A Shepherd Afield Pt. 04

Catherine's phone began making a chirping sound like a bird call.

"Oh! That's my father's ringtone! I need to take this!" Cat exclaimed and Chanel smiled at her.

"Hello?"

"Cat?" a rough voice called out loudly. The noise in the background was deafening.

"Dad? What's going on?" She had to hold the phone out from her ear.

"Hang on, I'm getting into my truck." There was a few more moments of noise and they both heard the squawk of the intercom on a firetruck. The two women looked at each other. A deep thump was followed with a drastic reduction in the noise. Cat was able to put the phone back to her ear.

"Dad, what happened? Was that a firetruck?" Catherine asked anxiously.

"First off, your mother and I are fine. The house... not so much. Our water heater was faulty and exploded. Took out the back corner of the house on its way skyward. We lost the dining room on the main floor and your brother's room on the second floor as well... which had become a bit of a shrine if I'm being honest with myself."

Catherine's expression showed her worry. Her father wasn't big on opening up emotionally and he sounded a little shaky.

"Dad, where's mom?"

"Bridge night. She's over at Evelyn's. I called her first and Evelyn will take care of her tonight. Listen, there was a bit of a fire after the water heater busted the place up and the house will need some extensive repairs. The insurance will cover it but I was wondering if this would be an opportunity to... come visit?"

Catherine's eyes went wide. Her parents hadn't ever visited. They'd missed their grandchildren's growing up because of the falling out she'd had with her dad over Ashraf. She'd gotten her stubborn streak from her dad.

"Cat?"

"Uh sorry dad, you just surprised me. A visit sounds wonderful!" she said as she watched Chanel's worried expression.

"Yeah, ok... great! I'm just going to take care of a few things here and tomorrow we'll pack up the car and start driving to your place. We'll make a road trip out of it so expect us sometime next week. I'll keep in touch to give you a more accurate date when we are on the road."

"That sounds good! I'm glad you and Mom are ok. Thanks for calling!" she said.

"See you soon, Cat," he said and hung up.

Catherine looked at her phone, stunned.

"Maybe I should find a place to stay while they are here?" Chanel suggested.

"No! No! Absolutely not! I've never lied to my dad and I'm not going to start now. He values integrity above all else so he gets to see my life with no secrets. I'm happier than I've ever been and you are a far better person than Ashraf. Dad will love you."

"What about your mother?" Chanel asked cautiously.

Cat smiled warmly. "Mom's a sweetie. During the years when I wasn't talking with dad she kept in touch. Letters mostly."

"Moving in and meeting the parents in the same week. It's so sudden!" Chanel said with a nervous grin.

Their food arrived so Cat just gave her lover a broad smile. Her own mind was spinning! Her father had been asking to meet Ben. Now he was going to meet two important people in her life.

Cat looked across the table at Chanel in surprise as a thought came to her.

The beautiful brunette paused with a fork halfway to her mouth. "What is it?"

"Nothing, my brain was just taking me to funny places," she said, keeping her thought to herself. For now.

Next week was going to be eventful!

Chapter 29

Ben returned from the hotel gym feeling great. His muscles had responded well and he pushed himself to get in an extra set of reps with the heavy stack of plates. He felt a pleasant burn tingling through his muscles.

He took a quick shower, shaved, brushed his teeth, dressed, and headed downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. Once he was seated he checked his messages.

He spotted a message from Catherine so he opened it up to read it. A smile spread across his face when he read how happy she was about the surprise he'd sent her and he nodded with satisfaction when he saw Chanel was staying. He recalled how desperate and dazed the woman had been when they met in Milan so he wasn't surprised that she hadn't considered moving her stuff. He wrote a quick reply to her saying he would send a message to his friend with the jet service and let them know to expect a call from her. Whatever she needed. He smiled thinking of her smiling face as he hit send.

"Good morning handsome! What will it be?"

He looked up at the smiling face of an older waitress and watched that smile turn into wide eyed excitement.

Ben had an epiphany in that brief moment before she squealed. He had to come to some kind of agreement, a ceasefire of hostilities against the ugly beast called fame. The more he bitched and moaned the less happy he was. Yes, it was unfair. Yes, he hadn't asked for any of it. He could still keep to himself and not share intimate details of his life but as long as the public had their attention focused on him he would not let it change who he was. So he put away the sigh and the grumble and simply smiled at the woman.

