Page 40 of Radar (Iniquus Certified Cerberus Tactical K9 #2)

Elyssa

Sunday

Washington, D.C.

Elyssa was lying on the floor with her head resting on Radar.

She had been going over the years she had known her Uncle Orest. What had they talked about?

The joy of life. Of food. Of tickling babies to hear them laugh.

Of art and music, either of which could move him to tears of empathy.

Uncle Orest had a warmth and an inclusiveness, a lot of worry for humanity, and a little good-natured scolding about her health and safety.

What in the world could Uncle Orest possibly have done that would bring the FBI, the CIA, and not one but two DIA officers to meet her plane?

The DIA meant it had something to do with military security, right?

And Uncle Orest did work with scientists all over the world.

There was a mistake. There had to be a mistake. Some kind of circumstance that aligned Uncle Orest with someone or some act that was innocent on his part.

A knock at the door had her turning her head.

The group filed back in.

Xander came immediately to her side with his whole “ta-dunda-dun hero to the rescue” energy swirling around him as he crouched by her side.

Did she hate it?

No. Actually, quite the opposite. It was new to be the focus of that kind of attention. Elyssa could get used to it if it wasn’t attached to some government guy who had her uncle in his sights.

With a lift of his eyebrows to ask permission, and a slight nod from her, Xander checked her pulse.

Elyssa loved his hand on her. But since they’d had sex, he’d been a constant source of internal conflict. Elyssa believed what he said about not knowing her before he bedded her. But still, he called Uncle Orest a target. Seriously ?

“I’m fine. I was just more comfortable here.” She accepted Xander’s hand as she got up in stages. The government people found places around the table. Each one took out a business-style card and lined them up in front of the chair at the head of the table.

And that was the seat where Xander led her. He, then, reintroduced “the team.”

As Xander sat down cattycorner to her, Radar lifted his head from the floor to see if there was a command, but none came, so he lay back down, curling into a ball.

“I’m sorry you were attacked,” White said. She sounded sincere but no-nonsense. She was sorry bad things were happening, but that wasn’t going to change the facts, and they were here about facts.

Elyssa decided she’d listen and answer because there was no reason not to.

“You should have seen her escape. It was the stuff of movies.” Xander’s voice was rich with pride.

“I mean, Radar got to bite the bad guy, and that made his day. But the moves Elyssa used while she was getting dragged over the field were pure pipe-hitter shit.” Xander turned Elyssa’s way. “Was that a rugby technique?”

Pipe-hitter, Elyssa thought she’d heard that term in TV shows about special ops types.

Everyone in the room looked like they could easily be in that category.

These were the kinds of people that you could bounce quarters off their abs.

Special ops spooks? Elyssa stared at Xander, thinking of his bruised body.

Well, that made more sense, didn’t it? He was on some mission, and there was a fight.

Elyssa blinked away the emotions of pride and horror, turning to address the group.

“That technique gets you up on your feet again when they’re trying to drag the ball from your hand.

” Her voice was dispirited. They were obviously trying to show they were on her side because she’d need people on her side in the next few minutes.

“We want to talk to you about your Uncle Orest,” White said, reaching into her briefcase and pulling out a file.

“Is he okay?” Elyssa whispered.

“Perfectly fine,” White smiled. “He had a good flight to San Francisco.”

“He’s going to meet the family in Singapore,” Elyssa said.

“What can you tell me about that?” White opened the file and pulled out a piece of paper.

“Just that he asked me to go with him. I couldn’t go on the same flight because I’m an attendant at a wedding this weekend. I was going to join him, leaving on Monday.”

White slid the paper her way.

Elyssa looked down at a copy of her plane ticket to Singapore. “Yes.” She felt red rise, Eddie-style, from her neck to her hairline.

Xander was watching her like a hawk, primed to leap into action. She liked it and, at the same time, found it a bit overwhelming.

“Why were you going?” White asked.

“There’s a family reunion, and Uncle Orest wanted me to meet them.

And as a surprise, he said that he’d been building a prototype that I was developing.

It’s an interior vertical farm. And I guess the family has an island with a volcanic chimney.

” She licked her lips. “So, what is this about Uncle Orest? Apparently, you all think he’s a bad guy. ”

“Have you always known him?” White maintained control of the information flow.

