Page 25 of Radar

He would loosely describe his style as “always ready for a hike.” Traveling from country to country, urban space to rural, bog to coffee house, this particular look let him slide into a space and slip by anyone’s notice.

Camouflaged without wearing camo, Xander was an everyman except for his height, and there was nothing he could do about that except stand near a wall.

The kennel hand had spruced up Radar, so he wasn’t tracking mud through the Atrium of Iniquus’ main headquarters as they followed their escort to the tactical forces wing.

Reaching Panther Force War Room, the escort tapped on the door, and Nutsbe opened it, a giant bullmastiff at his side. Today, he was in his wheelchair.

“Oh man, who’s this beast?” Xander asked as he followed Nutsbe into the conference room, shutting the door behind him.

“This glorious monster is my service dog, Beowolf.”

“Awesome. I’m happy for you.” Xander paused his forward momentum. “Is it okay to have Radar here? I can take him back to Reaper."

“These two are buds. They lived at Cerberus together.” Nutsbe waved away the idea, then reached for his wheels to roll toward the conference table.

The two men, sitting cattycorner at one end, looked up from the file they’d been studying.

Nutsbe spun his chair and pointed to the black leather captain’s chair beside him. “So, what did you need to see me about?”

“I brought you a card from Bratislava.” Xander reached into his pack and handed him the slightly bent pink envelope with the purple glitter ink script and the cupcake sticker on the back that Anna had asked Xander to deliver.

Nutsbe accepted it in one hand and swept the other out to indicate the other two men in the room.

“Titus, good to see you.” Xander leaned forward with his hand extended toward the Panther Force leader.

After receiving the welcome, Titus turned to indicate the man in a well-tailored suit who gave Xander a genteel nod. “This is Iniquus counsel, Sy Covington.”

“Glad to meet you, sir.”

Titus closed the file as Xander settled in his seat, gesturing for Radar to lie down under the table out of Beowolf’s way.

Nutsbe glanced at the children’s card, written in Slovak, and laid it on the table before unfolding the single handwritten page in English, also written in a curling purple glitter pen.

Who would send State secrets in purple glitter pen? Xander liked everything about the subterfuge, and he stored the tactic in his memory bank.

There was a knock at the door, and Titus opened it to Steve Finley, an FBI domestic terror agent who had helped put the East Coast Zoric family in prison and was also Anna’s fiancé.

Finley scanned the room, and apparently sensing something afoot, simply lifted a hand in greeting as he took a seat next to Xander.

“I saw Anna two days ago,” Xander said under his breath. “You know about the movement to Singapore?”

Finley nodded.

“She got an invitation. The Family trusts her.”

Worry clouded Finley’s eyes. “How’s she holding up?”

“Ignorance is bliss, and she doesn’t have that luxury,” Xander replied.

With one hand on Beowolf’s head, Nutsbe read through the letter. Then he lifted his gaze to meet Sy Covington’s.

Sy tipped his head, inviting Nutsbe to share.

Nutsbe cleared his throat, but that didn’t quell a warble of emotion as he read: “Hey, sweety, I have some gossip about little Amanda Bradshaw. You remember her? She’s leaving for an exchange program with the United States and is very excited about the opportunity. She should arrive on Friday.”

“Amazing,” Covington said with a smile and a shake of his head. “Not a done deal, obviously, but we had hoped all along that she’d be included in a Russian prisoner exchange.”

“I wonder who they got in return,” Titus said.