The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 03

"Please come in. I'm Sergeant Killcade, Ben's liaison with the Army and the other branches of the government. You're Lieutenant's Ashton and Gage?"

The men nodded to her, but their expressions were curious. "Sergeant Evelyn Killcade?" Gage asked.

She looked at him. "Yes." Her look was curious as well.

"Your reputation precedes you," the Lieutenant said.

"If it's speaking to her incredible organizational skills, efficiency, brilliance, or loveliness, then it's accurate."

They turned to see Ben joining them. Evelyn did her best to control her expression, but her face felt very hot.

Gage wasn't finished. "It was directed more towards her combat abilities."

"She's second to none. That was proven in this very neighborhood," Ben said. Without waiting for the men to comment on that, he continued. "As the Sergeant is my liaison for all things military, she'll be reviewing the zip-line set up to ensure it does not impinge upon the privacy of my neighbor's homes."

"Uh, certainly," Lieutenant Gage said.

Ashton handed Ben the requested documents, and he read them. Ben nodded as they covered his concerns. He nodded to Evelyn, and she smiled.

She handed the two men boot covers. She was wearing her own over her combat boots. After they slipped them on, she led them through the house to the locked door that led into the tower. While it looked like any other interior door, it was armored and reinforced against forced entry.

Ben picked up a small toolbox and a beach towel he'd left by the door earlier.

Evelyn gestured to the cushioned floor. "This special flooring is padded, and no outside shoes should touch its surface. Your entry will be from the side door, which has a tiled floor. You shouldn't have to cross the cushioned surface, but if you need to, wear the booties. You'll be responsible for bringing your own for future visits. Get the waterproof kind."

They reached the side door, which had a small tiled area next to it. A bench with incorporated storage for shoes ran along the wall. Hooks for their jackets were above the seating. This is where the daycare kids stored their shoes and outerwear before playing.

Evelyn opened the security door for the four soldiers, and they entered to wait on the tiled section. "Please don't step on the cushioned floor unless you have boot protection." She pointed to the Lieutenant's footwear. "The tile leads to the stairs up to the deck. Please keep this area clean. Leave no trace." That got through to the two leaders. "Inspections will be done every morning by me. Should trace be found, access to the tower will be reviewed."

The Sergeant received stiff nods for that. She headed for the stairs and opened the childproof gate to begin climbing.

Ben gestured to the small lift against the wall. "The dumbwaiter has a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound weight limit. Please don't overload it," he said.

Two sailors put their duffle bags in the elevator and sent it up. Then they carried the remaining two bags between them by the end straps as they climbed the stairs. Ben followed.

When they reached the top, everyone stopped to admire the view. Ben laid out the beach towel on the floor next to the wall of the stairwell exit.

Ashton turned to Ben. "The view of the fall colors must be spectacular from here!"

Ben nodded with a smile as he made his way to the railing at the eastern edge of the tower, facing the forest. The Lieutenants joined him. "Is this where you intend to launch from?" he asked.

The men examined the railing and nodded to each other. "As close to this railing support as possible," Gage said. The man inspected the extra thick aluminum of the structure supporting the polished wood handrail and the glass panels, which wrapped around the entire deck.

Ben nodded. "I'll remove the glass panels on either side of the support, so they won't get damaged," he said and set down his toolbox. Ben pulled out his socket wrench and removed the four large nuts holding the panel in place. The hardware went into the toolbox then he and Ashton carried the panel over to rest it on the towel, leaning the glass panel next to the stairwell. They returned to do the next pane, then joined Gage as the man examined the railing.

The Lieutenant looked at Ben in surprise. "You weren't kidding about overengineering. This railing is one piece?"

"I welded the sections together once they were bolted to the building's frame under the platform," Ben explained. "Do you have something to protect the surface of the wood handrail? I can remove them too, but that's a little tedious."

One of the sailors opened a duffle and brought over a dense cushioned pad which he draped over the railing at the support. Ben nodded as it would keep the woodwork from being damaged. Next, they mounted a mechanism with three guide wheels and a sleeve to route the zip-line cable over the railing.

