Chapter Eleven
The pilot rest cabin was small but comfortable. There was a berth straight in front of him, a tiny table and a cosy armchair on his right and a narrow door that led into a small bathroom on his left.
Lizzy was standing in the middle of the cabin with her bare feet on a shaggy beige carpet. She wore the same uniform but in a much more relaxed manner. The upper buttons of her jacket were undone, revealing a considerable portion of her cleavage. Her skirt had lost as much as half its length and her stockings had evaporated. Her high-heeled shoes had been tossed in the corner.
‘Welcome aboard’, Lizzy said, waving her hand. She gave him a playful smile, adjusted her jacket so that even more of her galaxies bulged out and stepped toward Thaler.
He thought this time he was prepared. So was she.
The smell of her perfume had changed. Now it was an explosive mixture of pheromones and psycho-stimulants that could blow the mind of any man. The unexpected chemical attack didn’t leave him dead, only wounded. He still had a job to be done. Thaler held his breath, gave Lizzy a quick strained smile, dashed between her bust and the door and adopted a defensive position on the berth.
His stunt puzzled her. She turned in place like a ballet dancer and landed in the chair.
‘You can exhale’, Lizzy said with annoyance. Then she reclined and spread her legs in an inviting manner, watching him.
‘Thanks’, Thaler mumbled. His cheeks flared, and his back was as straight as a cane.
‘You look awful’, Lizzy said, leaning forward, her breasts and her shoulders almost naked. Her lips were ripe, and her mouth was half-open. ‘Do you wanna relax a bit? Would you like a massage? A glass of champagne?’
‘No, thank you’, Thaler’s face was stiff, like an old cheese.
Lizzy gazed at him for a while. ‘You’re very reserved’, she said with some disappointment. Still watching him, she leaned back again.
‘Probably’, Thaler rubbed his cheeks, which were gradually regaining their anaemic colour.
‘All right then’, Lizzy shrugged and made herself comfortable. ‘It’s okay if you just want to sit and watch me. Sometimes I have clients like you. I’m not a psychologist — I simply don’t care. You’ve already paid. But still, you can enjoy yourself.’ She sneered. ‘There’s a lot of paper towels in the loo.’
Thaler opened his mouth, about to say something, but she interrupted him.
‘Or maybe you prefer to fiddle with my cosmetics? If that makes you happy.’ Lizzy thrust her hand into the space beside the armchair and pulled out a small makeup bag. ‘Whatever floats your boat.’
Thaler couldn’t help it; his face broke into a happy, foolish smile, and his hands reached for the bag. He was right — she had it! But Lizzy wasn’t among those who could read people’s thoughts. With a scornful grimace, she threw the bag into his hands. He opened it. Besides cosmetics, condoms and pills, there were a pair of clippers and a set of sharp-tipped nail files.
‘I have some other toys down there’, Lizzy said as she poured a bit of champagne into her glass. ‘But it seems you don’t need them.’ She took a sip and stared at the door.
‘Lizzy, I have to tell you something’, Thaler said in the voice of a man about to make a marriage proposal.
‘What?’ Lizzy asked in the voice of a woman who was about to dismiss it.
‘Thank you for your generous offer, Lizzy — you’re a terrific woman — but I’m here for a completely different reason.’ Thaler squeezed the makeup bag awkwardly in his hands.
Lizzy yawned. For her, the door seemed to be a very interesting object to ponder.
‘I’m on a mission’, Thaler said.
‘Mission? What mission?’ Lizzy sprang up and stared at him. ‘Who are you?’
‘Don’t worry’, he said, holding up his hands. ‘Please, stay calm, I’m a detective, and —’
‘A cop?’ she shrieked and sat up straight in the armchair. She pulled her legs back, pushed her delights back into her jacket and started to fasten the buttons.
‘I’m not a cop, but I work with the police —’
‘You’re a bloody cop, you tosser’, Lizzy hissed as she stood up and furiously pulled her skirt back into place. ’You have nothing on me. Take your money, and get out of here!’
‘Lizzy, please, listen to me.’ Thaler stood up and approached her. ‘It’s not about you at all.’ His voice gained more confidence. ‘I need your help and cooperation. There’s a bomb under the sink over there, and I have to — ’
‘A . . . bomb?’ Lizzy’s eyes and mouth froze wide open. ‘Are you serious?’ she squeaked.
‘Absolutely.’
