Leonardo Pt. 03: Taking Baby Steps

"Hmmm" he thought to himself as he entered his room. Seeing Mary reminded him of what she'd been doing before they'd fucked. He examined his bedding and recalling Mary's position when he walked in sniffed the edge of the bed.

He stood up and smiled. Sure enough, the smell of Mary's sex was on the bedding. She had rubbed one out on his bed. His mind flashed a thought, "she'll be easy to get into bed. Lovely thought." His brows then furrowed as he tried to understand just how the "read" worked.

The next day he took the site diagram he'd been meticulously drawing and made a duplicate. To the duplicate he added the tunnel and workshop layout. Then he overlay a topographical map. He was more than a bit shocked to see that the workshop lay almost directly under a cluster of buildings next to farm land on Mount Whistle Road. After some research he learned that included in those buildings were some early medieval structures all now converted into a beautifully secluded two story home site complete with walled and gated entrances.

Ben took a day off and went to visit the current occupants. Terrance and Margaret Polworth were a pleasant but simple couple from Liverpool. They were in their 50's and only recently finished renovating the property into a beautiful country estate. They were pleased someone from English Heritage was interested in the older structures, especially the odd medieval barn. They'd contacted English Heritage but EH hadn't shown interest. Ben assured them he was most interested and asked to see the barn.

Terrance and he descended the renovated stairs and they toured the sub-level. Ben had discovered two unknown workshops and was now quite familiar with the clues left by Leonardo. In the north east corner he spotted an odd out of place beam.

"That doesn't look structural. Is it part of the renovation?" he asked.

"No, it's original. We cleaned it up and preserved it but otherwise left it alone. I wanted to remove it so the walls all looked the same but the contractor discouraged me altering the barn and Marge liked the looks of it. So it stayed." Terrance replied.

Coining an American phase Ben added, "Happy wife, happy life."

Terrance laughed and nodded but Ben heard "You have no idea...clueless pratt." followed by, "Doesn't know what he's doing."

It quickly dawned on him that he was "reading" Terrance. Clearly not every thought but just some, it seemed those that involved him. Ben quickly began talking about the beam, "That was the right decision though.The beam is a bit unusual, clearly oak but see here where there are axe marks but over on this edge it looks almost like it was sawn? Most curious, did you get a dendro date on it?" Ben said as he took a few pictures.

Before Terrance spoke, he knew what he was going to say, "We had several from other buildings but none from here in the barn."

"I see" said Ben. They walked back to Margret and idly talked for a bit. Then, on the spur of the moment be blurted out, "Would you be looking to sell the property?"

She answered quickly, "Oh no, we love it too much here," Terrance added, "No, afraid not," but the read said, "Offer me one million pounds and we can talk."

That evening sitting in his room at the bed and breakfast he knew he had to get possession of that property. The tunnel he'd dug out had struck him as having been intentionally filled in and abandoned. This suggested a second as yet unrevealed entrance. "Ay, yes" he thought to himself. The stone steps he'd found but not followed would be coming up somewhere in this area. His felt the barn was the key.

But he was mostly broke. He didn't have much money and they didn't want to sell.

Then it dawned on him, his open hand slapped the table, "IDIOT" he said loudly. He jumped up and hurried down the stairs. Mary called after him but he shouted back, "I'll be off for a week or so, don't let my room. See you."

Soon he was headed north up the A30 taking the A38 at Bodmin.

Within hours he'd found a betting shop in Plymouth. His heart was pounding as he entered the establishment because he'd never gambled before and wasn't sure of just how to do it. Glancing around he found an empty seat in the sports room. The current activity was horse racing and they were watching an event in the US. Soon the first race was over and the winner announced. The entire time he was observing how betting was conducted.

"Well, here we go" he thought to himself as he turned the gem. The world grew fuzzy as people began reversing their actions, the clocks rewound 23 minutes and the world became clear and linear again. Ben quickly got up, leaving his jacket on the seat so no one could occupy it, and hurried to the betting window where he placed a 100 pound bet on the winner of the next race. His hands were shaking as he took the betting slip.

"You alright mate?" the man behind the counter asked.

"What? Oh, yes. I'm fine, I don't do this very often but I have a hot tip," he noncommittally replied. 10 minutes later he was gleefully collecting 2,000 pounds in winnings.

Over the course of a week and fifteen different betting houses in 5 cities across the country Ben accumulated nearly 750,000 pounds in winnings betting on various sporting events and been asked not to return to a number of them. He'd even considered winning the national lottery. Yes, he'd know the numbers but there wasn't a way to manipulate a ticket with the winning numbers. By the time he finished he'd doubled that amount and only quit because he knew he simply couldn't lose.

Three weeks later and he'd taken up residence in his new country estate. He found convincing the Polworths a bit of a challenge but in the end they agreed to the sale, they really didn't have a choice. Ben had a twitch of regret in taking advantage in the way he did, they really were a nice couple, but he didn't cheat them and paid their ridiculous full asking price of 1.2 million pounds without a quibble.

