As they left the plane, Ethan didn't know if he was terrified or excited or both. This was skydiving unlike anything he'd experienced before. Everything felt different. Jumping in daylight, you knew where you were going, could see the world below you. But this time, it was a jump into the unknown.
A stab of light caught Ethan's eye as Sam activated the LED.
For the first few moments he felt like he was in a washing machine. He had no idea which was up and which was down as they tumbled through the air, accelerating to terminal velocity.
Then Sam flipped them over, belly down.
Ethan was blown away by what he saw. Above, in the clear night sky, stars glittered through the dark. Below, the world was a black canvas dotted with lights like distant galaxies.
He checked his altimeter, then quickly found the rest of the team, their LEDs pulsing in the blackness. The pilot had dropped them perfectly over the DZ Ethan was able to make it out below. It was lit up as Sam had said it would be, and was getting closer.
Another check of the altimeter. Wind rushing past. This was it, thought Ethan, smiling. Everything he wanted was in this moment. He longed to feel like this for ever: so completely alive, buzzing with it, the metallic taste in his mouth of the adrenaline coursing through him.
He felt a tap on his shoulder; Sam was reaching for the ripcord.
Then the canopy exploded, and after the intense rush of the freefall, Ethan and Sam were pulled up into a perfectly controlled glide to the DZ.
It was eerie floating down in the blackness. Below them, lights of towns glowed, and car headlights seemed to cut the darkness into zigzags. During a normal day jump, Ethan knew where he was in the sky, how far away the ground was, but in the dark it was just like Kat had said it felt as if he was floating there, not falling at all.
As Ethan stared into the night, trying to take it all in, he noticed it getting darker, just as Johnny had warned, and realized they were now in the dark zone. That meant the DZ was getting close.
'Knees up!' shouted Sam.
Ethan reacted, pulled his knees up hard. Seconds later the ground rushed up at them, Sam flared the canopy, and they landed gently.
'Enjoy that?' Sam asked as he unclipped Ethan.
'What do you think?' he replied. 'What a rush!'
Sam sorted out the rig and pulled in the canopy, rolling it up.
As Ethan followed Sam back to the hangar, the rest of the team landed on the DZ. A beaming Johnny soon caught up with him. 'Quite a mind-screw, isn't it?' he said. 'Just wait till you do it solo; it's a religious experience.'
Ethan laughed and raised his left hand. 'I'm shaking. I think my brain's still up there somewhere. I can't stop buzzing!'
'You're really beginning to sound like one of us, Eth,' Johnny told him. 'Be afraid. Be very afraid.'
'Nothing I can do about it,' said Ethan. 'I absolutely bloody love it!'
'Then there's just one thing left for you to try,' said Johnny.
Ethan looked at him. 'What?'
'Your first BASE jump,' said Johnny. 'You can come along tomorrow night and watch if you like.' Then he winked. 'But don't tell Sam.'
CHAPTER 20
Ethan was waiting outside his block of flats; he recognized the van as soon as it turned into the road. It was the one he'd seen Johnny jump into when he'd first met him. Hell, that seemed so long ago now.
The side door flew open.
'Kat?'
'Well spotted,' said Kat. 'Jump in. It's not exactly luxurious, but there are a few rucksacks to sit on.'
Ethan got in. Kat slid the door shut behind him and the van sped off, sending him onto his arse. He shuffled himself round into a sitting position.
Johnny was peering over from the front seat. 'You remember The Dude?'
The driver waved back with his left hand, the little finger and thumb outstretched, the middle three fingers clenched.
'He's a legend in his own lifetime,' said Johnny. 'It's his fault I got into BASE jumping in the first place.'
'So you skydive then?' asked Ethan.
'Totally,' said The Dude. 'I've been out of the country for a while otherwise you'd have seen me at FreeFall.'
'He's so mysterious...' Johnny's eyes were wide. 'By out of the country out of the country he actually means lying on a beach in Goa.' he actually means lying on a beach in Goa.'
The Dude laughed.
Ethan looked at Kat. 'He really calls himself that?'
Kat rolled her eyes. 'His favourite movie's The Big Lebowski. The Big Lebowski. Ever seen it? He watches it every week.' Ever seen it? He watches it every week.'
The Dude nodded, waved his hand again, accelerated as some traffic lights ahead turned from green to red.
'Feeling OK?' Johnny asked Kat.
'I'm a little nervous,' she replied.
'Good,' said Johnny. 'I don't want to do this with anyone who doesn't get nervous.'
The Dude reached for the stereo. 'Time for some tunes,' he said, drawling out the word 'tunes' as if it was spelled with at least a hundred U Us and ended with 'zaaaahhhh'.
Music slammed into the van, turned up to the maximum. No one spoke, simply because you couldn't hear anything above the music.
A few miles down the road, and halfway through something that sounded like a drum kit being destroyed, The Dude turned the music down. 'We're being followed.'
'Shut up,' said Kat. 'No one knows we're doing this.'
Johnny turned to The Dude. 'Serious?'
The Dude nodded. 'Car's been tailing us for the past few miles. I've slowed down a few times to give the driver a chance to overtake, but he's just stayed behind.'