‘I have to inform the captain!’ Lizzy screamed and turned to the door, but Thaler jumped ahead and blocked the exit.
‘No, you won’t!’ He shouted.
His anger frightened her. She recoiled, stumbled over the rug and toppled to the floor. She crawled backwards to the berth’s front panel, scooped up one of her high-heeled shoes and held it in front of her like a weapon.
‘Get out, or I’ll scream!’
Scream. Scream? Scream . . . Fear, anger, hate — those feelings made Lizzie’s past visible to Thaler’s second sight. He ran through her memories — a glowing three-dimensional maze, trying to find something that could paralyse her resistance. There was no time for negotiations.
Her childhood, parents, family, school — everything was set in a smooth Barbie-pink style. College. Something there attracted his attention. Her friends. Some new friends. Agnese, Graham, she — a love triangle. Black spots, bad memories, a lot of them. He pushed his vision even further. He reached a place where her memory’s neon time pipelines were switched off or broken. There he found a spot that was meant to be forgotten forever, deep down under the sullen waters of oblivion. He saw . . .
Early on a summer morning. Two girls, chatting and giggling, walked down a footpath in the forest. A big lake, calm and smooth like a mirror, could be seen behind the trees. The girls were heading to the water. Suddenly, they stopped. One of them turned around as if she had been looking for hidden danger. For a moment, her face became anxious. The second girl told her something and then they continued to the lake, but without their previous carefree joy. A small rowboat was moored under the willows. The first girl looked back at the forest. They got into the boat and pulled away . . . From that moment, the memory pipeline looked black and scorched, like a burnt strip of film.
The entire trip took just a few seconds. Lizzy was still sitting on the floor, angry and scared, breathing heavily and staring daggers at him.
‘Scream? You’ll scream?’ Thaler retorted. ‘Like poor Agnese?’
Lizzy’s face flared. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. Then her face twitched as if she felt sudden pain and her eyes darted from side to side. Then her eyes narrowed and she gave him the same lopsided grin.
‘You can’t sell me this crap, you maggot’, she hissed. ‘The case is closed. They checked me inside and out — I’m clean. You can’t prove anything!’
‘You’re right’, Thaler said calmly, ‘the case is closed; but with some new evidence, it can be reopened. There is no statute of limitations for premeditated murder’.
Thaler squatted in front of her. ‘What if I can prove it wasn’t an accident? That you pushed Agnese out of the boat in the middle of the lake and watched her drown?’
Lizzy cringed, and her eyes grew wide and wild again.
’I’m clean!’ she squealed. ‘There’s no evidence!’
‘Right, you got away with it’, Thaler said. ‘You even managed to cheat the polygraph — you were always good at lying.’ That earned him another hateful look. ‘You were the only witness and the main suspect. As they say, there was a conflict of interests, wasn’t there? And a big mistake. But I’ll tell you something: there was another human being, apart you and her, who saw the entire event. Remember, on your way to the lake you stopped and Agnese said she had a nagging feeling that somebody was following you?’
Lizzie’s face scrambled into a pale mask of terror.
‘I see you do’, Thaler said.
She started to quiver and drew her head into her shoulders. Her breath became uneven. ‘How did you know?’ she uttered.
‘I’m a kind of fortune teller’, Thaler said, ‘but sometimes I can look into someone’s past, too. There is a living witness to your crime you’ve never known about, Lizzy. Shall I tell you more?’
‘What do you want?’ she asked through parched lips.
‘You!’ Thaler shouted. ‘Sitting here quietly while I’m working. I haven’t got much time to save the people on board, including you. And the money is yours. Deal?’
‘Deal’, Lizzy leaned on the seat, threw her shoe back into the corner, reached for the bottle of champagne, shook it and took a few gulps straight from its mouth.
Chapter Twelve
‘Shit,’ Thaler murmured as he peered into the dark space under the sink. ‘Deeper than I thought.’
He was squatting in the narrow gap between the front panel of the sink and the shower glass enclosure with his left elbow resting on the toilet seat cover. The sink’s decorative front had been removed and a pale-grey plastic box the size of a briefcase, hiding within the airplane’s guts, was barely visible underneath.
Thaler pointed his smartphone at the box, took a picture, and dialled a number.
‘How are you, lad?’ Irvin answered instantly.
‘Still solving the problem,’ Thaler said. ‘I need your man from explosives.’
‘Here he is!’ Irvin said after a short pause and switched the line.
