Jack and Jill: Army

by Ansley Gilmore

  ***

  Just before they jumped, Jack looked into Jill’s blue eyes. I will do what your mom asked. I will bring you back safe and sound.

  Jack watched Jill’s exit, and was glad that she did not snag any of her equipment when she jumped. He watched the three light sticks on her back and saw how the airstream blast pushed her into a head-down-feet-up position. Jack noticed that she immediately compensated so that she began floating in a level attitude with her arms and legs extended. He also compensated for the airstream blast. He could not see the outline of her body, just the three light sticks, as they began accelerating toward enemy territory. Jack kept glancing at Jill. He was determined to stay close to her so he would not lose sight of her in the dark night sky. At the same time he needed to keep enough space between them so they did not collide with each other. Jack looked at the GPS that was strapped to his right forearm and double-checked their position. It was his job to navigate to the top of the mountain that overlooked the compound where Juan-Carlos Zaragoza lives. Jack also checked his altimeter that was strapped to his left forearm. It read thirty-one thousand feet. Jack’s mind was momentarily distracted. I love this stuff. I did the right thing when I signed up for the Army.

  “Jack, how’s our position?” Jill’s voice crackled over the two-way radio.

  “Dead on. Our time is also dead on. Keep an eye out in the eastern sky. In about two minutes you will see the beginning of a beautiful sunrise.” Jack couldn’t resist. He knew that he was supposed to be professional and focused on the mission, but the thought of Jill seeing the sunrise from ten thousand feet excited him.

  “Jill, when we get to ten thousand feet I will let you know so we can remove our oxygen masks.”

  “Affirmative, Jack.”

  They were about twenty feet apart now, and falling at a speed of two hundred miles per hour. The sun was still below the horizon, but the twilight was beginning to appear. The ground was so far away that they could not detect that the trees were slowly getting larger. Jack knew that eventually the ground would appear to come at them faster, even though their speed did not change.

  “Twenty-five thousand feet.” Jack’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie system that was strapped to his parachute harness.

  Jack noticed Jill taking a glance over her left shoulder. She must be looking for that morning sunrise. I hope our timing works out and we can see it. It’s romantic in a weird sort of way.

  “Twenty thousand feet.” Jack was glancing between his altimeter, his GPS, and Jill. He noticed how she was easily maneuvering her arms and legs to maintain a position about twenty feet from Jack. She’s a quick learner. I am starting to understand why the Army matched us up for this sniper team.

  “Fifteen thousand feet.” Jack saw Jill glance over her left shoulder as he announced the altitude. The sky was beginning to show a dull orange glow as the sun was preparing to broach the edge of the earth.

  “Ten thousand feet. We can take our oxygen masks off now.” Jack loosened the straps on his mask as he watched Jill loosen her mask. She once again glanced over her left shoulder as the upper crescent of the morning sun broke above the earth’s horizon in the eastern sky. Jill held her glance. Jack was pleased that she took a longer look. He saw a smile forming on her face as the morning sun projected its glow on her. He imagined her pleasure in the beautiful view that few people get to see. I am so happy that Jill—

  Poooooofffff!

  “What was that?” Jack heard a loud noise. He saw pieces of flesh exploding in all directions. Something hit Jill. What could it be? Was it a stinger missile? Maybe a lucky shot from a ground sniper? Aw rats, what was it?

  As soon as it happened, Jill began tumbling, and she was descending at a much slower speed. That meant that she was now above Jack. Jack looked up and saw pieces of flesh floating away from Jill as she tumbled downwards. Jack imagined the worse. If she is hurt in the smallest way, I’m gonna kill the person that did this to her!

  Jack instinctively spread his arms and legs as wide as he possibly could. His descent slowed so that he floated closer to Jill. He needed to get to her as quickly as possible so that he could help her. Think Jack . . . what do I do when I get to her? What are my priorities going to be? Okay, I need to get ready to pull her ripcord. That has to be done by 2,500 feet. Then, when I get on the ground I can give her medical attention. I hope she lives that long.

  Jack’s speed was starting to match Jill’s, and as he glanced up he saw the gap closing. He swung his arms and feet to the right, rolling on his back, so he could see Jill clearly. Floating upside-down with his face toward Jill, he maneuvered himself directly under Jill’s body as he drew closer. This was a tricky maneuver since he was floating upside down. Every slight movement had to be done backwards. If he wanted to move to his right, he had to move his arms and legs in a fashion that would normally move him to the left. He noticed that her body stopped tumbling, and was face down. They were drawing closer to each other. They were only thirty feet apart. Jack carefully made small adjustments in his position and speed, constantly reminding himself of the need to reverse the direction of each movement. He would only get one chance at this, and he needed to make sure that he didn’t blow it. If he approached Jill too fast the collision could break every bone in her body, but he had to hurry so he could pull her ripcord before—well, Jack didn’t want to think about that possibility. Jack looked for Jill’s head, arms, and legs. He could see that all her limbs were intact, but there was a lot of torn flesh sticking to her harness. There was blood, intestines, something that looked like a small liver and lots of . . . feathers. Where did they come from?

