The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 01

Trish came forward to shake their hands. The twins were awestruck by Trish.

"The girls have begun gymnastics and are both tops in their classes," Nikolai boasted proudly.

"It's good to be strong! Just ask Trish! Yesterday, she was held hostage by a bad man and his gang. She kicked their butts!" Ben said to the twins who squealed excitedly.

"Please! You must teach us!" Roza begged.

"They've been taking Self Defense courses too, but gymnastics comes first," Galena said, keeping her eyes on her daughters who nodded to her then begged Trish with their eyes.

"Come inside!" Nikolai said, gesturing to his front door. The group moved inside, and they made impressed noises as they walked through the gorgeous building to the back of the house and the family room.

Inside, Nikolai began the introductions once more as they met his brother Andrei, his wife Kira, and their three beautiful girls Svetlana, Irina, and Katya. They shook hands and greeted each other.

Two men who'd been seated near the windows stood and joined them as Nikolai introduced them as good friends of the family, Dan Bishop and Wally Robbins, but their ladies would arrive shortly. Ben immediately picked up a feeling that they were military or ex-military. This impression came more from Dan than Wally, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"I hope we're not disturbing your family get-together," Ben said earnestly.

"Not at all. What you spoke to me about concerns family and we should attend to it immediately," Nikolai assured him. "Galena, we will just be a moment." She nodded to him and gestured for the rest to take seats.

Nikolai took his brother's arm and whispered into his ear. Andrei's expression darkened, and he nodded tersely. The brothers looked to Dan and Wally who nodded. Ben saw Trish was being dragged away excitedly by the twins.

The men followed Nikolai down a hall and into a room which seemed to be an office with a beautiful wood desk before huge windows. Once they were all inside Nikolai nodded for Ben to begin.

Ben described the events of the previous day; Trish's kidnapping, Milonas' demands, meeting Liliya, his trip to the bank to collect the ledger, Trish's escape, and the discovery of blackmail photos on a memory stick. He turned his eyes to Nikolai, as this part concerned him most.

"On our way back to Milonas, we saw police all over the building site, so we stopped. Trish had already taken Milonas out, and his goons had fled. That's when Liliya confessed that she worked for Yuri Gruzinsky." Nikolai's eyes snapped to Ben's. "He knows I have the memory stick. The blackmail photos are of him. He's going to threaten my family, and he has the resources to get to them." Ben took a deep breath as that thought disturbed him greatly. "Liliya told me Yuri was responsible for kidnapping your twins. Revenge for beating him out of a contract for mining gold."

Nikolai sharply exclaimed something in Russian, and Andrei's expression showed his anger as well. "She said Yuri has her daughter, Rose. Liliya must be obedient, or he'll sell her daughter to slavers. Now," Ben held his hands up to ensure he had their attention. "I must state that she might be lying. I don't believe she is, but I could be wrong."

"If she is not lying, we must impose a permanent solution for Yuri," Nikolai growled quietly. Ben nodded.

"You know we're with you all the way," Dan said quietly.

"Thank you. I must make a call. Excuse me, please." Nikolai left the room.

Andrei turned to Dan. "Ben was the man who rescued Mika and Roza from the slavers."

Ben saw their looks of surprise and shook his head. "Just in the wrong place at the right time."

"But you acted. That is the difference," Andrei insisted and smiled again. "Daniel and Walter are equally heroic." Ben felt the echoes of his previous rage struggle to rise, but he quashed it. "They came upon my family cut off behind enemy lines in the Iraq war zone. They extracted us against the orders of their commanding officer and at great cost to them."

Ben saw Dan was equally uncomfortable with praise and he nodded to the man.

There was a knock on the door, and Ben turned his head to see if it was Trish. The first one through the door caught him off guard with her beauty. Long, platinum blonde hair, striking, green eyes with thick lashes, delicate brows, high cheekbones, slender nose, and full, lush lips that seemed to beg for kisses. Her breast implants were maybe a bit larger than Trish's, and her hips were a little wider as well. She had just a little more meat on her bones, like a softer version of Trish.

There was something about her Ben couldn't define. A vulnerability and innocence that immediately triggered his protective instincts. She had an almost gravitational pull. Then he noticed the scars on her bare arms. Some were obviously cigarette burns, and the skin on her wrists showed damage from being bound. She'd been tortured. He fought to keep a scowl from his face.

