Andy McNab - DropZone

Ethan laughed. God, he wanted to go with them and jump!

The minibus revved and drove off, a plume of grey smoke spluttering from an exhaust that was held on by an old wire coat hanger.

Sam came straight over to Ethan. ‘You’ll need these,’ he said. ‘Binos.’

He handed Ethan a pair of binoculars that looked almost as mean as his Defender. They were covered in a rubberized skin which had clearly saved them more than once from getting smashed up.

The sound of the plane’s engine ripped through the air and Ethan followed it as it took off. He put the binoculars up to his eyes. Their clarity and magnification was unbelievable. He zoomed in, and could see the pilot in the cockpit. Soon, though, there was little point following the plane. Best to wait for that drop in the sound of the engine, like Johnny had told him, then spot it again and watch for the sky to fill with black dots.

‘Still want to do it?’ asked Sam.

‘Can’t wait,’ said Ethan, and nodded at the plane. ‘How long have they been jumping?’

The question he really wanted to ask was how long would it take for him to be as good as they were, and how much would it cost, but he didn’t want to sound too cocky.

‘Luke’s the most experienced,’ said Sam. ‘He’s been jumping for three years. The rest just under two. What’s more important though,’ he went on, ‘is the number of jumps. The more air time you get, the better the skydiver you become. Some people are better at it though… natural.’

‘Like Johnny?’ said Ethan.

‘Like all of them,’ said Sam. ‘That’s why I chose them for my formation team.’

‘Must be amazing up there.’

‘Trust me, it is.’ Sam turned to Ethan with a faint smile. ‘You spotted the plane yet?’

Ethan listened. The thrum of the engines was still audible. He looked up, and Sam did the same – just as the sound dropped a little.

Ethan put the binoculars to his eyes and stared skyward.

Nothing.

The sky was clear.

Then he found the plane; it was clearly visible. That’s 12,000 feet away, thought Ethan, remembering some of the stuff he’d picked up already since working at FreeFall. And that’s a hell of a long way to fall…

Skydivers filled his vision, spilling from the plane. He caught sight of a group speeding through the air. They drew together in one formation, then moved smoothly into another. Ethan tracked them, straining his eyes through the binoculars to see what they were doing. He imagined doing it himself, racing towards the earth with Johnny and the rest, pulling moves like a pro.

The formation burst, and the black dots split off from each other – zip-zip-zip-zip-zip…

‘What do you think?’ asked Sam. ‘Any good?’

‘Looked fine to me,’ said Ethan, still gazing through the binoculars. ‘At least, I think it did.’

‘Were the formations stable? Did anyone break off too early?’

Ethan replayed in his mind what he’d seen. ‘No, it was all good. Looked amazing.’ He paused and lowered the binoculars to glance at Sam. ‘Wouldn’t mind doing it myself.’

Sam looked at Ethan as canopies burst into colour above. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘That’s just the right attitude. Shows me that you’re not just thinking about the tandem. You’re thinking beyond it, to the next level. Just what I’m after.’

Ethan was just wondering what on earth Sam meant by that final sentence when he spotted something strange. He quickly raised the binoculars again.

While everyone else was now gliding in, doing turns, one skydiver was plummeting towards the ground, canopy pulled but flapping uselessly above, like a bedraggled windsock. And the ground wasn’t exactly getting further away.

Ethan lowered the binoculars and pointed. ‘Sam?’

Sam was already looking, his eyes narrow, his face hard.

‘That can’t be right,’ murmured Ethan.

‘It’s not,’ Sam replied.

Ethan held his breath. He couldn’t drag his eyes away from the falling skydiver. Morbid curiosity had him by the throat and was forcing him to watch: this was someone with seconds to live.

‘He’s going to be under a thousand any second,’ said Sam. ‘Why hasn’t he cut away? If his AAD pings his reserve, it’ll get tangled with his main canopy! What’s he thinking?’

Ethan had no idea what Sam was talking about. But then, as if on cue, a crack sounded through the air, and he saw the skydiver’s twisted canopy snap free and drift off like a deflated balloon: the skydiver had at last cut his main canopy away. Momentarily he was in freefall again, but then he was pulled back hard by a smaller canopy, which burst open above him, pulling him into a slow descent just a few seconds short of death.

Sam put out his hand. ‘Binos, Ethan. Now.’

Ethan handed them over, then looked at the figure as it drifted safely to the ground.

Sam put the binoculars to his eyes, then growled, ‘Jake…’

Ethan didn’t even bother trying to keep up with Sam, who had turned and raced off towards his office. The man could seriously shift.

A hundred metres away from the DZ, the skydiver Ethan now knew to be Jake drifted down onto the long grass. Moments later, the other skydivers came in to land, but Ethan didn’t have time to wait for them; he was due in the café and Nancy would be waiting. He wanted to see what had happened to Jake, to talk to Johnny and the rest about it, but seeing the mood Sam was now in, he didn’t fancy making it worse by not being where he was paid to be. It wasn’t long before Johnny and the rest of the team found him in the café.

‘Hey, Eth!’ said Johnny, strolling over to the counter. ‘Did you watch the jump? Did Sam say anything? What were the formations like? I’ve got it all on camera, but you saw it. Any good?’

‘It was great!’ Ethan told him. ‘I thought filming was just for people doing their first jumps and stuff, a souvenir of the moment.’

‘It’s how the formations are judged,’ said Johnny as the rest of the team came over. ‘Gives the judges something to look at. So my job is to make sure I get the best shots and the best angles to make these guys look better than they really are. It is, essentially, all down to me.’

‘Bigging yourself up again?’ asked Kat. ‘Hi, Ethan.’

Ethan smiled. ‘Great jump. I caught most of it through Sam’s binos.’

Johnny turned round to the team, introducing Ethan to the two members he hadn’t met.

First was Luke, who reached out his hand with a smile. ‘Johnny says you’re doing a tandem with Sam,’ he said. ‘Make sure he checks the clips are nice and tight, right?’

‘You’re having a laugh, aren’t you?’ said Johnny.

‘No, just being cautious.’ Luke’s face was serious. ‘Even Sam could forget something. You never know.’

‘Luke’s into the detail,’ said Johnny, winking at Ethan. ‘Uses a spirit level to make sure he’s standing up straight in the morning, don’t you, Luke?’

Luke shrugged. ‘Devil’s in the detail, Johnny.’

‘Ooooh, spiritual,’ said Johnny, then turned to the other girl in the group. ‘This is Natalya.’

‘Nice to meet you, Ethan,’ she said quietly, and held out her hand.

Ethan noticed her accent immediately. His best guess was Russian, but that was only because he’d watched too many Bond movies. It was certainly eastern European. And she wasn’t wearing any make-up – unlike Kat, who was wearing just enough to say Notice me. Ethan guessed that Natalya wasn’t the kind of person who worked at being noticed by anyone.

‘And you,’ he replied, and took her hand. She gave a firm handshake – it was only when he let go that he was struck by how formal it seemed. The rest of the gang were relaxed with him from the off, but this was like meeting someone at a job interview or a wedding or something.