Chapter 9

"Against the Plans of Team Rocket"

...

"What is this?!" Madame Boss cried as she gathered her Team Rocket executives the morning after the bombing of Pan Am 103, throwing a newspaper on the table showing the destruction of the Clipper Maid of the Seas on Lockerbie, Scotland. "Tell me, what is this?!"

The executives all looked at each other with slight confusion.

"A Scottish town in flames," remarked a male executive.

"Yes, but it's not supposed to be a Scottish town in flames, isn't it?" Madame Boss seethed, walking around the table. "The newspaper is supposed to have the headlines that a pair of jumbo jets crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, leaving our agents in submarines to collect the Pokemon off of their dead trainers. I want answers to this and I want them now!"

The executives said nothing until one of them, Dr. James Namba, rose to his feet.

"The weather wasn't good, but it's England. They should deal with the weather that they had without any problems."

"Dr. Namba, had I known that they didn't consider the weather, the plan would have been successful. Now because of this, we are at risk of not only being humiliated, but everything we built on is at stake! For the love of God, they knew we were planning to target a Pan Am flight and they canceled our target flight."

Another executive raised his hand.

"What?" Madame Boss snapped.

"I thought the plan was to target a direct Frankfurt-New York flight…"

"That was the plan! That was the plan, you idiot! Our target was to have American Military and the Pokemon Trainers from that academy in Israel. Do you fools realize how many of our targets would be on a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt? Pokemon trainers with rare Pokemon that we can sell to our allies or brainwash to commit attacks of our own? Over 500 Pokemon were in our hands and now it's gone…"

Madame Boss flung the newspaper across the room and sighed deeply.

"And I also learned from our spies in Athens that the Pokemon we were planning to attack our second target were discovered at the Athens airport. Do you know what this means? Anyone?"

Again, the executives said nothing except for one.

"It means that we underestimated the security that the Americans have installed against our attacks," said Giovanni. "At least in Athens…an airport we've targeted numerous times in the past. But, our spies in Frankfurt did say that Pan Am's security there was vulnerable and not in the best interest of its passengers. Had I been the head of this plot, I would have planned more carefully."

"What do you mean, Giovanni?"

"I would have just focused on Pan Am in Frankfurt and Pan Am in Frankfurt alone. Athens knows who we are and what we are capable of. I warned you mother that Athens is no longer an option."

Madame Boss walked over to her son and stared him down.

"We have ways, Giovanni," she whispered. "We have ways. If you are going to succeed me one day, then you must understand those ways."

Sitting back down, Madame Boss ran her fingers through her hair and sighed deeply.

"This is more than just stealing Pokemon off of dead trainers," she said. "We are supposed to avenge our Iranian allies for what the Americans did to those souls over the Persian Gulf. Can you imagine the looks on their faces when we…their allies…have to say that we failed to produce images of bodies floating in the water…how we failed to produce celebrations in the streets of Tehran? Don't you see? Don't you get it?"

This made Giovanni raise his arm again, much to his mother's annoyance.

"What, my son?"

"Mother, what if we had rather just avoided Frankfurt altogether and just planted our bombs in London? Iran has its national airline in the same terminal as Pan Am and the bomb could have been easily transferred. Had you listened to me…we would have had more success and the target could have left earlier in the day when the weather was better."

"Giovanni, you are just the heir to the throne," Madame Boss remarked, not wanting to take more of her son's criticism. "Remember your place for the time being."

"Personally, if we all do end up on trial," Giovanni cautioned. "It's a good plan for defending ourselves in a court of law."

This made Madame Boss chuckle at her son's suggestion.

"I'm serious, mother!" Giovanni protested. "What if we focused on London and London alone? An explosive Pokemon could have been easily put on an Iranian airliner and flown to London before connecting to our target? Iran Air has overnight flights between Tehran and London."

"I warned you to remember your place," she snarled. "Right now, we need to ensure that our spies are protected at all times from the authorities."

Then she had an epiphany as she opened up the newspaper to an ad promoting Pan Am.

"But maybe we can buy ourselves some time here," she said. "Pan Am is a dying airline, choosing to promote profits over safety. If we are to be convicted, then we aren't going down alone."

Little did she know of the words that Madam Boss would be eating in due time and that Pan Am itself was about to get a visit from our future partners in this criminal case.

Meanwhile, our future partners were preparing to play their part in this case, but not before running into an "old friend of theirs."

When May and I arrived in New York City, the original idea was to scout a location for the expansion of our business. What happened instead was word of a New York bound Pan Am plane going down. For the rest of the night on December 21st, I just laid on the bed looking at the television and seeing the reports of what was happening.

"Rally," muttered May as she tried to sleep. "Turn that thing off…I'm trying to sleep."

"Just a few more minutes, May," I remarked, looking at my partner. "Just pretend I'm not here."

Groaning, May threw a pillow over her head as I continued my investigation. The news had come from out of southwest Scotland, somewhere along the border between Scotland and England. The scene of fire and sounds of sirens wailing made it clear that this was definitely a plane crash and that it was very likely that no one had survived.

