Zam the Hybrid

24. Freefall

"Honestly, did you really think it would be so simple to hack into my computer?" Duncan laughed. "That keyboard is fingerprint sensitive. As soon as you typed in the password, I was informed via automated text that there was an intruder. Security were also alerted immediately."

"Clever..." Zam muttered, vaguely annoyed. He hadn't exactly been outsmarted but it was a move he hadn't anticipated and that irked him. Now he was in a bad position, facing down not only Duncan, head of the MPC but also half a dozen burly men in uniform who looked ready to taser him at any second. For now, they held back behind the blue-suited man, presumably to allow him to gloat over his alleged victory.

"Oh, you should've seen you obsessing over your work, you looked so adorable," Duncan mocked. "You were so caught up in what you were doing you didn't even notice the fire alarm cutting out or all of us entering. It was quite amusing to watch."

"Oh, I wasn't talking to myself, was I?" Zam asked. He wasn't even stalling for time, he just wanted to know if his recent conversations with his imaginary ex-girlfriend were out loud.

"That was the most entertaining part," Duncan grinned. At that moment the remaining three members of the MPC entered the room. Lord Salt looked the same as he always did on TV, Crawford was looking gorgeous as usual and Melvin was wearing a colour coordinated suit with his brother.

"Was it him?" Crawford asked before her eyes laid upon Zam. Her gaze turned cold.

"Hello Crawford!" Zam beamed. He casually sat back in Duncan's swivel chair and put his feet up on his desk. "Murdered anymore ex-lovers recently? Melvin, good to see you've been keeping clean on the poker scene, no more of that cheating business, alright? Oh, and good afternoon Lord Salt."

"You really are a meddlesome brat, aren't you?" Crawford said through gritted teeth.

"Thank you!" Zam replied with a huge smile on his face. "I do try my best."

"Unfortunately, it seems as though your best simply wasn't enough this time," Duncan said, with an unmistakable tone of glee. "You just fell a bit short. You figured out half of what you needed to know and then you allowed yourself to be captured. How disappointing this must feel."

"It does feel a bit strange," Zam admitted. It was true. He still hadn't properly figured out what was going on yet and that bugged him. "But more to the point something still doesn't quite add up. Why go to all the trouble of illegally smuggling Pokémon with Drought into the region to cause a famine? What do you get from it?"

"Think about it!" whispered imaginary Taylor. "What does he want more than anything?"

"Oh, of course," he sighed. "You get me, that's what you get. You get me cornered in your office. The thorn in your side gone forever."

"Oh Zam, so self-obsessed," Duncan laughed. "You really think I'd do all this for you? No, no, you're a nuisance and that's about it. If I wanted you gone I could snap my fingers and that would be the end of you. You're a small and insignificant little boy who just went too far and messed with the wrong people."

"Ok, now I'm motivated," Zam said with a blank expression on his face as he rubbed his hands together. He kicked off Duncan's desk slightly, swivelling the chair around as his brain whirred away, angrily trying to find the answer. "What's come from this famine? Lack of food, people dying, charity money. The money's not enough to make it worth it though, so what else? You get the region in a state of emergency, that's brilliant, you get... you get..."

"C'mon Zam, what does he want?" Taylor urged him on. "He loves to make money but what does he crave? What more could he have?"

"Gordon Bennett..." Zam breathed when the realisation hit him. "You've got the Prime Minister on a silver platter."