Page 28 of Legacy's Destiny

“We need higher ground,” Deacon said, panting as they reached the far bank.

Ranger pointed to a faint ridge ahead, barely visible through the downpour. They clambered up, using roots and vines to pull themselves along. At the top, the jungle opened into a series of narrow paths carved by animals. They followed one that would take them back toward the rendezvous point, keeping to the shadows and listening for any sound of pursuit.

Ranger leaned against a tree, wiping water from his face. “Think we lost them?”

“For now,” Deacon said, his voice cautious. “But they’ll keep looking.”

Ranger nodded, his eyes scanning the jungle. “Then we keep moving.”

CHAPTER 9

Echo huddled under the shelter Rip, Bandit, and Ace had hurriedly constructed, supposedly for all of them, but she’d been the only one in it since it was finished. Her comm device was silent. No one had spoken a word since they’d returned. The men in the camp were pursuing Deacon and Ranger, and they were trying to lead the people from the camp away from the rendezvous point. She’d heard all that on the comms before Deacon and Ranger went silent. But that was the only thing that was silent. The rain came down harder than any storm she’d ever seen. The shelter was holding, but she had to lift the poncho once every other minute to dump the rain out so it wouldn’t collapse on top of her.

Her little perch and shelter were on top of the same rock Bandit had patched her feet on. The same rock where Deacon had told her she wasn’t going into the camp. She’d been sitting on the same rock the entire time the team was gone. She wasn’t moving now, either. From under her little shelter, she could see maybe five feet in any direction before the water curtain enveloped everything else.

She dumped the water again, worried that Ranger and Deacon had been caught. Glancing at her watch, she finallybroke the silence. “Has there been any word? It’s been over four hours.”

“Nothing,” Ace said. “No news is good news.”

“So you say,” Echo grumbled and dumped the water again.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your machine.”

Ace sounded smugandcondescending,andshe didn’t like that tone. She snorted. “Excuse me, did I say I was worried about the damn device? No, I don’t think I did. Is it okay that I’m worried about Deacon and Ranger? Or should I just pretend it doesn’t bother me that we haven’t heard squat from them in the last four hours? Well, I can’t do that, so freaking sue me. Don’t be a jerk, Ace.”

Click laughed, the first sound she’d heard from him in a long time.

“Yeah, don’t be a jerk, Ace,” Bandit added, chuckling a bit.

“Can’t help myself.” Ace mused. “I am who I am.”

“Yeah, a jerk,” Rip added.

“I concur with that.” Deacon’s voice over the comms made her jerk and almost slide off her perch.

“Are you okay?”

“We’re good and almost back at the rendezvous point.”

Echo closed her eyes and said a quick prayer of thanks. That horrendous pit in her stomach that ached while he’d been silent closed and filled with warmth just from hearing his voice.

Still, the script in her brain that had been playing for the last four hours continued to fill her mind.

You’re making too much of what happened. He’s a player and probably has a girl at every port.

Yeah, well, then, why did he give you his number?

So you’d be the girl in the States, like Ace has.

He’s not that type of man.

He’s a man.

Oh, shut up.

Great response. Let’s go with that.

No, he’s different. You could tell that the first moment you met him.

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