The estate was 10 wooded secluded acres surrounded by hedge rows and included 3 graded residences, a barn, and 2 large work shops. The residences themselves dated from the late medieval period but the barn was much older yet had been very well taken care of and restored by the Polworths. It was unique in that it had a sub-level. Ben was most interested in that sub-level and that odd beam.

The gem was most liberating. He felt a calm and control he'd never felt before.

This morning Ben stood looking at the odd beam. It was a thick knotty oak beam set into the wall's plaster and was unremarkable except for it's location and hand tooled markings, it didn't belong. He ran his fingers around the edges of the beam and then wrinkled his nose in frustration. Nope, no latch.

"Ok" he thought to himself, "The beam had been preserved, what did that mean." Examining the beam closely he saw that there was a thick gaze coating the beam giving it a deeper depth of color and a dull shine. He ran his fingertips over the surface feeling it, and then crossed one of the knots. He felt a smooth ridge.

Looking closer he whispered to himself, "I wonder" as he tapped on one knot and then the other. The fourth knot he tapped on had a different sound to it. Ben smiled and then retrieved a box cutter. He carefully cut around the edge of the knot through the varnish. He tapped again, there was a subtle movement to it.

"Gotcha," Ben said out loud as he pressed the knot with two fingers. The knot slid in about an inch. There was a distant click and whirring sound followed by a clunk as the wall under the beam jerked and slid about an inch out. The knot popped back out and by pressing firmly on the right side of the wall it began to open like a door with the hinges on the left. He had to bend over to go under the beam but he found himself looking at a narrow descending stone cut stair case.

"Well I know where you go," he said with a smile and then set on examining the door mechanism. After several hours of cleaning and opening and closing the door numerous times it was working flawlessly again. With only the slightest push of a finger a counter balance would close it with a almost inaudible click. A press of the knot and it smoothly and quietly opened. He also discovered Leonardo's calling card text engraved onto the cave side of the beam.

Two weeks passed during which time he back filled the trenches and descending tunnel from original dig site. He completed his report being mostly accurate and complete, but left out any mention of the tunnels and workshop. As far as EH was concerned he had confirmed the presence of an unremarkable Roman-Cornish farm site and they added it to the already protected areas in Cornwall. They sent an inspector to check the site which was given a clean bill of health and left for future generations to excavate.

Ben had focused himself on obtaining exclusive access to the workshop but couldn't get Mary out of his head. They had had a few clearly obvious flirtatious conversations where she had made it plain she was open to an affair but he'd not pursued it. Simply too busy.

Ever since fucking Mary he'd been able to control his passions as it were. But deep in side he felt the gem's growing need to to be replenished. His mind had been wandering and he began to wonder what taking someone against their will would be like partially because it intrigued him and partly because it had the potential to amplify what was needed by the gem. In any case, he'd be able to rewind time so that it had never happened and the subject would be entirely un-phased by it. He knew Leonardo had cautioned against such action, but it lingered in the back of his mind and every so often his evil shoulder devil would dangle it in front of him.

Finally one evening Ben decided to make a call on the Penwilly family, the family who owned the original excavation site.

Around 6 pm he rang the bell on the door of the Penwilly home. Charlotte answered the door. She was wearing her usual tight sweater and knee length skirt.

"Ben!" she said, "How are you?"

"Doing well Char, doing well. I was passing by and thought I'd drop in and say hello," he lied with a smile.

"Well we're happy you did. Please, come in," Charlotte turned and called to her mother. "Mum, Ben's dropped in." she added, "Dad and my brothers aren't here tonight. They're off to a rugby game in London. Six nations and all."

Ben had anticipated this, rugby is very big in Cornwall and he knew how big of fans of the sport William and the boys were.

Cheryl gave him a hug, "have a seat, cuppa Ben?" she asked as he sat down. As he sat he placed a pair of scissors on the table.

"Yes please," he replied as he found a seat in front of the fireplace. It had begun to rain outside and the living room was nice and cozy. Charlotte had gone up stairs and Cheryl brought the tea and poured him a cup. As she poured she looked up at him, and then quickly but nervously looked down again.

Cheryl was looking particularly fetching, it was that or the gem was already beginning to stir him up. He felt his cock begin twitch and grow. She was wearing a one piece day dress. Ben liked sun dresses and found them both sexy and convenient for access.

"It's been a while since we last chatted and I just thought I'd stop by and let you brighten this dreary day." he said.

Cheryl smiled as she poured their tea and then glanced down in embarrassment, "Oh you incorrigible flatterer' she said in fake embarrassment, "but don't you stop on my account." She nodded to toward the scissors, "What do you have those for love?"

Ben smiled back as he took up the cuppa. "I opened a package in the car and these were in my pocket, I didn't want them scratching the chair." Then as he sipped, "Delicious as usual Cheryl. So how is everything here?"

Cheryl seemingly considered a reply and said, "Quiet Ben, very quiet. Will is finishing up preparing for winter. Looking to be a cold one this year I believe."

He paused, "Don't worry Cheryl, something exciting is bound to happen soon, very soon."

"Oh, I forget the biscuits" she said. Cheryl got up and had just turned away when Ben twisted and tapped the gem. Mary froze in place.