‘Click?’ asked Ethan.

‘Kilometre,’ translated Kat.

‘What is “here” exactly?’ asked Johnny. ‘Doesn’t look like much on the map.’

‘That’s because it isn’t,’ said Luke. ‘In fact it’s what’s left of a fifteenth-century castle. It’s built right above these sea cliffs here. This is what our satellite picked up,’ he added, producing some black and white bird’s-eye-view photos of the castle. Ethan couldn’t quite believe he’d just heard Luke refer to a satellite as though they owned it.

‘Main access to the castle is from the beach, here,’ Luke went on, pointing at the map again. ‘This line here is a path that runs from the beach up to the clifftop.’

‘Looks lovely,’ said Johnny. ‘When can I move in?’

Luke ignored him. ‘We HAHO into the DZ, then we’re on with the diversion. RV is the beach. Sam is to meet us there. I’ll contact him when everything kicks off.’

At this, Natalya piped up. ‘I have spoken to Gabe and checked the kit,’ she said, her face as serious as ever, though she sounded excited. ‘We have more than enough detonators and P4. To secure the beach, we are taking anti-personnel mines – Claymores.’

‘And how do we get off the beach when we’re done?’ asked Kat.

‘One of the packs we’re taking contains two inflatable canoes,’ said Luke. ‘A sub’s on course to pick us up at dawn.’

‘A sub?’ said Ethan. ‘You’re joking, right?’

Luke shook his head.

‘What if the beach is compromised?’ Natalya asked.

Luke rested a finger back on the castle, then dragged it up a little to rest on a small black shape nearby. ‘In that case we leave from here,’ he said. ‘It’s the old watchtower.’

‘Thanks for the added colour there,’ said Johnny. ‘You see, Eth? It’s not just fun, it’s a learning experience too!’

Ethan leaned closer to look at the map, then back at the pictures of the castle. The watchtower was perched right at the top of the cliffs behind the castle ruins.

‘How do we get down those?’ he asked. ‘It’ll take ages to climb.’

‘It would…’ said Kat, looking across at him. ‘Actually if we go that way, you’ll be doing your first BASE jump sooner than you think! But we’ll only do that if everything goes tits up – our aim is to make sure it doesn’t, OK?’

Ethan couldn’t think of anything to say to that so he kept his mouth shut.

‘That’s it,’ said Luke, bringing everyone back to the task in hand. ‘Final point to remember is that this is a covert op. We need as little contact with the x-rays on the island as possible. We get in, provide Sam’s diversion, and get out. Understood?’

Talk over, everyone leaped into action. They started to sort through bags of kit Ethan had never seen before, handing out various bits and pieces to each other, checking everything once, twice and then a third time. And they were getting changed out of their everyday clothes, into stuff that looked considerably more hardcore.

Ethan turned to Kat, who was now dressed in black combat trousers, a black jacket and black boots. The outfit made her look scary as hell.

‘Why’s it so cold?’ he asked, finding it impossible to stop shivering.

‘No heating,’ said Kat. ‘No point making the luggage nice and cosy. Don’t worry, though – this’ll sort that out.’ She handed him a pile of clothing. ‘You’ll need to strip and put the black kit on first,’ she explained. ‘You’ll be in that for the mission after we land. It’s a pretty fab material actually: breathable, as close to silent as you can get, and completely waterproof.’

‘Doesn’t look waterproof,’ said Ethan, holding up the jacket and trousers.

‘What were you expecting?’ asked Kat. ‘Oilskins?’

Ethan examined the other piece of clothing, which looked like a jumpsuit, but was padded and much heavier. ‘What’s this?’

‘Once you’re dressed in the other kit, pull that on over the top,’ Kat told him. ‘It’s a silk-lined, thermal-insulated suit. It’ll stop you turning into a six-foot ice-pop when we jump.’

‘It’s that cold out there?’ Ethan felt pretty chilly as it was, and they were still in the plane.

