Andy McNab - DropZone

‘You’ve always got a choice,’ said Johnny. ‘ You decided to take up skydiving. You decided to take on Jake when he killed the rigs. You decided to save Kat. You’ve been making the decisions all along. If anything, you’ve selected yourself.’

‘I guess so. In a way…’ said Ethan thoughtfully. ‘But it’s what I’ve selected myself for that’s the problem. I’m not sure I understand exactly what it is.’

‘I’ve told you everything I can,’ said Johnny, ‘but if you want a word of advice from a friend, forget thinking, forget trying to weigh up the pros and cons. Just go with what your gut tells you!’

Ethan sat back in his seat and, despite a strong urge to just say Count me in, decided to play devil’s advocate. ‘What if I say no? What then?’

‘We drug you and you wake up back home, stinking of booze.’

Ethan frowned. He couldn’t tell if Johnny was bullshitting or not.

‘Eth, mate,’ said Johnny seriously, ‘none of this is a joke. I – we – are asking you to join us because we want you to be a part of the team. But if you want out, you’ve got that option.’

Ethan already knew he wanted to be involved. He wanted it more than anything he’d ever wanted in his whole life. But he needed to be sure he’d thought it over fully. What he decided now would change everything. This was no longer just a hobby; something fun to do that sounded cool and sexy when you told girls about it. This was a career, a whole new life – important, exciting and very, very dangerous.

‘Ethan-’ Johnny began.

And then the words were out before he had a chance to stop them. ‘Fuck it,’ Ethan said. ‘I’m in.’

Johnny stood up. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new team member!’

Luke was the first to respond. ‘Nice one, Eth,’ he said. ‘Glad to have someone on board who actually takes things seriously.’ He looked at Johnny, and they both smiled.

‘Cheers,’ said Ethan; then he winked. ‘But I’m only in it for the girls.’

Luke and Johnny laughed.

‘You made the right decision all the same,’ said Natalya. ‘I am pleased you have joined us.’

For the first time Ethan saw a genuine smile on her face. It suited her, he thought.

‘Don’t think Jake could call you a rookie now,’ said Kat. ‘Pity we can’t tell him – it’d be worth it just to see the look on his face.’

‘You’re over him, then?’ said Ethan.

‘Was never on or even under him,’ she joked.

‘Enough of the emotional stuff,’ said Johnny. ‘Let’s get down to business. Luke?’

Ethan listened up. So did everyone else.

‘The situation is this,’ Luke began: ‘an encrypted hard disk has been stolen. It contains sensitive information that, were the encryption to be broken, could prove damaging to certain parties.’

‘If it’s encrypted, what’s the problem?’ asked Ethan, hoping he didn’t sound like a total knob. ‘Isn’t that supposed to mean no one can read it unless they’re the right person with the right code or something?’

‘Yup,’ said Johnny. ‘But Gabe reckons this was an inside job. Which means there probably is someone with all that. Sam was sent in to recover the disk before the encryption could be broken and the info sold to the highest bidder.’

‘So where’s Sam now?’ asked Kat. ‘Why call us in?’

Luke went on, ‘The person suspected of stealing the disk was tracked to a small island off the coast of France. Sam was HAHO’d in a few hours ago to get the disk back. But he’s now communicated that the situation has changed and is critical. He needs urgent support to complete the mission.’

‘Which is where we come in,’ said Natalya. ‘Right?’

Johnny nodded and looked at Ethan. ‘Like I said, the skydiving competition was the perfect cover for Sam to leave the country and for us to follow on in case it turned into a full-on shit-storm – which it has.’

‘So eloquently put,’ said Kat, shaking her head.

‘So we were sent to the competition just in case Sam needed us?’ Ethan asked.

Luke nodded. ‘No one would suspect a thing,’ he said. ‘Gabe got the communication from Sam as we left FreeFall. The jet was being held in reserve, just in case this kicked off.’

The more Ethan heard, the more unreal it all seemed. He’d just found out he was a member of a special ops team working for MI5. It was like something from the movies; something that only ever happened to good-looking actors on the big screen – oh, and as it turned out, him! He felt himself grinning like an idiot and tried to focus. ‘You’ve still not explained how we’re involved,’ he said. ‘Or what’s in the files on the disk.’

‘The contents of the files are on a strictly need-to-know basis,’ said Johnny. ‘And Gabe doesn’t want us to know. Which means none of us needs to ask. All we have to do is help Sam. He’s arrived at the target destination but is unable to locate and extract the disk without being compromised.’

‘Why?’ asked Natalya. ‘What has happened? Did Gabe not know the situation before he sent Sam in?’

‘The situation’s changed,’ said Johnny. ‘There are more x-rays on the ground than originally thought and it’s now too risky for Sam to act without a diversion.’ He looked at Ethan and grinned. ‘Which is where we come in.’

‘X-rays?’ asked Ethan.

‘Enemies,’ explained Kat, then turned to Johnny. ‘And by “compromised” you mean killed, don’t you?’

Johnny nodded and looked at Ethan. ‘You keeping up with this? It’s a lot to take in.’

‘Yeah,’ said Ethan, smiling. ‘It’s not every day you become part of a covert ops team, is it?’

‘Shit happens,’ Johnny said with a shrug.

The plane dropped suddenly and Ethan heard the engines squeal a little, felt his stomach flip. It had been doing that a lot in the past few minutes.

‘This situation Sam’s in…’ he said. ‘Does it mean we have to take guns with us?’

‘For a start, we use the term weapon rather than gun,’ said Luke. ‘And, no, we won’t go in armed. We never do. The job of the team is always to try and slip in under the radar, not to go in and take people out. We need to be invisible. Weapons have a habit of making people very obvious indeed. But we will be taking in explosives to create a diversion.’

‘He means we’ll blow shit up,’ said Johnny.

‘Sounds dangerous,’ said Ethan.

‘Comes with the territory,’ Johnny replied, ‘and it’s all part of the fun. Anyway, who wants to live a life that’s risk-free? Better to live as a lion for a day than a lamb for a year, right?’

‘That’s cheesy,’ said Ethan.

‘I know,’ said Johnny. ‘Can’t believe I said it.’

‘True though,’ Kat put in quietly.

‘If the op goes well, we’ll still be going to the competition,’ Luke added. ‘It’s all part of the cover story.’

Ethan looked at the team – his team – four people he now counted as the best friends he’d ever had. He was about to jump from a jet with them – on a mission for MI5 to rescue the toughest bloke he’d ever met in his life. Just a few weeks ago he wouldn’t have believed it was possible, wouldn’t have believed he could have the skills for such a mission. But it was and he did. He was confident of that. Sam – the team – wouldn’t have chosen him otherwise. All he had to do was stay sharp, stay focused, and remember everything he’d been taught.

‘OK,’ he said, ‘ignoring the lion/lamb thing, I do have one more question.’

‘What’s that?’ said Johnny.

Ethan smiled. ‘What’s the pay like?’

‘We go in thirty,’ said Johnny. ‘Let’s move.’