Free The Victor Project by Bradford L. Blaine

yourself.”
         “No, I got a bad feeling about this one,” replied Frank. 

 
    CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
     
         Val entered the bakery and headed straight for the counter where the clerk was ringing up the bill for the only customer in the place.  She kept an eye on the door as she chose a couple of pastries to purchase and listened to their casual conversation.  He wouldn’t dare enter a place as empty as this, she thought to herself.  But he would definitely pass in front of the place to keep his target in check. 
         “Can I help you?” asked the clerk.
         “Yes, could I please have one of those and one of those,” she replied.
         “We have a special.  You can purchase any four of our pastries for seven dollars.  That saves you ninety cents,” he said.
         Val tried to keep track of the people on the sidewalk as she listened.
         “All right, give me two of those please,” she said.
         “Is everything all right mam?” he asked.
         “Yes, everything is fine.  I just don’t want my friend to pass by without seeing me,” she lied.
         “I understand.  I’ll try to hurry,” he said.
         Val dug the money from her purse and handed it to the young man.  As he placed the items in the bag, Val contemplated hanging out in the place for a little while longer with the pretense of eating one of the pastries, but she was cutting the time close for her meeting with William.  Bag in hand, she slowly made her way towards the door.
         “Have a nice day,” said the clerk.
         Just as she was stepping out the door, a man darted inward from the sidewalk rather quickly and the two abruptly collided. 
         “I’m sorry,” he said.
         Val looked him straight in the face to see if he was the one.
         “I’m so clumsy, forgive me,” she replied.
         If that would have been him, she wasn’t sure what would have happened.  She was so nervous she probably would have screamed.
         The block was rather empty for eleven o’clock in the morning.  She paused and pulled a pastry from the bag as an excuse to glance around.  The face she had thought was following her was nowhere in sight.  Where did he go?  She was sure she was being followed this time.  William would be livid if he found out she allowed herself to be tailed.
         She caught the man less than twenty minutes ago staring at her in the bookstore.  The display of new novels sat in the immediate path between the front doors and the counter.  To the right was a small area of appropriately placed couches and chairs to give the joint more ambiance.  She didn’t see him enter the store because she became engrossed in Winton Sholes’ latest novel about the old west that had just hit the shelves.  Sholes had written numerous non-fiction pieces about the history of the United States and Val had read all of them.  Her favorite to date was his novel about the French Revolution.  As she grabbed the The Untamed Territory from the shelf she saw a man standing in the Religion section, pretending to read a book he had retrieved from the shelf.  Clearly his eyes were on her when she saw him.  Something about the man told Val he wasn’t the religious type and he certainly did not look like a professor.  He looked more like the type that would be reading self-help literature.
         It was one of those gut feelings that she had gotten in the past.  Whether it was about ordering food or buying a piece of furniture, her gut always seemed to steer her in the right direction.  At that moment her gut told her to get the hell out of the bookstore and lose the man.  To make it less obvious, she allowed a few more moments as she thumbed through some of the authentic pictures of the old west.  Val loved the photos, they brought life to the characters giving her imagination that extra charge and allowing herself to get lost in the book.  For