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32. Radio
“ALORS, WE DON’T have much time.” Pierre’s strong voice echoed in the small aeroplane. “Get ready to jump,” he said towards Roy and me after having spoken in French to his beasts.
A buzzing noise hissed in my ears as I gripped the armrests for dear life. “I don’t want to jump,” I said to no one in particular.
Roy cupped my cheek, his warm palm comforting. “Don’t worry. We’ll jump together. All you have to do is trust me.”
My head felt filled with cotton while Roy explained to me the dynamics of the jump. We had to jump all together to be sure to hit the ground at a close range. But we couldn’t be close enough to slam against each other, or cause our parachutes to twine together. Easy, right? That would require weeks of preparation, but I had minutes to be ready. He made me wear the harness and the parachute, reassuring me that it would be fine. But he and I were going to use only his parachute. At least I thought he’d said that. My brain was lagging behind, struggling to make sense of everything.
The other beasts talked loudly to be heard over the ruckus of the engine as we stood next to the opening. Pierre kept glancing at a tall, dark-haired woman who seemed to do her level best to avoid his gaze. Even in my rather agitated state, I could feel some sexual tension between them. A past lover of Pierre? The other beasts checked each other’s gear, pulled strings, and fastened knots, laughing and chatting in French. What was so funny? Someone gave me a helmet. Oh, please. As if it’d be useful in case I crashed against the ground.
“Deux minutes.” Pierre held up two fingers.
I quivered, inching closer to Roy, my legs turned into blancmange.
“Everything is going to be fine,” he said for the umpteenth time. But the more he said that, the less I believed it. He strapped us together, using a tight harness.
The cold wind shuffled my hair under the helmet as I stood in front of the open hatch of the aeroplane with the parachute on my shoulders. The darn thing was heavy and weighed me down. It’d speed up my descent. I wasn’t sure if not seeing the ground was a good or a bad thing. The sun was setting behind a curtain of clouds, setting them on fire, and the earth was blurry. Or maybe it was fear.
“Don’t worry, Kristin.” Roy rubbed my knuckles, shouting over the hissing wind. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”
I swallowed past the knot of dread in my throat. “I completely trust you. It’s the ground I don’t trust.”
“And the speed with which we’re going to plunge towards the earth,” Pierre pointed out unhelpfully. He whistled, mimicking a person dropping to the ground with his hand.
Blimey. My stomach bottomed out.
“I’ve got you, Kristin.” Roy checked our joined harness again, then he stared at me, determination burning in the depths of his amber eyes. “Let’s go.”
“Bon courage.” Pierre shouted before jumping out of the aeroplane without hesitation.
“Come on, Kristin.” Roy leapt behind his friend.
“But I—” The rest of the sentence was swept away by the wind and buried by my scream. I screamed so loud that my throat burned. I gripped his neck.
Roy’s arm wrapped around me as he yelled, “Pull the ripcord.”
With shaking fingers, I tugged at the ripcord dangling over his chest. Nothing happened. My fingers were too sweaty to grip the darn thing. I tried again, but not with enough energy. Dash it. I tried a third time as we plunged like kingfishers towards the earth. A new swoosh followed. There was a soft whoosh. I was yanked up, and our descent slowed as our parachute opened like a white umbrella against the red sky, a white moon glowing right above us. I didn’t dare look down, although there wouldn’t be much to see. Just the usual green and brown stuff.
“Well done.” Roy was smiling too much for my taste. He should be panicking like I was doing. That was the sensible thing to do, not grin and look happy even.
We floated down. Admittedly, it wasn’t the frenetic, breakneck speed I’d thought, but a gentle swing in the sunset. It didn’t mean that I was enjoying myself.
Roy pointed down, the sign that we were supposed to unleash our beasts. She came out with a roar, chasing away my fear. Almost. The descent became bumpy with gusts of wind shifting me right and left. I wanted to clench Roy.
“We’re close to the ground,” he yelled.
I did as told and shut my eyes. The fall lasted a lifetime, but I didn’t open my eyes.
My feet touched the ground with a thud, but Roy turned into his panther and held me up, so that I didn’t fall over. Pierre’s golden lion was already waiting for us, pacing in circles on the ground. I merged with Roy among the discarded remains of my jumpsuit that had ripped when my beast had come out. With quick slashes of his claws, Roy cut the strings of the parachute and freed us. The fresh scent of the forest was rich with the fragrance of pine trees and moss. Drops of moisture hung on the grass blades and glittered in the dying sun like rubies. The view and hearty scents energised me.
Turned into our fawn tiger, Roy and I ran through the brush, following Pierre’s golden mane. The other beasts scattered around, searching the area for the team of Nazis that should arrive any minute now. Amidst the glorious sunset and the emerald forest, the transmitter antenna of the radio station rose from the middle of a clearing in all its metal brilliance, a few lights glowing along its length.
There hadn’t been enough time to devise a detailed plan for what we were supposed to sabotage in the antenna. But Pierre was confident that by meddling with the electric panel of the station, we would be able to cut off the communication. We stalked past the base of the antenna. The creeping darkness and the surrounding bushes helped conceal us.
We crawled on our bellies towards the radio station. There were two buildings at the end of a path that, from the antenna, led to a flat area. Pierre paused, and after his body shook, his lion shrunk in size and turned into a large blond cat.
“My goodness.” Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but be impressed by his ability to shift.
