‘I see.’
‘You don’t see at all,’ the other snapped, his voice rising on a note of anger. ‘All you can think of is the engines. You’re so crazy about them you don’t behave like a human being at all. Well, I’m not made that way. I’m married and I want a home. I’m not busting up my marriage because of your engines.’
‘I’m not asking you to go to bed with them, am I?’
Saeton snarled. ‘Well, all right. If you’re so in love with your matrimonial pleasures that you can’t see the future that’s within your grasp-’
‘I think you’d better withdraw that remark.’ The man’s voice was low and obstinate.
‘Oh God!’ Saeton exploded. ‘All right, I withdraw it. But for Christ’s sake, Tubby, stop to think what you’re doing.’
It seemed to me it was about time I showed myself. I slammed the toilet door and stomped across the steel-sheeted floor of the plane. From the open door of the fuselage I could see them standing, staring up at me. Saeton’s companion was dressed in an old pair of grey flannels and leather-patched sports jacket — a round, friendly little man with a shock of unruly hair. His fresh, ruddy complexion contrasted oddly with Saeton’s hard, leathery features. By comparison he looked quite boyish though he was about my age. Little creases of fat crinkled the corners of his eyes giving them a permanent twinkle as though he were perpetually on the verge of laughter. ‘Who’s this?’ he asked Saeton.
‘Neil Fraser. He’s an engineer, and he’s come up here to work with us on that last engine.’
‘My successor, eh?’ the other said quickly. ‘You knew I’d be leaving.’
‘Don’t be a fool. Of course, I didn’t. But I knew time was getting short. With an extra hand-’
‘How much are you paying him?’
‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Saeton exclaimed angrily. ‘His keep. That’s all.’ He turned to me. ‘Fraser. This is
Tubby Carter. He built the engine I’ve just shown you. Did you fix that toilet door?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s all right now.’ I got down and shook Carter’s hand.
‘Fraser is an old friend of mine,’ Saeton explained.
Carter’s small, button-brown eyes fixed themselves on my face in a puzzled frown. ‘You look as though you’ve been in a rough house.’ His eyes stared at me, unwinking, as I searched desperately for some reasonable explanation.
It was Saeton who supplied the answer. ‘He got mixed up in some trouble at a night-club.’
But Carter’s eyes remained fixed on my face. “Neil Fraser.’ He seemed to be turning the name over in his mind and my heart sank. Suppose the police had discovered who Callahan was. After all, I’d only seen one of the daily papers. ‘Are you a pilot by any chance?’
I nodded.
‘Neil Fraser.’ His face suddenly lit up and he snapped his fingers. ‘101 Bomber Squadron. You were the type who made a tunnel escape from prison camp and then pinched a Messerschmitt and flew it back to England. We met once — remember? At Mildenhall.’ ”He turned to Saeton. ‘How’s that for a photographic memory, eh? I never forget a face.’ He laughed happily. v Saeton glanced at me with sudden interest. Then he turned to Carter. ‘You stay here with Fraser and talk over your boyhood memories. I’m going to have a word with Diana.’
‘No, you don’t, Bill.’ Carter had caught his arm as he turned away. ‘This is between you and me. You leave Diana out of this.’
Saeton stopped. ‘It’s all right, Tubby,’ he said and his voice was almost gentle. ‘I won’t upset your wife, I promise you. But before she forces you into some deadend job she must be given the facts. The situation has altered since you left on Saturday. With Fraser here we can still get on to the airlift on schedule.’
‘It took us six months to build that one.’ Carter nodded to the completed engine.
‘That included tests,’ Saeton answered. ‘And we came up against snags. Those have been ironed out now. Damn it, surely she’ll have the sense to give you two months longer. As for money, leave that to me. I’ll wring some more out of Dick if I have to squeeze it out of him with my bare hands. It’s a pity he’s such a — ’ He stopped abruptly, his lips compressed as though biting on the words. ‘You stay here. I’ll talk to Diana. She’s no fool. No woman is when it comes to looking to the future. We’ve got all the metal and castings. All we’ve got to do is build the damned thing.’ His eyes swung towards the plane. ‘Then we’ll have ‘em all licked.’ He stood staring at it as though by mere effort of will he could get it into the air. Then almost reluctantly his gaze came back to Carter. ‘You can have that front room that used to be the office. It’ll work out. You’ll see. She can do the cooking for us. That’ll keep her busy, and it’ll give us more working time.’
‘I tell you, her mind’s made up,’ Carter said wearily.
Saeton laughed. It was a slightly cynical laugh. ‘No woman’s mind is ever made up,’ he said. ‘They’re constructed for the purpose of having their minds made up for them. How else do you imagine the human race survives?’
Carter stood quite still watching Saeton as he left the hangar. Then he turned and went straight over to the end of the workbench by the telephone and took down a pair of overalls. As he got into them he glanced at me curiously. ‘So you’re an engineer?’ He zipped up the front of the overalls. Then he went over to a small petrol engine and started it up. ‘We’re working on the pistons at the moment.’ He pulled a big folder towards me across the bench and opened it out. There were sheaves of fine pencil drawings. ‘Here we are. Those are the specifications. You can work a lathe?’ I nodded. He took me down the bench. The lathe was an ex-R.A.F. type, the sort we’d had in the maintenance hangar at Kenley. The belt drive was running free. With a quick movement of his hand he engaged it and at the same time picked up a half-turned block of bright metal. ‘Okay, then, go ahead. Piston specifications: five-inch diameter, seven-inch depth, three-ring channels, two to be drilled for oil disposal, and there’s a three-quarter inch hole for the gudgeon-pin sleeve. And for the love of Mike don’t waste metal. This outfit’s running on a shoe-string, as you’ve probably gathered.’
It was some time since I’d worked at a lathe. But it’s a thing that once you’ve learnt you never forget. He stood over me for a time and it made me nervous. But as the shavings of metal ran off the lathe my confidence returned. My mind ceased to worry about the events of the last twenty-four hours. It became concentrated entirely in the fascination of turning a piece of mechanism out of a lump of metal. I ceased to be conscious of his presence. Hands and brain combined to recapture my old skill, and pride of craftsmanship took hold of me as the shape of the piston slowly emerged from the metal.
When I looked up again Carter was leaning over the specifications, his eyes staring at a bolt he was screwing in and out of a nut. His mind was outside the shop, worrying about his own personal problems. He looked up and caught my eye. Then he threw the bolt down and came towards me.
I bent to my work again and for a time he stood watching me in silence. At length he said, ‘How long have you known Saeton?’
I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t answer him. ‘Saeton was a Coastal Command pilot.’ The metal whirled under my hands, thin silver slivers streaming from it. ‘I don’t believe you’ve ever met him before in your life.’
I stopped the lathe. ‘Do you want me to balls this up?’ I said.
He was fidgeting with the metal shavings. ‘I was just wondering-’ He stopped then and changed his line of approach. ‘What do you think of him, eh?’ He was looking directly at me now. ‘He’s mad, of course. But it’s the madness that builds empires.’ I could see he worshipped the man. There was a boy’s admiration in his voice. ‘He thinks he’ll lick every charter company in the country once he gets into the air.’
‘They’re most of them on the verge of bankruptcy anyway,’ I said.
He nodded. ‘I’ve been with him for two years now. Working in partnership, you know. We had one plane flying — single-engined job. But that crashed.’ His fingers strayed back to the metal shavings. ‘He’s a crazy devil. Incredible energy. The hell of it is his enthusiasm is infectious. When you’re with him you believe what he wants you to believe. Did you hear what we were talking about when you were fixing that door?’