The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 04

"Just getting some air. We'll pick her up on the way out of the neighborhood."

Sure enough, when they reached the intersection to pull back onto the main road, Moon was standing on the corner waiting for them. She jumped in and gave Ben a smile as they headed back to the airport.

It was another trek through back corridors to return to the jet.

Before they boarded, Fisher fixed a look at Ben. "Any more side trips or delays?"

Ben sighed and shook his head. "No. Let's go home."

Soon enough, the plane was back in the air, with the commandos taking the first seat quad and his security team taking the last at the back. The seatbelt sign was turned off, and Moon approached Ben. In her hands was something wrapped in a pillowcase which she handed to him. Glancing at her, he opened the fabric to see the clay sculpture Stephanie made of his cock.

"How? How did you get this?" Ben asked as he gaped at the petite woman.

"You kept her busy as I broke into the house from the backyard. I am very good at this. I collected this and a backup drive on which she keeps her notes and research." Moon handed Ben the second item. "I took a quick look. Your friends in Australia and France weren't the only people she interviewed. You should review this information before she publishes it. There is also a copy of the book she submitted. At least you will be prepared."

Ben's eyebrows were threatening to climb into his hairline. He looked at the small pocket-sized USB hard drive and then back to Moon. "Thank you so much!"

She smiled at him and nodded before going back to her seat. Ben's eyes followed her to the back seats, where she sat with Liliya and Evelyn. Both women were grinning back at Ben. Moon was going to make an excellent addition to their team!

Ben thought he'd better learn how to say Nguyêt correctly.

"Such a shame to destroy such a piece of art," Gabriella sighed, drawing his eyes up to her smiling face.

"Oh my god! Is that what I think it is?" Zama gasped with wide eyes.

Ben quickly wrapped it up in the pillowcase once more. "Never mind what this is."

Gabriella chuckled and leaned in to give Ben a kiss.

Zama watched them with such a look of longing on her face that Ben felt guilty for kissing Gabriella in front of her. When his beautiful neighbor pulled back, Ben gestured for Zama to bring her face down to his. She flashed a happy smile at him then she pressed her soft lips against his. He gently cradled her face in his hand and tenderly caressed her mouth with his. Zama's breath caught in her chest, and she looked at his mouth dreamily as they parted.

"I wasn't making any promises with that kiss," Ben said firmly, and she nodded.

"It was very good," she sighed.

He snorted gently. "I get lots of practice... and you have very kissable lips, like Gabriella's."

The woman in question gave him a loving smile and took the Princess' arm to guide her back to her seat. They began to speak quietly as they snuck looks back at Ben.

He wondered if he should be worried about that.

Chapter 49

Sergey Zhdankov once more stood before the grim faces of his senior chiefs. This time all of them were present.

"You said there would be no link back to us for the attack, then you have two of our best cyber-infiltration teams paralyze the US Capitol's telecommunications and traffic control centers. How is this subtle? How is this protecting us from reprisals? We have the open discussion of our involvement on Capitol Hill, and I'm told they are making memes of it on the Internet!" Herescu growled.

Sergey swallowed the bile rising from his gut as he watched the smile on Bolonov's face spread. The man looked like a lizard about to eat a fat beetle, and Sergey was looking like a beetle at the moment.

"An overzealous operative misinterpreted my orders and brought in the teams without my knowledge. He will be terminated," Sergey insisted. Even he thought he sounded weak.

"We will need to review the mistakes made in detail," Bolonov suggested, and heads nodded.

There was a commotion by the door, and a messenger rushed up to the podium and whispered to Herescu, who jolted in his seat and asked the messenger some questions.

After the messenger left the room, Herescu faced Sergey with a nervous expression. "Your prediction came true. The assassin has come back to us. Tatiana Pushkin just walked into the lobby of this building."

Sergey couldn't stop the snort of laughter from slipping out. Angry eyes glared at him. "Apologies," Sergey said gently as he tipped his head to the chiefs. "It is just what she did to the CIA. She has incredible boldness. May I assume she surrendered immediately?" he asked, feeling confident once more. Vasiliev had prepared him for this.

