Ben looked down and could barely make out the feet of the man who fell from the roof sticking up through the top branches of a tree below. People were gathering under the tree, so he’d been spotted.
Ben was glad he wasn’t going to need to call for emergency services as avoiding getting involved meant he wouldn’t have to mention seeing the two women on the roof. He started to pull his clothes on and looked to Catherine to see she was pulling her clothes on as well.
The lovely blonde smiled at him. She turned and looked back over her shoulder at him as she pointed her finger at her perfect naked ass. “I will have you deep inside here tonight,” she purred.
Ben felt an excited twitch in his underwear, and her grin just got a little wider.
He knew they had dinner plans tonight but… maybe they could call for room service instead?
After all, they were flying home tomorrow morning. It was better to get to bed earlier.
Ben relaxed in his favorite chair in his living room and scanned the engineering boards for any new challenges but found nothing of interest. He spotted a few issues he’d already found solutions for, so he left comments, directing them to the companies they should contact.
He used his access to log into the US Government engineering board, and after a little poking around, he flagged a ticket that looked promising. Tina called out that dinner was ready so he shut down. He’d spend a little more time reviewing the ticket tomorrow.
He joined Tina, Lucy, and the kids in the dining room and inhaled the scent of the pasta, rich meat sauce, and warm garlic bread.
“Smells delicious!” he said with a smile.
Tina and Lucy smiled back at him. Tonight’s dinner was a joint effort as Lucy was learning from Tina.
Once they were all seated and enjoying dinner, Lucy looked over at Ben with an excited grin. “I spotted a news story online today about a paparazzi who fell off the roof of the building across from our hotel! He landed in a tree which saved his life! He had broken bones from hitting the branches, but he’s going to live! Those guys are a menace, but I’m glad this one didn’t fall to his death while we were there. Even if he might have been trying to get pics of us through the hotel windows.”
Ben shook his head wearily. He made Catherine promise not to mention their part in the excitement on the opposite rooftop. If that had been Liliya chasing the brunette, he didn’t want to make trouble for her. He needed her back, taking care of her daughter.
The doorbell chimed softly, and Ben looked at Tina and Lucy. “You expecting anyone?” They shook their heads.
He got up and walked to the front door. He opened it to see a man in a courier’s uniform waiting with an envelope and a tablet. The man smiled at him.
“Envelope for Ben Shepherd,” he said as he passed over the tablet and a stylus. Ben signed and accepted the envelope. “Have a good night!”
“You too,” Ben responded as the courier headed back to his truck.
Ben looked to his left and saw the Sergeant standing in the shadows by the edge of the house, her gun going back into its holster. The van pulled down the driveway and drove off, the driver unaware he’d been in the Sergeant’s sights the entire time.
“It was just a courier,” Ben said to her.
“Outside of standard operating hours,” she responded.
Ben nodded. “Have you had supper yet?”
She paused. “No.”
“Then please join us,” Ben said gesturing to the door.
“I don’t want to intrude-”
“Come on!” he said with a smile, and she hustled up the steps to enter the home. She slipped waterproof booties over her combat boots to project his floors and followed him into the dining room where Tina was adding a place setting while Lucy carried a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce from the kitchen.
Evelyn nodded to the two women. “Thank you!”
Ben retook his seat and looked at the envelope. No return address. It was pretty light.
“Might I suggest that be opened later in a controlled environment?” the Sergeant said quietly.
He looked at her and nodded slowly. He stood again and took it down to his office, leaving it on his drafting table before returning to join them. “I’ll open it after dinner,” he said quietly.
“Will we have to check our mail so carefully from now on?” Tina asked cautiously, and Ben looked to her then the Sergeant.
“I’d suggest hiring a mail screening service for extra security. No mail or parcels should be delivered to your home unless it’s by the service. With your growing celebrity, this would add safety for your family.” She smiled at the babies who grinned back at her.
Ben frowned at yet another example of the invasive nature of fame then sighed. “I suppose that means less junk mail to deal with,” he said to lighten the mood. The ladies smiled and nodded.
They enjoyed their meals then the Sergeant thanked them for the invite and made her way home.
Ben tidied up the kitchen and gave the ladies kisses before heading down to his office to open the courier envelope. He was cautious when he opened it, but there was nothing nefarious about it.
