Page 5

CHAPTER 5

E cho blinked at the warning but went through the door anyway. A huge man came out of the kitchenette with what looked like half a Danish. He swallowed hard, then tossed the Danish back onto the counter. Wiping his hands on his jeans, he extended one. “Hi, my handle is Ranger. I’m his second in command.”

“Ranger, nice to meet you. I’m Echo.”

The man cocked his head. “Is that your call sign?”

“No. Believe it or not, that’s my real name.” She laughed.

“Awesome name.” Ranger smiled at her and turned to Deacon. “Everything is good to go.”

“Copy. Let me grab my comms, and we’ll discuss the plan with everyone.” Turning to Echo, he told her, “I’ll be right back.” Then he left the room.

Three other men came out of the other side of the suite, and Ranger quickly introduced them. “That’s Ace, the next one is Bandit, our medic, and the last is Rip. Guys, this is Echo, real name, not a handle.”

She shook each of their hands. “Nice to meet you.”

“Where are we heading?” Ace asked her.

She blinked at the blunt question, but Ranger spoke up. “Cap is going to brief us all.”

Deacon walked back into the room and tapped his ear. “Okay, Click, are you online?”

The men all nodded at the same time. Echo’s curiosity took over. “Wait, where’s your transmitter?” She walked up to Deacon and pulled his shirt collar out. He slapped at her hands, but she wouldn’t be deterred. Stepping to the side, she pulled the bottom of his ear. “Come down here. I want to see that.”

“Hey, stop that.” Deacon grabbed her hand and held it. “Click, get permission for Echo to have comms. We’re going to need them in the jungle.”

“Yeah, get me permission. I want to see that nanotechnology. That’s James Bond type stuff. Is your transmitter and receiver in the same system? Is it closed or open communications?” She stood on her toes and grabbed his shoulder to look into his ear again. What she’d seen before wasn’t nearly enough. Deacon put his arm around her and spun her away from him.

“Behave yourself, woman, or I’ll spank you.”

She put her hands on her hips. “That isn’t fair. You can hear what’s going on, and I can’t.” She glanced at the men across the room and stopped. All four of them stood with jaws dropped, staring at her and Deacon. She pointed at Deacon and then herself. “Good friends.”

Ranger snapped his jaw shut and cleared his throat. “Obviously.”

She wasn’t going to let their reaction detract her from her interest in the comm device. “Seriously, how long will it take?”

Ace moved suddenly, going back into the area he came from. She looked at Deacon. “Did I do that?”

Deacon laughed. “No, Click got approval for you to have a device. Ace is getting you one.”

“Oh.” She straightened her shoulders and smiled in victory. “Good.” Ace was back a moment later with a case in his hand.

“These are comms we use for emergencies or when someone needs access,” Deacon said. “He’s going to measure your ear and give you the best fit we have.”

Echo turned her head to Ace, who took a moment to find the correct size. When he handed it to her, Deacon took it from her and put it into her ear. “To activate the device, you tap your ear here.” Deacon touched her ear. “Tap it twice to mute it. You can still hear them, but they can’t hear you. Three times will turn it off. Don’t do that.”

“That is so cool. I can hear you through the device and hear face-to-face, but there isn’t any latency.” Echo looked at each of them. “Do you know how advanced this tech is?”

They all chuckled. A man with a heavy Boston accent came across the system. “Can we start now?”

“Oh, who was that?”

“My name is Click, and we have a briefing to start.”

“Click. Nice to meet you. I’m Echo.”

“Yep. Your security clearance has been transferred from the CIA, and you have the necessary clearances to use the comm systems. However, you will be required to sign an NDA after the mission.”

“That won’t be a problem,” she assured Click.

“Yeah, I know. Cap, the plane is refueling as we speak. We’re going to drop you into Laos and do our best to jam their systems. Communist countries don’t seem to like us flying over their country.”

Deacon snorted. “No shit. We’ll need to equip Echo.”