"I think we need to pay Pan Am a visit in the morning," I declared under my breath. "Something tells me that this is more than just a plane crash."

In fact, the scenes shifted to crying and screaming relatives of the victims at Kennedy Airport. I couldn't help but feel sorry for all of them.

Just then, I turned off the television and joined my partner in falling asleep. But, it wouldn't be that way for very long.

At that moment, the door to our hotel room was being knocked on and both May and I groaned at being woken up suddenly.

"Now, who can that be?" I muttered, climbing out of bed in just a gray tank top and white panties. "Who is it?"

"Pussycat, are you awake?"

Rolling my eyes, I knew just exactly who it was and opened the door slightly to reveal ATF Agent Bill Collins in the doorway.

"Not you again," I groaned. "Just what are you doing in New York?"

"Same thing as you," Bill chuckled with a small smile. "Investigating what happened in Scotland tonight. I didn't know if you wanted to…"

"Look Bill," I interrupted sharply and groggily. "I came here so we can look for an expansion on our business, the one you hung by a thread last time."

"Come on, if it hadn't been for my intervention, you and that cute little partner of yours would be in a jail cell, not in a hotel room. Shall we discuss more at breakfast, ne'cs pas?"

"Fine, fine. Now let me sleep. Good night!"

Shutting the door, I groaned loudly as I retreated to my bed. All I could think of was why in the hell that Bill Collins would follow us in New York? There had to be a reason for it, but I wouldn't find out until morning.

So, the next morning I stood in front of the mirror straightening out my tie, smoothing my skirt and trying to get the disgusting perverted thoughts of Bill out of my mind. I get the fact that Bill had some feelings for me, but there was no way he and I were going to work together again…at least in my mind.

"Damn that Bill, May," I said as we made our way down to breakfast. "Here we are on business and our so called Prince Charming decided to follow us."

"He must have a reason. Maybe he could be connected to investigating what happened last night."

"What does the ATF have to do with what happened last night?"

"Come on, Rally. Pan Am is the national airline of the United States, after all."

"One of two. Don't forget TWA."

Stepping into the elevator, we continued to make our way down to the lobby and sure enough, staring at us at a table was Bill Collins.

"He's even got us coffee," said May. "Damn, he must be serious."

Naturally, I said nothing and sure enough we joined him, reluctantly, at the table.

"Sorry, I had to wake you last night, Pussycat," said Bill. "I can imagine it's quite a surprise, isn't it?"

"Surprise what?"

"That I'm being assigned to assist in investigating what happened to Pan Am 103. You see, rumor has it that terrorism is to blame for what happened."

Taking a sip of coffee, I tried to ignore the fact that terrorism was to blame for what happened.

"What does the ATF have to do with what happened?" May asked.

"Yeah, maybe perhaps," I interjected. "Let all the other factors be considered like collisions, structural and mechanical failures, hmm?"

"Yes, but there are some things that we have to keep in mind."

"What other things?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as Bill smugly drank his coffee.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out, pussycat. Let's just say that there was a strange call to a diplomatic post in Europe two weeks ago."

A strange call to a diplomatic post? I couldn't help but think of what Bill was trying to mention. But still business was business and we had to focus on the task at hand which was to scout a location for our business expansion.

Once breakfast was over, May and I made our way to the World Trade Center's underground shopping plaza to look over a location for Gunsmith Cats' expansion. It was located right at the entrance of World Trade Center tower 1, an ideal location for customers when they first walked in.

"This is it," I said to May, looking up at the location. "This is the spot to do business. Look, we are right at the entrance to the concourse."

"Rally are you sure about that?"

"Yeah," asked the realtor.

"Customers will want to take notice of our business," I declared. "New York is a high crime city and people will need something to defend themselves and for some, they won't have time to look for a weapon of their choice."

However, both May and the realtor could see that my mind was not on scouting on locating spots.

"Um, Rally?" May asked. "Is your mind on something else?"

"Yes," I answered firmly, before turning to the realtor. "This is the perfect location. Let's sign on it."

So we signed on the location in the World Trade Center and proceeded to what we needed to do…begin the investigation into what brought down Pan Am Flight 103.

"I didn't mean it that way!" May protested as I dragged her out of the concourse.

"We have the location," I said hastily. "Let's just get on with the investigation."

"Okay, okay!" May pleaded, releasing herself from my tight grip on her arm as we made our way outside. "Don't get so grabby! Geez! And I thought you called me impatient."

"I'm serious, May! Something happened to Pan Am 103 and I need to find out the truth!"

I then proceeded to wave down a taxi cab that managed to stop quickly.

"Where to, ladies?" the cab driver asked.

"Pan Am building," I answered and we drove off to Pan Am headquarters to begin our investigation, not knowing of the twists and turns that May and I were about to undertake in finding out the truth into what brought Pan Am 103 and killing all of its occupants.