Inside, all he found was a memory stick. This went into his laptop, and he scanned it thoroughly for threats before reviewing its contents. There were a series of image files and one video file. He opened the images first.
There on the screen were pictures of Catherine and himself hugging, kissing, and undressing. These were the images the paparazzi had been taking from the rooftop across the street. Several caught Catherine topless. Curious, he played the video. The brunette who knocked the man from the roof smiled back at the camera a little timidly.
Ben was stunned by how pretty she was. Her features had almost perfect symmetry; then he realized this was one of the tools of her trade as an assassin. She’d be able to get much closer to her target if her target desperately wanted to get closer to her. He wasn’t sure how many operations it took to reach this level, but she’d likely endured quite a lot. When she smiled at the camera, he got a flash of her pearly whites. She had a dazzling smile – another weapon in her arsenal.
“Hello, Mr. Shepherd. My name is Tatiana Pushkin. I am a colleague of Liliya Sokolov who has currently made it her mission to kill me. I would very much like your assistance in convincing her to stop. I bear her no ill will and only wish to remain alive. I could hunt her as well and very likely kill her before she got me, but I want her to live too. Now that our Master is dead and our files are no longer in the hands of that government, we finally have our freedom. However, no one should have to live looking over their shoulder in constant fear. I send you this to prove that I have done you a good deed. I hope you can return the favor. Thank you.”
The video ended.
Ben sat back and pondered her request. She considered pushing a man off the roof of a five-story building a favor. Granted the man didn’t die, but she couldn’t have known he’d survive. She was an assassin, so maybe this was just a simple transaction for her. The paparazzi’s life for hers?
As cold as that thought made her seem, Ben was inclined to help her but, as Liliya gave him no means to contact her, his hands were tied. This Pushkin woman also gave him no way to reply to her message. Frustrated, he ejected the memory stick and shut down the laptop.
He made his way upstairs and pushed all of this aside. He had babies to help put to bed!
-=-
Two days later found Ben driving to Western Mercy Hospital for a meeting with Hannah and Dr. Granger. He smiled as he recalled Hannah’s curiosity when he’d called her to set up the meeting, but he hadn’t given her any details other than he was on a fact-finding mission for a new initiative he was considering. She’d growled playfully at him in frustration, and they’d ended up laughing, but he kept the secret. The new foundation he was contemplating would include a health care component, and he needed their help in fleshing out what this might entail.
He asked Rain Palomo if she could meet him there as well. He wanted to pick her brain about the services offered and the challenges she’d encountered at the street clinic as her clients were the closest to the clientele he expected to be supporting. She’d said she’d see what her schedule looked like and would try.
The reason for this enthusiasm was the fact that he’d had a call with Walter the previous day who was feeling optimistic about his legal ownership of the properties. Especially since the deeds were in Ben’s possession and foreign jurisdictional laws no longer applied. Ben was grateful he’d had the foresight to stop in Berlin to pick them up on the way back from Russia.
There was still the matter of who Rainor had swindled out of the vast fortune spent to obtain the deeds. Ben wouldn’t move on selling the properties until that particular matter was resolved. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to prepare for it. His plan was going to move forward. Only the scale was in question.
He parked at the hospital, grabbed his laptop case, and went inside to walk to Hannah’s office. Her secretary had him take a seat. A few minutes later Hannah arrived with a happy smile, and he stood to pull her into a tight hug.
“Ben! Goodness! What a hug!” she exclaimed with a happy grin on her face. She looked at him closely to see if something was wrong but saw no tension in his expression.
He glanced at the grinning secretary behind her and blushed. He returned his attention to Hannah. “Sorry, just happy to see you.”
“Hey! Can I get in on that hug action?”
They turned to the doorway to see a lovely and petite brunette grinning at them. Her long mahogany hair was pushed back from her pretty face and Ben couldn’t help admiring how beautiful she was. Her grin grew wider seeing his appreciation.
“Rain? I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning… was I?” Hannah asked as she turned to her secretary who shook her head.
“I asked her to join us,” Ben responded.
Rain skipped forward and accepted Ben’s warm hug. She was tingling when she pulled back.
“Free hugs?”
They all looked to the doorway once more, and Dr. Granger was standing there. Ben opened his arms, and the Doctor accepted a hug from him.
“Shall we go into my office?” Hannah asked and received nods.
Once they were comfortably seated, Hannah stared at Ben. “Are you going to keep us in suspense?”