'Night jump?' asked Ethan. 'I'm guessing that's exactly what it sounds like, right?'
'Absolutely,' said Sam. 'These guys haven't done one for a while and it'll do them good to have a little refresher. You've not got enough experience yet so I'll take you tandem.'
'When are we doing it?' asked Ethan.
'At night,' said Johnny. 'That's why we call it a night jump.'
'And to think I once found you funny,' said Ethan, sighing theatrically.
'I'll arrange it for tomorrow evening,' said Sam. 'I've already checked with the pilot and he's free. Luke?'
Luke looked at him enquiringly.
'Can you sort out the LEDs and glow sticks?'
Luke nodded, and Ethan asked what an LED was.
'If you're flying a plane at night, spotting a skydiver is pretty impossible,' said Sam. 'LEDs light-emitting diodes are bright enough to make sure we stand out well enough to be avoided.' He turned back to Luke. 'Give Ethan an idea of what a night jump involves. The rest of you read up on it. I doubt any of you can remember much about the potential effects of hypoxia on your night vision, or anything about the dark zone.'
Natalya spoke up. 'Hypoxia is a restricting of oxygen to the brain that happens in most people above seven thousand feet. It can potentially make your vision cross-wire and slow your thinking, but this is usually not a problem unless you are doing a high-altitude jump. At night, however, it can make it difficult to focus or judge distance. This can be very dangerous, particularly when coming in to land.'
Sam nodded his approval, then said, 'See you tomorrow,' and left.
Ethan looked at Natalya. She was gazing at him intently, but as he returned her stare, she got up and followed Sam. He realized then that of all the team members, she was the one he knew the least about. She seemed incredibly loyal to the team, but apart from that...
'Natalya was introduced to the rest of the group through Sam,' Johnny said, almost as if he'd read Ethan's thoughts. 'No one knows anything about her. She's really private.'
'Gets on OK with Kat, though,' Ethan remarked.
'So did Jake,' said Johnny darkly. Then he grinned. 'Anyway, I'm taking bets on who she really really is.' is.'
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
'It's completely above board,' said Johnny, 'just so long as she doesn't find out.'
Ethan laughed. 'So who do you think she is?' he asked.
'Luke reckons she's the daughter of some eastern Euro politician bloke who's now in hiding,' said Johnny. 'He likes all that conspiracy theory bollocks. Kat's not joining in the fun. Says it would ruin their special relationship. Typical girl.'
'What about you?' asked Ethan.
'Oh, I'm odds-on favourite,' said Johnny. 'I think she's a vampire.'
'France?' said Jo.
Ethan nodded. 'It's a skydiving competition. Sam's booked me a ticket and everything!' He had rushed back home with the news, excited and breathless. Now, sitting in the lounge with Jo and his mum, he was doing his best to make it all sound very normal.
'But it's such short notice,' said his mum. 'Why didn't Sam mention it sooner? And who's paying for it all? Is there something Sam's not telling you? Because I think you should find out if there is, just in case...'
Ethan knew it was a little odd that it should all be booked and paid for by a completely unknown well, unknown to him benefactor, sponsor, whatever. But to be honest, he didn't care. He was just grateful to be going. He shrugged. 'I think Sam just wanted to make sure I'd be good enough to go before he mentioned it and got my hopes up,' he said.
His mum looked a little worried at this. 'You're taking part?' she asked anxiously.
'No way!' said Ethan. 'I'm not ready for that! I'm just going out to watch, see how competitions run, that kind of thing. It'll be amazing.'
'No kidding,' said Jo. 'I'm well jealous.'
Ethan grinned. 'You're not telling me you're interested in skydiving, are you?'
Jo shook her head. 'Nah,' she said. 'But sexy male skydivers particularly French ones? Those I'm interested in!'
They all laughed, and it sounded good. Laughter was something Ethan didn't hear too much of at home.
'Well, I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience, love,' said his mum. 'But do you think I should just speak to Sam about it? Find out a bit more.'
'There's not much more to find out,' said Ethan quickly, knowing that if his mum phoned Sam, he'd never live it down certainly not if Johnny found out. 'It'll be fine, Mum. It's all sorted.'
