Ben stopped the car a short distance from the gate and reached down to crank open the window. He supposed power windows wouldn’t have been available on a vehicle this old. He was surprised the handle didn’t break off in his hand for all the squealing it did.
He looked up at the guard who approached his window. “Ben Shepherd to see Yuri Gruzinsky.”
The man nodded to him. “Exit car, please.”
Ben shut off the motor and stepped out. Trish got out on her side.
“Arms out, please.” Ben stretched his arms out to the sides, and the guard gave him a quick but thorough pat down. “Move here, please,” the guard said pointing to a spot a little further from the car.
The goon on the other side of the car grinned at Trish as he moved forward to pat her down.
“Touch anything you shouldn’t, and you are in for a world of hurt,” Trish said menacingly, stopping the man in his tracks. He began to growl.
The guard by Ben said something and the other man gave him a sour look but moved to the passenger side door of the car instead to begin an inspection.
“Come here, please,” the guard near Ben said to Trish. She walked over to stand before him and held her arms out. He patted her down as she held Ben’s eyes. Once he was done, she walked over to stand next to Ben. They watched as the two men efficiently searched the car. Looking for weapons? Explosives? Ben could only guess.
He looked through the gate and saw a sizeable barnlike building to the right side of the house. There were large garage doors on the barn, so Ben guessed that’s where they kept the cars. There were large windows above the garage so, offices or living quarters for the guards maybe? He spotted another man patrolling the grounds with an automatic weapon in his arms. It was starting to get dark. He wondered if they wore night vision goggles for their night patrols.
“You may go in,” the guard said once their inspection completed.
Ben squeezed himself behind the wheel once more and managed to coax the engine into starting as Trish settled into the passenger seat.
Once the gate was open, he got them moving up the now paved driveway, and Trish turned to him. “Pretty intense security for a country estate.”
“Must be the price of his lifestyle and career choices,” Ben growled, thinking of the danger this man was bringing to his peaceful neighborhood. He struggled to control his urge to drive the piece of junk right through the front door of the mansion to park it on Yuri’s chest.
Instead, he stopped by the front door and shut the motor.
“Showtime,” Trish said with a tight grin.
They got out and went to the door, but it opened before they could knock. A man dressed as a butler greeted them and invited them in. He led them through the house and Ben got a good look at the riches hanging on the walls and furnishing the larger rooms. Yuri surrounded himself with luxury. If this was his country estate, Ben wondered what extravagances could be found in his main house.
They approached double doors at the end of the hall, and the butler opened them. Ben and Trish stepped into a broad and deep office. It had to be a good twenty feet from the entrance to the other end. The walls were lined with darkly stained bookshelves with a large seating area closer to the door. Plush leather couches faced each other across a dark wood coffee table. At the far end of the room, a huge wood desk sat before a large picture window facing the open field next to the mansion. A second picture window was to the right of the desk facing the back of the property.
As Ben approached the desk, he could see a well-lit helipad in the backyard, but what truly caught his attention was the large, attack helicopter resting on the pad. Military. Ben recognized it from a documentary he’d seen. Two soldiers stood on guard next to it. His uneasiness grew.
Trish was inspecting the room, touching the soft leather of the sofa, peering at the objects on the shelves inside the closed glass cabinets next to the bookshelves. Then she walked over to the three chairs arranged before the large desk. They didn’t look very comfortable, but as the mansion was designed after some evil villain’s castle and the office was the den of an evil mastermind, the uncomfortable chairs seemed like a natural fit. The ornately carved wood chairs had high but flat backs with lovely tapestry style cushions between the tall back legs. She held Ben’s eye. “These chairs are perfect!” she said with a grin. He examined them and nodded to her. She moved on.
A sound behind them drew their attention back to the doors. Yuri walked into the room and smiled at Ben after glancing to the antique clock on a table just inside the entrance.
“Good. You are punctual,” Yuri said with a nod.
As Yuri approached, Ben tossed the memory stick to him.
Frowning, Yuri glanced down at the small device in his palm.
“Can we begin the non-interference phase now?” Ben grumbled.
Yuri gave Ben a sour look as he continued past them to walk behind the big wooden desk. He unlocked a desk drawer and removed a tablet. He laid it flat on his desk and punched in the code to open the tablet’s interface. Then he placed the memory stick in the reader port.
He viewed a few of the files then shut down the tablet. He plucked the memory stick from the tablet and tucked it into the pocket of his shirt. “Were copies made?”
Ben shook his head. “No. It never left my pocket from the time I left the bank.”
Yuri raised an eyebrow. “Of course, you could be lying.”
“I don’t lie. Ever,” Ben growled.
“That was mentioned in the relatively few articles I could find on you, but the press likes to embellish their stories. The ‘knight-in-shining-armor’ story you Americans love so much sells very well.” He looked closer at Ben. “How did you get possession of Rainor Hahn’s safe deposit box?”
Ben frowned as telling this man anything personal made him queasy. Still, they were in a dangerous place. “It was part of an inheritance left to me by Gretchen Hahn who inherited her husband’s estate when he died. I had no idea she’d willed everything to me. I want nothing to do with Rainor and his past business.”
Yuri smirked cruelly. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have interfered with another man’s wife then.”
“Speaking of that, back to my original question. Can we begin the non-interference time now?”
Yuri tilted his head at Ben as he walked around his desk. “I understand that you are an engineer. One in high demand with contracts with the US Military. I have a business acquaintance who would very much like to speak to you.”
“Not interested. Am I free to go, or is the threat against my family still in effect.”
Yuri scowled at him. “Americans are so rude.”
“Hey, you were the one who issued the threat to get me to come here in the first place,” Ben reminded him.
Scowling angrily, Yuri looked up into Ben’s face. “You will speak with my business acquaintance.” He walked away to the double doors. He hadn’t even acknowledged Trish’s existence yet. Ben looked over at the redhead who smiled at him. She preferred to be underestimated.
A moment later Yuri returned with a man wearing a Russian Military uniform. He was carrying a double width attaché case which he set down next to the couch before continuing into the room. When they stood before Ben, Yuri spoke. “Ben Shepherd, this is Colonel Aleksei Vasiliev.”
Ben cautiously examined the shorter bald man with a bushy white mustache. He was slim and fit, likely in his sixties but his gaze missed nothing. His cap tucked under his arm, he faced Ben with a broad smile under his mustache.
“I am very excited to meet such a brilliant engineer!” the man said with a gravelly voice.
Ben couldn’t stop a smile from appearing on his face. “It’s a relief, for once, to be recognized for my work as opposed to everything else.”
Aleksei nodded enthusiastically. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you!”
Ben’s eyebrows went up as he looked to Yuri in question and received another scowl. He looked back to the Colonel. “Perhaps Yuri misrepresented this visit. I was brought here under duress, and I have no plans to work for the Russian Military. I don’t work for the US Military, well… not the weapons division at least.”
The Colonel turned to Yuri with a frown made all the more dramatic by the thick mustache. He took a few steps away from Ben to stand before the Industrialist. “Have you brought out Liliya yet?” Yuri shook his head and left the room once more.
The Colonel turned to Ben once more, but now his revolver was in his hand, pointed at Trish. “Thanks to the media, we are all aware of your propensity for aiding women and children in danger. I’m grateful you brought along a hostage to inspire your cooperation. You see, we don’t believe you when you say you don’t develop weapons for your government. I’ve been watching your career, and I’m aware of the innovations that flow from your clever mind. This will lead to an imbalance in a very delicate game between the United States and Russia. I’ve made my chain of command aware of the threat you represent. So, you are going to give some of these innovations to Russia. We have plenty of puzzles for you to solve.”