Chapter 13 #2
All the training I’d had over the last several years kicked in. Within seconds, I was free, immediately crawling toward safety just as the others started to come down one after the other.
A couple managed to fall safely to their feet, able to snap off the parachute without any issue.
As the smoke started to clear, I noticed Dante was coming in last. I shielded my eyes, studying his fall.
Goddamn it. Another blast of wind.
“He’s going to lose control!” another jumper said from far behind me.
“Come on, buddy,” Rock yelled, as if the man could hear him.
“Where’s the captain?” I called.
“Over there,” Adam answered.
Dante was doing his best to control the drop. When he was close, he did the unthinkable, trying to yank off the pack. It happened sometimes when jumpers became disoriented.
“Don’t do it. Don’t do it!” I was now the one yelling, running toward where I knew he was going to land. Right on the goddamn precipice of the mountain.
He landed successfully, even pulling himself away from the edge.
“He’s an old pro, Axe. Don’t worry about him.” While I heard the jumper’s voice, I continued heading toward Dante. I knew better than to think anyone was safe until it was proven.
Dante grinned as I walked closer. “What’s wrong, Axe man? Did you think I wasn’t coming to the party?” He was actively trying to unbuckle the vest holding the parachute.
“I thought you were going to take that off mid fall.”
“Yeah, well, I thought I’d need to. Thank God the wind shifted. Where the hell are these damn cold fronts coming from?”
The weather pattern had been highly unusual that last week. While June usually shifted from the last of winter into summer, the volatile patterns had been exceptional.
He continued fighting while walking toward me.
“You need me to cut that off?” I asked, teasing him.
“Don’t touch me, dude.” He grinned and finally popped the buckle.
Just as a hard rush of wind flowed under the fallen parachute, immediately dragging Dante off the ground.
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.”
“Fuck!” he yelled.
“Jumper in distress,” I yelled into the communications system while rushing toward him. He was back peddling, still fighting with the vest while being twirled around like a puppet.
I lunged forward just as the wind began to shift in direction, deflating the parachute.
Dante stumbled backwards, sliding off the edge of the cliff the second I grabbed his wrist.
We both went down with a brutal thud, Dante hanging in midair.
“Jesus Christ,” Rock snarled as he thumped down beside me.
“Keep me steady,” I yelled to no one in particular. “This is going to be dicey.” While my grip was firm, the man outweighed me by a solid thirty pounds of muscle. And I thought I was bulked up.
“Fuck,” Dante hissed.
“Yeah, you know how to piss away a part of a day, huh?” I teased, scanning the area below him. This wasn’t good.
“Got you!” Adam told me while hanging onto my legs, the others crowding around. The last thing I would allow was for him to fall.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to hold you while you remove one side of your vest. Then we’ll switch to the other side. No big deal.” I kept a grin on my face.
“Nice and steady, gentlemen.”
The weight of the goddamn parachute was too much. We couldn’t pull him up with it attached. People had no idea how heavy a parachute could be, especially with the material used for jumping into dangerous situations that we found ourselves in.
“I know, Captain,” I said, comforted by hearing his voice. “No hot-dogging.”
“I don’t know. Now might be the time we need to.
You’re good at that, Axe man. I’ll take whatever you can do.
” For the first time since I’d known him, I heard the angst in Dante’s voice.
Very little fazed the man, much like the rest of us.
Extensive training helped, as did years in the business.
And that reckless attitude we all seemed to have.
“I’ll just keep it nice and simple today. Remember, we have a fire to go to.”
Dante kept his eyes locked on mine as he moved one arm, trying not to exert much energy in extracting the vest. “That’s where all the fun is.”
Another blasting breeze and my grip slipped slightly, the wind slamming his body against the side of the cliff.
“Shit,” I hissed.
Rock placed his hand near mine, managing to grab a hold of Dante’s shirt. “Come on, buddy,” he said. “Like Axe man said, we need to get to a fire. Do you think you could speed up the action a little bit?”
“Why, sure thing, Rock. Jumping right to it.” After taking a deep breath, he managed to slide off the vest, still rocking in the wind.
“Lift your other arm,” I told him.
Dante was already getting tired. Hell, so was I, but nothing would prevent me from rescuing him.
“You still won’t let me have a conversation with your girl. Oh, not your girl?”
On top of the fucked-up weather conditions, Dante was also sweating, which wasn’t helping the situation. “How about you get your ass up here and fight me for her.”
When Dante lifted his arm, Rock grabbed his shirt. I gave him a quick nod and before he had a chance to change his mind, we switched to his other arm. The quick maneuver caught us both, his body swinging again.
Dante laughed nervously, almost looking down.
“Don’t do it, Dante. Eyes on me. Maybe we’ll do some arm wrestling to see if you have what it takes to date my friend.”
The look in the jumper’s eyes was disconcerting as hell. He was falling prey to the kind of fear that could make a man do stupid things.
“Come on. Get the vest off. All you need to do is drop your arm and it’ll slide off.”
The moment I could tell he was freezing up, I reacted. “Drag him up, Rock. Do it.”
“What’s happening?” Denver asked.
“Nothing my friend. Let me work.” With my knife in hand, I wasn’t in the mood for wasting any additional time, thankful the blade was sharp and the ropes were close.
“Drop your arm, Raptor.” Hearing the captain using Dante’s moniker was meant to jar him from the near paralysis.
One rope was free, but the idea was for him to drop his arm.
“Come on, Dante,” I muttered. “You can do it, Raptor.”
“We’ve got you,” Rock added.
While I continued my actions, we were losing momentum, the wind was picking up again and we were exhausted.
Finally, Dante slowly dropped his arm. Everything shifted at the same time.
And I found myself going over the edge.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I yelled.
Rock huffed as he lunged for the both of us.
“Get ‘em up. Get them up!” the captain commanded.
I laughed, shaking my head as I stared at Dante. “Come on, bud. Let’s do this.”
Dante finally nodded.
“Argh!” Rock yelled as he pulled.
The feeling of slow motion was kicking my ass as men crowded on both sides, pulling us both from the precipice.
With a last pull, Dante was brought over the edge and dropped on top of me.
“Woof,” I huffed, the wind knocked out of me. Rolling over, I took gasping breaths.
“Let’s not do that again,” Rock chided.
Dante groaned, finally lifting his head while the others clapped.
“Would you get the hell off me,” I snarled.
His grin had returned, the moment of fear gone. “Sure thing. But I get that introduction with your girl.”
“She’s not my girl.”
“Even better.”