Page 56 of Radar

Chapter Nineteen

Xander

Sunday

Lumberjack, Alaska

When Elyssa slipped into REM sleep, Xander reached for his kit, pulling his throat mic into place around his neck so that he could speak silently and the technology could pick up his words from the movement of his larynx alone.

Xander spent a moment typing up a report on his encounter with Claude, Eddie, and Elyssa at the lodge, listing the details that were significant to the case like the fact that Eddie had said they’d just met Paca that day, Xander had no clue that Elyssa was in the Kalinsky family until she brought up her great uncle in a post coital discussion. He pressed SEND, then waited for Hiro’s RECEIVED.

Giving Hiro a moment to read it over, Xander dropped magnetic comms into his ear canals so he could hear without visible technology.

Then he made the phone call.

“Xander, checking in.”

“Xander, you’re on speaker phone in my office,” Hiro said. “White’s here with me.”

“You’re sounding robotic,” White said. “Is she sleeping next to you, so you have to use the voice amplifier?”

“Affirmative. Hey, White, you’re working late.” Xander was forcing himself to keep this word choice light. Tone couldn’t be discerned over this type of communicator.

“Here it’s early,” White said. “I’m having my second cup of coffee. Listen, a report was forwarded to me. I have anupdate on the Zorics’ machine’s movement. Satellite imagery captured images of the Kyrgyzstan mountains. With the newest advances to the system, AI was able to find recent movements. The AWG team wasn’t far from the site when the team was in the mountains. It was in Scott’s search area, in the northwest quadrant. If Tink and Peter hadn’t been captured—I’m not blaming them, please, don’t hear it that way—just had they not stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time, your team would have found the machine. But life happens, and here we are.”

“Which is where?” Xander asked.

“A van moved in,” White said. “A van moved out.”

“It’s not very big, then.” Xander knew the technology had to be on the small side if the Zorics were moving it around and testing outcomes between different countries. But still, it would have been nice if the machine were bigger than an elephant and not small enough to fit in a van. “Crap.”

“Agreed,” Hiro said. “In this case, bigger would have been better.”

“Were the images clear enough to make out specifics?” Xander asked.

“It looked like a machine,” White said.

“Helpful.” And because he knew the comms didn’t inflect to show sarcasm, he labeled it for his team. “Sorry, sarcasm isn’t warranted.” He took a breath. “White, did you have a chance to read the report I just sent Hiro?”

“I did.”

“What are your thoughts about this Lumberjack, Alaska situation?” he asked. “Why would Orest be talking to a squirrel person, a meat guy, and a food engineer?”

“I’m just now being apprised of how this contact proceeded,” White said. “Do you think you have an in with this great-niece, Elyssa?”

Xander’s whole body stiffened. “Well, I slept with her.”

“Not the kind of ‘in’ I was referring to, but alright.” That was White’s sardonic humor.

Xander knew she didn’t mean anything by it. Under any other circumstance, he’d mark the clever play on words. But when it came to Elyssa? “Not funny. Can we be respectful, please?”

“Do you have emotional ties to her now?” White asked.

“She’s interesting, intelligent, and kind. Am I ready for her to have my babies?” When Xander asked that, he was surprised that he felt a momentary bubble of joy. Then he mentally popped it. Xander decided to keep things neutral with the team again, choosing to keep his words light. “I wore a condom, so that would be a no.”

“Let me ask again,” White said, the mild ribbing having fallen away. “If you had to target this woman, could you do it? I mean, an ‘in’ is an ‘in,’ right? Can you exploit the situation, or should we send someone else to take your place? Someone who didn’t just bang the enemy?” Yeah, White was pissed with this turn of events. As she should be. He was angry with how this was playing out, too.

“Bang isn’t … please don’t,” Xander said.

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