‘Can’t,’ said Johnny.
‘You’d better.’
‘Seriously, I can’t. That’s down to Sam and Gabe. I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.’
‘
You
don’t even understand some of the words you just used.’
‘What gave it away?’ Johnny laughed. ‘Look, I’ve told you all I can. We’re skydivers and we’ve been trained by Sam, the best in the business, to be a covert operations team for MI5. We get to do stuff people only ever see in the movies. The only other thing you need to know is that Sam’s in trouble. We’re now on a heading to get him
out
of trouble. This will involve wearing lots of black, doing a HAHO jump, setting off explosives and generally causing a diversion. Interested?’
Ethan opened his mouth, shut it again. Then said, ‘HAHO?’
‘High Altitude, High Opening,’ Johnny reminded him. ‘Sometime pretty soon we’re going to be leaving this plane at thirty-two thousand feet. This is just the sort of mission Sam’s been training us for. He thinks – and so do we – that you should be our last team member. I can tell you nothing more than what I’ve already said until you decide whether you’re in.’ He paused, then sighed. ‘I know it’s not much to go on, mate, but you’ll just have to trust me. I’m not making this up. And the stuff I’m not telling you – what you could be doing with your life if you joined us – well, it’s pretty mind-blowing . . .’
‘So I’ve a choice in this?’ asked Ethan. He really didn’t like the fact that so much had been going on behind his back. But at the same time he was psyched. Skydiving had changed his life, made him realize he could do something radically different to everyone else. And what Johnny was describing was even wilder. Joining some kind of secret military operation certainly sounded better than just sitting in an office or being a drunk like his loser dad, but he needed to know it was his own decision.
‘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.’
24
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?’
25
‘We go in thirty,’ said Johnny. ‘Let’s move.’
The team moved to the rear of the plane.
‘You’re with me,’ Kat told Ethan. ‘We’re going in tandem.’
‘Tandem?’ said Ethan. ‘But isn’t this a high-altitude jump? I didn’t know you could do that.’
‘Well, you can,’ said Kat, ‘and we can’t have you doing one without any prep. Natalya’s got no experience of doing tandems and she’s taking the explosives in anyway. And you’re too heavy to go with Johnny or Luke. So it’s me.’
‘Explosives?’
Kat nodded. ‘Natalya’s the expert in that area. Seems to know more than Sam, and that’s saying something.’
‘I can’t work her out,’ said Ethan.
‘You’re not the only one.’ Kat led him through a door and down some metal stairs. ‘I’m probably her closest friend and all I know is that I know nothing about her. This way.’
They went through another door, and immediately Ethan noticed the temperature drop.
‘At this altitude we’ll be jumping with oxygen,’ Kat explained. ‘And it’s very cold so we’ll be wearing thermals. I’m sure you’ll look very sexy in them.’
Ethan found himself in a section of the plane that had been entirely stripped of anything comfortable. The walls were just metal plates and struts riveted together. And the sound of the plane’s engines had seriously risen in volume. To speak and be heard, everyone had to shout.
Johnny nodded at them. ‘I’ll give Gabe eight out of ten for kit prep,’ he said.
‘Only eight?’ queried Ethan, trying to stop his teeth from chattering.
‘He left my lucky teddy bear behind,’ said Johnny.
Luke pulled out a map, laid it on the metal checker-plate floor. ‘This is the DZ,’ he said, pointing just below a patch of dark green on the map as everyone else gathered round. ‘We’ll be nicely hidden by the trees and we’re only half a click from here, which is where Sam and the disk are. Our job is to draw attention away from that point and allow Sam sufficient time to get in and recover it.’
‘Click?’ asked Ethan.
‘Kilometre,’ translated Kat.
‘What is “here” exactly?’ asked Johnny. ‘Doesn’t look like much on the map.’
‘That’s because it isn’t,’ said Luke. ‘In fact it’s what’s left of a fifteenth-century castle. It’s built right above these sea cliffs here. This is what our satellite picked up,’ he added, producing some black and white bird’s-eye-view photos of the castle. Ethan couldn’t quite believe he’d just heard Luke refer to a satellite as though they owned it.
‘Main access to the castle is from the beach, here,’ Luke went on, pointing at the map again. ‘This line here is a path that runs from the beach up to the clifftop.’
‘Looks lovely,’ said Johnny. ‘When can I move in?’
Luke ignored him. ‘We HAHO into the DZ, then we’re on with the diversion. RV is the beach. Sam is to meet us there. I’ll contact him when everything kicks off.’
At this, Natalya piped up. ‘I have spoken to Gabe and checked the kit,’ she said, her face as serious as ever, though she sounded excited. ‘We have more than enough detonators and P4. To secure the beach, we are taking anti-personnel mines – Claymores.’
‘And how do we get off the beach when we’re done?’ asked Kat.
‘One of the packs we’re taking contains two inflatable canoes,’ said Luke. ‘A sub’s on course to pick us up at dawn.’
‘A sub?’ said Ethan. ‘You’re joking, right?’
Luke shook his head.
‘What if the beach is compromised?’ Natalya asked.
Luke rested a finger back on the castle, then dragged it up a little to rest on a small black shape nearby. ‘In that case we leave from here,’ he said. ‘It’s the old watchtower.’
‘Thanks for the added colour there,’ said Johnny. ‘You see, Eth? It’s not just fun, it’s a learning experience too!’
Ethan leaned closer to look at the map, then back at the pictures of the castle. The watchtower was perched right at the top of the cliffs behind the castle ruins.
‘How do we get down those?’ he asked. ‘It’ll take ages to climb.’
‘It would . . .’ said Kat, looking across at him. ‘Actually if we go that way, you’ll be doing your first BASE jump sooner than you think! But we’ll only do that if everything goes tits up – our aim is to make sure it doesn’t, OK?’
Ethan couldn’t think of anything to say to that so he kept his mouth shut.
‘That’s it,’ said Luke, bringing everyone back to the task in hand. ‘Final point to remember is that this is a covert op. We need as little contact with the x-rays on the island as possible. We get in, provide Sam’s diversion, and get out. Understood?’