“Archangel had a shipment sent to Hawaii two days ago. It’s in the plane,” Click said.

“Well, thank the guy for me, will you?” Echo said.

“Right, I’ll call him up and do that.” Click laughed. She frowned and looked at Deacon.

Deacon rolled his eyes. “He’s one of the three people who run Guardian.”

“Oh.” She didn’t have anything else to add. Guardian was the flagbearer for all intelligence and operational agencies. Being one of the three people who ran that organization meant he was a very powerful man.

“We’ve been monitoring the primary site that Flanagan gave us. Right now, it appears to have minimal activity. The nearest village is ten clicks to the east. There’s river access as long as it isn’t past flood stage. You have storms moving in. Two days, and you’ll be very, very wet.”

“Exit strategy?” Deacon asked.

“Working it,” Click confirmed. “Fluid at this point, and with an incursion into Laos’s airspace, it could be you and the team walking or floating out.”

“Not particularly thrilled with that last option,” Bandit said.

“None of us are,” Click said. “I’m working it, guys. It’s going to be a mess. The system that’s coming is a bastard. Excuse my French, ma’am.”

“I served for eight years, Click. I’m not going to wither from a few curse words,” Echo said. “So, we’re doing a low-level drop during daylight hours.”

“That’s the plan.”

She closed her eyes and grimaced. “Great. You do know that technique was developed for equipment, right?”

“Welcome to Guardian,” Deacon said, dropping his arm over her shoulder. “We’ve perfected the process.”

“God, I hope so.” She looked up at him. “Remember what I said about being worried if the person leading this mission could be an asshole or a jerk?”

He pulled back a bit and frowned. “Yeah. Why?”

“I think I should’ve been worrying about him being bat-shit crazy and having a death wish.”

All of the men laughed at that. “We got you covered, Echo,” Ace said. “Just remember to tuck and roll when you hit the ground.”

She turned to Ace. “And you realize we’re dropping into a jungle. What am I going to roll into?”

Laughing again, the men seemed to relax a bit. “Click, do you have anything else?”

“No. I’ll let you know when we get an exit strategy finalized. Get yourself to the aircraft. We have all the supplies you’ll need loaded.”

“Roger, we’re en route.” Deacon tapped his ear twice, and Echo did the same.

She looked at him. “Honestly, I might not give this device back. I want to dissect it and see how it works.”

“Sorry, but I signed for that earpiece. I’m not paying for not bringing it back,” Ace said. He looked at Deacon. “No matter how good of friends you are with Cap.”

“Speaking of which, Echo is to be treated with all the respect you would give me.”

“Like we wouldn’t?” Ranger said. “I’m offended.” The guy crossed his arms over his chest. Oh, man, Echo would not like to see him mad.

“Yeah, you look offensive,” Deacon said, and the big guy laughed at his own insult.

“What do you think we are, total assholes?” Ace said. “Oh, wait, yeah, you do. Never mind.”

“Nah, he’s just staking a claim.” Bandit chuckled. Echo blinked, and her jaw dropped at that comment.

Rip, who hadn’t said much to that point, just nodded.

Deacon tilted his head. “How’s the headache, Rip?”

“Nothing I can’t shake,” Rip said. “Are we ready?”

“We are,” Deacon said. “Echo, call your driver, we’re heading out.”

She watched the team scatter and used the hotel phone to call down to have the transport van meet them out front. By the time she’d hung up, they were back, and her bags were picked up along with all of theirs.

“Hey, I can carry that,” she said to Rip, who was toting her small suitcase.

“No, ma’am. Not going to let a lady carry her bag,” Rip said and moved out.

“Okaaaay …” She glanced at Deacon. “I can carry my weight. I’m not a liability.”

“We wouldn’t let you be.” He put his hand on her back and moved her forward. “Time to go.”

