Page 48 of Legacy's Destiny

After making sure Echo was good to go in her shower area, he hit his comms. “Click, patch me through to Alpha. I’m alone, but I can be overheard.”

“I copy. Standby.”

Deacon started stripping and was turning on the water when Alpha came on line. “Am I interrupting something?” Jacob King’s laughter was unmistakable.

“Nope, you’re joining me for a shower that is over two weeks past due.” He stepped under the water and realized the small stall only held a portion of him. “God, what I wouldn’t give to be back in my shower,” he mumbled as he grabbed the small slice of antiseptic soap and unwrapped it.

“Give me a rundown.”

Deacon glanced at the locked door. “I’m not secure. Sequestered, but not secure.”

“Then use a broad brush.”

Meaning don’t get specific but give him a rundown: “We obtained the required equipment and got that out.”

“That much I know,” Jacob said with a slow drawl.

“Fine, sorry for the recap. The CIA specialist was swept away in a flash flood. A wall of water came out of nowhere and swept her under. It took a couple of minutes before we located her.”

“I heard from Click that your team resuscitated her.”

“Yeah. Bandit knows his shit.” Deacon lathered up as he spoke. “She was pretty pitiful for a couple of weeks but never complained. Not once.”

“Sounds like our type of people,” Jacob noted.

“Damn straight. When the weather finally broke, we left the village that had sheltered us and went over the top of the mountain.”

“Bold move,” Jacob murmured. “How did the officer handle it?”

“Like a fucking trooper.” Which she had. “However, the people we acquired our equipment from were looking for us—a helicopter. The pilot was insane, flying in weather we would not lift off in. We were at the mountain’s crest when we believed he saw us. Some of his acquaintances were waiting with a welcome wagon. We tried to reciprocate the welcome with a small fireworks display, and then the mountain broke in half and slid down on top of the jungle.”

Jacob chuckled. “I can’t wait to read this report.”

Deacon kept going. “We diverted to another pickup point but were again met with the welcome wagon. It was at that time Panther team arrived. The rest is, as they say, history.”

“Panther team?” Jacob’s surprise was not what he expected.

“Ah … yeah? Why? Didn’t you know they were here?”

“They’re supposed to be on R&R.” Jacob’s tone was stern.

“So, maybe they were just having some fun?” Deacon scrubbed the small slice of soap through his hair. “Besides, we were pretty well wedged between a rock and a hard place. We would’ve lost people, there’s no doubt about it.” Especially since Echo was tapped out. She was a warrior, but her cardio was at its max. He wouldn’t leave her, and his team wouldn’t have left him. Yeah, some bad shit could have happened if Ronan hadn’t arrived when he did.

There was a long silence. Deacon didn’t interrupt Jacob’s digestion of the information, but he did wash his hair again. Fuck, the hot water was great, but bending damn near to his belly button to wash out the soap sucked.

“I’ll talk with Jason about the lack of coordination. That won’t happen again for either of you.”

Deacon spoke upside down, water streaming down his face. “Who was supposed to show up for the assist?”

“Dagger and Viper teams are on call in the area. I assigned Viper team.” Deacon heard Jacob typing. “And I just sent a message to Jewell to find out who canceled the order.”

“That sounds like an internal issue. Glad I’m not in your chair.”

“Your brother will be eventually. Hell, you both could share the responsibility. Lord knows with the teams we have across the globe, two of you are needed.”

“I like being in the field, Uncle Jacob.”

“And your CIA officer? Does she like you being in the field?”

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