Page 1 of Radar

Chapter One

Xander

Tuesday

Bratislava,Slovakia

The warmth of Xander Belov’s exhaled breath formed a visible cloud as he stood under a lonely streetlamp.

He paused, assessed, then jogged across the road, jumping the ice-filled gutter.

There, on the corner, Xander paused again.

Something about this next stretch of cobblestones made his teeth itch.

Peppered with chained bikes, Xander noted how the residents parked their cars at an angle on the sidewalk, making the road passable for small vehicles. This configuration forced the pedestrians to hug the shadows of the building walls as they moved from Point A to Point B.

There were no pedestrians. There was Xander.

Who else would be out on a night like this?

Cold nipped at the tops of Xander’s ears through his fleece cap. It stabbed through the soles of his boots, piercing his thermal socks and reaching his bones, making them feel brittle and easily snapped.

This whole setup reminded Xander of the World War II film he’d watched on the plane ride in. The movie depicted people hauled from their homes, rounded up and herded at the point of a rifle, then sent on to a concentration camp with inadequate clothing. When they stood in formation for their daily roll call, the imprisoned people worked to stave off frostbite by stomping their bare feet.

This wasn’t then. He wasn’t them.

He had boots, good boots. And he was able to walk around freely.

Yeah, it was probably the sound of his footfalls moving in a habitual, military-trained cadence that was inventing ghosts in Xander’s imagination.

“I’m a fortunate man,” he said aloud as frigid air burrowed into the weave of his hiking pants to lay moist against his skin.

Xander reached behind his head to grab the collar of his wool coat, standing it up to cover the nape of his neck.

But it gave him little respite from the sensation of ice water in his veins.

As a whole, Xander had felt comfortable moving about the city of Bratislava.

He loved her history and music.

Loved the food—my god, the food!

Loved her architecture and the unexpected success of its May-December romance, marrying modern and ancient styles. Somehow, it worked beautifully.

The more opportunities Xander had to work in this Slovakian capital—to explore and learn—the more intriguing he found Bratislava’s character.

Yes, as a whole, this was a wonderful city.

Just notthisparticular neighborhood.

Alarm bells clanged his nervous system awake.Something’s not right here.

Tugging his hands from his coat pockets, Xander flexed his fingers against the frigid temperatures.

He didn’t like this.

Tonight, fog crawled over the rooftops, prowled down the walls, and hovered just out of reach. It made the streetlamps dim by wrapping them, like a woman’s shawl around her babe, hugging the light to her chest, leaving just enough illuminationfor Xander to move down the street, only semi-confident he wouldn’t stumble over something lying in his path.