Hammond Innes: Air Bridge

I shifted stiffly in my chair and found that Else’s hand was gripping mine. Culyer was the first to speak. ‘Poor devil! He must have blacked out.’

But I knew he hadn’t blacked out. Else knew it, too, for she said, ‘He choose the best way.’ There was a note of admiration in her voice.

‘I’m sorry it had to end like that,’ the station commander murmured. I think he was regretting his order to send fighters up.

I closed my eyes. I was feeling very tired.

‘Fraser.’

I looked up. Culyer was standing over me.

‘You worked on those engines with Saeton, didn’t you?’

I nodded. I was too tired to speak.

‘You know we were arranging for Miss Meyer here to get to work for us and the Rauch Motoren? Well, that’s going to take time. Suppose we do a deal with the British? Suppose the two of you work on the project together?’

Still the engines! I wanted to say, ‘Damn the bloody engines.’ I wanted to tell him that they’d already cost the lives of two men. And then I looked up and saw Else watching me. There was excitement — a sort of longing — in her eyes. And then I knew what the future was.

‘All right,’ I said. ‘We’ll work on it together.’

Somehow that seemed to make sense — if we reproduced those engines for the West, then perhaps Saeton and Tubby would not have died for nothing. As soon as I had made the decision the tenseness inside me seemed to ease and I was relaxed for the first time in days. Else was smiling. She was happy. And despite the pain of my shoulder I think I was happy too.