Chapter 20: Joe Patroni Arrives

Chapter 20: Joe Patroni Arrives

It had taken Patroni three hours to reach the airport. It usually took him 40 minutes.

When he came to the sign that said ‘TWA Maintenance’ he jumped out of his car, paused just long enough to light a cigar and then got into the truck which was waiting for him. ‘Get moving! As fast as you can!’ he told the driver.

As they raced away, he called the control tower by radio telephone.

‘We have a message for you,’ he was told.

‘What is it?’

‘Joe,’ the message went,’ I’ll give you a box of cigars if you can get that plane off runway three zero tonight.’ The message was from Mel Bakersfeld.

Patroni laughed. ‘Now I’ve got something to work for!’ he said.

Ingram told him what had been happening. First they had taken all the passengers off the plane and had tried to use its own power to move it. That had failed. Then all the luggage, mail and most of the plane’s fuel had been taken off. Still they could not move it.

Patroni examined the ground around the plane. He did not seem to notice the cold or the snow that was falling on his hands and face. He found that the plane was badly stuck in the wet ground which lay under the ice and snow, but in spite of this he hoped that it would be possible to move it by its own power.

They would have to dig deep holes with sloping sides, and line them with wooden boards. Then, if they were lucky, the plane could be driven out. It was not going to be an easy job.

‘The captain’s still on board the plane,’ Ingram told him. ‘He refused to do what we asked him to when we first started trying to move the plane. Now I think he’s a frightened man. He’s made some bad mistakes tonight.’

‘He sure has,’ Patroni agreed. ‘Get the men working, and I’ll go and talk to him.’

Later, Patroni joined the maintenance men and worked with them. He thought that the job would take at least an hour. It was now half past ten, and he hoped to be back home and in his warm bed soon after midnight.