Page 44 of Radar (Iniquus Certified Cerberus Tactical K9 #2)

Elyssa

Monday

Atlantic Ocean

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have received word that a major solar storm has caused a glitch in electrical activity. There are widespread outages that began in Morocco and Iceland and have now hit southern England, including our destination city, London. London is rerouting all international flights due to power outages and intermittent communications. Our plane will land in Paris, adding one hour and twenty minutes to our flight time.”

Moans moved through the cabin.

“Once there, I cannot tell you what your next steps should be, as this is an unforeseen weather event, and we don’t have a timetable for when the airports will be functioning again.

Check with the company that provides you with travel insurance to see if they can assist you. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

Elyssa lifted her head from Xander’s shoulder. “It’s the Zorics, isn’t it?” she whispered.

“Without evidence, I don’t know. But my gut says it is.”

“Have they done something like this before?” Elyssa asked.

“They interrupted communications between the tower and the planes in Newark just after your flight took off.”

“I read about that. That’s brazen. Did The Family know Orest was at the airport?”

“Orest is the one who did it.”

Orest did it? Elyssa thought back to their flight out of Newark.

She and Eddie had barely scraped through the door before they took off, and Orest had looked nervous.

She remembered thinking he looked pale and a little sweaty.

And she remembered thinking that there was a distraction in his eyes that wasn’t typically there.

Then he’d looked at his watch and said, “No, no, right now all is good. I had anticipated a slight delay. Perhaps not this long. But the benefit is that you made the plane.” He’d anticipated a delay, so perhaps changed a timer on something?

And the delay was longer than he’d considered, so he was at risk from his actions.

Their plane should have flown out of range to the watch of a different tower.

He only wanted other people to be endangered.

Yes, his relief seemed to come when they were over the farmland, and she na?vely assumed he hated takeoffs, too.

Elyssa pushed herself up taller in her chair. “Did the Zorics tip us over on the way to D.C.?”

“No. That was the Secret Service, playing with a new toy. They’re sorry. They won’t do it again.”

Elyssa frowned. “Huh.”

“Yeah.” Xander shifted his jaw as he nodded.

“They owe me a phone.”

Silence fell between them.

Xander had his own phone out and was scrolling international news sites.

The entire country of Portugal had lost electricity.

In Spain, a patchwork of grids was still operating.

“We’re almost to Paris, right?” she checked her watch.

“If this is spreading, I’d like to be on the ground.

Newark sounded horrific. Understaffed the way they were, and the papers said the people who worked in the traffic controllers had to take trauma leave, having lived through the chaos of a sky full of planes and no ability to keep them from plowing into each other. ”

Xander squeezed her hand, then released his grip so he could text.

Xander – Did you land? Are they getting on the boat?

Elyssa desperately wanted to know what that meant and had a sick feeling that the boat had something to do with the family retreating to the island to escape the world on fire.

Adele – Yes. No.

Xander slid his phone away. “We still have time.”

“What’s their machine going to do to people? Is this it? An electrical outage?”

“Do I think that’s it? No. I think it’s stage one.

They’re wearing down people’s reserves and good feelings.

They’ll stretch the rescue workers thin.

They’ll weaken the enemy before the strike.

They’ll affect the food systems as people use up their household reserves and eat their melting frozen items.”

They were silent as they landed. There was no announcement of electrical issues here. Xander hadn’t seen anything on the news, though Spain was now wholly without electricity, as were Greenland and Great Britain.

Xander carried Elyssa’s backpack along with his own and a roller bag. As they moved through customs, Elyssa held Radar’s lead. Over his tactical vest with its supply pockets, Radar wore a service dog vest with PTSD patches, American flags, and a pink name badge that read, “Dixie.”

As soon as they were out the other side, Xander got a ping and a link to a map. He led them over to an exact spot in the airport between the men’s room and a café.

A guy walked up. “Hey, there you are. Hiro sent me.” He set a package down beside Radar.

“Dixie, hi, Dixie,” he crooned to Radar.

“Such a sweet girl. Can I pet her?” Without an answer, he crouched down.

“Not a good cover, man, when the parts don’t fit the outfit.

” He looked up. “Hiro said he did what he could for you. In the bag, you’ll find Euros.

They’d prefer you leave the plastic in your wallet.

Nothing that’s lighting up a sign saying you’re here, might buy you a little time.

There are the coordinates for a London safe house.

” He stood, and his tone was barely audible.

“Hey, man, I don’t know what’s going on, but you have a very angry family looking for your girl.

” He gave Radar a final scrub. “There’s a boating service that can take you from Paris to Le Havre off their normal line.

You’re looking for Victor. He’s been paid.

From there, take the ferry. Pre-purchased tickets are in the bag.

Get off in Portsmouth to start your retrace. ”

“England’s got no electricity,” Xander said.

“Not my care, brother.” He patted Xander’s shoulder. “Good to see you. Hope you enjoy your stay!” He raised a hand to wave to Elyssa.

