Hammond Innes: Air Bridge

There was no hesitation when we reached the hangar, no discussion. We went straight on with the jobs we had left the night before. But as we worked I was conscious of a mounting tension. Several times Saeton paused and glanced impatiently at his watch. A nerve twitched at the skin of his temple. But he worked steadily, unhurriedly, as though the day stretched ahead with absolute security.

Diana brought coffee shortly after eleven. She tossed the morning paper to me with a little secret smile and then turned to Saeton. ‘Well, he’s here.’

‘Randall?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why the devil didn’t you bring him up here with you?’

‘I told him to wait. He’s talking to that girl from the farm. I thought you’d like to know he’s got someone with him.’

1 ‘Someone with him?’ He jerked round towards her, ‘A man?’

‘Yes.’

‘What sort of a man?’

‘Short, slightly bald, with glasses and-’

‘I don’t want to know what he looks like. What’s his business?’

‘I haven’t asked him.’ She seemed to enjoy baiting him with the mystery.

‘Well, what’s he look as though he does?’ he asked angrily.

‘He’s dressed in a dark suit and a Homburg. I guess he might be something in the City — a lawyer maybe.’

‘A lawyer! My God! Don’t say he’s brought his solicitor with him. Go and tell them to wait. I’ll be down right away. And get rid of that girl.’ He was scrambling out of his overalls, cursing softly to himself, as her heels click-clacked across to the door of the hangar. When he had his jacket on, he picked up a mug of coffee and drank it slowly as though steadying himself, controlling the violence that seemed on the verge of erupting from him. At length he turned to Carter. ‘We’ve got to convince him, Tubby,’ he said in a tight, controlled voice.

The other nodded. ‘But don’t lose your temper, Bill, like you did last time. It only makes him stutter. If he was an engineer-’

‘Well, he’s not an engineer,’ Saeton snapped. ‘He’s just a jerk that’s been left fifty thousand by an adoring aunt.’ He thrust his hands into his pockets. ‘All right. I won’t lose my temper — provided he shows some sense.’ He turned then and walked quickly out of the hangar as though he were going to something unpleasant and wanted to get it over.

Carter watched him go and then shrugged his shoulders. Trouble is, every time he meets Randall he acts as though he’s a steam hammer driving sense into a block of pig iron.’

‘What’s Randall like?’ I asked. I wasn’t really interested. This was none of my business. I had picked up the paper and was searching through it for a follow-up to the ‘Callahan’ story of the previous day.

‘Oh, he’s not a bad fellow really. Got more money than sense, that’s all.’

I had found what I wanted now, a paragraph on an inside page stating that the police believed ‘Callahan’ had left the country. I folded the paper and laid it on the bench. There was nothing for me to worry about. I looked across at Carter. ‘Why does Randall want to sell up?’ I asked.

Carter shrugged. ‘Bored, I suppose. He’s not really interested in aircraft. Horse racing is what he lives for. Besides, three years is a long time.’

I glanced at the plane and then back again to Carter. There was something here I didn’t understand. It had been at the back of my mind and now that I didn’t have to worry about myself any more it came to the fore. ‘It doesn’t take three years to get a plane into the air,’ I said.

Carter looked up at me guardedly. ‘Hasn’t Saeton told you anything about these engines? I thought you were an old friend of his?’

I didn’t pursue the matter, but turned back to the lathe.

It must have been about half an hour later that Saeton came in, his face dark with anger. With him was a tall, erect-looking man with a brushed-up ginger moustache and rather prominent eyes. He wore tweed trousers and a cloth cap and the open neck of his sheepskin jacket was filled with a brilliant blue and cold silk scarf. Behind them trotted a soft, plump little nan with a brief-case.

Saeton went straight over to Carter. ‘You can pack up work on that induction coil, Tubby. We’re through.’ His voice was hard and vicious.

Carter sat back on his stool, still holding the coil in his hands as though he didn’t want to let it go, and stared at Randall unbelievingly. ‘Doesn’t he understand we only need two more months?’ he asked Saeton. ‘With Fraser here-’

‘I’ve told him all that,’ Saeton cut in. ‘But we’re not dealing with Randall. We’re dealing with Mr Reinbaum here.’ He nodded to the plump little man whose white fingers were fidgeting with the lock of his briefcase. ‘He holds the mortgages.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Carter said slowly. ‘Those mortgages were given to Dick as security for money he advanced to the company. How does this fellow Reinbaum come into it?’

Randall cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘I borrowed money on the mortgages,’ he said.

‘Well, surely if you repay the money-’

‘We’ve been over all this,’ Saeton cut in impatiently. ‘Randall has lost heavily — betting.’ The word came out with an explosive violence. ‘Reinbaum has received an offer for the plane and all our tools and equipment and Randall has agreed to close.’

‘It is out of the question that we should receive a better offer,’ Reinbaum said. He had a soft, slightly foreign voice.

‘The offer,’ Saeton said harshly, ‘is twenty-five thousand for the whole box of tricks. That’s just two thousand more than the mortgages.’

‘But that means winding up the company,’ Carter said. ‘Randall can’t do that unless one of us agrees. Together we out-vote him. Under the articles of the company-’

‘Please, Mr Carter,’ Reinbaum interrupted. ‘It is not a question of voluntary liquidation.’

‘You mean your going to force us into liquidation?’ Carter asked and there as an obstinate note in his voice that made me suddenly respect him.

‘The damnable part of it is,’ Saeton said angrily, ‘that when Randall advanced us that last five thousand his solicitor insisted that since it was for material for building the engines, the engines themselves must be included in the mortgage.’ He swung round on Randall. ‘By God!’ he said. ‘If it wasn’t that I’d swing for it, I’d-’ He turned quickly and started to pace up and down, his hands clenched as he fought down the fury that mottled his features. He stopped as he came face to face with the completed engine. Then he reached up to the wall and pressed the starter switch. The engine turned, coughed twice and roared into life. Thev hangar shook to the thundering din of it. He turned to Randall. ‘Come here, Dick,’ he shouted. ‘Look at it! Feel the power of it! That engine is ready for installation.’ He waved his thick hand at the bench. ‘The second is already taking shape. In a month it will be finished. In six weeks we’ll be on test. And on the 25th January, we’ll be on the airlift. In two months you’ll be director of a company owning the most talked-of plane in the world. Think of it! Saeton Aircraft freighter slashes fuel costs! My God, man, haven’t you any ambition? We’ll make a fortune, and all I’m asking you for is two months. You’ve carried the company for nearly three years. Another two months isn’t much to ask.’

So that was it! Saeton had something new in engine design, something that would reduce fuel consumption. His wasn’t the first company that had come to grief trying to pursue this particular mirage, and yet the vibrance in his voice, the sheer gripping enthusiasm of the man carried conviction. I stared at Randall. Surely he would give Saeton those two months? I wanted to see those engines finished now. I wanted to see them in the air, to see them tested. If Saeton succeeded. …