‘Hi, Sam here. What can I do for you?’ an unfamiliar voice said through the phone’s speaker.
‘Hi, Sam, I’m Vin,’ Thaler said, simultaneously tapping on the smartphone screen. ‘I’m on a plane, fifty miles above the Atlantic, and there’s a bomb under the sink. I can’t identify it. I’ve sent you the picture. Don’t ask me how I know it, but it’s just a plastic box with a viscous substance in it.’
Sam was silent for a few seconds.
‘It’s a hexen monolith bomb,’ he said quickly. ‘It goes off 30 minutes after its activation. No moving parts, no electronics. Almost undetectable. The initial reaction takes about five minutes — it stinks and changes colour. You can’t defuse it — only throw it out the window.’
‘I can’t very well do that at five times the speed of sound,’ Thaler said. ‘I need another solution.’
Sam fell silent again. Seconds dragged by.
‘You can freeze it,’ he said. ‘Any liquid gas will do the job. The best option is nitrogen. Oxygen or hydrogen are all right, unless the casing is damaged. You have to shower the box with liquid gas until an ice crust appears. It’ll stay quiet as long as it’s frozen.’
‘I owe you!’ Thaler exclaimed.
‘You owe me nothing,’ Sam replied. ‘Just come back safe and sound.’
Sam switched the phone back to Irvin.
‘Did he help?’ the inspector’s voice was tense, like a bowstring.
‘Yes, he did,’ Thaler said. ‘Now I have to call Donovan. See you soon, Greg.’
Thaler hung up, pointed his phone’s flashlight at the bomb and shuddered. A dirty-red spot appeared in its centre and a thin acid-smelling fume started to leak out from under the sink. The reaction had begun, but he was still alive. Thaler mopped the sweat from his face and then dialled Donovan’s number.
‘Hi, folks, aren’t you looking for me?’ Donovan’s recorded voice said gleefully. ‘I’m very sorry, pals, but I’m not available now. And I’m happy to say I won’t be available for the next two weeks!’ Thaler gritted his teeth and palmed his face as he continued to listen. ‘I am going to Tahiti, ha-ha! So, be happy for me!’
Through his fingers, Thaler looked at the bomb. Its centre had become scarlet red and the smell of acid grew more offensive. He gasped.
‘Now you have a damn good chance to leave me a message, but I’ll probably only listen to it when I return,’ the cheerful voice continued. ‘Love you, bastards, if you’re still here. Good luck with your future endeavours, and see ya. Bye-bye!’ The message was followed by a beep.
‘Hi, Don, it’s Thaler, Vincent Thaler.’ He spoke each word distinctly. ‘I need you super-urgently, super-immediately. I’m on the Glambird, and we’re in mortal danger. This is not a joke. Call back as soon as possible. It’s life and death.’
Thaler hung up and leaned on the glass shower enclosure. He looked at the bomb, his eyes half-shut. Now it was emitting enough of a glow to be visible in the dark niche. Its centre started to bulge and acidic smoke started to fill the compartment. It was nothing like the aroma of Lizzie’s expensive perfume. It was the smell of approaching death. Just as he was pondering if his perception would be quick enough to witness the moment of detonation, his phone rang.
‘Thaler?’ a muffled, sleepy voice mumbled.
‘Don, it’s me,’ Thaler said quickly. ‘I’m on the Glambird, on the upper deck, in the pilot’s rest cabin. There’s a chemical bomb under the sink, and I have to neutralise it. I need a source of liquid gas, like nitrogen — immediately!’
A crashing sound hit Thaler’s ear, as if a cart full of crockery had smashed into a wall. It was followed by the hasty steps of Donavan dashing around his room, upsetting things and shedding f-words all around. Then Thaler heard his heavy breath and his fingers tapping hastily on the keyboard.
‘Hold on, Vin,’ Donavan said, ‘I’ll just put on my virtual reality goggles. All right! Here we go. Push your hand under the sink!’
Thaler obeyed immediately.
‘Great! I see your hand and the bomb! Now I’ll guide you!’
‘How can you see that?’ Thaler asked, the question slipping from his tongue.
‘It’s a brand-new diagnostic system,’ Donavan said. ‘Only I and some of my men can use it. Wearing the VR goggles, I can see any corner of the plane in real-time, three-dimensional projection. It’s good for chasing rats when they get into the vessel’s hold. But, let’s not waste time. Push your hand deeper, straight ahead!’
