The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 01

Author's Notes:

'A Shepherd's Crook' is a new tale in the Chronicles of Ben Shepherd. The chronological order of the stories is:

• The Shepherd of Ashburn Court -- Parts 1 - 5
• A Shepherd in France -- Parts 1 & 2
• A Shepherd Afield -- Parts 1 - 5
• The Shepherd's Crook -- Part 1

Minimal effort is made in this tale to explain the backstory, so please read the other stories first.

All characters engaging in sexual relationships or activities are 18 years old or older.

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A Shepherd's Crook -- Part 1

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Chapter 1

Ben stretched out on his back on the living room carpet, baby Gretchen asleep on his chest. Sam was wiggling on his blanket at his side, Ben's big arm protectively encircling the infant. The only child missing from this picture was Christopher who'd opted to go to daycare to play with his friends.

He heard footsteps and glanced up to see Tina and Lucy approaching with big smiles on their faces.

"Who's a proud papa? Who's a proud papa? You are! Yes, you are!" Lucy teased in a voice she used on her daughter.

Ben chuckled because he couldn't argue with the beauty. He was proud! Thrilled as well. He'd never expected to have children of his own much less three! He smiled lovingly at the two ladies, and they knelt next to him and gave him kisses before they scooped up their babies.

Ben made a slight noise of protest, but Tina gave him a raised eyebrow.

"You know Captain Kendricks will be here shortly. Don't you need to prepare?" she asked.

Ben sat up and pouted at them but nodded. He leaned forward and kissed the heads of the babies and got another kiss from their mothers before he stood and walked downstairs to his office. A prototype of his latest design was resting atop his drafting table. The original was in the glass cabinet lining the wall of his workshop. It didn't seem very impressive at first glance, but then most of the devices he designed hid their cleverness beneath a simple façade. He gathered the design spec sheets and stuffed them in the docket with a memory stick containing all the digital files. Picking up the docket and the prototype he went back upstairs just in time to hear the muted tones of the doorbell.

Tina and Lucy had insisted he come up with a quieter way to announce the many visitors he received these days now that he was working with the US military and other departments of the government. The new doorbell didn't wake the babies.

Smiling, Ben opened the door for Captain David Kendricks who was right on time. A big personnel carrier was waiting at the end of the driveway. Ben grinned as he recalled the night he'd met Kendricks and his predecessor's shock and awe tactics.

"David! Good morning!"

"Ben! Good morning to you!" He looked to the dossier Ben was carrying. "Is that it?"

Ben smiled and nodded. "Yes, let's go take a look."

David kicked his shoes off and followed Ben to the dining room as this had become their pattern. Ben placed the docket on the table and opened it, and they took chairs side by side. He walked the Captain through the reports he'd made, and they inspected the physical prototype.

David grinned at Ben. "We had a bet going back at headquarters on methods you might use to alleviate the air turbulence the device would produce. Corporal Killcade bet we'd all be wrong and suggested you'd find a solution that adapted dynamically to the increase in friction. While she didn't supply the solution you devised, she did identify the basis of your design. She won the bet again!"

Ben grinned at the man then tried to recall someone named Killcade. "Have I met her?"

David shook his head. "No, she's new. Been working in the think tank for maybe... six months? Absolutely brilliant but incredibly awkward socially. I understand she's one hell of a soldier, but she couldn't integrate with the others on her squad. If she wasn't so damn smart, they might have released her from the army. Instead, she came to work for us. I immediately put her on reviewing your work." A sly grin began to appear on the Captain's face. "I think she might have a little crush on you."

Ben stared at him nervously.

David laughed and patted Ben on the arm. "Not to worry, it's just a little innocent infatuation with someone she believes may be as smart as she is."

Ben frowned. "I'm not particularly smart. Just ask the ladies I live with. My mind just likes puzzles."

David gave him a skeptical look. "Riiiiight." Then his expression showed a little embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"Nothing! It's silly really... but I promised I'd ask," David shifted a little in his chair. Ben just waited until the Captain finally managed to spill. "That wager we made over your air turbulence solution? As her reward for always being right, Corporal Killcade asked if she might be permitted to join me on my next visit."

"Oh! Well, if you vouch for her, then I suppose it'd be fine," Ben responded with a small shrug. David's relieved smile and brisk nod were good enough for him.

