Redemption by Will Jordan

armour and combat fatigues, he was carrying close to 80 pounds of excess weight. It was starting to tell.
    He glanced down at the GPS unit, checking to make sure it was still tracking his position. Khatyrgan’s latitude and longitude had been programmed in, leaving him with a series of waypoints leading all the way to his target. As long as he kept to them, they would reach the prison without difficulty.
    He blinked as the aircraft’s interior lights went out, replaced by dull red units that bathed the world around him in an unnerving crimson glow.
    ‘Hook up,’ he said, speaking into his suit-mounted intercom.
    Reaching over, he attached his line to the anchor line cable running along the side of the compartment and gave it a couple of hard tugs to make sure it was solid. This was a fixed-line jump, meaning the parachutes would automatically deploy once they exited the aircraft. As long as they were hooked on properly, technology would do the rest.
    Inspecting Keegan’s line in front of him, he gave the man a slap on the shoulder to indicate he was good to go. Keegan repeated the process with Dietrich, who in turn checked Mason’s line. It was a simple thing, but an important one.
    With their final preparations made, Drake turned his eye to the indicator panel above the exit ramp. There were three lights – red, amber and green. The red one was already on, warning that deployment was imminent.
    A moment later, the yellow light started blinking.
    ‘Ramp coming down!’ Drake warned. His heart was hammering away in his chest, and he could feel the adrenalin starting to kick in.
    Even within his pressurised suit, he felt the sudden rush of air as the door slid down. The howling shriek of the wind filled his ears, the slipstream roaring by outside at 300 miles per hour. Within seconds, the ambient temperature inside the aircraft dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
    The world beyond the ramp was darkness, sheer and absolute. It felt as if they were about to leap into a void of nothingness.
    ‘Get ready!’ he called out, still watching the lights. The yellow light was burning steadily now to signify that the ramp was down.
    They were only seconds away.
    He closed his eyes for a second, sending a silent prayer to whatever deity might be inclined to listen at that moment. He thought of all the things that could go wrong, all the mistakes and problems that could spell doom for them all.
    He thought about them, and then he banished them from his mind.
    The green light came on.
    ‘Go! Go! Go!’
    He watched Mason take a couple of heavy, faltering steps toward the edge, cross his arms in front of him and then pitch forward. And just like that, he and Frost were gone.
    Dietrich went next, hesitating for half a second before launching himself out into the darkness.
    He saw Keegan stop just for a moment, cross himself, then take a run down the ramp and throw himself out like a long jumper.
    Drake was alone. For one brief second, he was alone, staring out into infinite darkness. Somewhere far below lay an impregnable Russian prison, and within it, the woman who was their sole objective tonight.
    A woman Cain was prepared to do anything to bring home. A woman for whom Drake was risking five lives in the most dangerous mission of his career. A woman who might well hold the key to his own redemption.
    So much depended on one person. He just hoped she was worth it.
    More than that, he hoped he was worthy of redemption.
    Taking a breath, he strode forward, crossed his arms across his chest and stepped out.

Chapter 16
    SHE LAY AWAKE on the hard lumpy mattress, watching her breath slowly misting in the cold air as she exhaled. She couldn’t sleep.
    She rested her hands behind her head and closed her eyes, trying to imagine the sun, trees, grass, warmth and light, the feel of wind on her skin, being able to run until her legs could no longer carry her.
    It was an exercise she practised every once in a while, a means of escape, even if