Ben walked back to the large table at the center of the deck with the Lieutenants following him. "There's an anchor point at the center of the platform. The table is connected to it, and the chairs are tied to the table so they don't blow around the deck on windy days. We can untie the chairs, and one of your guys can crawl under the table to connect the zip-line to the anchor point. This is affixed to the tower's structure and where the vibration noise will likely be transmitted from if it can't be deadened where it passes over the railing."

The Lieutenants directed their men to begin their preparations.

Ben and Evelyn stood off to the side as the team pulled their tools from the duffle bags and got to work. They fired a weighted cable over the wall at the back of Ben's backyard into the woods. Other SEAL team members on the ground grabbed this and radioed Gage that they were in position. The other end of the wire was bound to the end of the main zip-line cable, and the order was given to the team below to reel in the line. The men on the tower fed the zip-line through the guide wheels and sleeve above the railing, which limited the speed of the cable's feed. The thicker steel cable stretched across the yard and out into the woods.

Two men on the tower had affixed a short section of leather-wrapped chain to the anchor point under the table and were connecting it to the termination of the zip-line cable. They nodded to the Lieutenants when the connection was confirmed.

Gage was in constant communication with the team in the park. He looked to Ben. "They've reached the ground-level anchor point. They'll take up the slack now."

They watched the cable tighten until the leather in the chain links began to creak. Gage said something into his mic, then looked at Ben. "Ready to run the first test."

They connected the four duffle bags together and hooked them to the zip-line trolley. There would be no one to operate the brake on this run, so the weighted load in the bags wasn't anything dangerous. They contacted the people on the ground, then pushed the bags through the opening under the handrail, and away it went.

"If the bags graze a tree on the way down, we'll have to move the endpoint," Gage explained.

They waited for a short interval then the Lieutenant smiled at them. "Payload arrived undamaged and unmarked. Ready for a manned test."

The Sergeant moved forward, already wearing the safety harness, but Ben caught her shoulder gently. She looked back at him in question. "They can prove it's safe and secure. Then you can do your run."

Evelyn gave him a small nod.

One of Ashton's sailors secured his harness and connected his safety line and trolley/brake to the wire.

Ben gauged him to be heavier than the Sergeant, so he'd feel better about her going once this test was successful. They watched the man ease himself through the gap under the rail then he was rushing away towards the trees. He quickly disappeared behind the foliage.

They looked to Gage, and he turned to smile at them again after a few moments. "Successful run."

Evelyn stepped forward and connected herself to the line. She eased herself forward, and off she went. She stopped herself just before she reached the trees and turned her body to face the back of Catherine's, then Gabriella's homes. She took photos with her cell, then slipped that back into her pocket before continuing through the forest.

Ashton looked curiously at Ben.

"This ensures there's no opportunity to compromise the privacy of my neighbor's homes," Ben explained.

"Ah," Ashton replied with a nod.

"We wouldn't--" Gage began.

"That's understood, but we still need to perform the due diligence steps," Ben insisted, and the Lieutenants nodded in agreement, but Gage was still frowning.

"If you change the termination point for the zip-line, you'll need to notify us so we can repeat this test," he said, holding their eyes. They nodded in agreement.

"If the Sergeant reports we have no privacy issues, the next tests will be for noise within the home. When the Sergeant returns, someone on your team with a radio and I will move to various rooms and listen while your men use the zip-line. Does that work for you?" Ben asked.

"Yes-here's the Sergeant now," Gage said as Evelyn rushed through the door breathing hard from running back and climbing all those stairs so quickly. She looked at Ben, and he could see her eyes were almost twinkling with excitement.

"Any privacy issues?" he asked. She shook her head.

He smiled at her. "The zip-line was fun?" he asked, and after the briefest pause, she nodded.

Ben looked to the Lieutenants. "To get an accurate assessment for each bedroom, we should do three runs with people of different sizes using the zip-line. The Sergeant can assist with this." He got nods from the Lieutenants, and Evelyn's smile widened. "Who's going to assist me with the radio?"

"Billings."

One of the sailors on the roof moved to join Ben.

"Would you like to use the express route to the ground?" Gage asked, looking at Ben as he gestured to the zip-line.

Ben snorted in amusement. "No thanks. My life has enough thrills in it."

