Rubies are Red. Part 33.
Paul
I pulled the control column back, turned the wheel to the right and pressed down on the right rudder pedal with my foot. We climbed slowly into the air then started to bank to the right.
"Stay at three thousand feet." My grandfather said. "Stay on course. I need to sit down."
"Roland?" I heard Bill ask. "Are you all right?"
"I just need to sit down for a bit." He replied.
His voice was suddenly much weaker.
"What's happening?" Howie asked.
"We're going to the Ruby mine." Louise called back.
"But why?"
"I must." My grandfather replied. "I need to find Roddrego. See what's become of him. Whether he has cheated me these last few years. I might not have another chance like this. Paul's father was supposed to have come out to fly us both to the mine. He broke his ankle so we managed to get Paul to come."
"Not knowingly." I said over my shoulder.
He said something else that I missed. It was hard to hear what they were saying in the body of the plane over the noise of the engine, even harder when you had to concentrate on flying.
I had to say that this machine handled beautifully. I looked across at Louise. Her face was glowing with excitement.
"I think I should head for the country along the coast." I said, leaning across towards her.
"Don't." She replied, placing her hand on my arm. "You heard what he said. This might be his last chance."
"It will make a good story as well." "Paul." She actually sounded shocked. "As if the thought would enter my mind."
I sat back in my seat and studied the controls. I pulled back on the control column and gained a little altitude. Not that there was anything to see. An unbroken expanse of jungle lay below us.
"I need a map." I said to Louise. "What's in the bin by your side?"
She took out the maps my grandfather had removed earlier and unfolded one.
"Grandfather." I called.
I was feeling a little miffed with him. We had a heavens sent opportunity to fly to somewhere safe and he wanted to go into the lion's den.
"Yes Paul." He called back.
"I need to know where we are going." I told him. "I can't just fly a compass bearing."
"Pass me the maps." He said and Bill appeared on the ladder between us.
"Give them to me."
"Are you okay with this?" I asked her, keeping my voice low enough still to be heard but hopefully not by him.
"Yes." She smiled back. "I've had more excitement in the last forty-eight hours than I've had in the previous forty-eight years. He wants to go to the mine. Well, let's take him."
"Where's Howie?"
"He's in the back looking out of those bubbles. I think he's still in shock. Over killing those men."
"Should you talk to him, Louise?" I asked her as Bill left with the maps.
"What could I say? I can't say I know how he feels. I don't. I've never killed."
I had. I thought I knew exactly what he was going through. I could see the face of the youth I'd shot the previous day. He had looked so cheerful. On a big adventure with his friends. He may even have just fucked his first woman.
Keep busy. That was the trick. Don't dwell on things.
"See if you can get him to come up here and map-read for me." I suggested.
She looked at me then leaned across and kissed my cheek.
"You are a very thoughtful man." She said.
Not about the right things. I looked down at the top of her blouse as she climbed down the ladder. She'd lost a button. Her bra was white. Her tanned breasts darker by comparison.
She was looking at me. Holding the pose for a few seconds longer than was necessary then she was gone.
I checked the altimeter. We'd lost a couple of hundred feet. I pulled back on the control column slightly and we began to climb again. I pushed the throttle controls forward to give the engines more power and listened to their changes in noise. My driving instructor had told me that. 'Always listen to the engine. It will tell you more than any of these dials.'
It worked for aeroplanes as well.
I throttled back slightly and the engines resumed their previous regular hum.
People were talking behind me. There was the rustling of paper and Howie was climbing the ladder and squeezing into the seat beside me.
"Don't touch anything. " I said as he tried to push the control column away to make more room. "Keep your feet off the pedals. See if you can slide the seat back."
He reached down between his legs and fumbled about for a few seconds. The he straightened and strained. The seat moved slowly backwards. I could hear the metal slides protesting. It probably hadn't been moved in twenty years.
"That's a bit better." He said opening the map out over the control column and panel in front of him. "Your grandfather is going to have a lie down. He suggests you fly this route."