The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 03

He frowned. "Why is Tatiana on the floor?"

"She was going to attack Liliya, you or both," Evelyn said as she struggled to keep her grip on the struggling woman.

Ben knelt next to her, and she stopped moving to watch him cautiously. "Why would you do that?"

Tatiana sputtered, and her eyes went to Liliya. "She was kissing you. She is on duty," she blurted.

Ben turned to look at the blonde. "You kissed me?"

Liliya's face flushed as she could still feel his lips on hers. "Actually, you kissed me first, but your eyes weren't completely focused."

Ben's expression froze. He hadn't kissed anyone while having a memory leak. That was new behavior. Considering who he usually was with in his mind, he found this both disturbing and sexually charged. He didn't need to deal with either at this moment.

"Evelyn, let Tatiana up." Then he pointed a finger at the woman on the floor. "You will be on your best behavior. The Sergeant was following my orders if you had another burst of violence."

He saw Tatiana was having difficulty looking him in the eye.

The Sergeant released the assassin and skipped back out of range of any follow-up attack. Tatiana slowly stood, dusted off her clothes, and straightened them. She looked Evelyn in the eye.

"You will never get another chance like that again. I know your trick move now," she snarled at the Sergeant.

"You think I only know one?" Evelyn said with a slight smile.

Tatiana snarled and took a step forward.

"Stop! Enough!" Ben snapped, his patience reaching its limit. "We're done tonight. I'm going to bed. We're getting up early. Tomorrow, it's Germany. There were people there who didn't appreciate my last visit. You need to be sharp! If this team can't work together, I might as well go there with a big target painted on my back."

Tatiana huffed, but she couldn't refute his words. She gave him a terse nod.

Liliya and Evelyn copied Tatiana's gesture, and Ben didn't wait for further confirmation. He waved to Louis' group, who were watching the drama like most of the guests and hotel staff in the room. They waved back, and Ben headed for the elevators. They were only going five flights down, but they waited for an empty car.

Ben picked up the tension between the three women and sighed. Was this his fault? His episode on the dancefloor probably made it worse. He'd kissed Liliya. Damn. He needed to deal with that.

He looked at the gorgeous blonde and felt something in his chest move as her lovely eyes looked up into his. He forced that feeling down.

"I apologize for my uninvited kissin--"

"The slut wanted it!" Tatiana spat.

Liliya responded equally fast and viciously, but in Russian, so Ben didn't know what she said. Whatever it was triggered an escalation of harsh words between the two.

"STOP!" Ben bellowed.

The elevator doors opened, and they stepped out into the hall. "Everyone, get some sleep." He looked into Tatiana's eyes. "No vigilante shit tonight!" He cast his eyes over the group. "See you at breakfast."

He stomped off to his door and let himself in. He walked to the bed, stripped all his clothes off to drop them on the bedspread, then turned to the washroom to take a long hot shower.

As the water poured over his head, he tried to make sense of the night and how it went downhill so quickly.

Evelyn was right. Tatiana's behavior was quickly deteriorating. They needed to contain her someplace where she couldn't unleash her homicidal tendencies.

The team was non-functional. They'd have to work with just two until he could get home.

He shut off the water, dried off, and walked back out into his room to take care of his clothes. Then he tucked himself into bed.

Robin popped into his head as he felt himself drifting off. It had been nice talking with her tonight. She'd helped him get to know Ed better as well. He hoped she slept well tonight.

-=-

Robin tingled with excitement but kept it contained as she sat in the taxi's back seat on the way back to the cheapest hotel she could find close to the airport.

Tonight had been a gold mine for her. She'd played her role perfectly, and Ben opened up to her! It really helped that Ed was a perfect tool for making Ben feel at ease with sharing his personal history.

She thought back to the years she'd spent following this story, gathering facts about the elusive Mr. Shepherd, always fearing someone would scoop her story from her. But he remained an enigma and avoided the press, bless his privacy-obsessed heart.

In her journey to discover Ben's story, she'd stayed in the lovely bed and breakfast in Saint Pierre d'Albigny Ben visited. She'd spent a week there gradually working her way into Stephanie Murano's confidence and eventually spent hours speaking with her in her studio. The brilliant artist was driven by her muse to create the most exquisite sculptures... of Ben. She had dozens of them, most just parts of his body such as his hands, feet, his torso, many busts of his head and shoulders, and a scandalous number of reproductions of his cock. Perhaps, the woman was a little obsessed, but Robin could not deny her talent.

