Chapter 24
"Hospital Interrogation"
While Tim and I waited for news on Pikachu, Victor Gitano found himself handcuffed to a hospital bed and under police guard. Still, the young Team Rocket agent remained defiant despite the fact that a possible reduction in a jail sentence remained on the table. Meanwhile, Rally and Detective Looker were down in a police van going through the suitcase that Victor had been carrying at the time of his arrest.
"It's likely he was disguising as you for some time, Detective," Rally remarked, holding what appeared to be a wig. "From the looks of it, you wouldn't do what he did?"
"Of course not, Miss Vincent," replied Detective Looker. "I'm a man of the law and the law is to be respected by those who represent it. What the hell?"
Looking through the suitcase, Looker picked up a small handgun and a syringe with a vile of purple liquid next to it.
"Okay, this screams something here," he said, looking closely at the vile. "What is in here is clearly part of that gas Howard Clifford designed. I guess Mr. Gitano was planning to use this on an unsuspecting Pokemon here in the United States."
"Maybe even use it to attack a domestic flight within the United States," added Rally. "Or something else."
Rally then noticed another stack of papers in the suitcase and inside were a list of airlines within the United States to be targeted.
"Huh, it looks like Pan Am wasn't the only one to be targeted," she said, reading down the list. "Look at this, Detective. He was planning to use the disguise on other airlines as well."
"He was also planning to infiltrate security operations at Delta and United, meaning he was probably either going to go to Atlanta or Chicago. What this guy is doing is essentially weakening airline security and smuggling Team Rocket agents into their operations."
"So Pan Am was only the beginning?" Rally sighed, taking off her latex gloves. "Let's see if he opens up."
…
Making their way up to the hospital room, Rally and Detective Looker were going to get to the bottom of the situation whether they wanted to or not. As they walked past, I saw them look at me with concern for Pikachu.
The hospital hallway was deathly quiet and only the sounds of Rally's heels were heard. Eventually, they came down to the room where Victor was being held. But he wasn't alone.
"My client is willing to cooperate, Detectives," said a greasy looking defense attorney appointed to Victor. "For a reduced sentence."
But Rally wasn't buying it.
"Well, counselor," she said. "What you don't seem to understand is that your client badly injured a Pokemon working for law enforcement. He is also facing attempted murder charges as well."
"You killed my Scyther, so it seemed…" Victor started to say, only to be stopped by his attorney.
"Speaking of your Scyther," remarked Detective Looker, walking over to Victor. "It's being examined by the Medical Examiner for whether it was injected with this."
He then pulled out the vial containing the liquid R gas to show him.
"It was planted on me before I left West Germany," protested Victor. "I swear."
"Really?" said Rally, walking to the right side of Victor's bed. "Because it appears that New York wasn't your final destination. You were planning to pull your little masquerade on two other US airliners, yes? Was it Chicago or Atlanta?"
"I wasn't planning on going to either."
"Then what were you planning to do here in New York? We also found a handgun as well in your suitcase. What were you going to use it for?"
Victor gasped as sweat began pouring down his face.
"Answer the question," Detective Looker advised. "You do understand that it is people like you that possibly contributed to 270 deaths two days ago, don't you?"
"My client will tell in exchange for a reduced sentence and dismissal of a few charges," replied the public defender, trying to somewhat keep the peace.
"I was…" Victor gulped, looking back at his public defender, who nodded him to speak. "I was going to return to Pan Am's ALERT offices. Kelly Shriagami, I was ordered by my cell leader to kidnap her and finish her off outside the city."
"So, you were planning to dispose of Miss Shiragami because she outlived her usefulness, huh? You disguise yourself as me as the head of Pan Am security, of which I never had any intention of doing because that wasn't my purpose in life
"Those were the orders given to me, I swear!"
"Who gave you these orders, Victor?" asked Detective Looker as a nurse came in with medication, only to be stopped by Rally. "Tell me and I will let the nurse do what she needs to do."
At that moment, Victor felt a sudden sharp pain in his arm from the electrical current Pikachu had placed in him.
"A guy named Evans…" he gasped. "He ran our cell in Neuss."
"Where is Neuss?"
"A small village near Dusseldorf," he moaned from the pain. "That's where we were based by order of our leader."
"Madame Boss?" asked Detective Looker. "Maria Sakami? Did she have any input or gave your cell any orders?"
"All she did was find a way to help the Iranians get revenge for the downing of that plane over the Persian Gulf. Please, let me have the medicine! My arm is hurting!"
"Let my client have his medicine, detective!"
"One more question," said Detective Looker. "I'm beginning to think that Iran wasn't the only one to reach out to Team Rocket. A little Pidgy told me that a little place called Libya also demanded your services, didn't they? After all, we had been paying their capital a visit."
"I…I…I…"
"Answer me, Victor."
"I don't know, please. Nothing was told to me or the cell."
"Detective, he's given you more than enough information," interjected the public defender. "Please stop."
Sighing, Detective Looker stepped back from Victor and allowed the nurse to administer medication to his arm.
"Thank you for your cooperation," he said crossly to Victor. "But let me leave you with a word of advice: if you're going to impersonate someone, do it right."
…
Once they left Victor's room, I saw them return to the waiting room just as the doctor came in from surgery.
"Are you Detectives Harry and Tim Goodman?" he asked, taking off his latex gloves and lowering his surgical mask.
"Yes, how's Pikachu?" Tim asked nervously and hopefully.
"The good news is that he's lucky to be alive," replied the surgeon. "The knife wound was pretty deep, but not to the point where any vitals were hit. The bad news is that we may need to keep him here for a few days for observation if there are any signs of infection."
This wasn't the news we were expecting to hear, but the fact that Pikachu was alive was music to our ears.
"Where is he?" Tim asked and the surgeon directed him into the intensive care unit. "I want to see him."
Going into the ICU, we saw Pikachu lying in a hospital bed with wires attached to him to machines monitoring his vitals. A stitched line was placed where Victor had struck him.
"Pikachu…" Tim sighed, getting down to Pikachu's level. "Oh, Pikachu. Get well soon, little guy."
"As a precaution, we've put him in a coma to help his body recharge," said the surgeon. "We've also placed antibiotics in to help fight off any infection."
I then noticed Pikachu's detective hat lying on a side table next to his bed and I placed the hat on Pikachu's head, knowing that he was going to be our partner regardless of what happens in this case.
"Detective, if you want," said Looker. "I'll have guards placed here to protect Pikachu in case any Team Rocket agents come to finish him off."
Turning back to Detective Looker, I gave him my answer as Minnie May placed a vase of flowers next to Pikachu's bed with the words "Get well soon, Detective Pikachu" on a small card.
"Do so," I ordered. "And if there are any Team Rocket agents within 20 feet of this room, I want them arrested and subjected to interrogation. Is that reasonable?"
"It is, Detective."
"Besides, I don't think we can live without Pikachu," sighed Tim sadly looking down at Pikachu. "We'll get the sons of bitches responsible for this…all of them!"
…
As we left the ICU, there was no denial of where we were going to go next.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Minnie May.
"How does Christmas in West Germany sound?" I answered, knowing that we were planning to head to West Germany next…the heart of everything evil that transpired in Lockerbie and here in the United States. Who knew what we would find in Neuss and beyond as part of our investigation into Pan Am 103's destruction?
But we were down a Pokemon member and had to continue to keep calm and carry on through this investigation.
…
…