“No, there was an article in the paper about an award I won. And a woman came to see me. She said that she had read that article and wondered if she might ask me a few questions. I thought it was about my designs, but it was about my great-grandfather.”

“This article?” White pulled out another piece of paper and laid it in front of her.

Elyssa looked down just long enough to identify it, then nodded.

“Do you remember the name of the person who contacted you?” White asked.

“Yes, it was a woman named Danika Zoric. And she had an older man with her named Radovan Krokov, yes, I think that’s right.

Danika said that she had family in Kalin, a city outside of Bratislava, Slovakia.

And that they had family members who had fled the Nazis during World War II.

Once the mother and son reached Pennsylvania, the family had lost touch.

She said she thinks she knows my great-uncle, and his name was Orest Kalinsky.

” She’d been hoodwinked. As Elyssa told her story, she saw how easily she had been manipulated.

“That was supposed to be your great-grandfather’s brother? The one mentioned in the paper?” White asked.

“Yes. My great-grandpa’s younger brother, Orest, had been a baby in diapers at the time my great-grandpa and his mother escaped.”

“Your family told you the great-uncle’s name?” White asked with a tip of her head.

“No, everyone called him ‘Great-grandpa’s brother’ and not by a proper name.”

“And you didn’t ask your family when Miss Zoric approached you?”

“My only family who might know was my dad or grandpa, and they’re dead. So, no.” Elyssa felt so na?ve. She fell into someone’s design like a stone in the stream. But what the heck? I mean, come on now.

“And you were convinced that Orest was, in fact, your great-grandfather’s brother?” White was walking this through like a lawyer, pulling a confession from the person on the stand.

I’m not culpable of anything, Elyssa reminded herself.

“They had a scrapbook of things from the family. They showed me what vital papers were left. Not many. This was pre-computer, of course, and the Nazis burned the records hall. But they had pictures and their story … shit.” She should just voice her conclusions and get them on the table.

“You’re about to tell me that he’s not my great-uncle at all, aren’t you? ”

White caught Elyssa’s gaze. “I am.”

“But why would he lie?” Elyssa was staring at the wall, her face blank as she processed the news.

“We think that he wanted you to do research for him,” White said gently.

“And they thought that, given your philanthropic bent and your love for family, they could entwine you in both ways. That family simply enjoys manipulating people. It makes them feel superior and powerful.” White tilted her head.

“Also, Orest likes pretty things. He might have wanted to have a loving great-niece who smiled at him and doted on him.”

“I did that. It’s true.” Elyssa swallowed, then sought out Xander’s gaze and whispered, “I research food production applications. I don’t know how I could have broken the law.”

“You didn’t. Elyssa, listen to me,” Xander said, “you did nothing wrong. We just want you to know the truth, and we need you to help us.”

“Because Unc—because Orest did something bad, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

Elyssa licked dry lips. “Give me a category of wrong. Is he a serial killer?”

“Terrorist,” Finley said.

“Terrorist? That’s so crazy!” Elyssa gasped. “Terrorist? I was working on the problem of world food shortages. Orest believed—told me that he believed—that everyone should have access to delicious, nutritious food.”

“It’s an honorable goal, Elyssa,” Xander said.

And Elyssa got the distinct impression that he was trying to ease the first of many blows she was about to take.

“Elyssa, we have some upsetting things to tell you. But if it gets too much, we can take a break. You have Radar. We have medical support just outside the door,” he reminded her.

Elyssa flicked her gaze in the direction of the door, and for a split second, she considered walking out. But someone had tried to kidnap her, and if for no other reason than self-preservation, she needed to know why. And maybe they had that information.

“White, can you explain Elyssa’s family tree, so she is very sure of the facts?” Xander asked.

White put some pages in front of Elyssa and walked her through the genealogical information from Orest’s family tree, then hers. She finished with the conclusion that Elyssa and Orest weren’t related at all, and Orest had been lying to her the whole time.

“Not my uncle. But a terrorist?” Elyssa went numb.

“One of the worst people in the world,” White’s matter-of-fact tone was helpful. “And he’s planning very bad things.”

Elyssa dropped her hands between her knees and rubbed them together as if to generate heat. “Food things?”