Wonder World: Ignition

Adrenaline Rush

This was it. Weeks of planning, over a million invested in equipment, cameramen, renting the planes, and it all came down to the next ten minutes. Alexander Fletcher was fucking stoked. He looked out the open bay cargo door of the Shaanxi Y-8 at the Congo river stretching out 20,000 feet below him, running through the plan over and over in his head. In nine minutes he would jump out the back of the cargo plane traveling at over 500 miles per hour with no parachute. Then, the stunt plane tailing them would go into a nose dive with a 300 foot ski rope trailing behind it. All Alex had to do was match his airspeed, maintain altitude with the wingsuit, and catch the rope. From there the plane would level out and pull him aboard. Just like he had done in High Caliber 2. Easy.

But in High Caliber 2 he had been in a studio in front of green-screen with a wind machine, and this was for real. But that was the whole point of Adrenaline Rush, to take the biggest, boldest, craziest stunts from his filmography and actually do them. No CGI, no safety nets, no actors. Just pure adrenaline. That was a pretty cool tagline, and Alex made a mental note to run it past his marketing team. They were already cutting together the footage of the Lambo jump over the Great Wall that they recreated from Secret Service 2: Zodiac Protocol, and it looked so goddamn good. The candy red Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce had sailed 158 feet above the ground,  crossing a world record breaking 347 foot gap, easily clearing the wall and the entire hill it stood on, with a double barrel roll. Just thinking about it made Alex's heart rate go up. It was easily the most thrilling thing he had done, and he had nailed Monica Collins in the back of an M1 Abrams on set while filming Blitzkrieg: Reckoning. And now this. Six minutes.

Vince's curt voice crackled in Alex's ear. "We're approaching the drop point, you sure about this? Not to late to call it off. That storm's blowing in fast," Vince yelled over the roar of the four turboprop engines. Alex cracked a cocky smile.

"Not a chance! This won't take long, and the clouds will make for a kick ass shot," Alex shouted back. Vince always worried to much, but that was kind of the point of a good personal assistant, to worry about the boring shit so you don't have to.

"Alright. Tom and Rick will be right on your ass with helmet cams, Mike is in the catch plane to film the retrieval, and I'm in the heli with the IMAX cam for the wide angle shot, so make sure it can see your face. Now focus up, five minutes to the drop!"

The adrenaline was kicking in hard now, and Alex reveled in it. He couldn't help but flash a grin at the nearest camera, the churning in his stomach making him simultaneously nauseous and giddy. Next week was the underwater escape from the cargo ship off the coast of Bali, and then just three days later it was the snowmobile chase on top of the train from Secret Service 4: Siberian Front. Granted, that series had really taken a dive in popularity after Secret Service 3. Really it was the writing that doomed the series. Alex had argued with the director daily about how often the President could be in mortal danger before Drake Knight was fired as head of the Secret Service. He was told to shut up and just say the goddamn lines. The action scenes were solid, but it still tanked at the box office. 

Sixty seconds to the drop. Rick was fidgeting with his harness and Tom kept checking the batteries on his camera. Alex didn't know why they were nervous. They had parachutes. Thirty seconds. His heart was really racing now. Twelve seconds. He let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Five seconds. He gave Tom and Rick one last smile and stepped out onto the loading ramp. Two seconds. He took the last three steps at a dead sprint before throwing himself into thin air.

The wind howled in his ears as he streaked straight down. There was the catch plane, already diving below him. He spread his arms and felt the wind catch the fabric of the wingsuit, his eyes fixed on the tow rope plummeting towards the forest. He was falling behind. He tucked in his arms to gain speed as time seemed to slow down. Thunder boomed behind him and a streak of lightning cracked through the sky. He was gaining on the rope, but going way too fast. The treetops loomed bigger and bigger beneath him. He stretched out his arm, desperately trying to snatch the flailing tow rope. He could make out individual stones in the river. The plane started to pull up, it was now or never. 

Got it! He held on for dear life as the plane swooped above the treeline, whooping laughing the whole time. He had never felt so alive! All his previous anxiety was gone, replaced with the pure joy of cheating death. The sky flashed white as a second crack of thunder echoed above the forest. This footage was going to be amazing! He looked up to see Rick and Tom floating lazily above him, and the smoldering wreckage of the Y-8 careening towards him. His excitement melted away, immediately replaced with mortal terror. It must have been hit by the lightning. He watched in horror as it fell in a beautiful spiral, black smoke billowing into the dark sky. The pilot of the catch plane pulled hard to the right, but not quick enough. The massive wing of the cargo plane utterly obliterated the smaller aircraft. Alex covered his face as he careened  through the ball of fire and twisted metal, hoping it wouldn't hurt too bad when he hit the trees.