Andy McNab - DropZone

Jake gave an awkward laugh and tried to look relaxed. ‘I had it all under control. It was just an error of judgement, that’s all.’

‘It is errors of judgement that get us killed,’ hissed Natalya. ‘And you make too many of them, Jake.’

‘Look,’ said Jake, ‘like I said, I got too focused on sorting out my canopy, forgot to check my altimeter, that’s all. I’m here, aren’t I?’

‘You were about five seconds from impact,’ said Luke, his voice calm. ‘If your AAD had failed, or if your reserve had got tangled with your main canopy, we’d be scraping you off the ground now instead of sitting here arguing. What were you thinking?’

‘How do you know what happened anyway?’ asked Jake, scowling now. ‘You were all still in the air.’ Then he saw Ethan. He pushed away from Kat and came over, got in Ethan’s face. ‘You tell them all this, Rookie?’

‘I saw you falling,’ said Ethan. ‘I was with Sam.’

‘So you finked on me? You ran and told the big scary boss man?’

‘Hang it,’ said Johnny, getting up and coming across. ‘Sam was with Ethan. Ethan didn’t have to tell him anything. Sam saw it all. Ethan just told us your canopy grabbed air at under a thousand; we guessed the rest.’

‘But nothing happened, did it?’ said Jake, now turning to Johnny. ‘And all this dick’s done is stir things up – hey, Rookie?’

Ethan was about to respond when a voice shot across the café.

‘Jake!’

Everyone fell silent.

Sam was standing in the archway leading from the café to the bar area.

‘Hey, Sam!’ Jake grinned. ‘Everything’s cool, man. Had it all under control. And the rush – you haven’t skydived till you’ve flown that close to wiping out! It was just awesome!’

Sam came over. He towered over the gang, his shadow falling across Jake.

‘My office. Now.’

Jake opened his mouth to reply.

‘Now, Jake,’ said Sam. ‘ Now.’

And seeing the look on Sam’s face – even though he wasn’t the one being called into his office – Ethan felt sick.

When Jake had left with Sam, Johnny flicked a glance at the rest of the gang. ‘Dead man walking,’ he said flatly.

No one argued.

Ethan heard Jake before he saw him. The crack of Sam’s office door slamming split the air.

Ethan turned, saw Jake storming towards him.

‘Rookie!’

Kat stood up and tried to stop him, but he pushed her out of the way and walked straight up to Ethan.

Ethan didn’t flinch. He’d never been one for backing down from anyone. It had got him knocked around a few times at school, but he didn’t care. Running away wasn’t part of his character.

Jake shoved Ethan in the chest. ‘I’m going to make you pay for this, Rookie…’

Ethan said nothing, did nothing. He just stood there, waiting to see what Jake would do next.

‘You hear me?’ said Jake as Kat tried to pull him away. ‘You did this. All you had to do was keep your stupid mouth shut – that’s all! You prick!’

Johnny and Luke walked over and stood between Ethan and Jake.

‘That’s it,’ said Johnny, looking straight at Jake. ‘Outside. Calm down. Now.’

Jake turned on Johnny. ‘Don’t tell me what to do, you shit!’ he screamed, and Ethan could see he was losing control.

Luke stepped in. ‘Jake, just do what Johnny suggested. Go outside and calm it.’ Then he looked at Ethan. ‘You, walk away,’ he said.

Ethan nodded and turned back towards the counter. He figured it made more sense to let this one lie than help things get out of hand. He wanted the job and he wanted the tandem, and he knew Sam wouldn’t look kindly on a fight at FreeFall.

Johnny and Luke stood firmly in Jake’s way and Kat finally managed to get him to leave the café, taking him by the arm and dragging him out.

Johnny looked at Ethan. ‘Kat was right about you,’ he said, a smile breaking through the seriousness of the moment. ‘You really do know how to make friends and influence people, don’t you?’

‘But I didn’t do anything,’ protested Ethan. ‘And what was all that about? What happened? What’s Sam done?’

Johnny and Luke sat back down at the table. Natalya hadn’t moved, but now she leaned forward and looked up.

‘The only thing he can do,’ she said. ‘If someone makes a stupid mistake like that out on the DZ, then they are grounded until they’ve learned better. With Jake, it should have happened sooner. I have never trusted him. He is too wild. Too obsessed with himself. Even more so than Johnny.’

‘Oh, you hurt me with your words,’ Johnny groaned.

‘What do you mean, grounded?’ said Ethan. ‘Kept inside for a week and not allowed to see his friends? Sam’s not your dad!’

‘No, he’s not,’ said Luke, ‘but what he says goes. Jake won’t be allowed to jump for a few weeks.’

‘You serious?’

‘Sam is always serious about this kind of thing,’ said Natalya. ‘Being grounded will give Jake time to sort himself out, get his priorities straight. And it will keep him out of the air while he is still considered a liability.’

‘Yeah,’ Johnny confirmed. ‘Sam will want to make sure Jake doesn’t do anything so stupid again. He’ll probably interview him before letting him jump too. Check he’s clued up enough on safety to be in the air. Jake will have to gen up on that stuff or Sam’ll kick him out for good.’

‘There would be no complaints from me,’ said Natalya. ‘I still cannot work out what Kat sees in him. She could do much better.’

Johnny gave a wink. ‘With someone like me, you mean?’

Natalya shot him one of her steely looks, but he just winked again and added a very large smile, all teeth.

‘Here’s Kat,’ said Luke, looking over at the door.

Her face was pale. She walked over, sat down, said nothing.

Natalya leaned over, concern etched on her face. ‘Kat?’

Nothing.

‘Come on, Kat,’ said Johnny. ‘Is it bad, really bad, or a full-on shit storm?’

Kat leaned back in her chair, hands on her head. ‘Sam’s not only grounded Jake for three months,’ she said, ‘he’s kicked him off the team. He’s out. Permanently.’

At this, Ethan heard everyone swear. Everyone but Natalya. She simply sat back in her chair, folded her arms and shook her head. But her eyes never left Kat, and Ethan could see she was concerned for her friend.

‘Great,’ said Johnny, and Ethan was surprised to hear disappointment in his voice. ‘Jake finally ruined it for all of us.’

‘What if Sam changes his mind when he calms down?’ said Ethan, and realized as the words left his mouth how crazy they sounded. He’d not worked for Sam that long, but it was already obvious that he was not the kind of person to go back on a decision.

‘He won’t,’ said Luke, confirming Ethan’s thoughts. ‘When Sam draws a line under something, he makes it clear exactly where it is. You cross it and you’re out. No appeal. Nothing. Sam’s word is law.’

Ethan looked at Kat. She was just sitting there shaking her head.

‘Jake didn’t want to talk about it,’ she said. ‘Not even to me.’ Then she turned to Ethan and he could see just how upset she was. ‘Why didn’t you just keep quiet? Why did you have to go and tell Sam about it?’

‘I told you – I didn’t,’ said Ethan. ‘Sam was there with me. He told me it was Jake. I didn’t know what was happening.’

But Kat wasn’t really listening. ‘You’ve ruined everything,’ she said, standing up and pushing her chair away. It skidded for a minute, caught a hole in the floor, flipped.

‘Don’t talk crap,’ said Johnny. ‘Jake did this to himself. You know he’s a liability.’