Page 40 of Legacy's Destiny

Deacon observed as Ralph cautiously navigated through the mud toward the bamboo walkways. Once Ralph was out of earshot, Deacon turned to Ranger. "Prepare everything for an immediate departure. If we need to bug out, I want to be ready.”

Ranger nodded, doing a one-eighty and heading back toward camp. Deacon draped an arm over Echo’s shoulders, pulling her close. “What about you? Think you’re ready for a high-speed move?”

She shrugged, her expression wry. “Well, you’re not leaving me here, so I’d better be.” Her confidence was genuine, but a quiet doubt lingered in her mind. She’d regained her strength, but her cardio wasn’t where it used to be. How long she could keep up was the real question.

Deacon tapped his comm device. “Click, do you have an exfiltration plan yet?” He listened intently, nodding occasionally as the drone of the helicopter grew louder, then faded again.

Echo leaned against him, her nerves tightening. If the cartel’s grid search brought them closer, it was only a matter of time before they started visually assessing the mountain. When that happened, the village would be exposed for helping them. The village elder had told them that the village and the cartel had an agreement that neither would bother the other. He wouldn’t bring the cartel here.

“All right,” Deacon said into the comm. "Provide the coordinates. We’ll set out in three days.”

There was a pause before Deacon’s expression darkened. “No. If the village is threatened, we’re bugging out. Tell Ronan to get his ass here and get us out of this rain barrel.” He laughed at whatever response Click gave before ending the conversation.

Echo tilted her head, curiosity sparking. “I take it Ronan’s a pilot?”

“Ronan is my twin brother.” Deacon glanced at her as they walked along the bamboo planks. The rhythmic squelch of mudbeneath the makeshift walkway accompanied their steps. “He’s a pilot, but not for helicopters. He and his team volunteered to come in and extract us. Kind of a payback for a mission where we pulled his ass out of some serious shit.”

Echo stopped, turning to him with raised eyebrows. “I was a bit tipsy when you told me you had a brother. Did you mention his name? I think I would’ve remembered something that unique.”

Deacon chuckled, dropping an arm over her shoulder and pulling her close as they continued walking. “I may have, but not only do I have a brother, I also have two sisters. I was trying not to scare you off with the negative side of my family tree before I won you over with all this delicious feast.”

Echo tilted her head back, laughing. “All the deliciousness aside, do you have any more surprises for me?”

Deacon hummed thoughtfully, his lips curving into a sly grin. “Yeah, probably one or two.” He glanced down at her, his expression softening. “Nothing you won’t be able to handle, though. I’m sure of that.”

She narrowed her eyes playfully. “And you’re not telling me now because …?”

“Because I want our relationship to go a little further, be a little stronger, before I springallmy family’s insanity on you.” He stopped walking for a moment, frowning in mock thought. “Don’t worry—they’re not serial killers or maniacs. Well … Charley could’ve been, but nah, I don’t think so.”

Echo halted, grabbing his arm. “Wait, wait, wait. You said you had a brother named Ronan and two sisters. Who’s Charley? Your dad? Uncle? Dog?”

“Nope.” Deacon smirked. “Charley is actually Charlotte, my youngest sister. She’s legitimately one of the craziest people I’ve ever met. No filter, does whatever she wants, and is probably one of the toughest people I know.”

Echo took a moment to absorb that. “And your other sister?”

“Gabby.” A fond smile tugged at Deacon’s lips. “Her name’s Gabrielle, but we call her Gabby. She’s brilliant. Crazy intelligent. She’s taken the hard road to get where she is, but now, she and Charley work at Guardian’s headquarters. My brother Ronan’s about to join them in a leadership position.”

Echo paused as they approached a muddy patch. Deacon jumped over it easily, then turned to offer her his hand. She took it, her grip steady as he helped her across.

“What about you?” she asked as they continued walking. “Are you going to work at Guardian’s headquarters?”

Deacon shrugged, his pace slowing. “Most likely. That’s been the plan all along. My father worked for Guardian. Moving up is inevitable. But I’m not ready to sit behind a desk just yet. Sooner or later, I’ll get too old for this, though, and having a comfortable office chair might not be the worst thing.”

Echo’s brow furrowed as she looked at him. “Actually, having a nice office chair doesn’t really suck. It makes you soft, though. I can understand why you’d want to keep doing this. It’s in your blood, isn’t it?”

Deacon nodded and turned to face her, his gaze steady. “What if you were in a serious relationship? Would you still like to do something else, something like this, maybe?”

She tilted her head thoughtfully. “I suppose it depends on the mission, the setting, and whether the person I was in a relationship with was working with me. But if we were separated by countries, each doing completely different jobs? I’m not sure I could handle that.”

Deacon grinned, placing his arm over her shoulder once more. “So, what you’re saying is, if I had you on my team, you’d join me on missions, train with me, and actually enjoy it?”

Echo stopped suddenly and turned to face him. “First, I don’t think there’s room for another person on your team. Second,even if there were, why would you want it to be me? I wouldn’t want to be ‘Cap’s woman,’ resented by the team. And third, what skills could I possibly bring to your team that you don’t already have? I don’t speak another language, and I don’t want to because English is hard enough for me. The only skill I have is my IT specialties. While I enjoyed my time in the military, I’m not one for rules and regulations—which is one of the reasons why I’m leaving the CIA.”

Deacon froze, turning to her with raised eyebrows. He placed both hands on her shoulders, his gaze focused. “You’re leaving the CIA?”

Echo nodded, her tone firm. “I’ve been thinking about this since before the flood. They’ve placed me in an office—a small corner one with a window, sure—but it’s not where I belong. I love creating things. Developing the ideas no one else has considered. Monitoring systems and programs isn’t what I want to do. And after getting a second chance at life, it’s only reinforced that I can’t keep doing things that don’t fulfill me. My job is the first issue I need to fix.”

Deacon studied her for a moment, then gently cupped her cheek with one hand. “I’d be honored to have you on my team at any time. Would you need to train? Yes. Would the team accept you? They already have. What would you contribute to the team? Everything.”

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