Chapter 17

"Questioning Howard Clifford"

Back in Ryme City, the US government had dispatched an FBI agent to question one of the people we immediately believed to be responsible for helping to bring down Pan Am Flight 103. Frank Buxton, the man who had met us earlier the previous day, had brought an FBI agent with knowledge about the criminal underworld as a whole.

"So, this is the same Howard Clifford that created that nerve gas a few months ago?" she asked.

"It is the same one, Becky," replied Frank as they were granted access to the wing where Howard was located. It was an isolated part of the prison where the most dangerous criminals were held and they both ignored the catcalls coming from the other prisoners, who were kept caged by glass instead of bars. "He developed that gas that brainwashed those explosive Pokemon and he's going to answer for it."

Down at the end of the hallway were a pair of chairs for Becky and Frank to sit at, right in front of Howard Clifford himself, still in his wheelchair, but now in a prison uniform. He greeted his two guests with a wry, yet sinister, smile.

"Good morning," he said, trying to be polite.

"Mr. Clifford, my name is Becky Farrah and this is Frank Buxton. May we speak with you?"

"You're from the FBI in the United States, aren't you?" he asked. "May I see your credentials?"

Doing as they were told, Frank and Becky took out their badges and showed them to Howard from a distance.

"Closer," he whispered and they moved closer to him. "Closer."

Reading their badges, he sent them back to the chairs.

"You are from the FBI, Miss Farrah," he remarked, looking at Becky for a moment, then at Frank. "And as for you, Mr. Buxton, you are all the way from Tokyo, correct?"

"Spare the introductions, Clifford," he scowled. "We have questions to ask you."

"Indeed. I trust this is about what happened in Scotland, correct?"

Becky nervously sat down as her eyes kept on the man who once used the created Pokemon, Mewtwo, for his own gain.

"Yes, we believe that there were explosive Pokemon that were smuggled on board," Becky said. "And we also believe that you worked with Team Rocket or at least contracted with them to bring down airplanes."

"Team Rocket?" he remarked, looking to the left for a moment in thought. "Yes, they were one of my clients, wanting to find a way to force Pokemon to do their dirty work. What makes you so sure that they brought down the plane over Scotland?"

"We'll ask the questions, Mr. Clifford," retorted Frank. "Besides, if I were you, I wouldn't try to act all cute around us because you are already likely going to be serving the rest of your life in prison."

Howard rolled a little closer to the edge of his cell and stared down Frank with malicious intent.

"I have nothing to lose, Frank," he said. "Nothing to lose at all. "And neither does Team Rocket. In fact, I applaud their supposed actions in fulfilling their common goal."

"You support them?" remarked Becky. "Even though there were Pokemon trainers on board?"

"From the school in Israel? The one with security so tight, you couldn't attack it without being killed on the spot? Those students and their Pokemon had all the protection in the world and the only way that Team Rocket could get to them was if they were outside the school walls."

"Did Team Rocket approach you to help them brainwash Pokemon?" Becky asked again, a slight anxiety in her voice. "Did they or did they not?"

"They did, Miss Farrah," Howard confessed. "I'm sure you are aware that Team Rocket's main goal has always been to obtain world domination by the use of Pokemon. Some were sold for profit and that profit was used towards the organization, some were killed off for being useless and others were used for terrorist attacks. Ah, Maria, I applaud her ambitions."

"Maria Sakami," said Frank. "The one called Madame Boss."

"Correct, Mr. Buxton," replied Howard. "Why ever since her family was murdered by the Americans during the Great War, she has always sought to finish what Japan's allies started all those years ago."

"And they treat Pokemon like those poor souls in the concentration camps under the regime of Hitler and his goons?" asked Becky. "Brainwashing Pokemon to kill innocent people or else? What about their trainers? Did you have any…ANY compassion towards them?"

Becky's plea made Howard chuckle again for he found it all amusing to an extent.

"Pokemon Trainers were just obstacles in their way and nothing more, Miss Farrah. In fact, you'd be surprised of all the ways that Team Rocket has tried to steal Pokemon without interference of their trainers. In a way, it was a win-win situation for both of us. Team Rocket would use the gas that I invented on Pokemon to get them to obey and I get paid handsomely for it."

He then rolled his wheelchair over to his desk and picked up a newspaper with a picture of the Maid of the Seas cockpit on it.

"Do you see this?" he asked, showing us the cover, plastering it on the glass. "These are the fruits of our labor, the success of our partnership. The only downside was that it didn't blow over the ocean, like that Air India jet?"

"What about the Iranians?" asked Frank. "Did they approach you and Team Rocket?"

"Of course they did," answered Howard. "After all, Team Rocket has been allied with Iran for nearly a decade and in fact, they gave the American Embassy to them to serve as a base in the Middle East."

Howard's warm demeanor suddenly soured.

"Those poor souls on that airplane," he sighed. "They didn't deserve to die like that…shot down over the sea by that warship. No, they turned to Team Rocket to help avenge those 290 innocent souls. It was an attack."

"Hate to break it to you," said Frank. "But it was an accident. Our country had no intention of committing such an atrocity."

"Liar," snapped Howard, spit from his mouth landing on the glass barrier of his cell. "It's a lie! We believe in our friends and understand them. You have no idea what it was like: seeing people cry and sob over their loved ones who will otherwise never come home!"

"Then maybe you should try telling that to the 270 families who are in mourning right now," interjected Frank. "In fact, we even believe that you have been working with Team Rocket from behind the walls of this very prison! In fact, were you the one that placed the call to the US Embassy in Helsinki, Mr. Clifford?"

"Why would I do such a thing?" asked Howard as Frank took out a tape recorder and played for Howard to see and hear.

"There is going to be a bombing attempt on an American flight out of Frankfurt," the voice, which sounded like Howard said. "You want to be on the lookout for a Team Rocket agent living in Helsinki…his name is Jimmy Evans, okay? They are going to smuggle an explosive Pokemon on board using a Finnish woman, she doesn't know anything about it, okay? This will happen sometime over the next couple of weeks on a flight out of Frankfurt, a Pan Am flight to America!"

The recording then stopped and Frank looked at Howard with disappointment.

"So what if I did call the US Embassy, Mr. Buxton?" Howard asked. "Like I said, I would do anything for a friend and Team Rocket are my friends!"

Having felt like there was nothing to say, Frank turned to leave as Becky followed suit.

"I think we're done here," declared Frank. "Let's go Becky."

"And if I were not treated like a caged animal, I would have helped do it all over again!" cried Howard. "In a way, it's a win-win-win, for me, for Team Rocket and for our allies who stand against…"

But before Howard could finish the sentence, Becky and Frank were already gone.

"Sick bastard," sighed Frank. "Even from behind bars, he still helped carry out this attack on our country."

"And he's just one of many," said Becky. "One of many. We just gotta find this Jimmy Evans he talked about and bring him in for questioning."

But finding Jimmy Evans wasn't going to be easy.