Chapter Four
Laughing at the con they had just pulled, they were walking along the road, talking easily like two old friends when they were startled by a loud shout.
“There he is, Jim Hawks! Catch him boys!” A fat red faced man was standing in the middle of the pavement a few yards in front of them, spluttering out the words. The man looked furious, almost screaming in his anger. There were several men surrounding him, they looked like body guards, the mean and nasty type. With one accord they ran forward towards Jim and Edward.
Edward expected Jim to turn and run and started turning around to run. But as always, Jim did the unexpected. He grabbed hold of Edward’s hand and ran directly towards the spluttering man. The body guards already in mid run towards Jim left the space in front of the fat man free since he had a large rotund presence. Jim taking advantage of this ran directly at him before the body guards realized his intention and could not turn around to catch him for a few seconds.
In the meantime, Jim with Edward in tow was skirting past the fat man running as fast as he could. The fat man had put out his hands in a futile attempt to hold them back, but he really was too fat and clumsy to do anything worthwhile.
As the pursuers got closer Jim tried running through various alleys turning this way and that to shake them off, but they appeared to know the lay of the land just as much as him. Desperately Jim turned a corner and vaulted over a picket fence into a private garden, Edward following him nimbly. They hid behind a large bush until the cronies went past the fence unaware Jim was not in front of them. Jim taking advantage of the few minutes it would take them to realize this ran around the house to the back garden. The back garden had a few more trees in it with some gardening implements piled up in a corner. Amongst the pile was a ladder. Jim seeing the ladder picked it up placing it against an open balcony quickly sending Edward up first, and then followed at his heels. Once inside the balcony, Jim grabbed the ladder pulling it up with Edward helping him willingly. The balcony was large enough for them to place the ladder on the floor. Afterwards they both laid on the floor and awaited for time to pass and the guys to give up hope of catching them. “We are lucky this house is empty” Jim whispered to Edward. Edward nodded, and knew he was growing a great kinship towards Jim who was grinning and appeared unperturbed by all this chasing and running.
The men returned to the house they were at and made a great noise as they started searching the garden of the house for the fugitives. Suddenly they heard a door open with a crash downstairs and even Jim stiffened, fearing that the men were coming into the house. But they heard the shrill voice of a woman screaming at the men demanding what they were doing in her garden.
“The house is not empty after all!” whispered the grinning Jim, listening to the commotion downstairs.
Very soon all noise quieted and they heard the front door slam shut. Jim whispered that they would stay as they were for a while leaving when he felt the coast was clear. However, in a few minutes, they were dumb struck to hear the door of the balcony opening from inside. A pretty young woman stood in the open door way, regarding them grimly. She didn’t appear to be surprised to see them.
“So what are you doing here?”
Feeling foolish, Jim and Edward stood up. “Please accept our apologies Madam, those men were chasing us and we ran and hid here to get away from them.”
“Did you steal anything from them?”
“No, they are the Mayor’s bodyguards. The Mayor is angry with me, and set those men on me so he could have a word.”
“I thought I recognized those huge beefy types. So what did you do to the Mayor?”
“It is a long story and I really don’t have the time to tell you.”
“Or the inclination” nodded the woman. “I don’t really want to know. I don’t care for the Mayor myself, so I am glad you didn’t get caught, but you have to leave now.”
“Yes, of course, we will leave now. Allow us to just lower the ladder and we can go down the same way as we came up. By the way, how did you know we were here?”
“I saw you from my pantry window. I was just about to call the police when those men came in. Then I realized you two were not really thieves, but fugitives.”
“Thank you Madam, for saving us” Jim started to lower the ladder from the balcony with Edward helping him.
“Don’t go down the ladder. I will put it away later. Just leave it in the balcony. Those men may be watching from the street. You come down the staircase with me and we will go out in my car. You will have to lie down on the floor though, so you won’t be seen.”
“This is extremely nice of you, giving us a ride. I know those two will be watching us as we leave and probably expecting you to give us a ride, but they can do nothing about it. Hopefully you won’t get into trouble with them if they guess you helped me.”
“Oh, I can look after myself, don’t worry about me. However I’m worried for your son you got entangled in this type of activity.”
Edward was startled about being called Jim’s son, but Jim only grinned and said, “We were caught unaware today and will not happen again!” His voice was just grim enough to show the seriousness of his declaration.
They both walked down the staircase walking through the house into the garage. As they entered they found a large jeep parked there. Both got in, hiding in the back of the Jeep carefully squeezed next to each other on the floor between the two seats. As they did this Edward was reminded of his journey from the Earth. Was it only a couple of days ago?
The lady climbed in and they started on their way. As they pulled out they could hear a couple of men walking around listlessly on the road looking about at anything and everything. The lady slowed down near them sticking her head out of the window audaciously. “Oh, haven’t you still found those two men you were talking about? Please, can you make sure they don’t go into my garden? I will be so scared if they hide themselves there.”
Before the man could reply or even get very close to the large jeep, she waved her hand at the man and roared away in her jeep.
