May and I did not get our reputations for nothing.
…
As we returned to the World Trade Center, we once again saw Bill and it appeared he had something he wanted to say to us…something of importance.
"Hey pussycat," he cried as we got out of the cab. "You are not going to believe this!"
So we met up with Bill and were eager to discover what had gotten him so excited. Taking us into the North Tower, standing in the lobby was a middle aged man with short black hair and was wearing a blue uniform with the letter "P" on his shirt.
"Ivan, meet Rally and May. Rally and May, meet Ivan."
"Nice to meet you, uh...what are you exactly?"
"I run the Pokemon League Admissions Academy in West Germany," he answered in what appeared to be a Russian accent. "There is something of great importance that I need to share with the both of you. It's about what happened in Scotland."
Bill, naturally, smirked over at us with a smug expression as if to say he was one step ahead of us.
"Shall we go?" Bill asked, throwing his arms over our shoulders as he directed our attention towards a Port Authority Police Office that was conveniently located in the lobby of the North Tower. "I think Mr. Nureyev must have something important to say."
As he led us by Ivan, all Ivan could do was sigh in disbelief. Something had connected him to the Pan Am 103 bombing and he was determined to help out in any way possible.
"Damn you Pan Am. You put my students in danger when you said that they would be protected."
…
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