Jake stared at Marcus.
‘And I think we should all agree with him, don’t you?’
‘I think I understand you, sir,’ the flight attendant said to Marcus.
Jake turned on Marcus. ‘Just what do you think you’re playing at?’
‘Sir. Return to your seat please.’
Jake ignored her. ‘You,’ Jake stabbed at Marcus’s shoulder, ‘are getting the first plane back.’
Marcus shrugged at the flight attendant and held up his hands. ‘Whatever you say.’
‘Sir!’
Jake got up. ‘I’m warning you.’ He pointed a finger at Marcus, then turned to go.
Shaking his head, Marcus said with a wan smile, ‘Some people! You just want a quiet holiday and you’ve got lunatics following you around.’
Jake turned slowly back to face Marcus. This was a game Marcus was not going to win.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. ‘Sir, do I need to call someone to restrain you?’
Jake looked over his shoulder, expecting to see two burly men about to grapple him to the ground. Instead, he saw the anxious faces of the other passengers in first class, who were probably wishing they were anywhere but there, trapped in a cabin thirty thousand feet in the air with a lunatic. His bandaged hands made him look as though he had already been in one fist-fight too many before he had even boarded the plane, and Marcus’s clever little act as the innocent bystander wasn’t helping.
Jake felt himself backing down, thinking,two can play at this game.Perhaps he could have him arrested at the airport. He didn’t know what for. He had an hour to figure that out. But theway things looked right now, Jake had to acknowledge that it was more likely he’d find himself arrested on touch down.
He could see the headline:A trainee teacher on a flight to Scotland attacked his brother-in-law in first class. Sources(meaning Marcus)suggest this mental breakdown was due to the fact that he had never got over the sudden death of his wife in a freak skiing accident.
Jake backed up between the seats into the aisle. As he turned to leave, a wave of heads returned to whatever they were doing – fast. Nobody made eye contact. Nobody wanted to antagonise the lunatic.
The relieved flight attendant escorted Jake back to his seat.
‘Now, please will you stay in your seat for the remainder of the flight?’
Jake turned to look out of the window. A thought occurred to him. ‘Oh, by the way…’
The flight attendant, who was walking up the aisle, slid back and leaned towards him. ‘What is it now?’ she said testily. ‘I do have other passengers to attend to.’
She was getting irritated. Good. ‘Can you tell me what the flight regulations are regarding …’ he lowered his voice, ‘bringing illegal substances on board a flight?’
That got the flight attendant’s attention.
He added, ‘And I’m not talking about prescription drugs.’
She said slowly, ‘What do you mean? Did you bring something in your hand luggage through airport security that you didn’t declare?’
‘Oh, no. Not me.’ Jake unzipped his bag on the seat next to him. ‘See for yourself.’ He rummaged through his bag, showing her his clothes and the contents of a toiletry bag just to make the point. Then he cast his gaze down the aisle towards the first-class cabin. Marcus wasn’t just drinking. Jake didn’t know what substance he was abusing, but Marcus was using something.And he could make a very good bet that he had some of it on him, or at least in his luggage.
The flight attendant followed his gaze. She turned to Jake and answered his question. ‘You can’t bring drugs that are not on prescription through UK airport security.’
‘So, what exactly would happen if someone had done just that?’
‘Are you talking about someone on this flight?’
He slowly nodded his head.
She stared at Jake. ‘I need to speak to my colleague.’