Before she left, she managed to slip one of Stephanie's erect penis models into her bag. It wasn't that much of a leap to imagine how it could be used to make a mold for mass-producing life-sized, realistic dildos of the big man's most intimate part. Robin knew there'd be a market for this should her other business venture not bear fruit.

Before she visited France, she'd spent a short stint working at Blake Uranium as the personal assistant to Don Blake. This had given her tremendous insight into Ben's white knight syndrome. How he rescued the girl from the strip club was a legend the members of Bryan Crane's Wild Dogs loved to retell. Mare was particularly useful in separating the truth from the myth after being given sufficient beer.

She frowned as she remembered the bitter end of her stay with them. She hadn't meant to destroy Don's marriage but truthfully, the man's wandering eye, and hands, were stronger than his vows.

She pushed that from her mind as she recalled dancing with Ben. She'd heard about his skills on the dancefloor, but again, she'd expected this to be yet another exaggeration, boosting the mysterious man's legend.

Experiencing it firsthand was thrilling! He really did have a natural grace as he moved them across the floor. He'd mentioned these skills were from long-term muscle memory, which backed up the story she'd received from a guest who'd attended a party with him in the Hollywood Hills. A woman from Ben's foster care childhood taught him to dance, and tingles ran through her body once more as she remembered being in his arms.

She'd been responsible for the DJ's playlist tonight as she'd called the Hotel Manager with the songs their special guest would enjoy when he was in the bar. It'd been remarkably simple to pretend to be part of Ben's administrative team, ensuring Ben was happy on his trip away from home. The Manager was only too pleased to do this special favor for him. She'd gotten the song list from the woman at the Hollywood party.

As she'd prepared to leave the bar tonight, she heard another of the songs begin and glanced back to see Ben frozen in place. Robin watched from the shadows just inside the door as Ben glided across the floor with the blonde assassin moving in perfect synchronicity with her partner. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched them kiss at the end, and she cursed herself for leaving one song too soon. To have been the one receiving that kiss would have made all her efforts worthwhile.

She once more forced down her disappointment and brought her attention back to the driver who was telling her they'd arrived. She paid and went inside. She wasn't lying when she said she'd be getting up early for the flight.

This last stage of her investigation into Ben Shepherd's life had been the most difficult. Getting the job as inflight service attendant on Sky Shepherd's most prestigious aircraft had taken almost six months of her life, and the work was not easy. Her previous experience working as a flight attendant in her early twenties had prepared her, but doing the work in her early thirties proved more difficult. She couldn't wait to get back to London. She'd part ways with Ben's tour there and unknown to her boss, Sky Shepherd Air Charters. She'd already spoken with Dennis about swapping her out with another attendant in London, and he'd made the arrangements. He didn't know it would be permanent.

Robin had most of what she needed. Tonight, she'd gotten confirmation from Ben on some of the data she'd already collected from public sources and some private databases through bribes and sexual favors. This ensured she had as accurate a picture of the man as possible. Now all she needed was some time to put it all together.

That work would begin when she returned to London.

Ben wouldn't be happy that she'd collected such a comprehensive story of his life when she shared it with the world. She did feel a little bad about that, but Ben's story was a commodity, and she intended to profit from it so greatly that the grumbling of her conscience wouldn't be heard above the hum of the money counting machines. Her own humble beginnings taught her valuable lessons on how to enjoy wealth.

This delightful thought followed her into her dreams, where her palace filled with gold awaited.

Chapter 34

Louis, Dan, and Ben sat in a meeting room at the Berlin hotel they were staying in. The three developers they'd visited today left them with a problem. Each had excellent qualifications, their tours demonstrated they did excellent work, and their presentations were almost identical.

They wouldn't go wrong with any of them. Ben wasn't sure how much value he could add to the decision as everything he was concerned about was being managed by all three contenders for the contract.

"I'm going to step back and leave it to you to decide. They all seem to fit the bill, so I have no qualms with any you'd select from them," he said, and Louis nodded with a smile.

