"Innes, Hammond - Air Bridge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Innes Hammond)

'I thought she was sharing a flat with a friend in London.'

'Damn it, man,' the other shouted, 'can't you understand what I'm trying to tell you? We're broke. I'm overdrawn by twenty quid and the bank has warned me I've got to settle my overdraft within three months.'

'What about your wife? Didn't she have a job?'

'She got fed up and chucked it.'

'And you're supposed to throw up all you've worked for just because she's bored. That's typical of a woman. If you can take it, why can't she? Doesn't she understand'

'It's no good kicking at Diana,' the other cut in. 'She's not to blame. She's stuck it pretty well if you ask me. Now it's come to this - either I find a job that'll bring us in some money so that we can live together like normal human beings, or else'

'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.