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Chapter 9

"Interviewing Captain Reyes"

No one was more eager to talk to us than the flight crew of Philippine Airlines Flight 434. They were the ones who managed to keep us alive when the explosion occurred and were the ones who managed to land the plane safely on Okinawa Island. But there was something else that they had to tell us about, something that gave us another step in the right direction.

"Captain Reyes," my dad began as we conducted the interviews in an airport hotel. "I'm Detective Harry Goodman of the Ryme City Police Department. My son, Detective Tim Goodman, and myself specialize in cases concerning Team Rocket. You have something about them that you wish to say."

"I do, Detective," replied Captain Reyes, as he drank from a bottle of water. "First of all, the explosion knocked out our ability to control the aircraft along with our hydraulics. We were left with no other option but to use the throttles to control the aircraft. There's no doubt in my mind nor in the rest of my crew that Team Rocket did this."

"Which brings me to my next question," my dad said. "Did you or anyone at Philippine Airlines receive any threats from Team Rocket leading up to the incident aboard your aircraft?"

"There was a threat."

"What kind?"

"Well, considering that the pope was coming to the Philippines in a matter of weeks," answered Captain Reyes. "Our president issued a raised threat level to guard against any Team Rocket planned attacks. With so many children coming to our country, we aren't taking any chances."

The idea of world youth day would be enough to raise security concerns and thwart any Team Rocket attacks. Thousands of the children attending were sure enough to be Pokemon trainers and they would be the ones targeted.

"Captain Reyes," my dad continued. "Your first officer and flight engineer aboard Philippine 434 testified that there was a passenger on your first leg that caught your attention."

"The Italian passenger?" remarked Captain Reyes. "Armando Forlani?"

"Yes."

"Something told me that he didn't look very Italian," explained Captain Reyes. "He looked almost…Middle Eastern, almost Pakistani."

Of course, Team Rocket agents were trained to disguise themselves to fool their enemies in order to get closer to the Pokemon they sought to steal or capture. So, the idea that Ramzi would disguise himself as an Italian was a clear case study of the method Team Rocket would typically use.

"We also interviewed your purser aboard the plane and she testified that he did switch seats on the Manila-Cebu leg of your flight. What seat was Mr. Forlani initially seated in?"

"He was towards the back in Seat 40C."

"Then she goes on to say that he moved seats about halfway into the flight's first leg to seat 26K, just over the fuel tank."

"I'm not surprised. Usually the first leg of Flight 434 is usually fairly empty, but no one usually wants to move around unless we need to balance aircraft weight."

"And did you need to balance the weight on the first leg?"

"No, Detective."

So, it was clear to us that there was no need to balance the overall load on Flight 434's first leg. So, Ramzi broke the rules in that regard.

"It's also worth noting detective," added Captain Reyes, catching my dad's attention. "That the seat Mr. Forlani sat was near the restroom."

"The restroom?"

Right away, that was another dead giveaway in the sense that Ramzi knew that he needed to be seated near the bathroom to set up the mind controlled Pokemon to explode at a specific time.

"Are you sure about this, Captain?"

"I'm positive."

"Thank you."

…

Leaving Captain Reyes alone in his hotel room, we left having gotten the entire interview on tape recorder.

"Okay, so it's clearly a case of him starting the Manila-Cebu leg in one seat and finishing closer to the bathroom," my dad declared. "Which is…"

"A sign that he needed to command the Golem to explode at a specific time," I finished.

…

Returning to the Boeing 747, we reenacted the moments that Ramzi would start in Seat 40C, proceed to the bathroom once the plane took off from Manila, construct the bomb and then move to Seat 26K for the duration of the flight.

"It's essentially a three step process," I remarked. "He starts off in one seat, moves to the bathroom and then goes to 26K. He sits there and then stays there until Flight 434 lands in Cebu."

"Which is later occupied by the poor unfortunate soul on the Cebu-Tokyo leg," sighed my dad, directing me to look at the blanket covered body of the passenger in Seat 26K. "Dad, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I think this might have been a test run."

"For once I agree with you, Tim," he replied. "I've got the same hunch and it's not because of the coffee."

…

As for how this was all part of a test run remained to be seen, but there was still a long way to go in the investigation.

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