But he didn’t seem to hear her. ‘You tried to kill us,’ he whispered hoarsely. ‘You tried to smash everything I have worked for. First you try to bribe me with your body. Then you try to get control of my company.
When you don’t succeed you try to destroy what I’ve worked for. If you can’t get what you want you must destroy it. That is the German in you. Everything you touch, you destroy. And always you work for Germany.’
‘Not for Germany,’ she cried. ‘Only for my father. Everything I do, I do for my father. Why could you not give him the credit for what he do?’
‘You’re a part of the Germany I’ve hated since I was a kid,’ he went on, his voice thick as though clotted with blood, his hands gripping her violently, fumbling blindly for her throat. ‘My father in one war, my mother in another. All you can do is smash and break things. And now I’m going to break you — break you in little pieces.’
Her eyes stared wildly as his blunt fingers dug into her neck. Then she began to struggle, and in that instant I came to life and moved forward. But I needn’t have bothered. His hands clawed at her clothes and his body slowly sagged against her, his knees giving under him and pitching him forward on to his face.
Saeton had fainted.
Else stared down at him, fear and horror stamped on her face. I think she thought he was dead. ‘I didn’t do anything to the airplane.’ The words were a strangled sob. ‘Neil!’ She glanced wildly at me. ‘Nobody touched the airplane. You must believe that.’
Saeton moved suddenly, his fingers digging into the earth, scrabbling at it as he tried to rise, and when he had pushed himself up on to his knees, she broke and ran.
Tubby came back and we got Saeton to the quarters and put him to bed. His ribs were badly bruised, but nothing seemed to be broken. It was more shock than anything else. Still half-dazed he ordered us to get one of Ellwood’s tractors and have the wreckage dragged into the hangar. He wanted it done that night. He seemed to have an unreasoned, instinctive urge to get the evidence of failure under cover as quickly as possible. It was as though he felt none of his own injuries, only the hurts of the aircraft and wanted to let it crawl away into the dark like a dog to lick its wounds.
By ten o’clock that night it was done and all trace of the crash landing was concealed behind the closed doors of the hangar. The plane was a hell of a mess. The tractor took it in in two pieces, the tail having ripped off completely as soon as we began to drag the wreck along the concrete. Saeton himself came out to the runway to make sure there was no trace of the accident left.
Whether the plan had formed in his mind then, I can’t be certain. Personally, I don’t think so. It was a matter of instinct rather than planning. If nobody knew we had crashed there might still be a chance. At any rate, if the idea was in his mind, it didn’t show that evening as we sat over a drink and tried to sort out the future.
Tubby was through. That was clear from the start. ‘I’m going back to flying,’ he said. His tone was obstinate and quite final. ‘You know Francis Harcourt? He’s got two Tudors on the tanking lift, and he’s back in England now negotiating the purchase of two more.
Just before Christmas he wrote asking me to join him as a flight engineer.’
‘And you’ve accepted?’ Saeton asked.
For answer Tubby produced an envelope from his pocket. It was already stamped and sealed.
‘We’ve still a month before we’re due on the airlift — if we hold the Air Ministry to their first date,’ Saeton said quietly.
‘A month!’ Tubby grunted. ‘Six months wouldn’t see that kite ready to fly — six months and a lot of money.’ He leaned forward and caught Saeton by the arm. ‘Listen, Bill. I’ve worked with you for nothing for just on two years. I haven’t got a bean out of it. If you think I can go on any longer, you’re crazy. Anyway, where the hell would you get the money from? You’ve cleaned me out. You’ve just about cleaned Neil out. We owe money all over the place. The company is broke — finished.’ His voice softened as he saw the bitter set of Saeton’s mouth below the bandages. ‘I’m sorry, chum. I know what this means to you. But you’ve got to face the facts. We can’t go on.’
‘Can’t we? Well, I say we can. I don’t know how — yet. But I’ll find a way. You’ll see me on the airlift next month. I’ll do it somehow.’ His voice was trembling, but it had no conviction, only violence. His fist beat at the table. ‘If you think I’m going to let a little bitch of a German destroy everything I’ve worked for, you’re wrong. I don’t care what it costs me, I’ll get those engines into the air.’
‘How do you know she was responsible for what happened?’ I asked.
‘Of course she was,’ he snarled. ‘Either her or one of the Rauch Motoren agents.’
‘You can’t be certain,’ I said.
‘Can’t be certain! Damn it, man, how else could it have happened? She tracked me down to this airfield. How she did it I don’t know. But suddenly she arrived at the Manor and because we were short-handed I got her to come up and cook and clean for us in the evenings. I thought she was just a D.P. It never occurred to me she was Professor Meyer’s daughter.’
‘When did you discover who she really was?’ I asked.
‘That night you arrived and found us together in the hangar.’ He suddenly clicked his fingers. ‘She must have done it then. It’s the only time she’s ever been alone in the hangar.’
‘Are you seriously suggesting the girl filed through the undercarriage connecting rod?’ Tubby asked.
‘She an engineer, isn’t she? And she had about half an hour up there on her own. She couldn’t be sure the plan to buy up the outfit through Randall’s mortgages would succeed. Anyway, what’s it matter?’ he added, his tone suddenly rising. ‘Finding out whether it was German thoroughness” or a natural break won’t put the crate back into the air. We’ll sort it out tomorrow.’ He spoke through clenched teeth and his hands trembled as he thrust back his chair. I think he was in the grip of a bitter, raging anger, on the verge of tears. The man was dead beat anyway and his nerves must have been just about stretched to the edge of screaming hysteria.
He had risen to his feet and he stood, staring at Tubby. ‘Are you going to post that letter?’
‘Yes,’ Tubby answered.
‘All right.’ The veins on Saeton’s forehead seemed to swell. ‘But remember this: join Harcourt’s outfit and you’re through with this company. Understand?’
‘I understand,’ Tubby said in a level tone.
‘You bloody fool!’ Saeton said, and went out, slamming the door.
I was pretty tired and my head ached. I followed him out and was asleep almost before my head touched the pillow.
I awoke in a mood of despair. My job was gone and I was broke. The future was bleak. I longed to be back at the bench, driven beyond physical endurance to complete something that I believed in.
It was a chill, grey morning, frost riming the windows and the wind moaning round the building. Tubby produced tea and bacon and eggs in a mood of contrition for deserting us. Breakfast did nothing to lift us out of our gloom. We ate in silence and went out to the hangar. I suppose in the five weeks I had been there I had gradually come to identify my future with the plane. Seeing it lying there in the drab light, its metal all broken and twisted, the tail completely severed and lying like a piece of discarded junk gave me a sense of sudden loneliness. This was the end of our work together. We were no longer a team, but three individuals going our own separate ways. It was this, I think, that made me feel so wretched. I’d felt safe here and complete. I’d been doing something I’d come to believe in and there had been a goal to work for. Now there was nothing.
We cleared the torn metal away from the fuselage, working to reach the undercarriage and find out what had gone wrong. It was a useless investigation. Whatever we discovered, it wouldn’t help us. We worked slowly, almost unwillingly, and in silence. Shortly before eleven the phone rang. It was Harcourt asking for Tubby. Saeton and I stood listening. ‘Yes … Yes, I’ll be there. Diana is already in Germany… Well, maybe she’ll fix it to get to the Gatow canteen… Fine. I’ll meet you there.’ Tubby’s eyes gleamed excitedly and he was whistling happily to himself as he replaced the receiver.