He caught Dan watching him closely, so he gestured to scars on his arm and raised an eyebrow in question. Some of Dan's tension dissipated as he saw Ben was just being protective. He shook his head slightly, and Ben relaxed as the scars weren't Dan's doing.

The beauty finally noticed Ben, and she gave him a timid smile as she quickly moved to Dan's side. He hugged her and kissed her temple. Ben finally recognized Submissive behavior for what it was.

Trish was right behind the blond and moved to Ben's side. He smiled and kissed her as well.

"Ben, this is my wife, Willow," Dan said, squeezing her.

Trish grinned over at Willow as she saw the woman's interest in Ben's scars. "This big guy has a collection of scars too." She tugged Ben's shirt up slightly to display his three bullet scars. Ben squirmed uncomfortably under Trish's hands.

Seeing Ben's embarrassment and Trish's grin, Willow's eyes twinkled mischievously as she tugged Dan's shirt up higher than Ben's to display the bullet scars on his chest. Dan looked at his wife in surprise as she'd never shown this level of boldness.

Trish's grin became a wicked smile as she pulled Ben's shirt up to his neck showing off the knife scars.

"Trish! Please!" Ben gasped quietly, his eyes glancing over to the look of shock on the lovely blonde's face. He noticed Dan was staring as well.

"Shit! Who used you as a pin cushion?" Wally asked quietly.

The moment broke when a third woman entered the room. She was a beauty with chocolate brown skin, a wide grin, a large head of curly black hair, and a nicely toned body with large natural breasts. She walked over to Wally and received a kiss on the cheek from him as she glanced to Willow holding Dan's shirt up. Then she saw Ben and froze in shock.

"Oh my god! You're the Bronze Man!" she gasped excitedly. Her eyes dropped automatically to his pants and Ben plucked his shirt from Trish's fingers to pull it back down.

Ben struggled to keep the scowl off his face and his tone light. "I'm not a fan of that sculpture," he said to the dark beauty. Looking at Wally, he shrugged. "Trish beat senseless the man who used the knife on me, so the scales are in balance." He kissed the redhead, and she smiled happily at him.

"Dude! In what world does a beating balance attempted murder?!?" Wally blurted.

Trish shrugged. "The stupid fucker died shortly afterward when the sledgehammer he was swinging around fell on his head, so... yeah."

"You had nothing to do with that?" Wally asked skeptically.

Trish smiled. "Never touched the hammer. It happened after I finished with him."

Ben interrupted to redirect the conversation. "Regardless, these scars don't define me nor does that bloody statue. I'm just Ben Shepherd, mechanical engineer."

Dan's eyes lit up at the mention of the profession, but Wally wasn't finished.

"This is my lady Roxanne," Wally said proudly, and Ben nodded to the star-struck woman. Wally continued. "Ya know, you and your lady would probably be a huge hit at Wasteland Weekend. You could get all dressed up in leather straps, build some awesome post-apocalyptic vehicle or weapons and get all Road Warrior-like," Wally finished and saw everyone was staring at him.

When Trish heard Road Warrior, she immediately did a quick search on her cell for this Wasteland thing then grinned widely. "Damn, Ben! I wanna do this! Can you imagine showing up with me and the twins dressed in costumes like these?" She squeezed herself against him as she showed her cell to Ben.

His eyebrows went up as he saw the women in the pictures were barely wearing anything. Thinking of Trish, Lisa, and Lori in these costumes made him a little stiff in the pants area. Trish began to chuckle wickedly as she felt the motion against her thigh. He looked at her. "Tina and Lucy too," he said quietly, and she purred excitedly.

He quickly flipped through the pictures and saw the inventive machinery and costumes. "This does look like it might be fun! I'd love to engineer, design, and build something with a post-apocalyptic theme."

Trish grinned happily. "I love the Road Warrior movies, but I didn't know people actually did this! I'd love to attend! When we get home, you should immediately go into your design studio and begin work on our costumes and gear!"

Ben chuckled at the look of joy on her face. "I could incorporate my new radiation filters into the costumes as they'd be a perfect fit."

Trish bounced on her toes in delight as Wally watched wide-eyed. He got a little slap from Roxanne.

Dan perked up again. "Radiation filters? Could they be incorporated into a building's air filtration system?"

"Definitely! I designed them for use in uranium mining equipment, but their application is universal."

