Page 29 of Legacy's Destiny

Oh, you mean the moment you decided to jump his bones and he let you? Yeah, that helps your argument.

What about the way he treats me? With him, I feel special. He treats his team with respect and dignity even when they’re messing around. He’s different. He cares.

Does he?

Yes. He does.

She didn’t know why, but she could feel it. He did.

Echo sighed, saw the bulge in the poncho, and lifted it again to dump the water out. The internal monologue started at the beginning again until she saw the shadowed forms of Deacon and Ranger come out of the rain. He walked over to her and handed her the device, secure and dry in a plastic bag. He, however, was soaked to the skin, and his face was scratched, bloody, and splattered with mud.

“What happened to you?” she asked as she took the bag.

“The jungle. Get that information to Click. Do you need help?”

She shook her head, lifted the poncho, and dumped the water. Deacon frowned and walked over to a nearby patch of saplings. He took out his knife, cut one, and then returned to where she was. He lodged the sapling between the rock and the poncho, creating a continuously tented roof.

“Thanks.”

“I’m going to speak with the guys. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. I’m good here. No worries.” She pulled the metal out of the bag and went to work. She pulled a small screwdriver out of her pocket and unfastened the screws that held the casing on. Once she slid that off, what looked like microcircuitry was on three sides. Using her thumb, she moved a silver chip anddepressed underneath it, unlatching the side. After carefully sliding the fake board out of the way, she lifted the device to her eye and pushed the red button. A scan of her retina was initiated and then, after a pause, initiated again, validating both eyes, not just one.

The device cleared, and a small screen flickered to life. “Click, you ready?”

“You’re being recorded. Send it as fast as you like,” Click answered.

Echo read the information, carefully enunciating the latitude and longitude numbers and other information stored in each file. A horrendous roar from the direction Deacon had come from startled her. She spoke faster and louder. There were only three more entries.

“Echo …” That was Deacon.

She didn’t stop. She had two more lines.

“Echo, we’ve got to go. Get off the rock! Come this way!” Deacon yelled, and it sounded like he was running.

“One more line.” She started the last line and yelled it to Click to hear herself over the roar.

“Echo!” Deacon shouted from somewhere behind her. She wouldn’t have heard the concern in his voice if not for the comm device in her ear.

Echo’s voice trembled as she recited the last string of numbers, her eyes darting from the device in her hand. The rush of the water around her was deafening, a blast of chaos that made every word less important. The water around the boulder she was on was rising. She glanced up, her breath hitching as a deep rumble reverberated through the clearing.

The wall of water came out of the veil of rain and hit without warning, crashing over the rock she clung to. It slammed into her, wrenching the device from her grasp and spinning it through the air.

“No!” she screamed, but the word was torn from her mouth and swallowed by the roar of the floodwater.

She reached out blindly, her fingers scrabbling against slick stone, but there was nothing to hold onto. The water dragged her under, a violent power that spun her like a doll. Water pummeled her from all sides, savage and merciless.

Her lungs burned as she fought for control, kicking and thrashing in the churning depths. Her foot struck something solid—a jagged rock—and lodged there. For one fleeting moment, it stopped her tumbling plunge. Relief was short-lived. The current roared around her, pressing her deeper, pinning her beneath its relentless flow.

She struggled, twisting and pulling at her trapped foot, but the rock held fast. The water’s grip stole her strength, numbing her limbs as her chest screamed for air. She clawed at the ground. Her nails scraped uselessly against stone and silt—there was no escape.

Panic clawed its way up her throat. Her lungs convulsed, her body demanding oxygen she couldn’t provide. The pressure built, a vise tightening around her rib cage until, finally, it broke. Her instincts overrode her will, and she gasped—water flooding into her mouth and down into her lungs.

The pain was immediate, burning like fire as her chest heaved uncontrollably. Her mind screamed against the suffocating invasion. Her body betrayed her, pulling in more water with every desperate attempt to breathe. She jerked, her movements slowing as her strength ebbed away.

God, is this how I die?The thought came unbidden, cold, and final, cutting through the chaos around her. Echo forced her eyes open, the murky water swirling in shades of green and brown. Her vision blurred as the current whipped her hair around her face like a shroud. She tried to focus, searching for light, for something, anything—but all she saw was darkness closing in.

The tightness in her chest gave way to a numb, eerie calm. Her limbs felt heavy and distant. The world around her dimmed, the water's roar fading into a dull hum. She felt herself slipping, her consciousness leaving.

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