"Did you bring me the file for the new project?" Ben asked eagerly.

With an indulgent smile, David reached into his briefcase and pulled out a dossier stuffed with crinkled papers.

Ben's eyebrows rose as he looked at the old notes. "How ancient is this request?"

"Pretty old. Pre-dates my tenure and then some. The memory stick includes all of the attempted solutions people have come up with over the years to solve it. You're welcome to try."

Ben nodded and smiled as he flipped through the pages.

David smiled as he knew he'd lost Ben's attention. The man's voracious mind was eager to begin. David was starting to worry at the lull in challenges for him. Admittedly there were plenty of top-secret projects that would have loved to have a mind like his on the team, but Ben had made it clear he wasn't interested in designing weapons. Aside from this, there were still people in Kendricks' chain of command who were seriously uncomfortable about having a 'celebrity' working for them. He kept that little fact from Ben. He moved the prototype and the dossier into his briefcase.

"I'm going to leave you to it then. Thanks again for this!"

Ben turned his attention back to his guest with a guilty smile. "Sorry. Thanks for the new puzzle!" He walked the Captain to the door and shook his hand before the man left.

Ben immediately walked down to his office and took a seat at his desk. He pulled the sheets out and got to work, a little smile on his face.

Three hours later he trudged up the stairs, a little frown had replaced his earlier smile.

Lucy was approaching the stairs with her daughter in her arms and saw the frustrated look. "Oh oh. That doesn't look like a 'Eureka' expression.

He gave her a weary smile. "Actually, in this case, it is. My latest puzzle turned out to be something I solved a while ago. Well, something I invented a few years ago can be adapted to solve this." He closed his eyes and shook his head to shake off his grumpiness. "It doesn't matter. They'll have a solution."

Lucy smiled at Ben. "You've saved me the effort of calling you up for lunch. Come join us in the kitchen."

They walked into the room where Tina was placing their lunch on the table. The delicious scent of the meal brought a smile back to his face.

He could always count on her to take care of his happiness.

-=-

Ben was finishing up cleaning the kitchen when the phone rang. Tina got to it first.

"Shepherd residence. Oh, hello Mr. Greyson. Ben's right here. Hold please."

Ben smiled at Tina and accepted the handset from her.

"Hi Walter, what's up?"

"Hi Ben. I've spoken to the mortgage officer about the Berlin condo you inherited from Gretchen's estate. I've managed to get them to acknowledge the life insurance clause covers all remaining payments. They wouldn't budge on the penalties for the missed installments. That required payment and Jerry's accounting firm dealt with that for you. He purchased this condo through a numbered company too. I don't know why Rainor hid his ownership of the properties he bought behind the blank corporation, and I'm not opening that can of worms. To get the bank to acknowledge the insurance claim, I sent them the paperwork proving Rainor's ownership of the numbered company and a copy of his death certificate indicating he was deceased. The good news is, the mortgage is paid off."

"Sorry for the grief that caused you, Walter."

"That's fine. It's not all good news, however. I'm having no luck with the bank in regards to that safe deposit box. They're insisting you go to the bank and either close it out or renew it, in person."

"What? In Berlin? What a pain in the ass!" Ben grumbled.

"To make matters worse, they're saying the rental on the box is going to expire within the next week," Walter continued. "The notice was apparently mailed but who knows where that went."

"What happens if we just let it lapse?" Ben asked.

"The contents would be claimed by the bank. You're not really considering that are you? Aren't you curious about what's inside?"

Ben snorted. "You know what curiosity did to the cat." He brooded for a moment then growled quietly. "Right... fine. What's the deadline?"

"A week from this Wednesday."

Ben sighed. "Guess I'm going to Germany. Send me the details?" Tina and Lucy looked at him in surprise.

"Thanks, Ben. I'll send them through right now," Walter said in relief.

"Bye, Walter."

"Bye, Ben."

He looked at the concerned expressions on the faces of the two ladies. "What?"

-=-

Ben parked his truck in the airport long-term parking lot and looked over at the smiling face of his 'traveling companion'.

After learning of his trip, Tina and Lucy called a meeting of the ladies in his life. Hearing that Ben would be imminently traveling to Europe on his own, they checked their schedules to see who could join him.