“Where do you want me to drop you?”
“Wherever it’s convenient for you.”
“I can take you where you need to go. I have the time and this city is not very large.”
“Thank you, our flyer is parked near the fuel refilling yard. If you can drop us close to the yard, it would be great.”
“No problem. By the way, my name is Betty. And you two are...?”
“I am Jim and the boy is Edward.”
“Okay, here we are. Nice to have met you two!”
“Thank you for all the help you have given us, we really appreciate it.”
With a last goodbye Betty drove away. Jim waved after her and then turned to Edward. “Young man, we have to hurry up and get away from here!”
“How?”
“I do have a plan in my head. I have been staying around this area because I was hoping to filch somebody’s flyer. But as you can imagine, there are a lot of difficulties associated with that. Besides, once the flyers are parked inside the yard, it is not possible to get them out unless you have the correct documentation. Before you arrived, I located a flyer that is parked near the fence close to where we hid your flyer. A man parked it and went to be with his family for a few days. I managed to strike up a friendship with him and I know his name and address. But naturally I don’t have his receipt for parking it inside, so they will never let me take it out even if I convince them I am Clive Arnolds. But now, since you have a flyer, we only need fuel. That is much easier.”
“How?” repeated Edward.
“Okay, this is how we set about it. See, this is where I parked your flyer. On the other side of these trees, you see the yard and that flyer right next to the fence is Clive’s. Now, if I were to order fuel for Clive’s flyer pretending to be Clive getting ready for a big trip. They’re less strict about owner’s identities when it comes to fuelling than the leaving. If they believe me then the
y will draw their fuel hose right next to the fence allowing us to hook to the extra hosing I stashed away just in case of such a situation. Once they bring the fuel hose next to the flyer, I will take it from them because I know they are shorthanded and they allow the owners of the flyers to pump the fuel in. But before going in I will connect the spare hosing to our fuel tank and bring the other end close to the fence. You must push it through the fence when I ask you to and instead of filling Clive’s flyer; I will connect the fuel hose to that spare hosing. Then the fuel will fill up your tank. You must watch the gauge of your tank and quickly warn me when it is nearly full. Then we will disconnect the hosing and I will walk out of the yard.”
“Oh, wow, what a plan! Do you really think we can work it?”
“Son, if we don’t have confidence our plan will work, how will it work? We just need to fine tune the plan by looking at all the hitches that are likely to occur. Can you see any?”
Edward was quite an intelligent boy in spite of his lack of school learning. “How is the fuel going to go up to my flyer through the extra length? I don’t think the pressure will be enough.”
“You can be right, but I know how to rig it up so that the oil will be pumped into the tank, not just allowed to run. Didn’t you notice that I know a lot about flyers?”
“Yes, I did. And I am very glad about it because I would be very scared to take that flyer up again.”
“Oh, so you are going to trust me enough to let me fly it?”
“Of course. Aren’t we buddies now, sir?”
“Call me Jim. Yes, Edward, for the first time in my life I have found a buddy who understands any plan immediately and does everything exactly the way we planned it. Very soon you will be a planner too!”
“Planner of what?”
“Cons!” laughed Jim.
Edward smiled, well pleased. They both worked quickly to fix up the spare hose to the fuel tank with a switch for Edward to pull when the fuel started coming in. Jim rigged it up so that all Edward had to do was pull on the switch for the fuel to pour in and switch it off when nearly full. Then until Jim came to the flyer, Edward was supposed to pull in the spare hose and stow it away in the machine in case they needed it again.
After carefully arranging everything according to plan, Jim went to try to get into the fuel refilling yard. By pretending that he was Clive Arnolds, he managed to get the fuel hose brought up to Clive’s flyer. Since Jim, pretending to be Clive Arnolds went directly without hesitation to Clive’s flyer, there really was no necessity for the fuel yard people to regard him in suspicion. As was the usual practice of the fuel yard staff, the harassed fuel pumping hand gave the pumping hose into Jim’s hand and disappeared to do some other work. Jim calmly set about pulling in the hose Edward was pushing in from outside and fixed it to the pumping hose. Edward ran to his flyer and pulled the switch as he had been instructed.
The scam worked for a while. But before the fuel tank was quite filled, there was a low whistle from Jim, their pre-arranged signal. Immediately, Edward switched off the pump and the fuel pumping stopped. He got down from the flyer and ran to the fence to see what was going on. Jim was trying to push their piece of hose through the fence.
Edward hurriedly pulled it out and ran back to his flyer when Jim hissed, “The Mayor’s men are inside. I am going to dodge them and come out. You get into the flyer and wait. Make sure it is fully covered with leaves.”
As he ran, Edward glanced back to see Jim sauntering away from the flyer as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Edward who was shivering in his shoes worrying whether Jim would get caught could only admire his nonchalance.
Jim in the meantime was furiously working out an emergency plan. He guessed that the Mayor must have realized he would need a flyer to fly out of the port and sent his men to check whether he was trying to steal one from the fuel yard.
