-1'Just a little further, you can do it… Reach! Reach, damn it!'
Ashleigh stretched as far as she could, the glass feeling slippery and lethal beneath her feet. Unceremoniously she felt a strong pair of hands push upwards, using her posterior as leverage. For a moment she grinned, then she was hoisted up to the next grip.
'Charming,' she turned her head downwards, the wind whipping strands of hair into her eyes.
'No time for manners I'm afraid today. We thought you spooks were supposed to be fit,' the man answered back from his precarious perch just below her.
'And I thought the Army only recruited strong, silent types,' she threw back, the words almost torn from her mouth by the strong gusts that buffeted her at this certain altitude.
She distinctly heard something about 'having to be strong right now', and playfully kicked out.
'You want to get us both killed?' the Captain called up to her as she climbed steadily upwards.
'Nope,' she stretched and hooked her hand around the comforting grip of a metal girder. She heaved herself upwards, reaching into the night. Against all odds, she was enjoying herself.
It was happening. All this was a step closer to her daughter.
Or to something else.
Something she didn't want to think about.
*
She wrapped herself tighter around the support strut, listening to the awful sound of glass slowly being scraped away. The wind was howling now, cutting through the Alps like a knife blade. She buried her face into the fur hood of her parka, letting the soft, synthetic material comfort her, gentle against her skin. She didn't dare to move, instead clinging on as hard as she could as those around her worked steadily and stealthily with practiced hands. Those protecting her were disappearing now, and she felt a hand tug at her elbow. Glancing up she looked into the warm blue eyes of her compatriot, and heard the Sussex accent say.
'Your turn next, trouble.'
'Who are you calling 'trouble'?' she smiled as she edged past him, feeling him holding her, keeping her from slipping. Tentatively she made her way to the edge.
'Oh you're definitely trouble,' the Captain continued, hoping to distract her. 'I could have had a nice easy deployment. Afghanistan. Iraq. The United States. Instead I'm here, cold and miserable with a whiny female spook.'
'Shut up, soldier boy,' she smiled back, unable to see much in the darkness but hearing his smile in his voice. She edged closer to where he was directing her, and nearly fell forwards as her foot slipped into nothingness. Strong arms held her back.
'There?' she whispered. She felt a brief nod against her shoulder.
'Trust me.'
She swallowed hard, staring down into nothing. The harness was tight around her hips and thighs, she felt a hand fumble at her waist, the metallic sound of a caribena being clipped in. A not so subtle shove in her back pushed her forwards, and she lowered herself down into the space in the cut glass.
Into nothing but darkness. She was being slowly dropped, a controlled descent, that seemed to take forever.
Finally, her feet bumped against hard metal, and she dropped to her knees, her hands seeking purchase and finding it. Carefully, she lowered herself down, unclipping the caribena, and reaching underneath the surface to find another hold. Feeling secure at long last she lay flat, her stomach pressed into hard metal. Her hands sought out the edges of her perilous platform and she realised that the width of her platform was roughly two feet. It didn't exactly inspire confidence. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest.
She felt something brush against her hand, and looking up, she saw beyond his hand the blue eyes of her captain. They were warm and sympathetic, and more importantly, they were understanding. His fingers curled around hers, and she squeezed them back tightly. He didn't let go, and she focused on the gentle pressure.
It took her mind off everything else.
*
It was light now, Ashleigh could tell, even though her eyes were still tightly squeezed shut.
There was a crack that seemed to echo throughout the entire building. An all too familiar 'crack'.
Voices were ringing out far below her, and she recognised one. She listened intently, waiting, for the signal.
When it came, she stood.
Without hesitation, she stepped out into space, the air rushing past her.
She fell.