‘It sure is. We’re jumping from a jet travelling at hundreds of miles an hour, thousands of feet up. The wind-chill factor’s going to be pretty extreme.’

‘Point taken.’

‘Then get a move on,’ said Kat. ‘And if you’re embarrassed about getting your kit off in front of me, I promise I won’t grope you or tell anyone if I see anything weird.’

‘There’s nothing we-’ Ethan began, then saw the smile on her face. ‘Ha ha,’ he said, and started to get changed.

When he was finally dressed, Johnny came over with some more kit.

‘Boots and socks,’ he said, handing them over. ‘They’re your size, trust me.’

Ethan took them. They too were black. And the boots had a high ankle and the mother of all treads.

Johnny smiled at him. ‘They’re not general issue. Government couldn’t really afford to have squaddies running around in these things. They’re an adaptation of an Italian mountain boot. Couple of hundred quid a pop.’

Ethan slipped on the socks – two pairs: one a silk lining sock, the other a thick wool sock with padded sole – then eased on the boots, laced them up. They felt absolutely amazing – snug, comfortable, warm.

‘They won’t require any breaking in, either,’ said Johnny. ‘Leather’s been specially treated. Kat?’

She turned round.

‘Just so you know,’ said Johnny, ‘Ethan has a tendency to scream like a big girl when he’s doing a tandem. And his language is simply appalling.’

Kat laughed. ‘I’ll look after him.’

Johnny went back towards Luke, who Ethan could see was now talking to Natalya and looking through some large black holdalls.

‘Right, Ethan,’ said Kat. ‘The rig.’

‘It’s a tandem rig,’ said Ethan. ‘Bigger canopy because of the additional weight.’

‘Exactly. We need to get it adjusted just right so we don’t cut off our circulation when we’re gliding. It’d be pretty embarrassing to land with you dead.’

For the next few minutes Kat pushed and pulled at Ethan, clipping him in and making sure everything felt right, comfortable.

‘How’s that?’

‘Fine,’ said Ethan.

‘Now the oxygen.’

Ethan looked at the large, black, canvas-covered box in Kat’s hand. She handed him a face mask.

‘We’ll both get our oxygen from this,’ she said. ‘All you need to remember is that there’s more than enough in here for us both. Don’t panic and start breathing like you’re about to die; you’ll use it up quicker, or hyperventilate and pass out.’

‘Not good,’ said Ethan.

‘Right,’ agreed Kat. ‘Flying in with you unconscious wouldn’t be as easy to control. I might even have to cut you loose, drop you before we get there.’

Ethan looked at Kat. Was she serious? ‘I’ll make sure I stay awake and alert,’ he promised.

‘All you need to remember,’ said Kat, ‘is that when we jump, you have your head back and your arms crossed, just like you did with Sam. That’ll allow me to flip us over, get our descent under control and deploy, without having you destabilize us.’

Ethan felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Luke.

‘Sorted?’

Ethan nodded. ‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘Totally.’

‘Good,’ said Luke. ‘Remember we’ve all been watching you, not just Sam and Gabe. If we didn’t think you were up to it, you wouldn’t be here.’

‘No,’ said Johnny, coming over with Natalya. ‘You’d be sedated at the front of the plane, utterly unaware of just how cool we really are.’

‘Are you serious?’ asked Ethan.

‘Deadly,’ said Johnny.

For a few moments Ethan was silent, thinking about that. Then he looked up and said, ‘Right, so tell me about the jump. I’ve done plenty at twelve thousand. How different is it at thirty-two thousand?’

Everyone smiled at him. It felt really good.

‘The big difference,’ began Kat, ‘is the amount of time you’ll spend in the air.’

‘You’ve been skydiving up until now,’ Luke continued. ‘Forty-five-second freefall, followed by about five to ten minutes in glide. This isn’t a skydive. We leave the plane and deploy canopies immediately.’