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