Chapter 21

"The Terror of Pan Am 73"

Hearing the information we got from Rally's informant, we awoke the next morning to look into more information regarding the case that Stacey Keane and her colleague, Jessica Koster, were prosecuting against the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 two years earlier. So, we made our way over to the New York's FBI Office for more information. Could it be that part of the reason Pan Am 103 was bombed was retaliation for the conviction of those responsible? If so, was there any additional threats made against Pan Am that probably went beyond the December 5th warning in Helsinki?

"It's such a shame really, detective," said a veteran FBI agent as he got himself a glass of water from a water tank. "Ms. Keane and Ms. Koster were amongst the best of the best. Qualified attorneys to prosecute those responsible in Karachi."

"Um, Agent Carter," Tim asked as they sat down at his desk. "We understand that you were one of the agents who interrogated the hijackers after their capture, yes?"

"Correct, detective. They were brought to West Germany and interrogated there."

"Did you recall ever hearing any threats made to you by Team Rocket after their capture?"

"Well, there were threats, but we couldn't make them out to be true or false," he said. "You see, Team Rocket has always had a fascination with hijacking or bombing airplanes. It's such an easy target and you could leave no survivors if you wanted to."

"How many planes did Team Rocket ever hijack or bomb?" I asked, drinking a sip of coffee. "It doesn't have to be an exact number, but…"

"Well, it says here," answered Agent Carter, grabbing a file from inside his desk. "That they either solely hijacked planes, blew up airplanes or assisted other groups in the Middle East with hijacking or bombing planes since 1968. The first case was El Al Flight 426 where they provided Pokemon to the hijackers to use."

Now it was becoming clear why El Al became the safest airline in the world, something that Pan Am wouldn't embrace.

"I actually helped investigate several air piracy incidents that involved American citizens, detectives. Cases in point: TWA 741, Swissair 100 and BOAC 771 at Dawson's Field in 1970, Air France 139 at Entebbe in 1976, Lufthansa 181 at Mogadishu in 1977 and TWA 847 between Beirut and Algiers in 1985."

"So it appears that they had a ton of preparation and practice," wondered Rally. "And that led to Pan Am 73."

"Two of the hijackers we interrogated in West Germany said that they were planning to use the plane to free captured Team Rocket agents in Cyprus and Israel, but the pilots escaped and they threatened to order their Pokemon to kill the passengers if a new flight crew wasn't brought in," confessed Agent Carter.

Suddenly, a thought came into my head regarding Pan Am 73 and it's routing. It was possible that this was the routing that Team Rocket wanted to target because Pan Am 73 was a Bombay-Karachi-Frankfurt-New York route.

"After 20 hours, they decided to kill all the passengers, but all but 20 survived."

"Hey, I just had a thought. Wasn't this particular flight the one that Team Rocket planned to target two days ago? I seem to recall that."

"If you're wondering about Pan Am 73, that particular flight number was discontinued by Pan American after the hijacking. Now it's Pan Am Flight 67 that operates the route between Frankfurt and New York."

Leaving the FBI New York Office, it was apparent that the intended target on December 21st was not Pan Am Flight 103 via London, but Pan Am Flight 67. It seemed we needed to pay another visit to the Pan Am Building on Park Avenue to get more information about this particular flight.

…

So, we found ourselves back in the offices of Thomas Plaskett, who as expected, wasn't too thrilled to be seeing us again.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to be back in my office again," he said. "Not after you harassed my Human Resources staff yesterday and then you stuck your noses into the business of ALERT security."

"Yes, well we already have our eyes on your former head of security, Mr. Looker," I said. "But we want you to explain to us, Mr. Plaskett, about Pan Am Flight 67?"

"What about it?"

"The flight between Frankfurt and New York, is it a popular route for you or not?" asked Rally.

"Pan Am 67 is one of our most popular routes given that it's usually occupied by American Servicemen stationed in West Germany as well as for anyone coming from Europe and the Middle East. It used to be Flight 73 until the Karachi incident."

"How many flights a day are there between Frankfurt and New York, Mr. Plaskett?"

"Three flights a day, in the morning, afternoon and the evening. Considering that our main European hub is in Frankfurt, we should have more than three flights a day, but we don't, because people aren't paying to fly Pan Am."

I started to remark, but Plaskett was on top of me.

"And don't say it is because of the fact that we weren't prepared, detective, because we're not El Al. We are an American carrier and we do things our way."

"Sometimes the American way isn't the best way, pal," I said, rising to my feet. "You know that the authorities are going to be looking into Pan Am for security failures in Frankfurt and London."

As we left Plaskett's office, I had one more bit of parting words.

"Unlike El Al, Pan Am is a dying breed, Mr. Plaskett," I cautioned. "It's been dying for a long time and I predict that this tragedy in Scotland will bring Pan Am down for good. Trust me, you'll be dealing with lawsuits and victims families until Pan Am ceases operations."

Plaskett said nothing as we left his office.

"Dad, did you really have to say that to the CEO of Pan Am?" Tim whispered to me.

"Tim, we sometimes have to face facts and Pan Am has to face facts like everyone else," I answered. "Believe me, Juan Trippe would have said the same thing."

…

Just then, I heard my beeper ring and then proceeded to a payphone down in the lobby to call Lieutenant Hoshida.

"What is it, Loo?" I asked, my facing dropping with shock. "You're kidding me? He's back in the United States? Right, we'll get on it."

I hung up the phone and ensured that my six Pokeballs were in place.

"Dad, what's going on?" asked Tim.

"Mr. Looker is on his way across the Atlantic," I answered. "He'll be landing at Kennedy Airport in about an hour, so we might as well greet him. Let's go!"

With my son, Rally and Minnie May behind me, we proceeded towards Kennedy Airport to meet our suspect and take him in for questioning.

…

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