White Jade

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.