"YOU'RE DWAYNE JOHNSON!" she squealed.

Ben's smile froze then a laugh burst from him.

Her expression changed to confusion then embarrassment as Ben struggled to control his laughter.

"No- heh heh, sorry. I'm not Dwayne Johnson though I'm flattered by the comparison," he grinned.

"I'm so sorry! I thought you were someone famous!" the red faced woman apologized.

"I get that sometimes, it's fine. Can I still order breakfast?" he smiled up at her.

"Of course you can!"

He placed his order and she apologized once more before rushing off to the kitchen.

Looking over his email he answered a few messages from Jerry, his financial advisor, nothing alarming, mostly good. There was a note from his lawyer saying his lawsuit against Peeps was having the desired effect so far. Ben smiled at that.

He sent a note to his buddy with the jet service and requested a jet for Catherine and Chanel for a weekend flight to and from Paris. He indicated that Catherine would contact him directly with the details and the cost should go on his account. He CC'd Catherine on the message so she would see it.

He was settling the bill when the waitress walked over to him with a smirk on her face. He smiled at her.

"You are famous!" she accused with hands on hips.

He tipped his head to her. "Not like Mr. Johnson though. He deserves his fame. He works for it. Mine was forced upon me."

The woman shook her head at him but smiled and Ben left with a chuckle.

He collected the duffle with the prototype and his laptop case from his room then went downstairs. As he approached the front door the big red SUV rumbled into the driveway. He put his bags in the back and climbed in the passenger seat.

"Good morning, Ben! Sleep well?" Don said with a grin.

"Good morning, Don. Yes, very well? Yourself?"

"Like a Bush baby!" the man chuckled.

Ben frowned. "Aren't they nocturnal?"

"Yeah, I don't need much sleep. I get maybe two to three hours a night. I'm far more productive at night," the man explained. "It's how I got where I am today! Never let 'em catch ya sleeping, ay!"

Ben smiled at the man's enthusiasm.

They pulled into his parking spot then headed inside.

Evie was working the reception desk again and she was wearing a very pretty yellow sundress which was very flattering for her slim figure.

"The eyes may travel but the hands must never follow," Don chanted quietly to himself as he took in the young woman's cleavage on display but Ben heard him. He glanced self-consciously at Ben. "Too damn many temptations on this planet," he muttered to Ben with a grin but there was tension in the corners of his eyes. Perhaps his hands had followed in the past.

"Good morning, Evie," Ben said, giving Don time to compose himself, and watched her eyes light up as she saw he'd remembered her name. "How's your mother?" He thought she might swoon for a moment but she got it under control.

"She was very excited to see the pictures, Mr. Shepherd," she gushed.

"Please, call me Ben. That's a beautiful sundress. The lighting in the lobby is much better this morning. Maybe we should get another picture?" he suggested and her phone was instantly in her hand as she had been hoping.

Smiling knowingly Don took the phone and got some shots of Ben and Evie.

He handed the phone back to the young woman. "Ben and I will be in the pit feeding the wild dogs all day so hold my calls, alright?"

"Yes, Mr. Blake!" Evie chirped happily looking at the photos.

"Sweet girl," Don said to Ben as they made their way back to the elevators. They went down a floor and walked to the back of the building where they stopped at some double doors painted black. 'The Pit' was painted on the doors with rough paint strokes in blood red. Ben raised his eyebrows and Don rolled his eyes with a grin before pushing through.

Inside the doors was a platform with stairs leading down one level. The room was two stories tall as there was a radiation chamber at the back of the room. The space was huge with a machine shop on one side, test benches and drafting tables in the middle and on the right every kind of testing equipment Ben could imagine. It was a mechanical engineer's dream. He looked around in delight.

"BEN SHEPHERD!" roared from the throats of six men and two women. He looked back at them in shock.

"May I present Bryan Crane and his merry band of misfits, the Wild Dogs, our engineering team!"

The man Don introduced as Bryan bounced over to stand before them at the base of the stairs with a huge grin on his bearded face.