Ben and Dan began comparing notes, and Wally groaned theatrically. "We've lost them to Engineering Nerdvana."

Nikolai walked back into the room with several long tubes tucked under his arm.

When Ben's cell rang he glanced at it, and his expression froze. He looked to Trish then Nikolai as he held up his hands for silence. Everyone looked at him. "It's Liliya. I think." He answered the call.

"Hello?"

A man's voice responded. "Mr. Shepherd, this is Yuri Gruzinsky. I believe my associate spoke to you about me."

Ben held Nikolai's eyes with him. "Yes, Mr. Gruzinsky, she did. She suggested you might call."

"How fortunate for me that she had your direct line on her cell. It makes things... simpler. To the reason for my call. You have something of mine."

"The memory stick-"

"Yes," Yuri interrupted in annoyance. "You will bring it to my country estate, today."

Ben frowned, and Nikolai placed a pad and pen on the desk for Ben. He nodded his thanks. "That isn't so convenient. Couldn't we meet in a more public space like Red Square?"

"You seem to be under the impression that this is one of those bullshit American action movies and you're the hero who always saves the day. You should have given the memory stick to my associate. Instead, your arrogance has forced me to take steps, unpleasant steps, to ensure your obedience. I have men in place waiting on my word to end the lives of everyone you hold dear in the idyllic little neighborhood you've built for yourself. Does this clarify your actual situation?"

Ben's mind filled with the roar of his blood rushing through his veins as his rage and fear exploded. His thoughts turned to the people waiting at home for his return. Tina, Lucy, his children, Gabriella and her kids, Catherine, his mind spun as the others rushed through as well. He wanted to scream into the phone, describing the things he'd do to the man if he so much as looked in their direction, but he realized Yuri was quite willing to follow through on the threat. Instead, Ben painfully swallowed his rage. "Yes," he choked out.

"Good. Write this address down and be here no later than 9 pm." Yuri gave him the address and directions to find it. "Bring the memory stick. Once it's in my possession, you can be on your way, and we need never see each other again. Contact the police, and I'll know. I have people everywhere."

"Fine. May I speak to Liliya?" Ben asked stiffly.

"She is no longer your concern."

The line went dead.

"Fuck!" Ben growled. He looked to Trish. "He said he's put hitmen in our neighborhood to kill everyone if I don't obey." Ben realized if Darius were aware he had the key then Liliya would have made Yuri aware of it too. "He's had time to get this in place as he's probably known I had the key to the safe deposit box for close to a week."

"He's a monster, but he'll avoid unnecessary attention from the authorities if he believes he's getting his way," Nikolai said calmly to ease Ben's fear.

Ben nodded gratefully as Trish hugged him.

"What we must discuss now is perhaps best witnessed only by those who will participate," Nikolai said with a firm tone.

Willow kissed Dan's cheek and quickly made her way to the door as Roxanne followed. They looked back as they stepped out, but Trish folded her arms under her tits.

"Where the big guy goes, I go," she insisted.

The others looked to Ben who held up his hands. "Don't look at me! Trish is a better fighter than I am." She hugged him for that, and he kissed her forehead.

Nikolai nodded then looked at the address Ben had written down and selected one of the tubes he'd brought to the office. He opened it and pulled out the blueprint rolled up inside. This, he flattened on the table. Ben's eyebrows went up as he saw it was the blueprint for Yuri's country estate.

"Well, this is helpful," Ben noted and Nikolai nodded, ignoring the implied question.

The two Russian brothers discussed the strategies with Dan and Wally as Ben and Trish watched.

The planning went on for a few minutes, and Ben jumped when his cell rang again. He glanced at the screen as everyone looked to him. Ben relaxed as he saw it was his friend Captain Kendricks. "A friend. I should take this." When they nodded, Ben walked over to the window and answered.

"Hi David! What's up?"

"Hi Ben. Sorry to bother you out of the blue like this but Homeland Security is asking why you, an asset of the US Government with ties to the Pentagon, are sitting in a hotel in Russia speaking on the phone with a known Russian underworld figure with ties to the Russian Military Complex."

Ben frowned and almost asked how they tracked that, but bit his tongue as it was obvious. Big Brother was listening.

The Captain had always been a straight shooter with him. He owed him the truth, not that he'd allow himself to speak anything else.

