Page 5 of A Soldier's Destiny
Chapter 2
Ten minutes later, Raptor stopped at the curb in front of Prince’s Patisserie. The pink and black striped awning made it look like someone had transported it from the streets of Paris. The memory of tear-filled blue eyes filled his mind as he pulled off his helmet. Would he ever stop thinking about the woman? He wasn’t even sure that she’d survived. Shaking his head to get rid of the memory, he focused on the two cops nailing plywood over what should have been a plate glass window.
At the sound of the bike, they turned toward him. “Did my brother send you?”
“If you mean Chase? Then yes. I’m Raptor Ramsey.”
“I’m Steele. I’ve heard about you from my brother,” he said as shook Raptor’s hand.
“I’m Ethan Price.” Raptor looked around. Nothing looked out of the ordinary except for the broken window.
“Do you know any more than Chase told me?”
“No. I told him everything she said in her statement. I’m not sure that’s all of it, though. Call it cop intuition. I have the feeling she’s holding back. But maybe you can get it out of her at dinner.”
“Dinner? I thought I was supposed to be undercover.”
“You are. Since no one remembers you around here, it’ll be easier for you. She’s at Alex and Lily’s house. I’ll drop you off.”
“Can’t I take my bike?”
“You’re undercover, remember? You’re a distant cousin just out of the military and came to help out with the bakery. You wouldn’t have a bike with local plates. If you need to drive anywhere, you can use the bakery delivery van. But since it’s at Alex’s house right now, I’ll drop you off and Ethan will stash the bike at his house.”
“I don’t know jack about anything in the kitchen, except that it has fire. It’ll be a tough sell that I can help out.”
“She’ll take it easy on you, she didn’t exactly want a bodyguard.”
“Why does she need one?”
“Apparently, someone’s been targeting her for the last three or four months. It would have been better if she’d told us before it escalated to this. But she said she thought it was her imagination until the brick came through the plate glass window and almost killed her and Alex’s wife, Lily. I think you know him, at least.”
Raptor nodded. “Yeah, I know Alex from ESP. But Chance said they’re okay, right?” Innocents being injured twisted Raptor’s guts into knots. It was one more thing that had gotten worse since Paris and the blue-eyed woman.
“Yes, they’re fine. Rori took the brunt of it, but it wasn’t too bad. She ended up with some cuts on her arms as she tried to shield Lily. They were lucky.”
“Sounds like it. Any clue who’s targeting her or why?”
“That’s the problem. It doesn’t make sense that anyone would. The town is small, and as far as we can tell she doesn’t have any enemies.”
“Wouldn’t just closing the bakery for a while be a better idea than taking chances?”
“You’d have riots on your hands. Wait till you taste one of her macarons. Holy crap. I swear every time Anna comes home with one of those pink and black boxes I’m in trouble,” Ethan answered.
“It’s just a bakery. Seriously?”
“Just wait.” Steele laughed. “C’mon let’s get you over to Alex’s house. I need to get back to the station to file the report. Ethan, you’ve got the bike, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll take good care of her. No worries,” he said as he took the keys from Raptor.
Steele’s words worried Raptor as he gazed out the window at Willow Haven. Who would want to hurt her and why? How the hell was he going to be able to figure out who was trying to hurt Aurora Prince? He pictured some sixty-year-old Betty Crocker type. Chase couldn’t have given him a mission further than his last if he’d tried. Going from stuck-up rich asshole to elderly baker would be different that’s for sure.
“Chase said you were injured. I guess it won’t affect your ability to do the job?”
“Not at all. I could have stayed in, just not doing what I was before.”
“And that was?”
“I can’t tell you. I’d have to kill you.”
