Lieutenant Markham said, "They're all yours, Sergeant. Colonel, come back safe."
Markham saluted, got in his jeep and drove away. Sergeant Johannsen gestured at the bomber.
"Follow me, sir."
They walked to the plane and climbed in. It was hot in the Texas humidity but things would cool off soon enough.
The Humvee was lashed to a pallet near the converted bomb bay. The chute was being rigged by four airmen in flight gear. Johannsen took three chutes from a locker.
"I packed these myself, Colonel. You may not have used one before."
"It looks different."
"This is the High Altitude Precision Parachute System, HAPPS for short. This is the stealth model, no one will see you from the ground."
"It looks like a skydiving chute, but it's got more attachments on it." That was Selena.
Johannsen eyed the lack of jump insignia on her uniform. "You've jumped before?"
"Over seventy jumps. Seventy-two, to be exact. But maybe you could show me the ropes on this unit."
It was the right thing to say. Nick saw Johannsen relax a little. It was more than rare to see a woman on a special ops mission. Male chauvinism aside, everyone felt responsible for success, even when they didn't know what the mission was about. Johannsen would be lax in his duty if he weren't concerned. His job was to get everyone out of the plane safely. After that it was up to the three of them.
They put on the chutes under Johannsen's direction. He checked each one, pulling the harness tight. When it was Selena's turn, he paused.
"The harness is pretty tight. You might feel some pinching — umm — across your chest."
"Go for it."
He cinched it up and Selena gasped.
"This is your main cord. This is your reserve cord, here. The chute is fully steerable. You'll have oxygen, here."
He attached oxygen dispensers to the chutes. Then he brought three devices that looked like wristwatches out of a compartment.
"Put these on. This is the MA3-30 altimeter. It tells you everything you need to know. It's got a light switch and you adjust here and here."
Ronnie and Nick had used them before, but it was new for Selena.
"Set your altitude before you jump and we'll get you onto the drop zone with airspeed and timing. Your vehicle goes first, then you three. We're going to drop you from 23,000 feet. That gives you around 8,000 feet before you hit the ground, so you won't be up too long."
"Piece of cake."
"That's right, Gunny. Give it five after you go out and pull, and you'll be floating down softer than a balloon at a kid's birthday party. You'll be on the ground in no time. Let's get your packs on."
They strapped on the packs, low in front. When he was satisfied with the rigging, Johannsen reached down into the compartment again and came up with masks and insulated gloves. The pilot was warming up the engines. Johannsen held his hand to his helmet for a moment.
"Two minutes. Let's get you settled."
He led them toward the center of the aircraft. Strap benches lined the fuselage. The four airmen were already seated on the port side. The team took seats starboard and strapped in. Johannsen strapped in across from them and said something into his mike. The roar of eight big GE turbofans increased and the plane began to move.
Party time.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Nick was dozing when Johannsen nudged him awake.
"One hour, Colonel. Pre-breathing in fifteen minutes."
Ronnie sat quietly. Selena had packed up her computer. Carter put his hand on her arm.
"You ready for this?"
"I guess so. I've never jumped from this high before."
"It's the same but the air's thinner, you weigh more with that pack and you'll come down faster. The tricky part is compensating for wind speed and direction. But you know how to do that. With the GPS you're not going to miss the landing zone. Even though we start high, we end high too. That makes it simpler. Just stay loose and you'll be okay."
She nodded.
"Free fall for five, then pull the cord. Remember to snap your chin to your chest once you're out and keep your hand on your reserve until your chute is deployed. Keep your legs tight together. The shock is pretty hard when the chute opens. Remember to land back from the balls of your feet."
Carter looked at his watch. "We'll begin pre-breathing soon."
"Pre-breathing?"
"This high, we have to get the nitrogen out of our blood. If we go out there without pre-breathing, our own CO2 could knock us out and it's a long way down. Don't worry, this is standard drill. I've been through it before. Besides, the oxygen makes you feel good. When we change over to the bottles we use in the jump, be careful not to breathe any cabin air. Only pure oxygen. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Forty-five minutes." Johannsen's voice sounded in her helmet. "Begin pre-breathing."
They put on the masks. Johannsen hooked up the plane's oxygen supply and they began pre-breathing. Carter felt the old pre-jump feeling come over him. He was always wired before a big jump. He figured you could double that for jumping into the biggest, baddest, highest and coldest mountain range on the face of the earth. He saw the tension in Ronnie, but he'd been through this before. He knew Ronnie was silently repeating the Blessing Way to himself, one of the Navajo ritual traditions. Carter wasn't worried about him. He put his hand on Selena's shoulder and felt her relax, just a bit.
Another typical day in Special Ops, he thought, except now I'm a civilian, so what the hell am I doing here? He noted the mind chatter and shut it down. The oxygen was kicking in and he felt clear and strong.
Johannsen's voice crackled in his helmet. "Ten minutes. We're going to depressurize now. Change over to your personal oxygen."
Nick felt the change in the hold and his ears popped. The plane was slowing down and banking through what had to be mountains outside. His altimeter read twenty-one thousand feet. Most of the peaks in this part of the Himalayas were a lot higher than the plane. He knew the wingtips were only a small mistake away from disaster. He hoped like hell the pilot was enjoying flying between them.
"Five minutes. We'll open the doors at two minutes. Weather says very strong wind, watch yourselves. The vehicle goes first and then you three. What order?"
"I'll go first, then Selena, then the Gunny, here."
Johannsen gave a thumbs up. "Roger, that. Two second intervals."
The plane climbed. The doors swung open and a blast of frigid air sucked away the little warmth of the cargo bay. The airmen got ready to dump the Humvee. The wind buffeted the fuselage.
"I hope we land near that sucker." Ronnie's voice crackled in Nick's helmet.
"These guys are good. They'll put it right on the money."
"Set your altimeters at twenty-three thousand." Johannsen's voice came through the helmet.
They moved to the opening. The engine notes changed as the pilot throttled back and the big plane leveled and slowed again.
"Get ready," Johannsen said. A green light flashed and the pallet with the Humvee disappeared into the Himalayan night. Johannsen held up his arm for an instant, threw it forward. Carter leapt into nothingness, arms spread wide.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The chute opened clean and hard. He looked up and saw two chutes blossom above. The plane was a dark arrow turning against the night sky. They were on their own.
A three-quarter moon spilled pure, silver light off the sharp peaks of the Himalayas. The snow-covered mountains gleamed in a shifting tapestry of light and shadow that stretched beyond the horizon. In the distance, Everest and Annapurna grasped at a deep, black sky glowing with stars.