DropZone

Kat laughed, and Joh

‘But they were armed,’ said Ethan. ‘You could’ve been shot.’

‘And I could’ve died if you hadn’t jumped out of the plane after me at FreeFall,’ said Kat. ‘Life’s just full of surprises, isn’t it?’

‘I guess so.’

‘The tent’s pretty full,’ Kat went on. ‘Lots of chatter, the chinking of glasses. They’re definitely not expecting visitors. The two guards were the only ones about outside. Everyone else is in the tent.’

‘Right,’ said Luke. ‘Watches. We meet at the beach in exactly thirty minutes – on my mark.’ He paused, then, ‘Three, two, one… mark.’

Everyone clicked their watches.

Joh

Ethan watched as she crouched down to allow Joh

Joh

Together they ran quickly through the thick woodland, making for the path to the beach.

Ethan noticed that Joh

Odd shadows loomed ahead and Joh

‘Other than skydiving, a helicopter is the only way to fly,’ Joh

The woodland eventually thi

Joh

Ethan looked and saw it stretching ahead – carved out of the cliff itself, at times dipping in under an overhang. It certainly wasn’t for the faint-hearted. He could hear waves slipping over pebbles somewhere far below.

Joh

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Ethan. ‘Did you hear something?’

‘No,’ said Joh

Finding himself alone, Ethan quickly checked the landscape. The path didn’t exactly lend itself to playing hide-and-seek, but just a few metres on he spotted what looked like a landslide partly covering the track. He decided he’d be better off hiding in the shadows than standing out on a narrow cliff path, so he jogged on down to the landslide and made himself as invisible as possible.

For the first few minutes he focused on what he and Joh

But just then he heard something further up the track. Ethan peered out from his hiding place, fully expecting to see Joh

29

They came slowly down the path. Ethan pressed himself into the cliff face, stretched out his arms, tried to become a part of the rock. Even so, he knew the landslide wouldn’t hide him if the guys came much closer.

And if Joh

Ethan could hear his heart racing. It felt like it was trying to smack its way out of his chest. The blood was drumming in his ears – he was surprised the two x-rays couldn’t hear it. But he forced himself to focus on what was going on. Panicking would do nothing, he knew that. What he had to do was think of a solution.

The two men stopped, and Ethan saw a light flash as one lit a cigarette, passed it to his mate, then lit one more. And in that brief moment of brightness he spotted their weapons. He didn’t care what sort of weapons they were, just that things were now more than serious – one slip-up and he was dead.

The cigarette smoke caught on the wind, drifted down past Ethan. He could smell it, taste it. He nearly coughed, but managed to stop himself.

Then they just stood there, talking, only metres away from him. Their voices were clear, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying; whatever language they were using, it certainly wasn’t English. One of the men put his cigarette out, then nodded down the path.

Ethan realized they were going to continue on down to the beach, and the only way for them to do that was past him – in which case he’d be discovered for sure. He remembered how important it was for the team to remain unseen on this mission. Now was not the time to pick a fight with two armed men on a narrow cliff path. He had to do something else.

One of the men started off towards him, but the other stopped him, handed him another cigarette and a small hipflask. They both laughed.

Ethan knew this was his last chance – either he made a move now, or he waited to be discovered. He glanced around. The path disappeared into darkness, and he wondered about slipping on towards the beach himself, but then he remembered Joh

Ethan sized up the situation. There was no way he could slip past the men. The track was barely wide enough for two people, never mind another trying to hide in the shadows. So what the hell was he going to do?

He let his head fall back as he tried to think – and saw the cliff face rising above him. It was jagged and rough. It was climbable!

He had to climb; it was the only way.

Ethan slipped further down the path, further into the darkness, so that the men wouldn’t hear him. Eventually he could no longer see them, so he turned to face the rock, found some hand-holds, and started up.

The rock was cold and cut into his hands, but at least the holds were large and easy. It wasn’t long before he was well off the path, but a glance upwards made him realize just how dangerous a position he was now in. The cliff stretched on up into the dark and he had no idea if the climbing got harder. Still, he had little choice but to press on. He kept climbing, trying to ignore the heavy bergen on his back, which threatened to drag him backwards off the cliff-face.

Adrenaline was surging through him, but so was fear. The HAHO jump had been fine, but this? It felt mildly insane. Ethan had never done much climbing before – having to do it soundlessly, in case he got shot at, sure focused the mind. At the same time, he was aware of the minutes slipping by: surely Joh

But then he heard the voices of the two x-rays directly below him. He stopped, hugged the cliff, didn’t move. If he dislodged a stone onto the men below, he knew he was dead. They wouldn’t wait for him to climb down; they’d just shoot him off the cliff.

Then his left foot slipped.

Ethan caught himself before he fell, but the sound of his foot scraping against the rock seemed loud enough to wake the dead.

For a few moments he stayed where he was, a shadow on the rock, hoping to God that the two men below had moved on far enough not to have noticed the noise. He strained his ears to hear their voices, and was relieved that they sounded more distant now.