Thaler carried out the order.
‘Deeper!’ Donavan shouted.
Thaler pushed his entire arm and shoulder into the hatch. Even through his clothes, he felt the growing heat from the bomb. Acidic fumes exuding from it burned his eyes.
‘Deeper!’ Donavan yelled.
Thaler pushed his body ahead and stretched his arm as far as he could.
‘Nice! Nice! Now, go with your palm upwards!’
Thaler did it. His fingers stuck into a cluster of pipes.
‘Do you feel the tubes?’
‘Affirmative,’ Thaler confirmed.
‘There’re five in a row. You need the third one.’
‘Got it!’
‘Grab it, and pull it out,’ Donavan said. ‘It’s a thin pipe that carries liquid nitrogen. Don’t worry; it’s insulated.’
Thaler grasped the tube and pulled it out. It was hard, and he had to strain to bring it down.
The acid smell became unbearable. He was choking, and he could barely see anything.
‘Cut it now!’ Donavan cried. ‘I switched off the alarm system!’
With shaking hands, Thaler grabbed the pair of clippers from Lizzy’s makeup pouch and started to cut the tube’s insulation.
Now the entire bomb was glowing a dark-red colour with cracks starting to appear at its centre. But, Thaler didn’t see that. The metal pipe was as thick as a pencil and the clippers couldn’t penetrate the metal, leaving only scratches on its surface. Almost blinded, Thaler clenched his teeth, grabbed the pipe with both hands, and bent it back and forth repeatedly. After a few twitches, the pipe broke, and a thin spurt of scalding cold liquid burst out. Thaler, by touch alone, pointed the spray at the bomb. A thick cloud of acrid smoke burst out of the hatch and filled the entire bathroom compartment. Thaler recoiled and collapsed into a fit of coughing.
‘Hold on, old man!’ Donavan tapped his keyboard at breakneck speed. ‘I switched off the fire alarm and cranked up the ventilation!’
The smoke was sucked through ventilation grids and gradually cleared away. Thaler wiped his eyes and, half-blind, looked into the hatch.
The liquid gas was still spurting out of the broken tube and a thick crust of grainy ice was forming over the bomb.
‘What’s going on, Vin?’ Donavan asked.
‘It’s done. It stopped,’ Thaler gasped, ‘the reaction.’
‘Yahoo, we did it, Vin! We did it again!’ Donavan’s voice sparkled with joy.
‘Yes, indeed.’ Staggering, Thaler stood up, turned on the tap, and washed his eyes thoroughly. ‘You were sluggish, as usual and I nearly lost my life. Where on the globe are you now, anyway?’
‘We’re halfway to Hawaii,’ Donavan said happily. ‘The weather is pretty rough these days, so I have to handle my sea sickness and hangover together. I’m staying online, man. Let me know if you have any trouble.’
‘Good luck with your trip, lad,’ Thaler said and then hung up. He looked into the mirror and examined his eyes. Then he rubbed his face with paper towels, adjusted his clothes, and stepped back into the room.
Lizzy was sitting on the floor in the same position, like a big doll, neglected and broken. The bottle of champagne she held at her side was almost empty and her eyes stared vacantly.
‘Lizzy, it’s over,’ Thaler said quietly. ‘I defused the bomb. We’re safe now.’
She didn’t react.
‘Please, don’t tell anyone what happened here,’ he continued, a little louder. ‘I’ll inform ground control and the crew. All right?’
She nodded faintly.
‘Lizzy?’ he asked, concerned.
‘Go away,’ she whispered.
Thaler moved to the door.
‘Wait,’ she pulled out his envelope. ‘Take it back,’ she threw it to his feet. ‘I don’t need your money.’
Thaler looked down at the envelope and then back at her. ‘I don’t need it either. It’s all yours. Besides, you have to share it with other people here, don’t you?’ He said knowingly.
‘You’re a devil,’ she muttered and covered her face with her hands.
‘I’m rather on the opposite side,’ Thaler replied calmly. ‘Don’t worry. The only man who heard your and Agnese’s conversation was me. I had to dig it from your memory to stop you from doing something stupid. I won’t tell anyone, ever. I’m obliged not to.’
‘Yes, you are,’ Lizzy whispered, her voice a mere thread.
Thaler looked at her. She remained still. He turned away and went out of the compartment.
© 1995–2025 Alexander Daretsky. All rights reserved.