The senior chief nodded. "She has been taken into custody. She will be stripped, searched, and subdued before questioning occurs."

"May I offer a point of advice based on the knowledge Colonel Vasiliev gave me specifically for this event?" he asked. Herescu nodded with a scowl.

"The subduing phase will not yield the required results as the subject has been conditioned to endure this. Instead, bring her to my office, and I will debrief her. If she is not salvageable, I will dispense of her. She is not a threat to us as she cannot defy the Colonel's conditioning. This was proven by her return."

Bolonov was scowling angrily once more, and that just made Sergey's smile more satisfied.

"She will be brought to your office immediately. Make your assessment and return to us with your answer in two hours, no more," Herescu snapped.

Sergey saluted and left the room with as much dignity as he could, but once outside, he rushed through the building to his office and managed to get to it before the guards brought her in. He wondered if he should sit at his desk or stand by his window. Which pose would have the greatest impact? He was almost giddy with the power being placed in his hands. She was one of the deadliest weapons Vasiliev ever created, and she would be under his control! He studied the Colonel's records for managing his creations. While he no longer had access to the documents which went missing when the Colonel was killed, he remembered.

He heard footsteps, so he rushed to the window and slipped a neutral expression onto his face.

Two burly guards in black suits pushed Tatiana into the room and roughly sat her in the chair before his desk. They both took a step back and remained there to subdue her if she made any suspicious moves.

"Welcome home, Ms. Pushkin," Sergey said with a smile.

-=-

Tatiana lifted her chin to look at the fat man who took over for the Colonel and wondered what Vasiliev had been thinking when he took him on as his liaison. She could see how soft and weak he was. Still, she must play the game. She nodded to him.

"I see they did not get my instructions soon enough to prevent you from taking a beating," Zhdankov snorted in annoyance at the two brutes.

She nodded again. She would have laughed, but this would have been enough to trigger her handlers, and she wasn't ready yet. The timing was critical.

"What did she bring with her?" the fat man asked the brutes. One took an envelope from his pocket and handed it to him.

Sergey poured the contents out on his desktop. He pretended to inspect the items, but he was watching her for tells on which item was important to her. She didn't respond to anything, so he frowned and changed direction again.

"I knew it was just a matter of time before you returned. Colonel Vasiliev ensured you would remain loyal to his program. He made you what you are... but it seems you are not the pinnacle of his creations after all."

Tatiana couldn't suppress the twitch that comment elicited. She was aware that she'd been beaten by Ben in strength and speed. She was also aware that Liliya would have killed her in Germany. That had surprised her most of all. She knew Liliya had equal training, but she lacked the killer instinct.

Until she had the proper motivation.

Ben. Liliya loved Ben, and that made her better than Tatiana. Without this, Tatiana could not be the pinnacle.

She glanced up at Sergey and saw he'd been watching her expression, and his smug smile showed his satisfaction. She wanted so much to tear it from his face but... not yet. She gauged the location of the two behind her by the subtle rustle of their clothes as they shifted in relation to the slight sway she'd added to her body language to suggest fatigue. Calculating her attack opportunities, she saw the numbers were not in her favor at the moment.

The fat man continued. "You should have asked yourself why you thought we'd consider taking you back after the damage you've done for our enemy?"

She made a weak snort sound. "I proved the minimal value of those assets. I am far more valuable."

It was Sergey's turn to snort as he moved back to look out his window. "You had your chance to prove that, but you failed to kill Ben Shepherd. Liliya seems to be the deadlier assassin, and we aren't interested in second best."

He grinned back at her at the expression of hurt pride, and once more, Tatiana vowed to end him.

A sniper round punched through the armored glass of the window, turning Sergey's head into red mist.

Almost before anyone could react, a second round punched through the damaged window, taking out the guard closest to the window as Sergey's body dropped. The second guard grunted as he fell to avoid the bullets.

Tatiana waited for a third bullet. Firing two was an outrageously bold move. Taking the time to fire three would be insane, even with the speed and accuracy the sniper had just demonstrated. She turned her head toward the window and saw a red dot on the glass. The sniper was still there? He must be suicidal!

