Warrior's Heart (SEAL of Fortune) (11 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Ryker walks out of Hargraves’ office, his mood dark and brooding. He is proud of his service to his country, but the Navy is asking a lot of him. A hell of a lot. He is walking by one of the debrief rooms when the door opens and Julian steps out, admonishing someone inside about regrets.

“Good morning Dr. Baker,” Ryker says.

Julian falls into step with Ryker. “Are you ever going to call me Julian?”

Ryker smiles as he slows his pace in deference to Dr. Baker. “Someday, maybe. I haven’t seen you around.”

“Yeah. The CIA has been grilling me pretty hard. For a while there I thought they believed I had something to do with my own kidnapping. Those guys, I don’t know why, but they make me nervous.”

Ryker chuckles. “Yeah. They can be intense sometimes. I understand they have asked you to stay and help with the search for the virus.”

“I offered to stay but Ronnie talked me out of it. She’s staying instead.”

Ryker can feel his heart sink even lower, but he nods. “That’s good. I need the help. I don’t even know which end of a microscope to look through.”

Julian smiles and puts his hand on Ryker’s shoulder. “Can I talk to you a minute? In private.”

“Sure… so long as you understand that there is no truly private place in the building. Do you want to go outside?”

“No. I understand the need for security. This isn’t secret. It’s more… personal.”

“Okay. You want to follow me to my room or would you like me to come to yours? Yours is probably nicer.”

“Then let’s go to my room,” Julian says.

Ryker follows Julian and notes he is in the guest suite directly across from Ronnie’s. Julian swipes his card and opens the door, stepping aside and holding it until Ryker enters.

“What can I do for you, Doc?”

“I had an interesting discussion with Ronnie this morning. Is it true that you had been ordered to shoot me if you couldn’t rescue me?”

Ryker is quite for a moment, trying to decide how to answer. “Yes. It’s true. Fortunately it didn’t come to that.”

Julian smiles. “No. Fortunately not. Ronnie thinks you would have done it, too. Would you have?”

“Yes.”

Once again Julian smiles. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I wanted to tell you that I understand. I tried to explain to Ronnie that there are things worse than death. Being forced to create a bio-weapon would be one of those things. I wouldn’t have done it, but I suspect my death at the hands of my captors would be far more painful than at yours.”

Ryker holds his tongue. He doesn’t know what to say to that.

“May I ask you a personal question?” Julian asks.

“I might not answer, but you can ask,” Ryker says.

“Do you love Ronnie?”

Ryker doesn’t answer right away, thinking over his answer. “No. But—before—I think I was falling for her. But it’s over now. I’m sorry I hurt her.”

Julian nods. “I’m really sorry for what is about to happen. I know it must be hard. It would be like me having to work with my ex-wife. Except maybe worse. I can’t stand her.”

Ryker smiles slightly. “It’s just a job. I can handle it.”

Julian nods. “I’m sure you can. But Ronnie has been changed by all of this. I don’t know what has happened, but she isn’t the same daughter I left behind in Berkeley. Did you know she is down in the infirmary every day, reading to the Marines?”

“Yes. That is very kind of her.”

“Yes. Yes it is. But she would have never done that before. She wasn’t cruel before, but she seems to have… grown… from this experience. She isn’t as self-centered as she was.”

“Having your life threatened will get your priorities focused.”

“What do you mean?”

Ryker explains to Julian about the attack at the hotel, where he had to use the armored embassy car as a battering ram to escape an attempted kidnapping. He then explains how less than a week later, another attempt was made on her person. The first attack Ryker thought was aimed at him, but when they took Ronnie the second time, that is when it became clear that Ronnie was the actual target of the first attack. A large dollop of luck had been involved in allowing him to snatch her back from her kidnappers the second time.

Julian listens without comment as Ryker lays out the stories in broad strokes. He minimizes how near death Ronnie had come in the second attack, but Julian seems to be able to read between the lines.

“Thank you, Ryker. Thank you for saving my daughter. I feel better, having talked to you, and know that she will continue to be safe under your protection.”

“I will see that nothing happens to her, Julian. I promise.”

“Yes. I know that you will. She is the most important thing in the world to me.”

Ryker smiles sadly. “From the short time I have known her, she seems like she is an amazing woman.”

Julian smiles in return. “That she is, Ryker. That she is.”

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***

They’ll fight each other along the way, but she is the only chance he has to save both his name and his club.
Mason Butler is good with numbers. Tasked as treasurer for the Fallen Angels MC, he’s always been able to make the numbers add up, but when he discovers that a large chunk of money has gone missing, he decides to call in help to figure out where it could have gone. 
Caroline Lewis is a computer whiz and a math genius, but she’s not great with people, especially incredibly sexy bikers who show up at her house unannounced. Working together is difficult, but underneath the hostility, there is plenty of sexual tension that threatens to explode. 
As they fight the urges that keep bringing them closer, Caroline begins to find evidence that someone has been stealing from the club. To find the thieves and save the club, they’ll have to work together, but when Mace is forced to make a choice, the consequences will put everything to the test.

***

Derrick Baker knew where his life was headed
Since graduation, his path had seemed straightforward. He enlisted in the navy, married his high school sweetheart, had a son, and now was expecting a second child, a little girl.  He would have loved seeing his wife grow with their children inside her, but he’d always believed he had a duty to do his country, and he was determined to see it through.
Sarah Donovan had no idea what to do with herself.
Getting laid off from another job had convinced her than she needed to figure out where her life was going.  Now, almost thirty with no career, no husband, and nothing to look forward to but growing old alone, she was starting to worry. Until she gets the phone call that changes everything.
They are brought together by tragedy
Even as they grew older and drifted apart, Sarah loved her sister more than anyone, so receiving a call telling her that both her sister and her unborn niece were killed in a car accident, Sarah races across the country to help her brother-in-law and her nephew.
Now, as they try to rebuild their lives, they just might create a future together.
Derrick, taking leave from the military to take care of his son, is devastated and turns to the sister-in-law he hardly knows to help work through the pain and anger of losing half his family. But as they mourn together, lust blooms between them, and continues to grow into something much wilder.

***

Book 1 of the
Iron Raiders MC
series

She’s the only thing he’s ever wanted, and he’s the one thing she never saw coming.
Things have never been black and white for Ellie Carmichael. Growing up surrounded by the men of the Iron Raiders, the motorcycle club that’s been the only family she’s ever known, she’s always believed in the clubs mission, even when they’re activities weren’t entirely legal. But, as the daughter of a prostitute in their stable, who got herself knocked up and then locked up, she grew up thinking of the men of the club as uncles, and then brothers, and the president who led them all as the father she never knew.
 
Austin Parker tried not to take anything too seriously. After getting out of his crappy trailer park on the back of his alcoholic father’s bike, he spent two years travelling around the country before finding the Iron Raiders. Something about the club convinced him to stay, and he took full advantage of the bonuses of the lifestyle, including the rotating door of women in and out of his bed.
 
Ellie and Austin have never gotten along. She can’t deny how attractive he is, but his couldn’t-care-less attitude when it comes to the club that raised her drives her crazy, as does his penchant for one-night-stands. But when a night of drinking leads to her waking up in his bed, she’s the one who can’t leave fast enough. Austin, for the first time in his life, can’t get her out of his head, and he decides to pursue her. Meanwhile, outside forces start to threaten the club, and it will take everyone to ensure the future of the Iron Raiders.
 
As Austin begins to fight for the only things he’s ever wanted, it will take everything he’s got to prove his loyalty, to the club and to Ellie.

***