"Welcome to... The Pit!" Bryan said theatrically.

Don rolled his eyes at Ben once more and they descended into the madness.

The others gathered around and everyone said their names and their areas of specialization. The two women were the mathematicians of the team who kept the other's unbridled enthusiasm in check.

"What have you brought for us?" Bryan said with excitement, rubbing his hands together.

Ben grinned and placed his duffle on the table and paused before he opened it. "Normally I take my original prototype home after the tests and put it in a display case in my office but I understand this one may become a little radioactive in the testing. I'll need a moment to say goodbye."

The mathematicians giggled and the others were all grins. He unzipped the bag and lifted out the device.

Bryan's face lit up. "Yes! I won the bet! I told you he was going to implement a static plate deflection system!"

"Sorry Bryan. It's not a static plate deflection system," Ben said with a grin. "It's more elegant than that." He pulled out his documentation and handed his notes to the woman they called Mare, which was apparently short for Mary. She was maybe 5' 4", had a head of brown curly hair that reached her shoulders and was pleasantly plump all over. She hid her soft hazel eyes behind serious black rimmed glasses. She checked over his math as he outlined how the device filtered the heavy particles from the air intake system. Eyes began to widen. It took him a good hour as he fielded questions along the way, to describe how it worked.

"Fuck! I have to see this in action." Bryan blurted.

Mare held up her hand as she was still approving the math. Don looked at the group but everyone waited until she finally nodded. She passed the papers to the other woman, who they called Henri, short for Henrietta. Henri was taller at 5' 10" and rail slim with straight blond hair to mid back and sported vintage, jewel encrusted cat-eye framed glasses over her pale blue eyes. She conferred with Mare on one point then she nodded too. "Set up the test bed," Henri said.

The men burst into motion. Two ran for the hazmat suits and two others moved to help them suit up. Bryan and his second in command, Gary, went to the control center outside of the radiation chamber and calibrated the test bench.

Ben carried the prototype to the entrance and Don followed with an excited smile on his face. He leaned over to whisper to Ben. "I didn't follow half of what you were explaining but I haven't seen them this excited since they discovered it was you who was working on their engineering board request." Ben just shrugged with a smile. Inside he was squealing like a little girl again. His design was finally going to be tested in the physical conditions with the actual materials he'd designed it to filter. It should work but he couldn't get this stuff at home. He patted the prototype. This would be the last time he got to handle the device. After it did its job it wouldn't be safe to leave the chamber. It would take a long time to become contaminated to a level where it would be lethal from exposure but he couldn't take it home. He turned to Don and handed him his phone.

"Could you take a picture of me with the prototype?"

Don grinned. "Sure."

He took a couple and Ben thanked him as he reviewed them. Mare and Henri watched Bryan and Gary finish up the calibrations. They nodded and the two suited men went into the chamber, Ben handing the second man the device. The men went through the airlock to get inside.

Connecting it took some time as they wanted to ensure a perfect seal to get accurate readings.

Don was getting impatient as he didn't know what was going on. When the men left the chamber and took off their suits everyone gathered in front of the control center. "What are we looking at? How will we know it's working?" Don asked.

Bryan pointed to a number displayed on the control board. "The number on this display indicates the number of radioactive particles per million in the intake." He pointed to a second number on the control board. "This will display the number of radioactive particles per million after the filter."

They double checked the boards and everyone indicated they were ready to go. They started the test with the filter in a still environment, no movement or vibration that would normally be experienced in a truck. They started the intake with minimal dust and gradually turned up the concentration. They watched the post filter display. Virtually no contaminates got through even when they brought the levels up to three time their largest recorded level. The particles that did were barely registered, making their presence negligible. The team was all grins and Ben's grin was widest of all. This proved his filter would work for stationary implementations of which he could think of many.

"Now we are going to add the vibration of the idling truck." They ran through the test again and once again negligible contaminants were present in the filtered air. They reset the test bed.

"We are going to run the recorded movements of an actual truck going through its normal routine. This is the rough test. Hang on to your panties people, here we go!" Bryan said. The gimbals under the test bed added the recorded motions to the platform. The filter thumped, bumped, vibrated, jerked and bounced. The contaminant concentrations were automated as well to match the real conditions of the day the truck movements were recorded.