Jim suddenly realized that darkness was coming upon them. Lights were coming up everywhere in the port and he knew the yard lights would come on soon. But since electricity was expensive in the port the owners of the fuel yard never lighted the entire yard. Jim knew this from his previous observations of the yard procedures. He decided his best option was to hide in a dark place until the men left. However, he knew the danger would not be quite over because the Mayor would get one or two of his men to guard the entrance to the yard too, in case Jim went in or out.
Slipping between two closely parked flyers, Jim sat on the ground out of sight of anyone walking around looking for him. He chose two flyers that were parked close to the fence because he knew the yard owners did not light up those areas well, opting instead to light up the areas where there was constant movement.
Jim waited patiently. He did not move and he could see a lot of walking around by several men, some of whom he guessed to be the Mayor’s men. But it was getting dark and it was not going to be easy for them to see Jim.
As soon as it was really too dark for anyone to spot him, Jim started making his way towards the gate taking a highly circuitous route, always moving close to the perimeter fence. Suddenly he came across a low building which he realized was the worker’s changing rooms. Then he knew what he could do. He walked boldly into the room and a couple of men who were talking near the entrance looked up.
“This is the employee changing room; you have come to the wrong place, sir.”
“New employee. Started today. I was told to collect an overall from here.”
“Oh, can I have the slip to issue the overall?”
“They didn’t give me anything. Apparently the person who should issue the slip was off for the day. They said to ask for an old one for today and they will issue a new one tomorrow.”
“Help yourself to any one of those that fit. They are the ones left behind by people who leave” said one of the men pointing to a pile of overalls placed on a table by the wall.
“Thanks” Jim took one and disappeared into the changing rooms. He quickly pulled it over his clothes and walked out waving to the two men who were still talking.
Quickly he walked towards the gate and spoke to the person manning the gate, “Hi, I am a new employee who started today. Left the dinner pack my wife gave me in the car. I will go and get it.”
“Why, didn’t you park your car in the employee car park?”
“No, nobody told me I could. Can I bring my car in then?”
“Yes, you drive it back in and just follow the instructions on the boards to find the car park.”
“Thanks mate!”
Jim boldly walked out of the gate and turned towards the little copse of trees where they had hidden Edward’s flyer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two bored looking thug types watching the road. He hoped they would not recognize the back of his head.
As soon as Jim reached the corner of the yard, out of sight of the men, he took to his heels and ran towards the hidden flyer. Quickly he pulled off the leaves and branches covering the flyer and opened the door to get in.
He didn’t know that the bodyguards had realized who he was and was running towards him even at that moment. One of them had gone to the person at the gate to ask for a light for his cigarette when he found the man had come out of his office and was staring at an empty road.
“What is wrong?”
“That new employee. He went that way to get his car. There are no car parks there and it is only some copse of trees that is there. So I am wondering where he actually went?”
New employee? The man who walked out in overalls?”
“Yes, he said he was a new employee and went to get his car to park in the employee car park.”
“It must be Jim Hawks, come on, let us go and see” the two bodyguards ran towards the copse of trees.
Jim was just getting into the flyer when the breathless men arrived. Jim’s reflexes were always quick. He quickly banged shut the door and secured it. Belting himself he ordered Edward to do the same hitting the starting switch. Edward watched with
admiration the way Jim took the flyer up slightly turned sideways to avoid the trees. The two men were left on the ground, one shaking his fist at them while the other pulled out a mobile link.
“They are going to follow us, Edward” Jim’s voice was grim. “They have very fast craft and they also have some awesome equipment which can trace flyers within a few minutes. We will have to give them the slip somehow.”
“Why are they following us, Jim?”
“I went to con the Mayor to sell some pebbles as precious stones. That Mayor is no innocent; he is up to all the tricks in the world. He cleverly managed to get the pebbles away from me and tried to put me in jail. As his guards tried to drag me off to jail I managed to con them into letting me escape. As I escaped I decided to get my pebbles before leaving from his office. However, after escaping the building I realized I had taken the wrong bag in my rush to leave and what that bag held is much more dangerous to the Mayor than any pebble could be to me!”
“What was in the Mayor’s bag?”
“Drugs, drugs that could bring harm to scores and scores of people. This so called Mayor is dealing in drugs and the people in the port are deteriorating by the day” there was no vestige of the usual good humor in Jim’s voice. His mouth was grim and his tone icy cold. Edward almost shivered; this was a new Jim he did not know. It was obvious that even though Jim may con people, he would not deal in anything which was dangerous to society.
“The Mayor knows that if he doesn’t recover the drugs from me, I could get him into big trouble. That is why he will follow me. We just have to avoid him until we get to Orleanais. Now tell me your story, I told you mine. By the way, back when I was living on Earth, I used to be a fighter pilot. That is why I am so familiar with flyers.”
“Oh, that is so great, sir. Now that you are flying the craft, I don’t really have any worry. I know you will help me find my father.”
“Yes, of course I will, but tell me, how did you get hold of this super craft?”
Edward told him the whole story.