"How is it going with your team?" Dan asked. It was a surprisingly blunt question from a lawyer, but Ben understood he was concerned for their safety, and one of his team was quickly becoming unstable.

He sighed. "I think we're going to have to make an adjustment. I'll do my best to ensure it doesn't impact the tour. My apologies for any tension and discomfort we may have caused so far."

Louis glared at his partner, then looked to Ben. "Please don't worry about us. We're still very grateful for your support during this trip. A little turbulence is no issue for us. Our concern is for you."

Ben smiled. "We've made it this far. A few more days, and we'll be back in the states."

There was a sharp rap on the door, and Evelyn opened it. "Ben. We need you."

He read the tension in her eyes and stood as he looked at Louis. "More turbulence ahead."

Ben quickly joined Evelyn, and they took the elevator up to their floor and rushed to his room. He was starting to get worried.

The moment his door closed, he reached out and held her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I received word from the General of another Russian hit team on its way to Berlin. The intel he received said it was a two-person team. This time they're both from a secret program much like the one which produced Liliya and Tatiana." Her blue eyes were wide and worried.

"Where's our team?" he asked.

"Tatiana doesn't trust the timing of the report. She believes they're already here, so she went hunting. Liliya tried to talk her out of it, though she also agreed the report was likely late. She's doing a sweep of the area as well. I'm your primary security at this moment. You need to follow my directions." Her blue eyes locked on his dark ones.

"We're not going to stay here and endanger Louis and his team, right?" Ben asked.

"The General is scrambling a team of local resources to take us to a safe house until our flight. He's already got people guarding the jet," Evelyn replied. "We stay until they get here. Ten minutes ago, the General said they were thirty minutes out."

Ben walked further into the room and sat on the sofa. He wasn't keen on the wait-and-see approach.

Ten minutes later, there was a sequenced knock on the door.

"Tatiana," Evelyn said and rushed to the door. A quick peek through the peephole, and she pulled the door open, skipping back from it in case she needed space to react. She stopped a few feet into the room and watched the brunette assassin slip inside and lock up.

When she turned back to face Evelyn, Ben was surprised by the hate in her eyes. "I told you! I told you your sources are incompetent. I found the assassins. They were in position to kill Ben as he left the hotel. Now they are dead."

She looked at Ben. "You know nothing. The only way to stop killers is to kill them first. But you must kill them at the source. Cut the head from the beast, then you stop them from thinking of new ways to kill you!"

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked as he was getting concerned about how wound up she was becoming.

"Sergey Zhdankov. We must kill him. Now!" she shouted as her hand went to her hip.

Evelyn drew her combat blade. "Stand down, Tatiana! We have our orders."

Tatiana finally focused on the Sergeant. "Orders? Empty words from your incompetent leaders who would have gotten us all killed. They are idiots and don't understand how this must be done."

Ben stood and moved closer. "If we kill him, they'll just assign another agent who will send out more assassins."

"Then you kill the ones who assign the agents. This isn't complicated. You just need the will to do it right. I can kill them."

"No," Ben said.

"YOU ARE WEAK!" Tatiana screamed and lunged forward, knife in her hand.

Evelyn caught the assassin's blade against her own and drove her knee into Tatiana's side, knocking her back. The Russian beauty wheezed but threw something at the Sergeant's face. Evelyn tried to slap it away, but it exploded in her face, and the Sergeant was blinded by the small satchel of pepper and dust.

Tatiana went for the kill.

Ben had a split second to reach out, grab the Sergeant and pull her back from the knife aimed at her throat. He closed his fist on her uniform and tugged her back with all his strength as he swung forward as the counterweight for her movement.

Tatiana adjusted her grip on the knife to extend its reach, but the blade missed Evelyn's throat. It slashed across the woman's face instead, a long but shallow cut.

Ben was stunned by the violence and missed the shocked expression on Tatiana's face as she tried to stop her slash.

When her hand struck Ben's body with a deep thump, he lost his grip on the Sergeant's uniform, and she tumbled to the floor, hitting her head against the floor hard.

Ben blinked at the look of horror on Tatiana's face then he looked down to see the hilt of her knife sticking out of his abdomen. He didn't feel any pain, but he was aware of a deep pressure.