The rest of the team chuckled and flashed knowing smiles at each other.

Ben cast an eye over the men and sighed as he was pretty sure he knew what they found amusing about that. He shared a look with Evelyn, then headed for the stairs with Billings following him.

Once he was in the master bedroom, he pulled his cell out and started the voice recorder. "Master bedroom," he said. He turned to the sailor and nodded to indicate he was ready. The man spoke quietly into his mic. He nodded when they began the test.

Ben listened but heard nothing. When he'd initially renovated this home, he'd put extra effort into soundproofing the rooms, and it seemed like that was doing its job even against the vibration noise in the building's frame.

"Run completed," Billings reported. "Second test now."

There was no sound, and Ben nodded.

"Run completed," Billings reported. "Final test beginning."

When the sailor nodded to indicate the run was done. "No detectable noise in the master bedroom. Moving to Gretchen and Sam's room."

They moved through the bedrooms and followed the same process until they'd confirmed the noise wasn't getting through to any of them significantly. Ben turned off the voice recorder app and put his cell away.

Ben looked to Billings. "There's one room that must be picking up the noise. I'd like to do one more run though this one won't have any bearing on the verdict." The sailor let his Lieutenant know they needed one more test and followed Ben down to the basement office.

He indicated to the sailor that they were directly under the tower. Ben nodded to the sailor who spoke into the mic.

The buzz of the wire from the weight rushing down its length could be heard distinctly at first, then it quickly grew quieter. Ben grinned at Billings. "That's fine. Thanks!"

They left the office and climbed back up to the top of the tower, where Ben nodded to Billings as the sailor rushed over to slip a harness on. It was his turn.

The Sergeant joined Ben with a smile on her face.

"How'd we do?" Ashton asked with a smile.

"You got a passing grade. No noticeable sound in the front bedrooms. The sound was barely detectable in the rear guest bedroom, and no one is using that room now."

Ben watched Billings accelerate away on the wire and grinned before looking back to the Lieutenants.

"I'll add the following entry code for you on the keypad for the backyard tower entrance: 37483. The code will be active between midnight and six in the morning, starting tonight. Is that sufficient?"

"Yes, that would be perfect. Thanks!" Ashton agreed, and Gage nodded. They shook Ben's hand and then moved to join their men as each took their turn to zip down to the ground. Ben and Evelyn watched as Ashton and Gage joined their sailors and disappeared into the foliage. Then it was just the two of them on the tower.

"Enjoyed yourself?" Ben asked.

Evelyn grinned at him. "Very much! The wire skims below and beside the branches and between the trunks. That makes it feel much faster. It's also excellent training!" She looked back at the anchor point and the railing. "Once more, I'm in awe of the engineering used in this tower. It's so much more advanced than anything you'd see commercially or even by Army standards."

Ben smiled. "I had the luxury of exceeding the minimum industry standards to meet the client's highest expectations." She grinned at him as they headed for the stairs.

When they reached the ground floor, Ben used the wall-mounted control panel by the inner door to program the outer door keypad for the SEAL team's access. They went into the house, and she proceeded him into the basement when the doorbell rang.

"I've got it!" Evelyn said and turned to climb back up only to discover Ben's bulk was blocking her way.

He snorted and walked back up, where she slipped past him to rush to the door. As he was already in the hall, he followed.

Evelyn peeked to see who was there and opened the door with a frown.

Ben could see CIA Agent Stephanie Russo standing before the door with Liliya and Tatiana behind her.

The Sergeant opened the storm door and stood back for the three women to enter.

"Agent Russo, I wasn't expecting to see you today," Ben said.

"A pleasant surprise, then?" she answered with a coy smile.

Ben returned her smile and gestured for her to enter the living room and take a seat. He nodded to Liliya and Tatiana.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked.

Russo shook her head. "This shouldn't take too long."

"It wasn't something you could do over the phone?" he asked.

The CIA agent smiled and shook her head. "You never know who might be listening."

Ben couldn't stop the snort from leaking out, and he saw she enjoyed getting that response from him.

