Chapter 2
"Where is Ethan?"
The look that Brandt passed towards Jane told her all she needed to know. She instantly regretted having asked in the first place, because she'd rather not have known that.
"You're not serious."
But he was. And from the increasingly worried frown on Brandt's face, she quickly gathered just how serious. As she stepped closer to the open window she could see that Ethan Hunt was currently hanging right outside the building, with nothing around him but lots of clear air. What was also clear was that his rope sure wasn't long enough to get back inside. Regardless of how he had gotten out there in the first place – and she wasn't even gonna think about that little detail right now - apparently his re-entry plan had somehow fallen short, literally.
When Brandt took the crown of irony by stating the obvious, though, Jane merely glared at him. If all went well, Ethan would be around to personally do more harm to the analyst later. For now, they had to get Ethan back inside, or they were screwed. The deal was going down in less than 26 minutes.
Just as Jane was about to call out to Ethan, her team leader suddenly disappeared from view again. It looked like he was … running alongside the building? She didn't know where he thought he was going, but considering this was Mr. 'I do the impossible for a living', she was willing to keep her doubts to herself for the moment.
That changed as soon as she saw a distinctive shadow moving back towards them. Half a second later, the shadow was followed by Ethan's form, as he came bounding back at high speed, a tiny black spot against the enormously blue sky. And he was coming closer like a bat out of hell.
Jane's heart almost stopped when she saw that he was also reaching for the release catch on his swing line. Before either Brand or Jane could fathom the decisively insane stunt their team leader had just pulled, Ethan was suddenly free-flying right at them.
At first, Jane was thinking something along the lines of 'If he makes it, we'll have a lot of fun bringing him to a stop inside the room, he is going so fast.'
Then she saw the look on Ethan's face suddenly turn from 'serious' to 'worried'. Jane quickly glanced at Brandt, who had an even better view of Ethan's angle of approach, and she realized what Ethan had known before any of them.
He was not gonna make it.
At least not into the window.
Almost in sync Brandt and Jane moved forward. They reached out as far as they dared to try and catch a hold of Ethan, who was cannon-balling right at them, only way too high.
And then he hit.