Джеймс Чейз - So What Happens To Me?

‘Don’t move!’ The snap in her voice made me stiffen. ‘No one is hijacking me! Don’t imagine I can’t handle this gun. Go ahead Jack, we’re going to the flight cabin.’

‘This won’t get you anywhere,’ I said. ‘I’m on your side, but we’ve got beyond the point of no return.’

‘No, we haven’t! Go ahead!’

I wondered how Bernie and Harry would react when I came into the flight cabin with her and the gun. I drew the bolt and stepped out into the aisle, I had an idea she wouldn’t shoot me if I turned on her and I suddenly didn’t give a damn. I opted to be neutral. If she could force Bernie to turn the plane around. I’d go along. If Bernie and Harry were smart enough to outplay her. I’d also go along. The ball was in her court.

Because I was half in love with her and because I really didn’t know what I was going to do with a million and a quarter dollars, I went like a zombie into the flight cabin.

Harry turned his head as I entered.

‘Short nap Jack,’ he said. ‘Your conscience worrying you?’

I moved aside and Mrs. Essex stood in the doorway, pointing the gun at him and Bernie.

Harry stared, his jaw dropping, then he made a move to get to his feet.

‘Stay still!’ she snapped.

Harry relaxed back in his seat.

‘For God’s sake, Bernie! Look who’s here!’

Bernie glanced over his shoulder, stared at her, stared at the gun and his face turned the colour of a dead, stale fish.

‘You’re not hijacking this plane!’ she said. ‘Turn around! We’re going back to the airfield!’

Harry grinned at her.

‘No, we’re not. And there is nothing you can do about it, baby. That gun means nothing. You start shooting and we’ll all dive into the sea.’

‘I said turn around!’

Harry shrugged.

‘Run away, hot pants, you bore me.’ He shifted in his seat so his back was to her.

‘Olson! Do you hear me!’ She was a tryer. ‘Turn this plane around and fly back to the airfield.’

Bernie said nothing. He stared at the instrument panels as if he hadn’t heard her.

She looked at me, her eyes blazing.

‘Make him turn around Jack!’

‘Yeah... go ahead Jack, make us turn around.’ Harry said and laughed. Then glaring at her, he snarled, ‘Get out of here, you spoiled, over rich hooker! Get out!’

She hesitated for a moment, then ran down the aisle and into Essex’s suite. She slammed the door.

‘Well!’ Harry stared at me. ‘How did she get on board?’

‘Thompson let her on.’

‘What are we going to do?’ Bernie’s voice sounded strangled.

‘Let the dagoes cope with her,’ Harry said. ‘Why should we care?’

‘No!’ I said.

His eyes hardened.

‘Oh, yeah? You getting it from her Jack?’

‘We can’t let her fall into those thugs, hands.’

‘So what? Why should we care... or do you?’

‘Yes, I care,’ I said. ‘Listen, Bernie, it’s one thing to hijack this plane but another to kidnap Mrs. Lane Essex! The heat will be...’

‘Oh, skip it!’ Harry snapped. ‘We’re all dead and in the sea... remember? Thompson will have reported she was on board. So Essex will think she went into the drink with us. There’ll be no heat.’

‘He’s right,’ Bernie said. ‘We didn’t ask her to come. Now she’s here, she’ll have to look after herself.’

‘Go and hold her hand Jack,’ Harry sneered. ‘We’re busy.’

I left the flight cabin and going down the aisle, reached the suite. I knocked on the door.

‘It’s me: Jack.’

‘Stay away! No one’s coming in here! No one!’

‘I’ve got to talk to you.’

‘No one’s coming in here! I’ll shoot first.’

‘You haven’t a chance. Come on, be sensible. Let me in!’

The vicious crack of the gun startled me. The .233 bullet smashed through the top of the door. It missed my head by six inches: too damn close for safety.

I hurriedly stepped back.

‘Next time I shoot lower.’

‘Okay, then you’re out on your own.’

‘And I’ll manage!’

I went back to the flight cabin and told them. Harry laughed ‘So why should we care? We deliver the kite. It’s up to the greasers to winkle her out: they’ll love it.’

‘Talk sense! No one’s going to get near her with that gun!’

‘All they have to do is to wait her out. It’ll be goddamn hot when we arrive and the air conditioners will be off. Without food and drink, how long do you imagine she’ll last?’ That was something I hadn’t thought of.

We had been flying now for fifty minutes, crossing the Gulf of Mexico, still at three hundred above the sea.

I sat on a stool behind Bernie while Harry listened to the radio, headphones clamped to his ears.

I thought of the woman, alone in the Essex suite. I wondered what she was doing. She certainly had guts! What would happen to her when we landed? Was it possible to conceal her. then get her away? I knew I would get no help from Bernie nor Harry. That was for sure. We would land in the jungle surrounded by Orzoco’s thugs. How could I get her away?

Harry said suddenly. ‘It’s on the air. The world now knows that the fabulous, glamorous Mrs. Victoria Essex was on board and she, like the intrepid birdmen crashed into the sea. It’ll be front page news tomorrow. How do you like it Bernie?’

Bernie didn’t say anything. He had been flying the plane now in complete silence. I could see sweat running down the back of his neck and his greying hair looked as if it had been ducked in a bucket of water.

‘I bet those greasers are smacking their chops,’ Harry went on. ‘Man! Will I get a bang to see them lay their paws on that bitch. She has it coming!’

‘Shut up!’ I said.

He looked at me, an ugly expression on his face.

‘You’ve gone soft on her, haven’t you, sucker?’

‘I said shut up!’ I got up and left the cabin.

‘Hi Jack!’

I turned.

Harry came out into the aisle and closed the cabin door.

He joined me. His eyes were vicious.

‘Let’s get this straight,’ he said, a snarl in his voice. ‘We don’t want any trouble now we’ve got so far. We’re all in this for three million dollars. Just what is this bitch to you?’

‘I’m not standing by and seeing her raped by a bunch of greasers.’ I said quietly. ‘We’ve got to get her out of this mess.’

He shook his head.

‘No! To hell with her! She once played me for a sucker and that’s something I don’t forget. She’s no better than a hooker. You start something and you won’t find me on your side. Understand?’

‘Is that right?’ I was getting mad myself now. ‘So what are you going to do?’

He glared at me.

‘No one — including you — stands between me and my cut.’ Then he did something I could never take. He began digging his forefinger into my chest to emphasise his words. ‘I don’t give a damn if you’re horny about this hooker...’

I hit him solidly on the side of his jaw. It was a reflex action and the moment I had done it, I regretted it. He went down like a felled ox and his head thudded against a row of metal studs, lining the floor.

I stared down at him, then knelt and lifted his head. My hand became sticky with blood. A cold chill ran through me. Had I killed him?

‘Harry!’

I could see he was breathing, but he looked bad. I laid his head down gently and stood up.

‘Thieves fall out?’

She was standing in the doorway of the Essex suite, the Armalite in her hands.

I stared at her.

‘Olson won’t get the kite down without him.’ I said breathlessly. ‘There’s something wrong with Olson! Do something! Get this man on his feet!’

‘I wouldn’t touch that sonofabitch if it cost me my life!’ she said, her face like stone.