  Jack was only ten feet from Jill now. He looked at her face. She had what looked like a huge black eye, and blood covered her face. Her oxygen mask had been ripped off and was not in sight. He was only five feet away, then four, three, two, and one . . . “Gotch ya.” Jack’s arms grabbed Jill’s body in a bear hug, and he held on forcefully for a second to be sure that he had a firm grip. He couldn’t afford to let her slip out of his hands. Jack glanced at his altimeter. Five thousand feet. He knew that at their current rate of speed he only had about fourteen seconds to pull her ripcord, and his. He moved his right hand from behind her to the front of her harness and squeezed as tight as he could so he did not loose hold of Jill. Then he moved his left hand from behind her to her ripcord on the front of her parachute harness. With all of his might he gave it a yank. Nothing. Jack pulled harder. Still nothing. Again and again he pulled, yanked, wiggled. The ripcord would not budge. Jack glanced at his altimeter. Four thousand feet. Glancing down at her ripcord he saw the problem. Bone fragments were jammed into the harness and catching on the edge of the ripcord. Jack used his fingers to try to pull the bone fragments out. My God, I hope these bone fragments are not Jill’s.

  Jack was desperate. He glanced at his altimeter. Three thousand feet. Jack tried to reach his Ka-Bar knife. He was right handed, so it was on the right side of his belt in its sheath. Since he was holding onto Jill’s harness with his right hand, he had to reach across his chest with his left hand. The assault vest he was wearing hindered this movement. He grappled with his fingertips to feel the top of the knife sheath. Stretching a little further, he was able to feel the snap that held the knife in its sheath. He flicked the snap open, grabbed the top of the knife and pulled it out. Jack jammed the point of the knife into Jill’s parachute harness, being careful not to cut Jill, and began prying out the bone fragments that were blocking the ripcord. One, two, three, four fragments were pried loose. As each fragment was pried loose the wind blowing past them at two hundred miles per hour pushed them out of the way. Jack couldn’t see any other bone fragments. Glancing at his altimeter, he saw that it said twenty-five hundred feet. It’s now or never.

  Jack yanked Jill’s ripcord as hard as he possibly could. It slid out with minimal resistance. Jill’s parachute began to unfurl and exit the back of her harness. Jack could feel Jill’s harness gently tugging as
the parachute began slowing Jill’s body.

  Jack gently released his death grip on Jill’s harness. He watched her float upwards from him as he continued to fall at two hundred miles per hour. As they separated, he looked into her blue eyes, one of which was encircled with a massive black bruise. Jill, please don’t die like this.

  As Jack’s downward speed pulled him away from Jill, he noticed that she was in one piece, but not moving. Her eyes were open, but no sign of life was visible. Because of the noisy wind he couldn’t tell if she was breathing. He watched the main chute unroll and then inflate into a perfectly shaped parachute. He was thankful that it was open because now he knew that she would have a gentle landing.

  At the speed Jack was falling he only had another nine seconds before he would impact the earth. All in all, it was not a bad way to die. It would be quick. In fact, it would be extremely quick. Jack knew that every bone in his body would be instantly crushed, including his spine and skull. That meant that if he did feel any pain, it would only be for a nanosecond, and then he would feel nothing. It would be over.

  Nine seconds sounds like a lot of time, but in reality it wasn’t. It takes a few seconds for the wind blowing past the parachute harness to pull the parachute out. Then it takes another second or two for it to inflate, and finally another few seconds for it to arrest the speed of the falling person to the point that they can land safely. Jack hesitated. He thought about what would happen if he pulled the ripcord, and the parachute only had enough time to partly inflate. He might be slowed down a little bit, but not enough for a safe landing. In that case he would crash into the earth with enough speed to break lots of bones and crush lots of organs, but the speed would not be fast enough to kill him instantly. I don’t want to die like that. It would be a slow and cruel death. It might take hours, or days to die. The pain I would experience for that time would be excruciating. I would be paralyzed. I would not be able to give myself any morphine for the pain. I would not be able to take my “L” tab and die an honorable death. I have to make a choice . . . do I pull my ripcord?

  Jack’s mind was racing. The adrenalin forced his mind into overdrive. His mental calculations occurred at a blinding speed. What should he do?

  Jack’s mind flashed back to Jill. He didn’t know what condition she was in. Was she dead? Was she alive? If Jill was alive, how bad was she hurt? Would she be able to operate the radio and call for help?

  Jack then realized that his concern for his own situation was not as important as his concern for Jill. He had to do his best to get safely on the ground and rescue Jill.

  Jack’s adrenalin surged as he pulled his ripcord. He watched the ground as it raced toward him. Will my parachute open in time?