The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 03

Ben absorbed that and felt his mind trying to slip away again. He forced his eyes open again. "Liliya! Where is she?"

Fisher looked uncomfortable. "She's in the hallway. She won't leave, but she's not allowed in here."

Ben locked eyes with the man and focused hard. "Bring Liliya in here. She did nothing wrong," he growled.

Fisher leaned away and glanced at the smirk on the redhead's face. He looked back at Ben and nodded before stepping out. Moments later, Liliya stepped inside with Fisher behind her. Trish walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. Liliya sucked in a surprised breath, then hugged the woman in return.

"Don't keep the man waiting. He's struggling to stay awake," Trish said softly to her.

Liliya approached the bed and looked into Ben's glassy eyes. "I'm so sorry--"

"Stop. No more self-incriminations. None of us could see what was going on in Tatiana's mind. It's as much of a failure of mine as anyone's," Ben insisted.

"But she was supposed to protect you and attacked you instead."

"No. She tried to kill the Sergeant. I pulled Evelyn away but put myself in the way of her blade. She wasn't attacking me. That was my fault, but I had to protect Evelyn."

"No more!" the Sergeant said from the other bed.

Ben's endurance reached its limit, and he sagged to the pillow.

"Theezznew wimmun in ma life. I luv em, but nag, nag, nag," Ben slurred softly as he faded and was out.

-=-

Liliya stared at Ben in shock. She glanced over at Evelyn, who was facing Ben's direction, her mouth frozen open in a surprised oh.

She looked at Trish with guilt on her face, but Trish just shook her head with a grin.

"Welcome to Ben's harem, you two!" she teased with a wicked smile. Fisher glanced at Trish in surprise.

"Th-that's n-not what he meant!" Evelyn sputtered. "He can't--"

"But he can and probably does, as the man is desperately honest. Wait 'til we get him home to address your new status. Remember Evelyn, he saved your life. That means your life belongs to him now. Just sayin'."

"You are teasing," Liliya said, but there was doubt in her eyes.

Trish shrugged with a coy smile.

Liliya watched Ben sleeping for a moment, then she spoke. "Ben was wrong about one thing."

Trish and Fisher looked at her while Evelyn listened.

"Tatiana could have turned the blade, but she did not."

Fisher frowned. "I call bullshit on that. If you're swinging the blade in an arc to cut a throat, your grip has to be fixed and firm, and your muscles prepared to cut through those tough tissues."

"Would you like a demonstration of what we were taught?" Liliya asked.

Trish looked at Ben, then held up her hands. "Let's take this outside so Ben and the Sergeant can sleep."

"I want a demonstration when my eyes are better," Evelyn said before they could leave.

Liliya smiled. "Yes, Evelyn. Sleep well."

They stepped out into the hallway. Three of Fisher's team were watching them with interest.

Fisher eyed her cautiously. "Exactly how do you propose to demonstrate your knife trick?" he asked, and his men's eyes locked onto the assassin as they went still.

Liliya nodded as her smile slipped away. "Tatiana was attempting to stab the Sergeant in the throat, not slash it as that would be less effective. We were told by Ben she did a sweeping movement with her arm. But Ben yanked Evelyn from the blade's path, transferring his weight forward. Tatiana would have adjusted her grip from a punch to a slash to reach the receding target, which she did, and the blade managed to slash the Sergeant's face. Her arm continued on its arc, but Ben was now in the blade's path.

"And she stabbed him!" one of Fisher's bearded soldiers insisted. The man had a bandage over his recently broken nose.

Liliya nodded. "Yes, she did, and this would have required another grip adjustment from a slash back to a punch. But Ben believes his being stabbed was an accident. That she didn't mean to stab him, and his actions put him in her way."

"That's bullshit!" the soldier continued.

Fisher was looking at Liliya pensively. "You're saying she intentionally stabbed him, but she could have avoided it?"

"She could easily have turned the blade, but she consciously, or unconsciously, chose not to," Liliya asserted with a nod.

The soldiers did not agree. The argumentative one was the first to object. "Based on the depth of the thrust, her hand was moving damn quick. Too fast to make a grip adjustment to not hit the target."

His teammates made agreement noises.

"This is what I will demonstrate," Liliya said and looked for items to use.

She pointed to a ballpoint pen one of the men used on his crossword puzzle. "May we use this as a stand-in for the Sergeant?" The soldier offered it up.

Then she pointed to a balloon on a flower arrangement on the nurse's station. "That balloon will be Ben."

A second soldier stepped over to it and tugged it loose.

"Hey!" the nurse at the desk complained.

"You'll get it back in one piece," Liliya called back as the soldier brought the foil balloon to the group.

"Which of you has the strongest grip?" Liliya asked.

The men chuckled as the argumentative one stepped forward. "That's only because Stim beats off so frequently!" another called out.

"Fuck you, Dunno!" Stim barked back with a grin. "It takes a Kung-Fu grip to tame this beast!" More chuckles erupted.

Liliya handed Stim the pen, tip pointing up. "Stand here and grip the bottom as tightly as you can. This represents the sergeant's face, Tatiana's alternate target.

She looked at the balloon. "Who's willing to hold this?"

None of the soldiers stepped forward, and they all looked at her warily.

"Wimps!" Trish said and took the balloon from the soldier's hand.

Liliya looked into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

Trish nodded and smiled with a spark in her eyes.

"Stand here," she pointed to a spot on the floor. Trish moved there, and Lilya rested the balloon against her stomach, held between Trish's hands.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Fisher barked quickly as his men grumbled and shifted uneasily.

Stim leaned back suddenly as Liliya came at him with a blade suddenly in her hand. The overhead lights flicked off the metal as her hand flashed by the pen.

The thump of Liliya's knuckles against the balloon made everyone jump, and Liliya stared at them, her hand pressing the intact balloon against Trish's stomach.

Her blade was pointing upward. "Did you see it?" Liliya asked.

The commandos were stunned into silence as their minds returned to the attack. Stim was staring at the sliced pen in his hand. Just the tip was gone, and he'd caught a streak of ink across his cheek.

"No, we didn't see it. Your hand was moving too fast," Fisher insisted

"Yes, it was, yet the pen's tip was slashed off, and the balloon remains intact," Liliya explained. "The only way to do this is to adjust the grip, mid-attack." She saw them acknowledging the truth to that. "Tatiana could do this, usually better than I could. But this time, she did not."

She smiled at Stim. "Sorry about the ink on your face. Simulated blood splatter."

He touched his cheek and then saw the ink on his fingers. "Shit. I didn't feel the tug on the pen."

"Of what use is a dull blade?" Liliya said.

"How did you change the grip yet maintain control?" Fisher asked.

Liliya smiled knowingly. "I said I would demonstrate what we're taught, not how."

Trish was giggling, but some of that was just the unused adrenaline from not being stabbed. She took a deep breath to get control again. "Whew! That was impressive. It also tells me that part of Tatiana wanted Ben dead."

Liliya nodded as her smile slipped away as quickly as her blade. "She told me not long ago that she both loved and hated Ben, which was torture for her. It seems she needed release from her pain."

Trish looked grim. "This wouldn't have released her. Now the part of her that loved Ben will remind her she could have spared him. What do you think she might do to ease that pain?"

Liliya looked at Trish in surprise, then worry crossed her features.

"Nothing good."