Turning her head in the other direction, she saw the second guard hadn't been completely successful in avoiding the second bullet. He was sitting on the floor, leaning against the far wall, and missing the top of his skull. Not dead, yet not alive. Not a threat, at least.

She stood cautiously and looked out the window. The dot was still there, and it rested on her heart, unwavering. Who? Who was insane enough to—DEMMON! She suddenly recognized his marksmanship and boldness.

The red light winked out. He wasn't going to kill her.

Tatiana was stunned as she never expected to leave the building alive, but now Hal had given her the option. She scoffed at the idea.

Instead, she picked up her burner cell from the desk and dialed a number, her thumb hovering over the dial button. She moved back to the window to stare through the spidering cracks toward the building where the shots must have come from. She cursed Hal for taking her target, but she knew he was already gone.

Then it struck her. Hal wouldn't have been given a mission to kill Zhdankov. The political nightmare of a US assassin killing an FSB officer in Moscow would generate was too much of a risk for the cowards in the White House. The only target that made sense to assign Hal to would be... her.

Staring at the building from which the shots must have come, she heard people running closer in the hall. She looked back at the headless corpse of Sergey. "I am also not interested in being second best."

She smiled as she pressed the dial button on the cell. She watched it connect as the door burst open behind her.

She heard the shot and was free.

-=-

In the loading bay at the back of the FSB headquarters was a large office supplies delivery truck. Tatiana had driven it into the yard and parked it in a loading bay. Her disguise had been minimal but sufficient to match the records she'd planted in the building's security profile servers earlier.

The irony of an FSB-trained assassin turning on her masters was compounded by the fact that the method she'd used to attack them came from the secret plans Colonel Vasiliev devised should his masters turn on him. He'd been intimately aware of their security processes, the internal layout of the building, and the weak points of both.

Hidden within the false walls and floors of the truck was an enormous amount of high explosives she'd spent months smuggling into the Russian capital. The boxes of stationary she'd delivered had been carried in and stored in the building's various supply rooms, each near key structural supports. They also contained explosives and cell-based triggers. The cell phone she'd dialed with the burner was in the truck, and it triggered a repeater, sending out a text pulse to all the secondary bombs, before tripping the truck's bomb.

The storeroom explosions ripped through the building's spine, and the second, much larger explosion in the truck severed the lower levels of the building. The resulting blast waves ripped through the building, collapsing it, leaving nothing identifiable behind in the vast crater of rubble. Neighboring buildings were heavily damaged as well.

Tatiana's final resting place would be amongst the largest headcount she'd ever achieved in a single strike.

An anonymous grave for the world's deadliest assassin.

-=-

Hal Demmon slipped away in the chaos caused by the explosion, stunned by the scale of the devastation Tatiana had unleashed.

His mission was to kill her before the FSB could send her back to target Americans. But when he'd let his monster out to make the kill, it refused to pull the trigger. It knew Tatiana wouldn't allow herself to be caught and must have a plan, so it changed its mission.

Hal's monster had never changed its kill target before, so he was surprised when it shot the others in the room instead. Then it turned on the weapon's laser sight to let Tatiana know it spared her life.

He'd been troubled by that but knew his mission was over, and he had to leave. He wouldn't draw undue attention with his worker's coverall and toolbox containing the disassembled rifle. He'd just reached the street when the blast wave knocked everyone from their feet. He had a few cuts and scratches from the flying glass and debris, but this just added to his disguise. He used the mayhem to slip away into the shadows.

He was going home. Mission accomplished?

-=-

Hours after the horrific events, General Davis leaned back in his chair and contemplated what he'd just watched. Satellite footage of a huge explosion in the middle of Russia's capitol was something to be concerned about. Still, the complete destruction of the FSB headquarters and the death of everyone inside it gave him serious chills. This could be considered an act of war if they pointed the finger at the US as the responsible party.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter."

"General, there's something you should see. Tatiana Pushkin uploaded a video to all major social media platforms. We're still discovering sites where the video can be found. She recorded it in multiple languages, as well. She's claiming sole responsibility for the destruction of the FSB headquarters," his lieutenant said, bringing the General's computer to one of the sites where the video was already gathering huge viewing numbers. With a nod, the man left his office as the General was already focusing on his screen.