"Something got through! There was a surge!" Don exclaimed as the number of the filtered side jumped a little and settled back down.

"That's ok. The levels are still well below danger levels. We could put the filter into a vibration dampening mount and this should eliminate the issue," Gary suggested. The others began talking about how this could be implemented.

"So it's a success?" Don asked.

"It's a bit premature to break out the champagne but I can say it looks really good." Bryan said. "We'll keep running the tests. We'll be able to give you a definitive answer by 6PM tonight."

Ben wanted to continue watching the testing but Don gestured for him to follow as the man headed for the stairs.

Bryan caught Ben's frustration and grinned. "Feel free to come back to watch once you've had your business talk," he whispered to him.

Ben nodded and followed Don up the stairs and they took the elevator up to the top floor.

He led Ben to his office passing through the outer office with its empty assistant's desk. Once inside his large corner office with its view he felt better. This was his domain. He was about to offer him a drink when he remembered Ben didn't partake. "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, tea, soft drink, juice, water?"

"Water would be great."

He pressed a button on his phone. "Evie, could you bring Ben a cold bottle of water? In my office. Thanks!"

Ben raised an eyebrow.

"I, ah, had to let my secretary go. Haven't found someone to replace her yet." Don said gruffly, pouring himself a scotch. Ben noted the time was still 30 minutes shy of lunchtime.

"I take it you've patented that device you designed." At Ben's nod he nodded as well and they moved to the desk where he took his seat behind it and Ben took a chair in front. Evie arrived with his water and he thanked her and gave her a smile. She beamed back at him.

"Thanks, Evie. Close my door on your way out? Thanks!" Don said and the young woman left.

"I'll get right to the point as I think we're both men with little patience for bullshit." He looked at Ben and saw he was listening. "Would you be interested in selling the patent?"

"No."

"Alright. Do you have a manufacturer in mind?" Don continued.

"I do."

The man frowned. His options for being involved in what his business nose was telling him was a potential gold mine were rapidly diminishing.

Ben saw the man desperately thinking of a way to get in on this deal. He thought of how he had to chase Sturn Manufacturing to improve their marketing. This might be something Blake could deal with.

"How good is your Sales and Marketing team?" he asked and the man's eyes lit up.

When Don and Ben finally returned to 'The Pit' it was past 8pm and the engineering team was shutting their test bed down. The group was all smiles. Ben suppressed his pout at having missed all the fun stuff and returned their smile.

"Holy Shit Ben! That's just the most fucking brilliant design I've ever seen! Even under extreme conditions the rate that gets through falls well below the danger levels. No government agency would fail these ratings! If we were to mount it on a vibration dampening system, the rate would drop even lower!" Bryan gushed and Gary nodded enthusiastically. They all looked hopefully at their boss who couldn't suppress the grin.

"It's going to be up to you sorry lot to think of inventive ways to use this design across all industries. Blake Enterprises, my newly formed company for which Mr. Shepherd here is a silent partner, is going to market and sell the hell out of these filters to any and all who has the need of them."

"Who's going to manufacture them?" Gary asked, looking at their inadequate milling tools.

"Sturn Manufacturing in Austin, Texas" Ben said. "They have top notch facilities but their sales and marketing isn't so strong."

"Are we getting out of the Uranium mining business boss?" Mare asked.

"Naah, just diversifying!" Don said with a grin. "We have a contract with Ben in principle and once the lawyers do their duties we'll get started."

A cheer went up and Ben grinned at all the happy faces. He'd been impressed by the sales and marketing teams he'd met upstairs so he and Don had knocked together a basic agreement. He recommended Don create a new company to handle this new business so it could be protected against market shifts in Blake Uranium. The man saw the wisdom in that and contacted his lawyer to get started on the paperwork. He invited Ben to be a silent partner for a fixed amount to be withdrawn against initial licensing fees. Ben explained his philosophy regarding his price scheme for licensing, valuing volume over exorbitant fees per unit for long term growth and stability and told him to speak with the CEO of Sturn Manufacturing for proof. Don was delighted.