Part 6 (1/2)

'Would I lie to you? Would I? Everything was fine. Don't you trust me?'

Kat pushed him away, looking annoyed and confused.

Natalya stepped in. 'Your canopy was dead, Jake,' she said, her voice sharp. 'You should have cut away, but you did not. Instead, you kept fighting it. Kat was right this is bulls.h.i.+t. You are always full of it.'

'Shut it, Nat,' snapped Jake. 'I lost alt.i.tude awareness, that's all, thought I could sort out my main canopy. The AAD saved me, didn't it? That's what it's for, right? What's the problem?'

Ethan saw the look on Natalya's face; it could've burned through lead. He was beginning to think she wasn't the kind of person you wanted to p.i.s.s off.

'You are dangerous, Jake,' she said, tight-lipped. 'I'm not sure I want to jump with you again. Kill yourself I do not care. Kill one of us? That is different.'

'She's got a point,' said Johnny. 'You should've cut away at two thousand, pulled the reserve yourself. An AAD's only in case of emergency. It's too b.l.o.o.d.y risky to depend on it like that. You could have been killed. AADs aren't foolproof.'

Jake gave an awkward laugh and tried to look relaxed. 'I had it all under control. It was just an error of judgement, that's all.'

'It is errors of judgement that get us killed,' hissed Natalya. 'And you make too many of them, Jake.'

'Look,' said Jake, 'like I said, I got too focused on sorting out my canopy, forgot to check my altimeter, that's all. I'm here, aren't I?'

'You were about five seconds from impact,' said Luke, his voice calm. 'If your AAD had failed, or if your reserve had got tangled with your main canopy, we'd be sc.r.a.ping you off the ground now instead of sitting here arguing. What were you thinking?'

'How do you know what happened anyway?' asked Jake, scowling now. 'You were all still in the air.' Then he saw Ethan. He pushed away from Kat and came over, got in Ethan's face. 'You tell them all this, Rookie?'

'I saw you falling,' said Ethan. 'I was with Sam.'

'So you finked on me? You ran and told the big scary boss man?'

'Hang it,' said Johnny, getting up and coming across. 'Sam was with with Ethan. Ethan didn't have to tell him anything. Sam saw it all. Ethan just told us your canopy grabbed air at under a thousand; we guessed the rest.' Ethan. Ethan didn't have to tell him anything. Sam saw it all. Ethan just told us your canopy grabbed air at under a thousand; we guessed the rest.'

'But nothing happened, did it?' said Jake, now turning to Johnny. 'And all this d.i.c.k's done is stir things up hey, Rookie?'

Ethan was about to respond when a voice shot across the cafe.

'Jake!'

Everyone fell silent.

Sam was standing in the archway leading from the cafe to the bar area.

'Hey, Sam!' Jake grinned. 'Everything's cool, man. Had it all under control. And the rush you haven't skydived till you've flown that close to wiping out! It was just awesome!'

Sam came over. He towered over the gang, his shadow falling across Jake.

'My office. Now.'

Jake opened his mouth to reply.

'Now, Jake,' said Sam. 'Now.'

And seeing the look on Sam's face even though he wasn't the one being called into his office Ethan felt sick.

When Jake had left with Sam, Johnny flicked a glance at the rest of the gang. 'Dead man walking,' he said flatly.

No one argued.

CHAPTER 8

Ethan heard Jake before he saw him. The crack of Sam's office door slamming split the air.

Ethan turned, saw Jake storming towards him.

'Rookie!'

Kat stood up and tried to stop him, but he pushed her out of the way and walked straight up to Ethan.

Ethan didn't flinch. He'd never been one for backing down from anyone. It had got him knocked around a few times at school, but he didn't care. Running away wasn't part of his character.

Jake shoved Ethan in the chest. 'I'm going to make you pay for this, Rookie...'

Ethan said nothing, did nothing. He just stood there, waiting to see what Jake would do next.

'You hear me?' said Jake as Kat tried to pull him away. 'You did this. All you had to do was keep your stupid mouth shut that's all! You p.r.i.c.k!'

Johnny and Luke walked over and stood between Ethan and Jake.

'That's it,' said Johnny, looking straight at Jake. 'Outside. Calm down. Now.'

Jake turned on Johnny. 'Don't tell me what to do, you s.h.i.+t!' he screamed, and Ethan could see he was losing control.

Luke stepped in. 'Jake, just do what Johnny suggested. Go outside and calm it.' Then he looked at Ethan. 'You, walk away,' he said.

Ethan nodded and turned back towards the counter. He figured it made more sense to let this one lie than help things get out of hand. He wanted the job and he wanted the tandem, and he knew Sam wouldn't look kindly on a fight at FreeFall.

Johnny and Luke stood firmly in Jake's way and Kat finally managed to get him to leave the cafe, taking him by the arm and dragging him out.

Johnny looked at Ethan. 'Kat was right about you,' he said, a smile breaking through the seriousness of the moment. 'You really do know how to make friends and influence people, don't you?'

'But I didn't do anything,' protested Ethan. 'And what was all that about? What happened? What's Sam done?'

Johnny and Luke sat back down at the table. Natalya hadn't moved, but now she leaned forward and looked up.

'The only thing he can do,' she said. 'If someone makes a stupid mistake like that out on the DZ, then they are grounded until they've learned better. With Jake, it should have happened sooner. I have never trusted him. He is too wild. Too obsessed with himself. Even more so than Johnny.'

'Oh, you hurt me with your words,' Johnny groaned.

'What do you mean, grounded?' said Ethan. 'Kept inside for a week and not allowed to see his friends? Sam's not your dad!'