Gabriella was scheduled to travel to New York the same week, so she was out. Catherine was in the middle of preparing a fundraiser.

Tina and Lucy had doctor's appointments for their babies that week.

The twins would have loved to go, but it was too short notice to arrange replacement help at the daycare.

Trish, who arrived late to the meeting, was not so secretly delighted that she was the only one who could rearrange her work to free up the time. She would have Ben all to herself.

"Are we flying first class? Maybe we can sneak in a quickie in the washroom! We never got to do it on our trip to France," Trish pouted.

Ben rolled his eyes. "You know how tiny those rooms are?"

"Just part of the fun!" she insisted.

Ben grabbed their bags and made his way inside. They went through security and walked to the far end of the terminal to approach a solitary gate. Trish looked around curiously.

"Where are the other passengers?" she asked.

Ben smiled at her. "There aren't any other passengers."

Her eyes lit up. "No fucking way! We're flying on the private jet?"

Ben nodded, and Trish jumped up against his chest to kiss him.

Truthfully, after their last flight back from their vacation in France, he'd vowed to use his friend's jet service whenever possible. Being verbally accosted for his reportedly decadent lifestyle by a gaggle of self-righteous old ladies at 30,000 feet was a memory he'd prefer to forget. He recalled Trish had enjoyed the moment, making more than one of the matrons faint with her boasts of just how decadent it felt to be with Ben.

So, no more commercial airlines, if he could avoid them.

He ushered Trish through the gate and down to the tarmac. He paused as he gaped at the jet they'd be boarding.

He'd recently made a significant investment in the company, and one of the things they'd apparently done with the money was to upgrade their fleet.

"Holy Fuck! That's gorgeous!!!" Trish gasped in glee. The jet before them was sleek and looked like it was already moving at light-speed just sitting still. He blinked in surprise as it looked nothing like the company's old design. The company colors had changed too. The jet was shiny black with white letters on the side. "Sky Shepherd?" he mumbled in surprise.

"You own the jet?!?" Trish gasped.

He looked at her with a confused frown. "No... no, I just invested capital in the company... oh my god..."

He was looking at the emblem painted on the tail. It was the same silhouette used on the tags of Gabriella's, or rather Brezza's, designer clothing! It was him! Naked! Granted it wasn't as detailed as the embroidered tag, but the stylized version they ended up with hadn't eliminated the one detail outline that disturbed him the most! Worse, it was much larger than the garment tag.

A big man with sandy blonde hair left the plane and hustled over towards them.

"Ben! So glad to see you again! We've been talking so much on the phone, but we haven't had a face to face since you did the original design work on the interiors! When I heard you'd booked one of our new birds I just had to come down to shake your hand!" They gripped and shook though Ben remained dazed.

"Dennis, hi. This is Trish Campbell. Trish, Dennis Thomasson." She shook the man's hand with a smile.

Ben pointed to the plane. "Sky Shepherd?"

"Yeah! Much catchier than our old name. Your branding people are awesome! So helpful! We're getting so many reservations since we rebranded! But hey, we'll always make sure you're a priority!" he assured Ben.

"My branding people?" he asked.

"Yeah, Gabriella put me in contact with them. They took care of everything from registering the name, hooking us up with a web designer to fix our site, marketing, stationery, business cards- shit! The whole enchilada! That investment you made and Gabriella's advice gave us one hell of a boost!"

Ben recalled Gabriella talking to him about the labels and spinning off a business... crap. He'd been ogling her cleavage when she told him. She'd also been pressing her delightful tits against him at the time. Then he recalled what they'd done next and found himself stiffening in his pants. He'd have to talk with her again to get more information on how his 'brand' was being used.

The pilot poked his head out the door. "Dennis! Let our passengers board, or we'll miss our window."

The man gave them a guilty smile and walked them to the door. "Have a great flight and thanks again!"

Ben and Trish waved to him and climbed the stairs into the jet. Trish walked in, and her jaw dropped.

"Oh my god, Ben! This is fucking gorgeous!" she gushed.

He loaded their carry on suitcases into the closet next to the galley then followed Trish back.

"Mr. Shepherd, if you could take your seats we'll be taxiing momentarily," the pilot said from the cockpit doorway.

"Certainly. Thanks!"