"Fuck!" he grunted. His legs suddenly gave, and he went down on his knees. That hurt, then the pressure he'd felt exploded into agony. He tried to lean away from it, but he just ended up on his back.

Pain was filling Ben's world, threatening to spiral down a dark tunnel.

Fuck.

-=-

"WHY? WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THAT?" Tatiana screamed at him, but he didn't respond.

"NOOO!"

Tatiana spun and caught Liliya's blade against her remaining knife, but Liliya slashed her arm with her own second.

The brunette was at a disadvantage since her primary weapon was still sticking out of Ben's body. Still, she knew she was a superior blade fighter to Liliya.

Except the blonde was fighting with a vicious ferocity Tatiana had never experienced. Her stabs and slashes were more aggressive than before, and Tatiana leaped back as she felt a sharp bite against her cheek.

That sent a spike of fear through the woman. They'd had an unspoken rule for sparring. Due to the agonizing pain of the surgeries they'd gone through to improve their looks, their faces were never to be targeted. Now, she knew Liliya would kill her without hesitation.

"You killed two of the three assassins so you could do the dirty work yourself?" Liliya spat as she backed Tatiana toward the bed.

This confused the brunette. "Three? There were two."

"Newsstand. The third killed the old man running it."

Tatiana momentarily froze as she recalled the younger man behind the counter after killing the two in the building across the street. Shit.

Liliya used that moment of distraction to launch another attack, and Tatiana took two more shallow cuts before she threw a pillow from the bed to block her opponent's sight and launched her own attack. Her ankle caught Ben's, and she fell but turned it into a roll that got her past Liliya.

"Fuck!" Ben gasped as the collision sent more pain through his body.

"Hang in there, Ben. I will get you medical help once I kill this traitorous bitch!" Liliya snapped.

Tatiana could see Liliya was prepared to kill her. "I never meant--"

"Spare me your scorpion lies! You wanted to kill him yourself, so they'd take you back!" Liliya snarled.

Tatiana shook her head. "no...." Then she spun and fled from the room, knocking Ed down in the hallway.

She looked at the simple man as he stared at her in surprise. She saw recrimination in his eyes. Opening up her stride, she raced away down the hall.

She would fix this. She would show them.

-=-

From the floor of the hallway, Ed watched Liliya begin to run toward him.

"No! Get an ambulance for Ben!" Evelyn called out from somewhere inside. She sounded like she was desperate and in pain, so Ed got up and rushed into the room.

Liliya huffed in frustration but spun to get to the phone. She dialed, then forced the handset into Ed's hand as he approached, staring at Ben and the Sergeant on the floor.

"Get ambulances for Ben and the Sergeant," she ordered, then fled from the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

Ed passed the message to the front desk clerk and the room number and was told they were on their way. He knelt next to Ben, who was resting on the floor with a grimace on his face.

"Was this how you got all the other scars?" Ed asked Ben.

Ben looked blearily at the big man. "Something along these lines, yes." He glanced over at the Sergeant, whose face was covered in blood. "Are you still with us, Evelyn?"

"Mmph."

Ben looked to Ed. "Get a clean pillowcase and cover her wound."

Ed moved to do that, and once he had the white fabric soaking up the blood, there was a deep thumping at the door.

"Get it," Evelyn mumbled.

Ed hustled over to the door. "Who is it?"

"General Davis sent us."

Ed looked back and saw the Sergeant giving him a thumbs up, so he opened the door.

The moment the men in the hall spotted Ben and the Sergeant on the floor, they surged into the room, dragging Ed with them, two pinning him to the wall with his arms behind his back.

Their leader knelt next to Ben and took in the knife hilt sticking out of him. "Wizard is down! We need a medic, now!"

"I called for ambulances!" Ed called out.

"Ed's wiff us," Ben mumbled, beginning to feel the room slip out from under him.

"Hang in there, Wizard! Medics are inbound."

"Who are you?" one of the soldiers holding Ed to the wall asked.

"Ed Walters. I-I'm a friend of Ben's. We're building his Foundation Headquarters," he said. The two turned him around, and he looked at them with wide eyes. Both had thick beards and wore tactical uniforms with no military insignia but many pockets. Ed was a little dazzled by how many pockets they had.

"Did you see what happened?" one asked, then stood aside as paramedics rushed into the room with a stretcher.