Elyssa picked up Radar’s lead and the bag and wandered out the door with Xander. They grabbed a cab. “English?” Xander asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“We have some time before our train leaves,” Xander told the cabby. “Is there somewhere quiet we can go and get a shower, a nap, and walk to a meal?”

The cabby rubbed his brow.

Xander repeated himself in what sounded to Elyssa like flawless French.

“I have a friend with a room she rents,” the man said in English.

“She takes cash?”

“We shall see.” The man got on the line and spoke quickly in a language that Elyssa didn’t understand.

“She says it’s double for cash plus a dog, and she'll meet you there now for three hundred euros.”

“That’s fine,” Xander said. “Thanks.”

While the taxi driver concluded the call, Xander reached for Elyssa’s hand, and they laced their fingers together.

Elyssa was afraid of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, so she shut her mouth and waited to see what would happen next.

The place the driver brought them to was in a tiny courtyard. It was small, but clean and private.

“Elyssa, Radar hasn’t had any exercise in a couple of days now, and that’s not good for him. I need to take him for a run. Do you feel safe here by yourself?”

“Yes, I could use a shower and time to wash my hair. Do you think you’ll be long?”

“That depends on Radar, about an hour. Then we can get something to eat and head over to find Victor.”

He pulled out his phone and sent a text.

Xander- Is the family on the boat?

He laid the phone on the table while he went to use the bathroom and change into his running clothes.

When his phone pinged, Elyssa glanced over.

Adele – No.

When Xander returned, he read the message, then said, “She’s in Singapore.”

“Got it,” Elyssa said. But this was a whole new world to her.

***

It was nice to have some time to decompress with no one looking over at her to see if she was going to pass out on them.

Clean was a wonderful feeling.

Elyssa pulled her freshly washed and dried hair into a bun at the nape of her neck, then went to figure out her clothing situation with a towel wrapped around her chest.

Elyssa had four more days of panties because she always packed those into her carry-on like she was going to have dysentery and shit herself ten times a day. She picked out a pair that was both comfortable for athletics and made her butt look cute.

She was down to her only other pair of pants. They were good pants to have, though. Anti-microbial, so they wouldn’t stink, anti-stain, water-resistant, fleece-lined. They were her favorites because they slid easily over her thigh-high compression socks, and nothing got bound up.

There were no clean shirts in her bag.

She was standing there in her bra, dressed except for the question of what to do about a shirt, when there was a knock at the door.

“Me and Radar,” Xander called.

“Yup.”

He let himself in and shut the door behind them.

Radar’s tongue hung long.

So did Elyssa’s. Look at him. Wow.

And all Elyssa could think was that the timing was wrong. Yes, she wanted to have a relationship with Xander Belov. Yes, she wanted to spend her time getting to know him.

But how dare he show up in the End Times, distracting her like this?

It was really inappropriate.

Save the world, then— then .

Elyssa clamped her mouth shut and sent Xander a look of fury. “Goddammit. I don’t want to fall in love with you until later.” Elyssa scowled. “Stop it. Stop it right now.”

“I … Okay.” Confusion and laughter fought for dominance in his expression. “Could you be just a little more explicit?”

She gestured up and down Xander’s body. “You’re doing it right now, stop.”

“Now?” Xander pointed a finger toward the floor. “I’m doing it now.” He looked at Radar, then back at Elyssa. “Right now, I’m doing something that makes you feel like you’re falling in love with me?” He wrinkled his brow. “I walked in the door after Radar’s run. I’m covered in sweat.”

She licked her lips. “Yes!”

“Covered in sweat makes you fall in love with me?”

“Obviously.” She held her palms up and vibrated her hands at him. “Yes, sweat with the gorgeous dog looking like he would eat a bear for you.”

“Eat a bear to protect you, yes.” Xander pulled the towel from the neck of his sweatshirt, balled it up, and held it to his chest. “For me? He might leave me some leftovers, once he was full.”

“Stop it!”

He lifted his brow. “Doing it again?”

“Self-deprecating humor. Glint of joy in your eyes.”

“No joy then.” He canted his head. “Some joy?” He held his finger and his thumb to show an amount. “A smidge of joy?” His smile was delicious.

Elyssa couldn’t fight against a smile like that.

The stress that she’d turned into, whatever this scene was, melted in the light of his smile.

“Fine, a smidge of joy,” she relented. “But this cannot be combined with sweat and an adoring dog. One component at a time is acceptable. Three is just mean.” She wandered over and put her forehead on his chest.

And he wrapped her in his arms and dropped a kiss onto her hair. “Because you falling in love with me would be me being mean?” He rocked her back and forth.

“Thank you for understanding.” And after standing there like that for a long minute, she lifted to her toes to kiss him. “Shower, please.”

He released her and started toward the bathroom.

“Wait,” she called. “First, I need to borrow a shirt.”