Джеймс Чейз - So What Happens To Me?

‘What made him come into this set-up?’

‘Mrs. Essex dangled herself and he fell for it and then she cut him down to size. That’s her speciality: turning it on, making a guy think he’s going to get into her bed, then telling him he isn’t.’ Olson looked hard at me. ‘I don’t know how far she’s got with you Jack, but watch it. She’s a copper plated bitch. Now Harry hates her and has joined us.’

I filed that bit of information away in my mind as I said, ‘So how do you plan to steal a ten million dollar plane?’

‘We have time to work out the details. The plane will be delivered on November 1st — two months from now. Harry and I will collect it and fly it down here. The plane will have to be flight tested. Essex travels a lot and often wants to be flown at night. There’ll be no problem about doing a night test flight. So, you, Harry, Pam and I take off on a night flight. We fly out to sea then I’ll radio the port engines are on fire. The Air Controller then hears nothing. It’ll take him some minutes to get out an alert. By that time we’ll be heading for Yucatan, flying wave high to cut radar. Kendrick’s client has a runway outside Merida. It’s in the bush and jungle. We land there. The details have still to be worked out, but that’s the plan.’

I thought about it.

‘Sounds good,’ I said finally. ‘The theory being the plane crashed into the sea and sank without trace?’

‘That’s it?’

‘You have no idea who the client is?’

‘No.’

‘He must be quite someone to construct a runway.’

‘Yes.’

‘So... we’re dead people once we have radio silence.’

‘That’s right.’

‘We get the money and we settle in Mexico?’

He nodded.

‘Each one of us takes a risk if we go back?’

‘We can’t go back? If we go back and if any of us is spotted, the operation explodes. As you said... we’re dead people the moment we go of the air.’

‘You’re sold on this Bernie?’

‘Yes. It’s big money and I need big money. I want to feel secure.’ I remembered that fat queer with his ridiculous orange wig talking about security. ‘With the money I can start an air taxi service. I’ve already got that lined up. If you would sink some of your cut into it. we could work together. There’s a big demand for air taxi services in Mexico.’ He regarded me. ‘Well Jack, you now know as much as I do about the set-up. What do you say? Are you in or aren’t you?’

‘I like it,’ I got to my feet, ‘but I want to meet Erskine. Let’s all get together, huh?’

Bernie stared uneasily at me.

‘Harry’s tricky. You may not dig for him.’

‘What’s that mean?’

‘I’m telling you: I need him as copilot. He does what I say. You don’t have to bother with him.’

‘This is a steal, Bernie. We all could go away for fifteen years if it’s fouled up. This has got to be a team and I’m not working with anyone I can’t get along with.’

Bernie got to his feet.

‘I understand. I’ll fix a meeting.’

‘And Bernie...’ I stared at him. ‘Let’s have Kendrick at the meeting as well.’

‘We don’t want Kendrick.’

‘Yes we do. This is a team and Kendrick is part of it.’

He lifted his hands in a weary gesture.

‘I’ll see what can be arranged.’

‘Do more than that, Bernie, You, Erskine, Pam. Kendrick and me around a table and let’s talk this thing out.’

‘Okay.’

We walked together into the sunshine and paused by our cars.

‘I’m not being tricky, Bernie,’ I said. ‘I’m thinking of you as much as I’m thinking of myself.’

He patted my arm.

‘That’s why I picked on you. I’m not quite the guy I was and I need your help.’

I watched him drive away in the Jag, then I got into the Alfa.

I sat there for some minutes, thinking, then I drove back to the airport.

Bernie phoned around 19.00 while I was watching a soap opera on T.V. He said the meeting was set up for 21.00 at the cafe-bar.

‘I’ll pick you up at 20.30, Jack,’ he said, ‘with Pam and Harry.’

‘Kendrick coming?’

‘Yes.’

‘Fine.’

Since I had talked to him and now knew what was cooking, I had done a lot of thinking. His plan looked good, but there were a lot of details to be ironed out. Hijacking a ten million dollar plane could put me in jail for a long time and that was something I didn’t dig. This had to be foolproof and I had the idea that Bernie wasn’t the man to swing it. There was something about him that didn’t jell with me. Pam didn’t count: she was an oversexed neurotic. A lot depended on Erskine. If he had the same kind of guts Bernie had, then I’d duck out. I wanted to control the operation. The more I thought about it the more I liked it, but not with Bernie handling it.

Around 20.30, I heard a car pull up outside my cabin. I went to the door. A Buick, with Bernie at the wheel, was coming to a standstill. He waved to me and I climbed in beside him. There was a man and Pam in the back. It was too dark to get a look at Erskine. He looked big. but that’s all I could see of him.

As Bernie set the car moving, he said, ‘Jack... here’s Harry.’

‘Hi!’ I said and lifted my hand.

Erskine made no movement. After a long pause, he said, ‘Hi!’

We drove in silence and fast from the airport to the cafe-bar. Arriving, we all got out and it was still too dark for me to see him. He was bigger than I had imagined. Three inches above me and I’m no dwarf.

Bernie and I walked together. Pam and Erskine came behind us. We climbed the steps to the veranda. It was a hot night and I could hear the waves breaking on the beach in the distance.

There was no one in the cafe. A dim light lit the veranda.

As we settled ourselves at a table, the girl came out, smiling.

Bernie said, ‘What’ll we have?’

I was now looking at Erskine as he was looking at me. The dim light showed me a lean face, small eyes, a flat nose and thin lips: a young, tough, a fighter with jet black hair cut close, sitting on his head like a black cap. He had on a sweat shirt and I could see his muscles: he was built like a boxer.

Pam said she would have a whisky on the rocks. I went along with that. Erskine said an orange juice with gin. Bernie settled for a coke.

When the girl had gone, Bernie said, ‘Meet Harry, Jack.’

I nodded to Erskine who leant forward, staring at me.

‘So what’s the idea of this meeting?’ he demanded aggressively. ‘What’s eating you?’

‘Just a moment,’ Bernie said sharply. ‘I’ll handle this Jack doesn’t think much of the pay-off. I...’

‘You hold it, Bernie,’ Erskine said. ‘This guy is an aero-engineer... right?’

Bernie looked uneasily at him.

‘You know that, Harry.’

‘Yeah. So he’s not important. You and I have to fly the kite... right? So what’s he beefing about? We, use him: he gets paid and keeps his snout out of our business... right?’

‘Look, sonny,’ I said quietly, ‘don’t act tough. You and Pam are mugs to this kind of operation. Come to that, Bernie isn’t all that hot. You have a nice idea, but you’re handling it like amateurs. You have a ten million dollar kite and you’re selling for a two million pay-off. That tells me what a bunch of amateurs you are.’

Erskine braced himself. I saw his big muscles bulge. I had an idea he was going to take a swing at me.

‘So you’re a pro... right?’

‘Compared to you three.’ I said, slightly shifting my chair so I could get up if he started something. ‘Yes... I’m a pro.’

‘Harry!’ Bernie’s voice was pleading. ‘I have confidence in Jack. That’s why I brought him in. I think we should let him handle Kendrick. Let’s see what he does.’