Mosaic (22 page)

One by one the four Bristol engines broke into life, the propellers turning at first as if hand-cranked, only afterwards dissolving into a blur of their own speed. The ageing aeroplane, like a dowager in a bathchair, trundled past the buildings towards the runway. This early in the morning there was no queue: the tower directed the Hastings to the top end of the runway. Like a dowager pushed by an athletic footman the plane taxied downwind and turned her face back briefly towards the Mediterranean. Kane put on his brakes, made his final checks and ran his engines up.

Under cover of the burgeoning sound and vibration, Vanderbilt threw open the passenger door in the big hatchway. He kicked the crate over, dragging Grant—somnolent, mumbling—out mostly by his hair. He cast sharp glances forward and aft, but no one was watching: the tower was half a mile ahead and on the blind side. Grant's hands were finally free: Vanderbilt used one to haul him to the door and manhandle him through it, lowering his limp body some of the several feet to the tarmac. When he let go Grant dropped inert, a shapeless heap on the ground dressed in another man's clothes stained with another man's blood.

The engine noise dropped back to a lower, throatier rumble. The aeroplane strained for the sky. Either unaware of the open door or deliberately ignoring it, Kane snapped the brakes off.

As the aircraft took that first abrupt stride towards freedom, the dowager suddenly lifting her skirts and bounding from her chair like a sprinter, Vanderbilt finally cast his vote. He followed his prisoner out of the hatch, hit the ground face down and rolled over once, and the broad expanse of the tailplane rushed over his head.

First published in 1986 by Hale

This edition published 2012 by Bello an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR Basingstoke and Oxford Associated companies throughout the world

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Copyright © Jo Bannister, 1986

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