"David, I've found myself in a dangerous situation. I inherited a safe deposit box from Gretchen's estate. It belonged to her bastard of a husband. He made some enemies and collected some incriminating evidence against Yuri Gruzinsky. I have the memory stick, and Yuri wants it." He shuddered. "David, Yuri said he put hitmen within striking range of my family and friends back home."

Kendricks was quiet for a moment. "What's on the memory stick?" he asked.

"Some personally sensitive and incriminating images of Yuri that Rainor Hahn took. I have to bring him the memory stick, and then we're done with each other. He says." Ben paused as he gathered his thoughts. "Listen, David. Yuri is holding captive a woman named Liliya Sokolov and her young daughter, Rose. If they're still alive, I'm going to try to get them out."

"Geezus Ben, how do you plan on managing that?" David said cautiously.

Ben sighed. "By reasoning with him, and if that doesn't work out, I'm bringing friends."

"Okay, I don't want to know the details. Now, as for the threat at home, please put that out of your mind. I'll scramble a couple of teams for... urban defense training. Hey, you have friends here too! We've got your family and friends covered," David insisted.

Ben felt better knowing David was watching out for him. "Thanks, David! I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"Just be careful out there! Gruzinsky knows a lot of powerful people in the Russian military. Now, I've got to get those ninnies in Homeland Security to calm down about you. Talk to you soon."

Ben put his cell in his pocket and wiped at his eyes. It was good to have friends.

He felt arms wrapping around his chest and full tits squeezing against his back.

"You ok, big guy?" Trish asked gently.

He patted her arms and nodded.

"Captain Kendrick's is going to send some squads to protect the neighborhood," Ben explained.

"He's a good man," Trish said as she leaned her cheek against Ben's back.

"And a better friend," he agreed. Then something he'd said surfaced. Ben turned to Nikolai.

"Why did he think I was speaking to him from a hotel in Moscow?" he asked his host.

Nikolai grinned. "We have the cell towers in the area spoofed to report they are all in different hotels in Moscow. Now, come back and join us. We must discuss how you will leave this viper's nest alive."

Chapter 5

Corporal Evelyn Killcade was prepared to pull some serious strings to be included in the squads assigned to protect the Ashburn Court residents. Her commanding officer, Captain Kendricks, immediately acted when he got word about the impending danger. Once he ensured two squads were moving to their defense, he listened to her as she presented her case. She referenced her previous commander's assessment of her abilities and offered to contact General Davis for his glowing review, but that turned out to be unnecessary as Kendricks had already decided to let her join. After a quick salute, she took the fastest transport available and arrived just as the squads were preparing to head to the site.

Her nerves buzzed happily with excitement as this was the first time she'd be visiting Ben Shepherd's neighborhood. She'd memorized every square inch of the small housing development and the surrounding nature reserve so, in her opinion at least, she was an obvious asset for the mission. She wanted to prove to Ben she could be an asset to him personally, a key support member of his household. She knew the Captain was on board with her suggestion that Ben have a full-time security detail and who better than her since she was already working so closely on his projects? She would be able to vet all of his submissions to the division much more expeditiously and act as Ben's liaison. She knew Kendricks was currently doing this personally and she didn't want to interfere with their relationship but she needed Ben- it would be a more effective use of everyone's time if Ben had a full-time assistant who could double as security.

When she joined the squad at the local airport, she noted they were geared up in their dark green camouflage body armor.

Killcade was wearing her black tech commando uniform. On her 5' 10" hard muscled frame the nighttime stealth armor made her an imposing sight. It was also better suited for her mission. While the others would be in their defensive positions, she'd been authorized to engage and neutralize the threat with extreme prejudice. She had roughly a dozen matte black knives strapped to her chest and thighs. Her twin guns strapped to her hips with silencers in place. With her short but wavy blond hair tucked up under her black knit beanie and her black face camo she looked like a blue-eyed angel of death. That's what one of her ex-teammates once told her, at least. Of course, he also called her eagle beak due to her prominent facial feature. She was glad she was no longer working with him.

They piled into their transport and quickly made their way to the block just outside the target neighborhood. Working with the municipal power utilities, they had the street lights here shut down before their arrival, so they quickly sent out their spy drones to confirm the current location of these infiltrators. They saw no sign of them so they might have had a stroke of luck in arriving before the enemy. Their expectation was that the most likely entry point would be through the nature reserve to the East.