The video began with just a head and shoulders view of Tatiana staring at the camera. She was very beautiful even with the scar on her cheek, but her eyes held a deep pain she was trying to hide with a weak smile. Davis was surprised to catch himself feeling sympathy for the woman.

"Hello. My name is Tatiana Pushkin. Most of you do not know me or only know of me as one of the women who followed and protected Ben Shepherd. Until I betrayed him and drove my blade into him. I did not know I could do such a thing, and it tormented me. Then I realized where this evil inside me came from. My origin story." She smiled sadly.

"Aleksei Vasiliev was Colonel in the Russian Army, but he worked on secret projects for Russian Intelligence, the FSB, and their masters in the Kremlin. He ran many terrible experiments, and one of them created me and my fellow assassins. He took very young orphans and abducted children of political targets. We endured his torture and training, or we died, and many died. He cut away qualities he believed would limit our capacity to be deadliest assassins. In the end, he had a team, and we killed many for him. This was my life, and I was best. Liliya Sokolov was second." She shook her head slightly as her eyes became glassy.

"Vasiliev tried to kidnap Ben and died by Liliya's hand after Ben rescued her daughter. She hunted and terminated the other assassins in Vasiliev's team, but Ben made her stop. I had no wish to kill her, but Ben was threat to my freedom. I tried to kill him, but he defeated me. I was not best." A confused and pained expression passed over her face with a look of desperation and longing.

"It took my recent betrayal of Ben for me to see how broken I was. I believed I loved him, but I have no ability to truly love. He would not—no, could not rape, which was how Vasiliev taught me love. Liliya still knew how to love. She did not lose this, and she outfought me to protect Ben. She proved she was best, and I was second."

"I had nothing left. Vasiliev and his masters took everything from me to be their killing tool. I vowed to reward them for their efforts. If you are watching this, the promise I made to myself has been accomplished. For all the children who died in their assassin program but mostly for the person I could have been, a woman Ben could have loved, I will become deadliest assassin one last time."

"With this, I betray Ben once more. He said no more killing. He insisted the best blade is one that is never drawn, but Vasiliev destroyed that in me. I know only death, so that is what I will gift to the ones who created me."

She looked into the camera with sad eyes. "Goodbye, Ben. I am sorry. I wish I could have loved you as Liliya does."

As Davis examined the video's final frame, he pondered if Tatiana's confession would be sufficient to eliminate the US as a suspect in this attack. He'd have to contact Demmon's handler to confirm his mission wasn't compromised. The last thing he wanted was evidence of an American agent operating in Moscow at this time.

The second thought that went through his mind was how this wasn't going to reduce the public's rabid curiosity about Ben's life.

Chapter 50

"Can I move now?" Ben moaned as he did his best to remain absolutely still with Gabriella sitting on his lap, facing him with her arms around him while encircled by his arms. They were intimately connected, and her inner muscles were rippling against his hard cock.

"It's tantric sex, Ben. You need to hold still and prolong the moment. Feel the intimacy, be in the moment, feel the connection of our spiri—Uhhmmmm!"

Ben watched Gabriella's eyelashes flutter as her inner muscles rippled again, more strongly this time. "You imp! You've been having orgasms for the last fifteen minutes while I've been holding still?" he gasped in outrage.

She couldn't contain her giggles, then she squealed as he grabbed her ass cheeks and bounced her vigorously on his cock. Now her eyelids were really fluttering as they both rocked through their mutual releases.

When they were finished, Ben pushed Gabriella back, and she squeaked as she fell back onto her mattress, her head landing on her pillow. This motion drew Ben's still hard cock from her body with a pop.

"AH!" she gasped, then burst into giggles once more as tingles cascaded through her body. She looked up at him with a cute little grin, her satisfaction plain on her face.

He snorted, stretched out on the bed next to her, and made himself comfortable as Gabriella cuddled against his side.

"Please don't think I'm not grateful, but I expected you to spend your first night at home with Tina and Lucy," she said with a sigh.