‘Good. I’ll give you a lift. You both did well tonight. Thank you.’
Ethan looked at Johnny. Had they really just heard that?
Sam got up from behind his desk. ‘Move it, you two. I’ve a busy day tomorrow. Even more so now that I’ve got to sort out the damage done by Jake and his pals.’
As they headed for the door, Ethan asked, ‘What are you going to do? Call the police?’
‘That’s for me to think about, not you,’ said Sam. ‘And for now we keep this in the team. I’ll find my own way of dealing with Jake. In my own time. Now shift it.’
16
Johnny came over to Ethan, sat down, grabbed the Coke can from his hand and took a sip.
‘Help yourself,’ said Ethan.
‘Thanks, I will,’ said Johnny, taking another swig before handing it back.
They were both sitting outside the hangar, rigged up and ready for another jump, their second of the day. FreeFall was busy, business was good. It was a couple of weeks since the run-in with Jake, and despite the damage to the rigs, Sam had managed to call in a few favours and everything was running smoothly. Nothing about Jake’s unwelcome visit had been mentioned since. They had cobbled together a believable cover story to explain their bruises – a run-in between a tree and Johnny’s motorbike.
Ethan’s final two consolidation jumps had gone by so quickly and smoothly he’d hardly noticed them. He was now diving solo and getting in at least one jump a day, depending on the weather and how busy things were at FreeFall. He’d even had the chance to fly a Raider, which had been scary as hell but a total blast. Luke had laid it on thick with the instructions for flying such a responsive canopy. Ethan had listened carefully, and it had paid off because the thing had handled amazingly – like it was hardwired to the wind; you directed it, it didn’t hesitate. And it was tiny – no bigger than a fashionable daysack when it was packed up, little larger than a power kite when deployed. And, as Johnny had said back when Ethan had met him on his first day at FreeFall, small, fast and scary.
A shadow fell across Ethan and Johnny and they looked up to find Sam standing over them, binoculars in his hand.
‘Another good jump, Ethan,’ he said. ‘Well done.’
‘Thanks,’ said Ethan to Sam’s back as he headed off to his office.
‘A man of few words,’ said Johnny, and Ethan nodded. ‘Incidentally, are you trying to make a habit of impressing him?’
Ethan turned at Johnny’s question. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, just look at you. It’s like you belong here or something. From tandem rookie to skydiver in just a few weeks. It’s pretty impressive.’
‘No it’s not,’ said Ethan, shrugging. ‘It’s like most things: do what you’re told to do and do it properly and you’ll probably be OK at it.’
‘Don’t sell yourself short,’ said Johnny. ‘Sam really is impressed. So am I. You remind me of someone brilliant.’
‘Who?’
‘Me.’
Ethan laughed. ‘How do you cope with being you?’
‘It’s hard,’ said Johnny. ‘You wouldn’t be able to hack it. The girls, the glamour; it’s tough.’
‘You bear it well, all things considered.’
Another shadow cast itself over the conversation. This time Ethan and Johnny looked up to see Kat. She too was rigged up.
‘Hey,’ she said, and sat down opposite them.
‘Kat,’ said Johnny. ‘How’s Jake?’
Kat looked at him. ‘Is there ever a moment in your life when you think before you speak?’
‘Never,’ said Johnny. ‘So what was the attraction anyway?’
‘He drove it,’ said Kat, and stalked off.
Ethan went after her, catching up with her in a few strides, racking his brain for a topic of conversation.
‘So you bought one yet, then?’ he came up with, falling into step beside her. ‘You know, one of those fancy skydiving helmets you were talking about?’
‘Yeah. Ordered it yesterday. Arrives at the weekend.’
‘What’s it like?’
Kat stopped and looked round at Ethan. ‘It’s like a helmet, Ethan. You put it on your head.’
The conversation had dropped dead, so he asked, ‘You OK?’
‘What, apart from being boyfriend-less?’
Johnny came up and butted in. ‘You’re better off without a tosser like that, especially after what he did.’
Kat turned on him. ‘He made a mistake,’ she said. ‘That’s all. What, like you’re the perfect skydiver? You’ve never messed up? Not even once?’
‘I’m not talking about the skydive,’ said Johnny.
Ethan looked at him. ‘Sam said he’d deal with it.’
‘She has to know,’ said Johnny, and he turned back to Kat. ‘We found him ruining the rigs. Him and a couple of other blokes built like trolls.’
‘Shut up,’ said Kat.
‘It’s true,’ Ethan told her. ‘They ruined stacks of stuff. Sam was able to sort it out, but the damage was pretty bad. It got a bit rough. Jake must’ve had a fair few bruises on him.’
Kat shook her head. ‘Jake wouldn’t do that,’ she said. ‘And the bruises… he said they were from a bar fight he got into. Anyway, he’s all mouth. Doesn’t have the balls.’
‘You believe what you want,’ said Johnny. ‘And then ask Sam.’
For a moment no one said anything. The silence stretched on as Kat scowled at them both.
Again Ethan desperately thought of something to say to break the awkwardness. ‘So how did you get into skydiving exactly?’ he asked Kat.
‘Same as you,’ she said, shrugging. ‘Tandem, then AFF. It’s not that difficult really, you know. Anyone can do it.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure,’ said Johnny. ‘Ethan’s a natural. Not as good as me, obviously, but still pretty brilliant. Aren’t you, Eth?’ He slapped Ethan hard on the back and Ethan shrugged, looked at Kat, attempted an apologetic smile.
The look Kat returned was cold, her eyes narrow. ‘It takes more than a few jumps and an ego to make a skydiver, Ethan,’ she said flatly. Then she headed for the minibus as it pulled up to ferry the next group of jumpers to the plane. It was pretty clear to Ethan that she wanted him to shut up.
‘Come on, Eth,’ said Johnny. ‘We’re jumping too.’ Then he shouted ahead to Kat, ‘If you want, I’ll go first – show you how it should be done.’
‘You’re so full of shit,’ said Kat without looking back.
Ethan and Johnny watched her walk away.
‘Prickly today, isn’t she?’ said Johnny. ‘Ready?’
‘Sure am,’ said Ethan, and the two of them followed Kat into the minibus.
Ethan found himself alone with her in the back of the plane. They were over the DZ and everyone else had jumped. Johnny had done so in a particularly elaborate fashion, faking being shot and then stumbling backwards out of the open door with a deathly scream that neither Ethan nor Kat could hear because of the wind. Ethan was still laughing about it when Kat stood to go.
Ethan waved, smiled.
Kat looked back, but didn’t return the wave or the smile. She was obviously still angry about Jake. But there was nothing Ethan could do about it. At least she now knew the truth about what Jake had done to the rigs – not that she believed it. So he just smiled again, and watched as she stood at the door, ready to jump.
Suddenly the plane lurched. Ethan felt it buck beneath him and drop. He landed back in his seat with a heavy thump. And at the same time, he saw Kat stumble, try to catch herself…
Fall.
She cracked her head against the edge of the plane door as she did so. Ethan didn’t hear it, but seeing it happen was enough to make his stomach flip. Then her body just sort of slumped and slid round the edge of the door and out into open air. But as she fell, her rig caught on the door – it was the nightmare scenario. Ethan watched helplessly as Kat’s main canopy pulled open, then tangled, and became nothing more than a useless bag of silk, the lines twisted.