The Project 01 - White Jade

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. T he wind buffet ed 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 . T he 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 . T he 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.
    T he wind was bad. C ontrol was difficult. He veered off course, checked the GPS, made a correction. His altimeter read seventeen thousand feet. Carter looked for the Humvee and saw the chutes below, far to the right, almost down.
    Sixteen thousand feet and the ground was coming up too fast. He worked the lines and headed for a flat area. A strong gust made him sheer left . He overshot the spot he ' d picked out and came down hard in an area littered with boulders . The shock ran up his bad leg and right into his spine like electric needles.
    He lay for a moment as the chute tried to pull him across the rough ground . The pain was like a knife in his back. He wondered if he was going to be able to get up.
    It wasn ' t a good start. He got to his feet and a nother bolt of p ain stabb ed his back and radiat ed down his l eg. He struggled with his chute against the gusting wind.
    The ghost ly moonlight lit the uneven terrain in shades of gray and blac k . P ools of deep shadow lay among the rocks . He limped back toward the drop zone. Selena was pulling her chute in about a hundred yards away. When he got there, she took off her mask . She took a deep breath of the thin air.
    " That was tricky, that wind…Nick, you ' re limping. "
    " It ' s nothing. You see Ronnie? "
    " I think he came down over there. "
    She pointed at a low rise as Ronnie came trudging over it. They high-fived. Ronnie winced.
    " You okay? " Nick asked.
    " Just a shoulder bruise. I came down a little hard. It ' s no big deal. "
    Now they needed to find the vehicle.
    " Anyone see where the Humvee landed? "
    " It ' s that way. " Ronnie gestured over his shoulder. " I saw it coming in. Maybe a quarter mile from here. That wind screwed things up. "
    It took twenty minutes of scrambling over rough stones to find it . Nick's back hurt like hell. The pallet had shattered and the Humvee was half off onto the rocks. It appeared undamaged. They undid the lashings . T he engine coughed and started . Ronnie drove a few feet away . They dragged a camouflage net over the pallet and chutes , good enough for the short time they'd be t here.
    Carter spread a map on the hood of the idling Humvee and got out the GPS. His back throbbed with steady pain.