'Well, if you're sure,' said his mum, smiling. Then the front door of the flat slammed and Ethan saw the smile falter.
Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall and they all looked up to see Dad standing in the doorway.
'Ah, a lovely family gathering,' he said, lurching against the door. 'How sweet.'
Ethan got to his feet.
'Going somewhere?' asked his dad.
'France,' Ethan heard his mum say as she got up too. 'He's going to France! Isn't that exciting?'
Ethan looked at his mum. He knew it was a desperate attempt on her part to get Dad interested in something other than drink to maybe share a bit of what being a family was about. He loved her for it. He also knew it wouldn't work.
'You? In France?' said his dad, and laughed. 'And how are you affording that then, eh? Because I'm not bloody paying for it, that's for sure.'
'It's paid for,' said Ethan, determined to remain calm, if only for the sake of his mum and Jo. 'There's a skydiving competition. Sam's organized the tickets.'
'Sam?' said his dad, pushing himself away from the door and stumbling forward a little. 'You teacher's pet now, is that it?'
'The whole team's going,' Ethan said steadily. 'All expenses paid.' He watched as his dad just stood there, speechless. It was like he could actually see him trying to think of something to say.
'You couldn't pay me to go to that place,' his dad muttered eventually. 'All that foreign food and crap. Bloody awful. Never been abroad never want to.' He shuffled forward and dropped onto the sofa.
Ethan felt unbelievably calm. For once, even his dad couldn't rile him. He smiled. 'Yeah, right,' he said. 'Or is it that I'm doing something you've never had the balls to do and you hate it.'
'Who'd want to jump out of a plane?' said his dad, laughing and switching on the TV. But Ethan could hear how forced his laughter was.
'You should try it,' he said. 'I'll get Sam to do a tandem with you.' Then he smiled again. 'Oh, actually that wouldn't work. You have to be fit and healthy to do a jump so that's you screwed, isn't it?'
His dad looked up at him. 'You've turned into a right cocky little shit, you know that?' he snarled. 'And I can still knock it out of you.'
Ethan heard his mum murmur, 'Leave it now, Ethan, go on,' but he had something else to say.
'You're a loser, Dad,' he said evenly. 'And you hate the fact that you haven't been able to drag me down with you.'
'I'm warning you...'
Ethan looked at his dad and smiled. 'Warning me? How?' he demanded. 'You're pissed, Dad. You can't even pull yourself out of that sofa.'
His dad rolled himself onto the sofa arm to push himself to his feet. 'I'm going to give you such a kicking, you little...'
And as Ethan watched his dad struggle to stand up, he knew he would never have a hold over him again. 'Really?' he said, then he reached out, and with a gentle push sent his dad falling back onto the sofa.
The last thing Ethan heard as he left the flat was his dad swearing and Jo's stifled laughter.
It was 2200 hours the following evening and they were all gathered in the hangar for the night jump.
'Listen up. Here are your altimeters,' said Sam, handing them out. 'You'll be using your usual audible ones as well, but these are back-lit, for obvious reasons... Torches,' he went on, handing out small, rubberized ones. Ethan watched as the team clipped them to their jumpsuits.
'The torches are so you can check your canopy in the dark,' Johnny told him.
'Everyone's got their LEDs strapped to their legs,' said Luke, looking at Sam. 'And I've checked each one to make sure they're regulation brightness.'
'Regulation brightness?' said Ethan. 'Seriously?'
Luke nodded. 'They have to be visible for three miles in every direction we're not the only ones in the sky.'
'Remember, everyone,' said Sam, 'we don't want those things activated until we're in the air.' He then pulled something from his pocket. 'The final bit of kit... Glow sticks.'
Even Ethan knew what these were simple plastic tubes with two chemicals inside separated by a thin sliver of glass. All you had to do was bend the tube to break the glass, the chemicals would mix and the thing would glow blue or green or red or whatever for about eight hours. He smiled, remembering how his mum had given him one at Halloween and how he'd used it to read comics under his duvet.
