‘Ethan-’ Johnny began.

And then the words were out before he had a chance to stop them. ‘Fuck it,’ Ethan said. ‘I’m in.’

Johnny stood up. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new team member!’

Luke was the first to respond. ‘Nice one, Eth,’ he said. ‘Glad to have someone on board who actually takes things seriously.’ He looked at Johnny, and they both smiled.

‘Cheers,’ said Ethan; then he winked. ‘But I’m only in it for the girls.’

Luke and Johnny laughed.

‘You made the right decision all the same,’ said Natalya. ‘I am pleased you have joined us.’

For the first time Ethan saw a genuine smile on her face. It suited her, he thought.

‘Don’t think Jake could call you a rookie now,’ said Kat. ‘Pity we can’t tell him – it’d be worth it just to see the look on his face.’

‘You’re over him, then?’ said Ethan.

‘Was never on or even under him,’ she joked.

‘Enough of the emotional stuff,’ said Johnny. ‘Let’s get down to business. Luke?’

Ethan listened up. So did everyone else.

‘The situation is this,’ Luke began: ‘an encrypted hard disk has been stolen. It contains sensitive information that, were the encryption to be broken, could prove damaging to certain parties.’

‘If it’s encrypted, what’s the problem?’ asked Ethan, hoping he didn’t sound like a total knob. ‘Isn’t that supposed to mean no one can read it unless they’re the right person with the right code or something?’

‘Yup,’ said Johnny. ‘But Gabe reckons this was an inside job. Which means there probably is someone with all that. Sam was sent in to recover the disk before the encryption could be broken and the info sold to the highest bidder.’

‘So where’s Sam now?’ asked Kat. ‘Why call us in?’

Luke went on, ‘The person suspected of stealing the disk was tracked to a small island off the coast of France. Sam was HAHO’d in a few hours ago to get the disk back. But he’s now communicated that the situation has changed and is critical. He needs urgent support to complete the mission.’

‘Which is where we come in,’ said Natalya. ‘Right?’

Johnny nodded and looked at Ethan. ‘Like I said, the skydiving competition was the perfect cover for Sam to leave the country and for us to follow on in case it turned into a full-on shit-storm – which it has.’

‘So eloquently put,’ said Kat, shaking her head.

‘So we were sent to the competition just in case Sam needed us?’ Ethan asked.

Luke nodded. ‘No one would suspect a thing,’ he said. ‘Gabe got the communication from Sam as we left FreeFall. The jet was being held in reserve, just in case this kicked off.’

The more Ethan heard, the more unreal it all seemed. He’d just found out he was a member of a special ops team working for MI5. It was like something from the movies; something that only ever happened to good-looking actors on the big screen – oh, and as it turned out, him! He felt himself grinning like an idiot and tried to focus. ‘You’ve still not explained how we’re involved,’ he said. ‘Or what’s in the files on the disk.’

‘The contents of the files are on a strictly need-to-know basis,’ said Johnny. ‘And Gabe doesn’t want us to know. Which means none of us needs to ask. All we have to do is help Sam. He’s arrived at the target destination but is unable to locate and extract the disk without being compromised.’

‘Why?’ asked Natalya. ‘What has happened? Did Gabe not know the situation before he sent Sam in?’

‘The situation’s changed,’ said Johnny. ‘There are more x-rays on the ground than originally thought and it’s now too risky for Sam to act without a diversion.’ He looked at Ethan and grinned. ‘Which is where we come in.’

‘X-rays?’ asked Ethan.

‘Enemies,’ explained Kat, then turned to Johnny. ‘And by “compromised” you mean killed, don’t you?’

Johnny nodded and looked at Ethan. ‘You keeping up with this? It’s a lot to take in.’

‘Yeah,’ said Ethan, smiling. ‘It’s not every day you become part of a covert ops team, is it?’

‘Shit happens,’ Johnny said with a shrug.

The plane dropped suddenly and Ethan heard the engines squeal a little, felt his stomach flip. It had been doing that a lot in the past few minutes.

‘This situation Sam’s in…’ he said. ‘Does it mean we have to take guns with us?’

‘For a start, we use the term weapon rather than gun,’ said Luke. ‘And, no, we won’t go in armed. We never do. The job of the team is always to try and slip in under the radar, not to go in and take people out. We need to be invisible. Weapons have a habit of making people very obvious indeed. But we will be taking in explosives to create a diversion.’

‘He means we’ll blow shit up,’ said Johnny.

‘Sounds dangerous,’ said Ethan.

‘Comes with the territory,’ Johnny replied, ‘and it’s all part of the fun. Anyway, who wants to live a life that’s risk-free? Better to live as a lion for a day than a lamb for a year, right?’

‘That’s cheesy,’ said Ethan.

‘I know,’ said Johnny. ‘Can’t believe I said it.’

‘True though,’ Kat put in quietly.

‘If the op goes well, we’ll still be going to the competition,’ Luke added. ‘It’s all part of the cover story.’

Ethan looked at the team – his team – four people he now counted as the best friends he’d ever had. He was about to jump from a jet with them – on a mission for MI5 to rescue the toughest bloke he’d ever met in his life. Just a few weeks ago he wouldn’t have believed it was possible, wouldn’t have believed he could have the skills for such a mission. But it was and he did. He was confident of that. Sam – the team – wouldn’t have chosen him otherwise. All he had to do was stay sharp, stay focused, and remember everything he’d been taught.

‘OK,’ he said, ‘ignoring the lion/lamb thing, I do have one more question.’

‘What’s that?’ said Johnny.

Ethan smiled. ‘What’s the pay like?’

‘We go in thirty,’ said Johnny. ‘Let’s move.’

The team moved to the rear of the plane.

‘You’re with me,’ Kat told Ethan. ‘We’re going in tandem.’

‘Tandem?’ said Ethan. ‘But isn’t this a high-altitude jump? I didn’t know you could do that.’

‘Well, you can,’ said Kat, ‘and we can’t have you doing one without any prep. Natalya’s got no experience of doing tandems and she’s taking the explosives in anyway. And you’re too heavy to go with Johnny or Luke. So it’s me.’

‘Explosives?’

Kat nodded. ‘Natalya’s the expert in that area. Seems to know more than Sam, and that’s saying something.’

‘I can’t work her out,’ said Ethan.

‘You’re not the only one.’ Kat led him through a door and down some metal stairs. ‘I’m probably her closest friend and all I know is that I know nothing about her. This way.’

They went through another door, and immediately Ethan noticed the temperature drop.

‘At this altitude we’ll be jumping with oxygen,’ Kat explained. ‘And it’s very cold so we’ll be wearing thermals. I’m sure you’ll look very sexy in them.’

Ethan found himself in a section of the plane that had been entirely stripped of anything comfortable. The walls were just metal plates and struts riveted together. And the sound of the plane’s engines had seriously risen in volume. To speak and be heard, everyone had to shout.

Johnny nodded at them. ‘I’ll give Gabe eight out of ten for kit prep,’ he said.

‘Only eight?’ queried Ethan, trying to stop his teeth from chattering.

‘He left my lucky teddy bear behind,’ said Johnny.

Luke pulled out a map, laid it on the metal checker-plate floor. ‘This is the DZ,’ he said, pointing just below a patch of dark green on the map as everyone else gathered round. ‘We’ll be nicely hidden by the trees and we’re only half a click from here, which is where Sam and the disk are. Our job is to draw attention away from that point and allow Sam sufficient time to get in and recover it.’