Джеймс Чейз - So What Happens To Me?

‘Look guys, should we do this?’ he said. ‘We have still time to turn around. Should we do it?’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Harry barked.

Bernie lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug.

‘Yes.’ He turned his white face so he could look at me. ‘Will it work out Jack?’

I was suddenly tempted to tell him to turn around, but while I was hesitating. Harry grabbed the mike.

‘Fred!’ His voice was high pitched. ‘We’re in trouble. The two port engines are on fire. The goddamn extinguishers aren’t working!’ I could hear Air Control shouting. Harry cut in on him. ‘We’re ditching our position.’ Then he snapped of the radio. ‘Put her down Bernie.’

Like a zombie, Bernie showed the nose down and we screamed into a dive towards the sea.

Harry put down the mike.

‘Here we go,’ he said, ‘How did it sound?’

‘It almost convinced me.’ I was feeling shaken. My hesitation had settled my future.

‘I bet Fred is laying eggs.’

I was watching Bernie. He began to level out. ‘We were some eight hundred feet above the sea now. He took the kite lower. Then when we were three hundred feet and when I could see the waves, he headed for Yucatan.’

‘This calls for a drink.’

‘Yes, get me a coke Jack,’ Bernie said huskily.

‘Me too,’ Harry said.

I left them and went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and took from it three bottles of coke. As I began to break out ice, a voice said softly, ‘Hi! Jack!’

I dropped the ice container into the sink.

I would know that voice anywhere. I felt blood drain out of my face as I turned.

Smiling at me, in the doorway of the kitchen, was Mrs. Victoria Essex.

I was vaguely aware that the floor was vibrating and that told me Bernie was flying at maximum.

Cold sweat broke out all over my body. My heart skipped a beat and then began to race.

‘Surprised?’ Mrs. Essex laughed. ‘You said it couldn’t be done.’ She laughed again. ‘That’s fighting talk to me: nothing is impossible... so here I am. How long is the test flight going to last?’

I tried to speak, but my mouth had dried up and my racing heart made me breathless.

I just gaped at her.

‘Jack! What’s the matter? Aren’t you pleased?’

‘What are you doing here?’ My voice was a croak.

Her beautiful eyebrows came down in a frown.

‘Doing here? This is my plane! What do you mean?’

‘How did you get on board?’

‘What’s that to do with it? I told the Chief Engineer I intended to fly with you.’

I remembered Thompson’s sly smile.

‘This is a test flight.’ I was now over the shock and was forcing my brain to work. ‘Mr. Essex would blow his stack if he knew you were on board. This could be dangerous.’

‘I don’t give a damn! Lane need never know.’ She moved into the kitchen. ‘Aren’t you pleased?’

‘But Thompson will rat on you!’

‘Oh, skip it! He’s as scared of me as Jackson. I asked you: how long will the test flight last?’

‘Three hours... I don’t know.’

‘Let’s christen Lane’s bed. I want you.’

I wanted her right now like I wanted cancer.

‘They’re waiting for drinks.’

‘Give them their drinks: I’ll wait in the suite.’ She reached out and touched my face. ‘This is going to be a new experience for both of us.’

Her touch was like the kiss of death to me.

I watched her walk along the aisle and disappear into the Essex’s suite. My mind worked frantically. Questions without answers crowded into my mind.

Should I tell Bernie and Harry she was with us? Should we turn back? How the hell could we when Harry had told Air Control we were ditching? We were beyond the point of return! So what did we do? I tried to imagine the reception Mrs. Victoria Essex would get if those Mexican thugs caught sight of her and I flinched at the thought. I had managed to persuade Bernie to leave Pam out of the trip and she was a long way behind Mrs. Essex in looks. I had a feeling that neither Bernie nor Harry would give a damn about her: both had reasons to hate her. But she had that fatal thing for me, and I knew I wouldn’t stand by and see her raped by a bunch of greasers.

I decided I had to tell her what she had walked into before breaking the news to Bernie and Harry.

I took the cokes to the flight cabin.

‘You’ve taken your time,’ Harry said, grabbing the drink. ‘I’m dying of thirst.’

‘Sorry: the ice container was tricky.’

He grinned at me.

‘We have luck, not a ship in sight.’

‘No problems, Bernie?’ My heart was thumping.

He finished the coke and handed me the empty glass.

‘So far... okay.’

Harry was wearing headphones: one clamped to his right ear the other against the side of his neck.

‘Fred had called out the navy.’

‘Will we get there, Bernie?’ I asked.

‘Sure. At this height the radar can’t spot us.’

‘Okay. I’ll leave it to you two. I’ll take a nap.’

‘Going to try out the Essex bed?’ Harry laughed. ‘I guess that holy of holies couldn’t come alive without a woman.’

I rubbed the sweat of my chin.

‘See you,’ I said and left them.

I walked down the aisle, then went in the Essex suite. She was lying on the big circular bed. I could see she was naked under the sheet she had drawn across her.

‘Come on Jack,’ she said. ‘We haven’t much time,’ and she held out her arms to me. ‘Are the others busy?’ and closed the door and shot the bolt.

‘You’re in trouble,’ I said. ‘I’m in trouble too.’

She stared at me.

‘What does that mean?’

‘Right now, this plane is being hijacked.’

The sexy light went out of her eyes. Now her mouth turned thin and her face became a hard mask. Mrs. Victoria Essex wasn’t Mrs. Victoria Essex for nothing. Her brain worked as fast as quick silver.

‘Are Olson and Erskine stealing this plane?’

‘That’s it.’

‘Are you in this too?’

‘Yes.’

I had to admire her. She looked as unruffled as a bishop at a tea party.

‘Where are we going?’

‘Yucatan. We arrive in two and a half hours... with luck.’

She threw aside the sheet and slid of the bed. I watched her as she walked, naked, to where she had left her clothes. I watched her dress quickly and without fuss.

She then walked to the mirror and ran a comb through her hair. Satisfied she looked like the always glamorous Mrs. Victoria Essex, she turned slowly and regarded me.

‘We have time. I’ll talk to Olson. Was this his bright little idea?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then I’ll tell him to turn around and go back.’

She started towards the door, but I didn’t move and she confronted me.

‘Get out of my way Jack!’

‘Three million dollars are involved,’ I said quietly. ‘Not even you can talk Olson nor Erskine out of that.’

‘Get out of my way!’ Her eyes flashed. ‘I’ll talk to him!’

‘Get wise! Olson has no use for you. Erskine hates you. If you go to the flight cabin and sound off Erskine will knock you over the head and drop you into the sea. I’m telling you: you’re in trouble.’

She stared at me for a long moment.

‘Am I in trouble with you too Jack?’

‘I’ll do my best for you. Why the hell did you have to come on board?’

‘What does your best mean?’

‘I’ll do what I can to protect you.’

‘That’s kind of you.’ She turned away and wandered over to the big, circular bed. ‘I think I prefer to protect myself.’

Before I could move, she had drawn the Armalite rifle from under the mattress where I had hidden it and pointed it at me.