"I needed to brief your security detail on the latest information we have on a threat developing against you. We finally got confirmation of a power shift within the Russian Federal Security Service. This means many things, but one of them affects you. The loss of the late Colonel Vasiliev agitated some reactionary elements within the Security Service. Certain agents within the Service have been granted authority to proceed with some covert missions. One of the players, Agent Sergey Zhdankov, worked as the liaison for Colonel Vasiliev. He's been given the mandate to quietly remove you as a threat. We believe he will send a team to make this happen."

Ben stared at Russo for a moment, then he blinked. "A team. He's going to send a team of assassins to take me out." Stephanie nodded. Ben shook his head. "Have we considered the idea of asking him not to?"

It was Russo's turn to snort softly. "We can't let on that we're aware of this intel as we'd jeopardize the lives of the agents who collected it for us. We can only prepare and act."

"General Davis hasn't notified me of this threat," Evelyn said with a frown.

"He'll get the update this afternoon," Russo explained.

Ben's eyebrows rose. "Not that I don't appreciate the early warning, but shouldn't he have the news first, so he can alert the troops in the neighborhood?"

"You have two Navy SEAL platoons in the Spa for the next two weeks. General Davis will give their commanding officer the low down," the CIA agent informed them. To Ben, it felt like she was showing off how knowledgeable she was about the neighborhood's business. He wasn't impressed.

"What's the next step?" he asked.

Russo nodded. "We're keeping an eye and an ear on Zhdankov. If he contacts a hit team, we'll get intel on them and pass it along, so you'll know who to watch for."

Tatiana made a sound of frustration. "That is reactionary response. We should take Zhdankov out," she insisted. Liliya also looked upset, but she was keeping her advice to herself.

Ben frowned at the brunette. "That's also a reactionary response, which would just yield greater violence from the next agent or officer up the chain. His superiors gave this Zhdankov permission to act because the Colonel was killed. This could easily become an escalating shit storm."

Stephanie stood up. "I've told you all I can at this time. I have to get back to Virginia."

Ben glanced at her in surprise, then rose to walk her to the door.

As he reached to open it, Russo moved closer and looked up at his face. "I also wanted to let you know we may be calling in that favor soon," she said quietly.

He was quite aware of the CIA's favor and knew he didn't really have any option but to play ball at this point. He nodded stiffly.

Her smile turned sultry as she watched his mouth, then looked into his eyes. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

She stepped back as Ben opened the door. She left with a sly smile on her lips.

Locking the door behind the agent, Ben returned to the living room. Evelyn had moved into the dining room to speak quietly into her cell. Liliya and Tatiana were talking to each other in sharp tones, but all Russian sounded harsher than normal to Ben's ear.

"I'm not sure of the usefulness of being informed in advance when there's so little information," Ben said.

"Agreed. This was a political move on Agent Russo's part. She wants something, and she wants you grateful," Liliya suggested.

Ben nodded. "She mentioned she might be calling in a favor."

Tatiana surged to her feet. "I will get this information from her."

Ben caught her just before she reached the door, and she yanked her arm from his grip. She snarled as she aimed an elbow jab at his throat. He was ready and caught that with his palm, twisting her arm behind her back. Before she could retaliate, he slammed her against the wall face first, with his body pinning her in place. Still, she struggled, so he added pressure and lifted her off her feet. He had his face next to hers and heard her sudden gasp. He realized his cock was pressing firmly between her ass cheeks, and there was a tremendous amount of pressure there as he was almost lifting her with it.

"You will settle down and get control over your impulsiveness," he growled into her ear.

"Uhhh--or what?" she spat.

Ben felt her body trembling as she tried to push herself away from the wall with her free hand. She was still fighting. He knew she was trying to go for her knives.

With a mighty shove against the wall, Ben stepped back, suddenly releasing the pressure holding Tatiana up. Her shaky legs wouldn't support her, and she fell onto her ass as her arms flailed. She lost her grip on the blade she'd palmed, and it skittered across the floor towards the kitchen.

Ben watched her with a scowl. "You're free to leave at any time. If you can't work with others in a rational, civil way, or if you put others in danger, you're not welcome here. It's entirely up to you." She looked up at him with an unreadable expression. "Now, get your knife and get out of my house."