Skydive by Gary Paulsen

Author:Gary Paulsen [Paulsen, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80400-6
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

“Jesse?” Robin touched the side of his face gingerly. His eyes were still closed. “Can you hear me?”

His lashes fluttered and then his eyes slowly opened. “I hear you.” He tried to sit up but made it only to his elbows. “Man, I feel like a ton of bricks landed on me.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Don’t tell me it was you.”

“Sorry. You did a nice job of breaking my fall, though.”

“Anytime.” His hand went to his forehead. A large purplish lump had already formed. It throbbed with pain when he touched it. “Ouch.”

Robin gave him a sympathetic look and helped him out of the parachute harness. “Unfortunately, you broke the tree limb’s fall too—with your head.”

“Great.” He winced and forced himself to sit all the way up. “How long have I been out?”

“Not long. It’s still early.”

“Could you tell where Pete landed?”

“No.” Robin picked up a small stick. “And I didn’t see any sign of a plane crash either.”

“He probably stayed with the plane until the last second, trying to call for help.”

“Maybe.” Robin drew designs in the dirt.

“Maybe? What do you mean?”

“While you were out, I had some time to think. What if Pete didn’t jump at all? What if he made the whole thing up just to get us out of the plane?”

Jesse looked at her sideways. “Are you sure that limb didn’t land on your head?”

“Think about it. What better way to get rid of two problems than to dump them out over the Cascades? If the faulty parachute didn’t kill us, the trees were bound to.”

“You’re talking crazy. Why would Pete want to kill anybody?”

“Because he’s mixed up in something too big for him and we have the proof. When I left you this morning, I went out to my dad’s car. Rodney was gone. Some goon had taken his place, and he tried to grab me. That’s why I ran onto the field. He was chasing me. His job was to get me, and the bad chute was meant for you.”

Jesse closed his eyes. “What an idiot. I played right into Pete’s hands. He probably faked the whole thing with the engine and I fell for it like a stupid sucker.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I fell for it too. Besides, it just might work to our advantage.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you can get us down out of these mountains, we’ll be in a better position to spy on them than before. They might even be careless, now that they think we’re out of the way.”

Jesse lifted his right arm. A compass and altimeter were strapped around his sleeve. “These were my dad’s. He used them in the army.” Carefully he stood and took a deep breath. “I think Seattle is somewhere west of us. If we start now we should be there in a day or so.”

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