said. ‘I’ve already worked that out. Sam’s not been training me up just so that I can have fun at a hundred and twenty mph – so why don’t you tell me what’s happening, what Gabe’s on about, what Sam’s got to do with all this, and just what job it is we’re being sent on?’
‘First off,’ said Johnny, ‘I can tell you that we work for Sam and he needs our help.’
‘I thought he was going to meet us at the competition,’ said Ethan.
‘The competition’s a cover,’ Johnny explained. ‘It gave Sam a reason to be in France and us a reason to be around – just in case.’
‘Just in case of what?’ asked Ethan.
Johnny leaned forward. ‘Sam hasn’t just been training us to skydive,’ he said. ‘And he hasn’t just been giving you a nice bit of charity either.’
‘He wants me to be part of the team,’ said Ethan, voicing his own conclusion. ‘I’m not stupid. I always thought it was odd that someone paid for me to do the AFF. It was Gabe, wasn’t it? Sam told him about me, and Gabe somehow came up with the cash to put me through.’
Johnny’s usual jokey persona disappeared completely. ‘We’re a freefall team,’ he said, ‘but that’s also a cover story. The whole thing was Sam’s idea. He used FreeFall as a way to find the people he wanted – and he found us. We work for MI5. Gabe’s our contact. He provides the cash and the sexy equipment.’
‘And it was Sam who put me up for this?’
Johnny nodded. ‘You impressed him, and that’s saying something. We’ve seen you skydive, and he’s right, you’re a natural. Your first solo dive was excellent, and you’ve improved with every jump since. Plus – and this is a biggie – you fit with the team.’
‘Keep talking,’ said Ethan.
‘Look, let’s just say we’ve had our eye on you from the start. From the moment you did your tandem jump, Sam had us watching you. All of us.’
‘You’ve been spying on me?’
‘Not spying,’ said Johnny, ‘but we have been keeping an eye on you to see if you’d fit in.’
‘That makes me feel so much better.’
‘And so it should,’ snapped Johnny, the ice in his voice surprising Ethan. ‘Jake didn’t make the grade, and neither did the bloke before him. But then he just fucked off into nowhere and we never heard from him again.’
‘He disappeared?’ said Ethan.
‘Yeah – though it didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t good enough. But that’s another story.’
‘You’re not even past the first chapter of this one,’ said Ethan. ‘Tell me more about Gabe and MI5.’
‘Can’t,’ said Johnny.
‘You’d better.’
‘Seriously, I can’t. That’s down to Sam and Gabe. I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.’
‘You don’t even understand some of the words you just used.’
‘What gave it away?’ Johnny laughed. ‘Look, I’ve told you all I can. We’re skydivers and we’ve been trained by Sam, the best in the business, to be a covert operations team for MI5. We get to do stuff people only ever see in the movies. The only other thing you need to know is that Sam’s in trouble. We’re now on a heading to get him out of trouble. This will involve wearing lots of black, doing a HAHO jump, setting off explosives and generally causing a diversion. Interested?’
Ethan opened his mouth, shut it again. Then said, ‘HAHO?’
‘High Altitude, High Opening,’ Johnny reminded him. ‘Sometime pretty soon we’re going to be leaving this plane at thirty-two thousand feet. This is just the sort of mission Sam’s been training us for. He thinks – and so do we – that you should be our last team member. I can tell you nothing more than what I’ve already said until you decide whether you’re in.’ He paused, then sighed. ‘I know it’s not much to go on, mate, but you’ll just have to trust me. I’m not making this up. And the stuff I’m not telling you – what you could be doing with your life if you joined us – well, it’s pretty mind-blowing . . .’
‘So I’ve a choice in this?’ asked Ethan. He really didn’t like the fact that so much had been going on behind his back. But at the same time he was psyched. Skydiving had changed his life, made him realize he could do something radically different to everyone else. And what Johnny was describing was even wilder. Joining some kind of secret military operation certainly sounded better than