They traveled down to the van and were silent on the drive to the airport. When they arrived, Deacon’s men secured their belongings in big lockers at the front of the plane. Deacon told her to turn off the mute of her comm system so they could hear her, and then they went to a storage area near the lockers and started building bags. Deacon called her over and outfitted her with everything the men were pulling for themselves. He fitted the backpack on her shoulders and waist. A thigh holster with a nine mil was given to her. She was extremely proficient with the handgun and noticed the men were also carrying M-4s. Rip packed several smaller packages into his kit, and she knew what they were as soon as she saw the triggering devices that went in separately.

Bandit’s kit carried medical supplies and several other small pieces of equipment. Rip and Deacon’s kit carried extra food. She grabbed as many bags of MREs as would fit in her backpack and stuffed them on top of the other items. Deacon frowned, but before he could say anything, she stood up and put her hands on her hips. “I’m strong, and I’m fit. I’m not taking advantage of the fact that I have five alpha males with me by playing the poor little woman. That is insulting to all women who have trail-blazed paths through the military and other professions.” She took the uniform and boots from him and the water-repellent socks and went toward the small changing area on the other side of the plane.

“I didn’t mean to insult you.” She jumped, looking for Deacon, and then realized he was probably outside the changing room opening.

“You didn’t. You insulted all the other women. You’re good with me, Sparky.” She stripped out of her black suit and put on the black and dark green camouflaged uniform before taking her hair down and putting it into a braid with a black piece of material that would inevitably loosen and fall around her face. Then she put on her thigh holster, adjusted it to fit her, and pulled out the automatic. She dropped the magazine, cleared the chamber, and got the feel of the weapon. After putting the bullet back in the magazine, she loaded it and chambered a round. It had been a long time since she’d been in the field, but when she was there, she knew her shit. It would come back to her, and she would not be a liability. She trusted Deacon and his men to get her in and out of the communist country, and they trusted her to complete her mission. She wouldn’t let anyone down.

She walked out into the cavernous hold of the aircraft and grabbed her backpack. “Well, damn, you turned into a mercenary pretty easy,” Ace said.

She smiled at him. “Not quite a mercenary, but yeah, old habits die hard.”

“You can say that again.” Ace snorted.

“Everyone, take your seats. We’ve been cleared for takeoff,” Deacon said from somewhere toward the back of the plane.

“Whoa, I heard that like he was standing beside me.” She blinked and then looked at Ace.

“Don’t know how it works, but even if he were to scream, we’d hear it at the perfect volume. Click is in the States somewhere, and there’s no lag, no transmission issues, and the weather doesn’t affect the dependability.”

“Rock and metal do, sometimes, especially old mine shafts about a mile down,” Bandit said as he walked past.

Echo shouldered her pack and walked to the jump seats bolted to the aircraft's frame. She shoved her backpack in the webbing that would keep it secure, sat down, and strapped herself in. Deacon sat beside her. She frowned and looked at the men. “Don’t we need hearing protection?”

“Nope,” Bandit said. “With the exception of explosions, the earpieces are noise canceling. I’m told they’re working on the explosions. Something to do with the change of pressure.”

The aircraft's engine whined and started, and the earpieces worked exactly as Bandit had described. She popped her eyes wide and looked at Deacon. “This is freaking incredible.”

He nodded. “All the best toys.”

“Speaking of which, I know they can’t drop us into the jungle. That’s a death sentence, so we’re probably going to be dropped in along the river.”

“In the river,” Deacon said with a smile.

“In the river. Right, because drowning with these packs on isn’t a thing.” She laughed, and then, leaning forward to look at the other men, she said, “Did I mention bat-shit crazy?”

Laughter lingered in her ears as the plane released its brakes and powered forward.

Echo closed her eyes and prayed she could keep up and not cause the team any problems. She wasn’t a field officer. But she knew what to do. She’d watch, learn, and keep up. If she had a question, she’d ask. After all, the comms …

A realization hit her, and she turned suddenly to Deacon. She mouthed, They heard me call you Sparky. The look he gave her told her they had and that she was in some deep shit about it, too. She blinked at him and then laughed. A deep, hard belly laugh. What else could she do?