'Maybe he's just a nervous driver,' said Ethan. 'You know doesn't like overtaking at night or something. My mum's like that.'
'Nah, this is different,' said The Dude. 'I'm sure of it.'
Kat looked up at Johnny.
'See what happens if we pull over,' he said. 'Wait till you're on a straight bit of road, then indicate and pull off the road, like we're checking a map or someone's getting out to take a piss or something.'
A few moments later, The Dude pulled the van off the road, flicking his hazard lights on as they came to a standstill. A black hatchback zipped past at way above the speed limit, the exhaust growling angrily, so low that it caught the road, sending sparks scattering across the tarmac.
'Idiot,' said Kat, looking at the disappearing tail lights.
Johnny turned to The Dude. 'Did you get a look at the registration number?'
He shook his head. 'Must've been mistaken,' he said, 'but all the signs were there. Kept his speed on mine, and never overtook, even when I slowed.'
'But who'd follow us?' asked Ethan.
Johnny sighed dramatically. 'It was probably some of my more hardcore fans,' he said. 'They get so fractious if they've not touched me for a while.'
'Did you really just use the word fractious?' asked Kat.
'And I hardly know what it means,' said Johnny. 'Sounded good though, didn't it?' He turned to The Dude. 'OK to head on?'
The Dude answered by easing the van back out onto the road. About fifteen minutes later he pulled into a lay-by.
'This is it,' said Johnny, looking over at Ethan and Kat.
The Dude jumped out of the van and pulled open the side door.
Ethan jumped out and watched as Kat and Johnny grabbed a rig each and clipped themselves in.
'Follow me,' said Johnny.
The Dude locked the van and they trailed off into the dark.
'We're here,' Johnny said after a hard ten-minute climb.
Ethan stopped. 'Where's here here exactly?' exactly?'
Johnny pointed at the view. It was fantastic. Rolling hills stretched away beneath them, dotted with specks of light. And stretching up into the sky above, just a couple of hundred metres from where they were standing, stood an enormous antenna.
'You're kidding,' said Ethan. 'You're crazy.'
'Right,' said Johnny. 'Kat? You ready?'
Ethan looked at Kat, saw her nod nervously. It was the first time he'd ever seen her look even slightly unsure of herself.
'First we check each other's rigs,' said Johnny.
'I know that,' Kat told him.
'I know you know,' he said. 'But we'll be doing everything by the letter tonight. There's no second chance with this. OK?'
Kat nodded and started to check Johnny's rig.
Ethan noticed that the rigs were much smaller than those he'd used. They were more like the size of a Raider.
'What's the difference between these rigs and the ones I'm used to?' he asked, always keen to learn something new about the sport that had taken over his life.
'These are BASE-specific rigs,' said Johnny. 'You can use converted rigs, but these are better.'
'They look no bigger than a Raider,' said Ethan.
'They're not,' said Johnny, 'but the difference is that these are low-aspect-ratio canopies technical term which means they're bloody reliable in the opening and stable in flight. Last thing you need on a BASE jump is some highly manoeuvrable canopy above you it'll swing you into a cliff before you know it.'
'Right,' said Ethan, and realized he had never seen Johnny so serious before. It was reassuring, but it didn't quite make him wish he was Kat.
'Sorted,' said Johnny. 'Now here's what we're gonna do.'
Ethan drew closer; he wasn't going to miss a chance to learn something from his friend.
'Kat and I are going to peg it over to the antenna. Then we'll climb as quickly as we can to the highest point and jump. Dude, you're on filming duty. Ethan you keep a watch out. If we get spotted, we're in the shit.'
Ethan nodded.
Johnny pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to him. 'Two-way radio,' he explained. 'If there's a problem, you tell us and we bolt. Right?'
Ethan nodded again. It was a skill he'd mastered since turning up at FreeFall.
'It's just a simple press-'n'-talk job,' Johnny told him, pointing at the large black button on the side of the radio. 'It's quicker than a mobile. Saves time if you don't have to tap in a phone number.' He turned to Kat. 'A ladder leads up the antenna, but it starts about seven metres off the ground. We'll use this to get up to that point...'
He opened a rucksack and revealed a thick knotted rope with a three-pronged grappling hook attached to the end of it. Ethan wondered where he'd found the hook it looked pretty deadly.
'The ladder is enclosed all the way up to a small platform. You go first, Kat, and I'll follow. OK?'
Kat nodded, and Ethan saw her shift from foot to foot.
'When you jump, you know what to do. We've practised this plenty of times.'
'Is it different from jumping out of a plane?' asked Ethan.
'You jump from a plane at speed,' said Johnny, 'so your canopy grabs air immediately. BASE jumping's different. You're starting from a stationary position and your canopy won't grab enough air until you've picked up speed.'
He turned to Kat. 'We'll be fine with this. We're jumping from one of the highest points in the country. Just make sure that when you jump, you get yourself far enough away from the antenna for your canopy to deploy safely. And throw your drogue chute out straight away; it needs to pull your canopy out asap.'