AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And then, maybe, the next one after that.
Until finally, one day, she escaped.
Six
For the first time in his life, Ned could see why people questioned jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. The Gulfstream G700 just might be the most beautiful plane he’d ever HAHO’d out of, and frankly, he wasn’t thrilled to leave the leather sofa, the smooth ride over the Aleutian Islands, for the frigid cold of the 12,000-foot jump.
But if it meant getting his feet on Kamchatka soil and getting onto the gulag ship that held Shae, getting them both safely out of Russia with Ranger’s crazy plan, then, yes.
Get him out of luxury.
“Let me check your gear.” Ranger’s voice from behind him as Ned clipped on his helmet, then ran his hand over his equipment, re-memorizing the tac gear in his vest, his pants pockets. At least this time he wasn’t going in naked. KA-BAR, a Sig handgun loaned to him by Ranger, plus a suppressor, a multi-tool, bolt cutter, flashlights, NVGs, and even an inflatable life vest and a personal EPRIB should they land in the sea. It only activated in water, so that wasn’t going to happen.
But in case of tragedy and they did land in the drink, he carried a small pouch of fresh water, although even that wouldn’t outlast the deep freeze of the Bering Sea. But the plan was not to get his feet wet, to let the High Altitude, High Open deployment carry him the extra forty miles to the Russian shore.
So far they’d traveled under radar, close to the deck, but for this last bit, Dodge and Moose would climb hard to their jump altitude of 12K. They’d offload into the sky, then the Gulfstream would bug home, outrunning, hopefully, any fighters, all the while playing dumb.So sorry, Ivan, got a little lost.
According to Moose, who ran SAR, even out this far, it could work.
“Testing,” came Fraser’s voice in the helmet.
Ned pressed on the com affixed to his vest, two clicks, then, “Confirm.”
Two clicks back and Ned gave a thumbs-up. Then he checked his watch, the compass on the outside registering due west, and the GPS on his wrist. He wore three layers of thermals and a waterproof jumpsuit, but it was like wearing a baseball cap in a snowstorm. He pulled on his goggles.
“You’re good,” Ranger said, and turned him around. Held up the map. “I marked the entry points as well as where you should meet your contact.” Then he bent and shoved the map, inside its plastic bag, into his leg pouch. “Fraser has the same map.”
“Who’s the contact?”
“His name is Pavel. He’s a friend of Moose’s—a fellow pilot. Learned how to fly from him, actually. He’ll get you into the ship.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Ned met eyes with Fraser, whose mouth tightened.
“Can we trust this guy?” Fraser asked.
“Yes.” Ranger glanced toward the cockpit. “Yes.”
Which meant maybe, at best. But they hadn’t had time to cobble together a better plan, so…
“Climbing,” Moose said from over the speaker, which meant they were a hundred miles from the drop zone.
And deep in Russian territory.
Ned walked over to the door, across from the bathroom. The cockpit door was open, and he looked over, through the window.
In the distance, tiny lights prickled the shoreline. Petropavlovsk.
They had fifty miles to fly before they could land, or they’d freeze to death.
Hang on, Shae.
Fraser stepped up behind him.
From the cockpit, Dodge looked at Moose. “They’re pinging us.”
