He wants me to help him put you through the AFF.’
Ethan opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Surely Johnny was just taking the piss.
‘Sam will be teaching you,’ Johnny told him. ‘He’s the business, as you know. Doesn’t miss a trick and doesn’t let you jump unless he’s confident you’re not going to spin out and kill yourself.’
‘You’re not serious, are you?’ said Ethan, but Johnny simply went on:
‘I’ll be doing the filming. I need the practice anyway. We’ll be able to assess every single jump you do, show you what you’re doing wrong, what you’re doing right. And you’ll have a nice little souvenir at the end, won’t you? A little bit of Ethan Hollywood all of your own.’
At last words formed in Ethan’s head. ‘But . . . who?’ he asked. ‘Who’s sorted it? This doesn’t make sense . . .’ And it didn’t. He’d spent the whole of yesterday dealing with the fact that he wouldn’t be able to do his AFF until next summer at the earliest, and now here was Johnny telling him he’d be doing it right away. It sounded nuts.
A throaty growl interrupted his thoughts as Sam pulled up in his Defender and climbed out.
‘Ethan. Johnny,’ he said, striding over to them. ‘Ready?’
‘I sure am,’ said Johnny, standing up. ‘Ethan’s still in shock, though, aren’t you, mate?’
Ethan looked up at Sam and slowly got to his feet. ‘How am I supposed to pay for this?’ he asked. ‘It’s OK you helping me out by teaching and filming and stuff, but it’s still going to cost, isn’t it? And I just don’t have the cash. I really don’t. I mean, fifteen hundred quid . . . that’s—’
‘A lot of money, I know,’ said Sam, cutting Ethan off. ‘But hasn’t Johnny told you? It’s all sorted.’
Ethan nodded. ‘Yeah, he said, but—’
‘Then here’s a little tip: shut up and accept it, right? I have ways of getting extra funding when I need it. That’s all you need to know.’
‘But I’ll still have to pay it back,’ said Ethan.
‘No,’ said Sam, ‘you won’t. That’s what “sorted” means. I’ve also arranged cover for you this week so you don’t have to worry about work. All you need to think about now is keeping your eyes and ears open, listening, learning and making sure you don’t die. Got it?’
Ethan stood there for a moment, trying to take it all in. The tandem – that had been pretty crazy. But now this! How on earth had Sam sorted out the costs? And why? It didn’t make sense, but Ethan didn’t want to ask any more questions in case Sam got annoyed and changed his mind. It started to sink in. He was going to learn to skydive . . . bloody hell!
Adrenaline raced through him. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’ he said, and as he looked up at Sam, he saw a flicker of a smile cross his face.
‘I’m always serious,’ said Sam. ‘So sort your shit out and I’ll see you and Johnny in the hangar in ten.’
He went over to the café door, unlocked it and disappeared inside.
Ethan turned to Johnny. ‘I’m actually going to be learning to skydive? For real?’
Johnny nodded, and came to put his arm across Ethan’s shoulders. ‘Not just skydive,’ he said, ‘but skydive with the best.’
‘Sam?’
‘No,’ said Johnny. ‘Me.’
11
‘The AFF course,’ Sam began, ‘takes you from beginner to category eight qualified skydiver in eight jumps.’
Ethan was sitting in the hangar, Johnny next to him. He was fully rigged up and hanging on Sam’s every word. Outside, the day was clear; sunshine was streaming in through the windows. ‘Eight jumps?’ he said, thinking it hardly sounded enough.
Sam nodded. ‘Today we’re doing ground training,’ he went on. ‘You’ll do your first jump tomorrow.’
Ethan immediately felt disappointed. He was impatient, wanted to jump now, get back into the air, feel the sky rushing past him, experience again that strange moment when the world below just seems to sit there, perfectly still, not getting any closer, your brain unable to compute that you’re at terminal velocity, falling at around 120 mph.
Johnny went and stood next to Sam. Ethan thought how different they were – Sam with his startlingly short hair, hard face and unflinching stance; Johnny looking like an advert for why extreme sports make women want to sleep with you.
‘Sam’s going to be leading on this,’ Johnny said. ‘I’m helping out. When you do your jumps, you’ll