Chapter 10
"Bean Bandit, Security Officer"
May, Ivan and I anticipated just who this TWA Security officer was. Sure enough, no sooner did Fred make the call did we hear a knock on the door to which Fred answered.
"Thanks for stopping by," he said to the man in the doorway. "This is Bean Bandit, my neighbor."
Looking up at him, I was looking at a man who was buff and fit. A qualified security official wearing a muscle shirt, jeans and a red bandana on top of his head.
"Oh, uh, nice to meet you," I said awkwardly, but politely shaking his hand. "Rally Vincent, bounty hunter."
"Minnie May Hopkins, explosive expert."
"Ivan Nureyev, Pokemon League Admissions Academy head."
"Great, now we are all introduced."
Saying nothing, Bean sat down in Fred's chair and gave both me and May a look of why two women wanted to see him.
"You call yourself a bounty hunter?" he remarked. "From what I see, you look like you belong in an office."
"Oh, really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll have you know I run a gunshop in Chicago and looking to expand. So, don't judge a book by it's cover."
…
Looking to diffuse the situation, Fred got into the conversation.
"Um, Ms. Vincent and Ms. Hopkins here are investigating the Pan Am 103 bombing over Scotland."
"And what about him?" Bean asked, looking over at Ivan. "Is he part of the investigation too?"
"I'm here to meet with the families, sir."
"What families? Of those on the plane?" Ben asked as he stuck a toothpick in his mouth. "There's plenty of them that live in this area. Have you heard about those Syracuse University students? 35 of them were aboard."
"Of course, we heard," Ivan replied. "12 of my students from the Pokemon League Admissions Academy were on the flight too."
"Sorry for your losses," Bean remarked, trying to be respectful of Ivan's tragedies. "In a way, this could have all been prevented. Someone planted a bomb on that flight and I think I know who it is."
For a moment, it seemed like this Bean Bandit knew of the whole truth regarding the Pan Am 103 bombing.
"It has to be the Iranians," he said. "They wanted to get back at us for blasting that plane of theirs out of the sky."
This caused me to have a feeling that Bean seemed like he was a know-it-all, kind of like Mr. Know-It-All from the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" in the 1960s
"Since when do you believe that?" I remarked. "Team Rocket was responsible for the bombing and we are rooting out its leader and anyone affiliated with Team Rocket that works with Pan Am in any way."
Bean rose to his feet and towered over me with his hulking body.
"Perhaps they may have been hired to carry out their dirty work. But, either way, I still believe the Iranian government is responsible for the bombing. Didn't any of you see what happened this past summer over the Persian Gulf?"
"It was an accident," May said, looking over to Fred and me for validation. "Wasn't it?"
"That's what the news media wants you to think, young lady," Bean replied. "For 8 years, I worked for TWA in their security division and let me tell you that I have seen my fair share of hijackings and bombings. Why, I can still remember when the news about that navy diver who was shot to death in Beirut and his body dumped on the tarmac."
Bean then walked over to a window and leaned forward in disgust. In a way, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as I got up and walked over towards him.
"This was Flight 847, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," Bean answered with a sigh of remorse. "The hijackers used Pokemon, trained to kill, to take over the plane. I had been responsible for overseeing the training of the security staff in Athens and after the Flight 847 hijacking, I ended up getting fired."
He then turned away from the window and back to Fred.
"But it wasn't my fault, wasn't it?" he asked Fred. "I did what needed to be done, didn't I? It wasn't my fault that they couldn't stop the hijacking, right?"
Sympathetically, Fred made his way over to Bean and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"TWA wanted me to end hijacking altogether at their company and instead of blaming the security staff, they blamed me in the end."
"Now, you see why we are so close to each other," Fred remarked, looking at us. "Both of us were fired because we weren't doing good enough for the two main US carriers."
"So, what are you going to do now?" Ivan asked.
"Both of us have applied for jobs at El Al operations at JFK," answered Fred. "At least we will be with an airline that appreciates what we are trying to do for them and their passengers."
Just then, I noticed a holster in Bean's side pocket and inside was a .344 magnum revolver, just like mine.
"Excuse me," I asked, looking directly at the shiny revolver Bean had on him. "Is that a .344 Magnum revolver by Smith and Weeson?"
Looking down, Bean pulled out his weapon and showed it for all to see.
"It is," Bean said. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I have one as well," I said, pulling the revolver out of my own holster. From that moment on, Bean suddenly began to see me in a different light. "This is my best weapon and one I intend to use to bring whoever brought down Flight 103 to justice. Maybe if we join forces…"
Placing the .344 Magnum back in his holster, Bean approached me and stuck his hand out to me. It was apparent that Bean was looking for redemption and was going to find it by joining forces with us.
We had gained another ally in the hunt for Team Rocket's leader and who knew how much of a help he was going to be?
…
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