'Finally,' said Sam, 'the dark zone. Luke?'
Ethan saw Luke open his mouth but Johnny got in first.
'Allow me,' he said, and turned to the team as though addressing a class. 'Above a hundred feet you've a good view of the DZ because of all the ambient and moon light. The lower you get, the darker the ground looks, and once you get really close, this light is lost because of the low angle of reflection. Below a hundred, it feels like you're landing in a black hole and you can experience ground rush which is where it feels as if the DZ is flying up at you out of the darkness. Be prepared, guys, and don't let it faze you!'
'If it's so dark, how do we see the DZ?' asked Ethan.
'It's lit,' said Sam. 'Any other questions?'
No one spoke.
'Good. It'll be lights out in a couple of minutes. Everyone activate your glow stick and cover it with this.'
Sam handed out a roll of thick duct tape, then looked at Ethan. 'We go for lights out so that our eyes are acclimatized to the darkness when we jump,' he explained. 'The lights will be off in the plane as well.'
'And the duct tape?' asked Ethan.
'The glow sticks are activated now so that we can check they're not duds. Once we're sure they're all OK, the duct tape goes on to stop the light shining in people's eyes we pull the tape off just before we jump.'
It was yet more information for Ethan to take in, but that didn't bother him. Anything to do with skydiving and he lapped it up.
'Right... lights,' said Sam, and the room was plunged into darkness. They all sat there in silence for a few minutes; eventually Ethan's eyes adjusted to the gloom and he could make out the rest of the team.
'Remember,' Sam told them, 'maintain your night vision by not looking at any lights, even faroff ones. The only light in the plane will be red as that won't affect your eyes. You need to be sharp for this, OK?'
The team murmured a yes.
Sam checked his watch. 'Good,' he said. 'Let's go.'
As everyone stood up, Kat looked at Ethan. 'Excited?' she asked.
Ethan nodded. 'How many night jumps have you done?'
'Not enough,' said Kat. 'It's amazing. Everything looks and sounds and feels completely different when you jump at night. It's like you're just floating. Makes you wish it could last for ever.'
'I can make any night last for ever,' said Johnny, winking at her.
'Yeah, and for all the wrong reasons,' she said.
Everyone laughed.
'Don't knock it till you try it,' said Johnny.
Ethan grinned. 'So what's it like, jumping in the dark?'
Johnny stopped and came close, as if he was about to pass on the biggest secret of his life. 'Better than sex,' he whispered. 'Almost.'
'Now load up, everyone,' said Sam. They had driven to the plane in his Defender, lights out all the way. 'I want us up there and jumping asap.'
The team lined up and clambered on board the plane. Ethan glanced at the pilot. He wasn't the usual one. In the strange red light, he looked like the man who Johnny had once told Ethan was Gabe, Sam's friend. Ethan figured maybe Gabe was a night pilot.
Sam pulled the door shut, locked it, nodded at the pilot and sat down. Ethan looked across at Johnny, who winked before pulling on his skydiving helmet. Kat, Luke and Natalya did the same they all had full-face helmets, Kat's still shiny new. And as the plane taxied round for takeoff, Ethan decided he had to get a full-face one too, if only because it would make him look so bloody cool.
Ethan, like the rest of the team, heard the pilot say that they were coming up to the DZ. Adrenaline fizzed through him. He wondered if it would ever feel any different; if one day he'd skydive and not get the buzz. He hoped not.
Everyone stood and lined up. Luke first, then Natalya, Kat, Johnny with a camera helmet and finally Ethan. Sam came over and clipped their harnesses together, pulling Ethan in tight.
Luke looked over to the pilot for the thumbs-up, then pushed open the door.
Ethan felt the air burst into the plane. All he could see beyond the door was a thick, tarry blackness. It seemed utterly impossible, unreal almost, as though they weren't flying at all, just sitting on the ground with the engines running.
He wasn't given much more time to think about it. With a nod, the rest of the team tumbled through the door in quick succession, and Ethan soon found himself staring into utter blackness.
Then he felt Sam pull his head back. He crossed his arms.
And jumped.