Ben gestured for Trish to take a seat and he sat in the one facing her. The seats were decadently comfortable and even fit Ben's larger frame. His head rested back against the headrest instead of flopping over the seatback.

"Shit! I'm ruined for commercial travel!" Trish moaned as she buckled her seat belt.

"Me too," he sighed.

The pilot announced they were beginning their taxi out to the runway, so they sat back and smiled at each other.

It didn't take long to get out to the runway and soon the jet was leaping into the sky. The pilot came on over the intercom and announced they'd be landing in New York to top up their fuel then the next stop would be Berlin. When the seat belt lights went out, Trish popped hers and went immediately to the galley.

"Damn! They have some quality hooch here! This stuff is for us?" she asked.

"Yes, help yourself."

"Maybe later," she said distractedly as she nodded to herself and continued to poke around. The snacks looked yummy, and the menu indicated two different entrées for dinner, both of which sounded good!

She walked behind the seating area to look at a door. "What's behind this door?"

Ben swiveled on his chair to face her. "Open it and find out."

Raising an eyebrow at him, she pulled on the handle and slid the door open.

"Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me!" she gushed as she saw the bed and another door next to it. She rushed to open that door and saw a fully appointed bathroom with a small shower.

Ben grinned at the happy, excited sounds coming from Trish. She came running back to his seat and jumped on him. His chair immediately folded flat, so she was stretched out over his body.

"I LOVE this jet!" she purred!

"And you wanted to have a quickie in a commercial jetliner washroom!" he scoffed gently.

She smiled and kissed him sensually. He was really enjoying the kiss when she suddenly squeaked and pushed herself back to her feet to rush back into the bedroom. He watched her go in surprise.

She disappeared around the corner, and he heard a happy yelp. "I did see a TV on this wall!"

Ben snorted in surprise that a TV had captured Trish's attention more than rubbing her body against him. Maybe the magic was over! That thought made him snort again.

He climbed to his feet to follow her. When he could see her again, she was sitting on the end of the bed pointing a remote at the TV he couldn't see. He joined her in the bedroom and saw the TV had a menu of available movies. He saw some fairly current movies then the screen jumped to the adult section.

"Now you're talkin'!" Trish purred. She scanned through the titles. "Lame, lame, soft, stupid, lame, oh! This one has promise!" She stopped on a cover that showed a sultry blond socialite grabbed roughly by a tough looking fellow.

"You want to watch porn?" Ben asked incredulously.

She grinned up at him. "No!" He began to feel a little better then she continued. "I want to act it out with you while we watch porn.

"You've done this before?" Ben asked nervously as his eyebrows climbed upwards.

"Once. Shortly after I married John... but he got stupidly jealous and hit me. I was young and stupid, so I believed his excuses and forgave him. I never watched porn with him again though. You wouldn't react as he did, would you." Trish was watching him with loving eyes as Ben tried to suppress his rage at the idea of her husband hitting her.

"Of course, I wouldn't!

"So, you'll do it?" she grinned excitedly.

He sighed and nodded in defeat. Only for Trish.

With a happy squeal, she jumped up against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Her lips found his, and he enjoyed the sensations of her deep kiss and her tits pressing against his chest. His hands cupped her ass to hold her up against his body, and he gave the muscular orbs a good squeeze.

Trish pulled back from the kiss to moan. "Fuck! I love your hands on my body!"

"We should probably hold off on that activity until the stretch between New York and Berlin," he suggested.

She smiled up at him and nodded. She could wait.

They walked back out to the galley and made their selections for dinner. It was pretty simple to complete the preparations for the meals. They enjoyed the food and Trish had some lovely white wine to accompany it. Ben stuck with water.

The stopover at New York was short and sweet, and soon they were on their way to Berlin.

Trish smiled at Ben wickedly and walked backward towards the bedroom tugging him along after her. He smiled at her mischievous nature. He knew she liked to try new things, but this one felt odder than most.

He closed the bedroom door, and she let go of his hand to prepare the TV.

"You're going to have to fill me in on how this is supposed to work," Ben said uneasily.

She grinned at him. "Think of it as a kind of party game. We watch the movie and feel free to comment on the production values or acting. We only begin to mirror them when the sex scenes begin. Then we attempt to match their actions and movements as closely as possible. Obviously, I'm the snooty socialite, and you're the rough dude who fucks her silly."