Page 64 of Radar

The man’s face was a red snarl as he reached down to grab her again, and Elyssa pulled her leg to her chest to kick him away.

Suddenly, a streak of caramel and black flew through the air. Teeth clamped down on the attacker’s forearm. Despite the heavy padding of his snowsuit, the man screamed in agony.

Barefoot and bare-chested, Xander scooped Elyssa’s backpack and purse onto his shoulder, then reached under Elyssa’s back and knees where she lay sprawled and spent in the snow. “Jeezis, Elyssa, are you hurt?” He rolled her into his chest as he stood. “Radar, detain,” he barked the command as the guy got a knee underneath him.

Elyssa hadn’t answered Xander. She had no idea if she was alright or not. This was all so alarming. In horrified fascination, Elyssa watched over Xander’s shoulder as Radar dragged and shook the attacker until he was down in the snow, still screaming for help.

Xander scanned toward the parking lot. His focus landed on a black car, where a man stood with his hands on his head and his mouth wide in astonishment. “We’ve got to get you out of here.” Xander slogged through the snow in that direction. “Elyssa, is that your ride?”

All Elyssa could manage was a nod, then she let her cheek land on Xander’s shoulder.

The driver popped the back door open. “Wow, man, is she okay?”

Xander ignored the question. He laid Elyssa gently inside. Pushing her pack onto the floor at her feet, he said, “Elyssa, check, are you sure this is the right driver?”

The driver, standing wide-eyed, looked like he hoped he had failed the test, and Elyssa would be pulled back out of his car.

With a shaking hand, Elyssa handed Xander her phone from her zippered coat pocket.

Xander scanned the screen, then scrutinized the man, checked the license plate, and returned to her side.

He’s barefoot and bare-chested, and it’s negative ten.

Xander put the phone back in her pocket and zipped it shut.

The attacker was screaming in pain, but Xander’s focus was only on her. He pulled her bottle from the side pocket on her pack, took off the top, and pressed it into her hand. “Drink it all.”

She nodded and followed his command, so he would hurry up and get out of this weather.

Out of the corner of her eye, Elyssa saw Xander reach into his pants pocket and toss something surreptitiously onto the floor. He caught the driver’s eyes, “You will get her to the airport safely and help her inside. If you don’t, Iwillfind you. Do you understand?”

There was a snarl of such blatant impending danger in Xander’s threat that the man stuttered, “Yes, sir.”

Screaming sobs of, “Help! Someone, please, help me!” rode the air.

And Elyssa was glad the attacker was suffering.

“I’m tracking you.” Xander pointed a no-shit warrior finger at the guy, and all Elyssa could think was that he was going to get frostbite, and it would be all her fault.

Xander turned the power of his focus on her, swept her from head to foot, gave her a nod, then shut the door, tap-tapping the roof to let the driver know it was time to pull off.

She turned and watched Xander head back toward Radar and the assailant.

Who the hell was that Xander morphed into?

What the hell just happened?

When Elyssa spun back to face front, pulling the safety belt across her lap and somehow stilling her shaking hand long enough to slide the clasp into the slot, the driver stammered out, “Ma’am, it happened so fast.” He shoved his car into drive. “I thought I was watching a kidnapping. That he’d pull you behind his machine like that? Shit, if he got you over the berm, you’d be gone. I got out of the car. I was coming to help, but then that guy came tearing out of his room. And that dog. That was some crazyshit.” He pulled off his beanie and clawed his hand through his hair. “And his finger and that warning. He’s tracking me? This is insane.”

In the mirror, Elyssa could see the guy flushed bright red.

“That kind of thing doesn’t happen.” His laughter was a bubble of anxiety. “The only thing that’s ever happened before is some lady’s water broke, and I had to turn around and take her home so she could get her hospital suitcase.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Should I go to the police department? The hospital? Do you need a doctor? There’s a clinic about forty minutes from here.”

“No, the airport,” Elyssa’s teeth were chattering, and she desperately wanted Radar.

“But you’re okay?”

“I’m.” She put her hands together as if in prayer, then breathed into her palms. “Wow, that was a lot.Hewas a lot.”

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