709

The hotel was quiet in the early morning hours, with only a few staff members moving about their duties.
Ben, Evelyn, and Liliya met Ed in the hallway and took the elevator down to the tenth floor, where they found the gym to be completely empty.
“This is nice, having the place to ourselves,” Ben said as he checked out the machines.
Ed nodded and moved to an open area of mats, where he began his stretches.
Ben joined him and felt the morning creakiness slowly leaving his joints. He wasn’t as young as Ed, after all.
He looked at the young man doing his best not to stare at Evelyn, who’d joined them on the mats. The Sergeant was very fit and attractive–Ben dragged his mind back from that dangerous territory.
Instead, he looked over at Liliya, who’d positioned herself to cover the room.
“Not going to join us this morning?” he asked with a smile.
She returned it. “I did my exercises in my room this morning.”
He nodded. “Any sign of Tatiana?”
“She’s in her room,” Evelyn said. “I checked on her this morning.”
Ben’s eyebrows rose, and he looked at her in concern. “It might be better to let Liliya do that.”
Evelyn locked eyes with Ben. “I can take care of–”
“I’m not saying you can’t. What I mean is that Liliya has more history with Tatiana and is less likely to trigger her aggression,” Ben quickly explained.
“Is Ms. Pushkin all right?” Ed asked.
Ben sighed as he looked at the man. He wouldn’t lie to him.
“Tatiana hasn’t adjusted to civilian life as well as Liliya has. She was in a high-pressure, high danger environment before she came to work for me. Her training didn’t prepare her for this.”
Liliya didn’t agree. “Ben, I had the same training. The difference is that Tatiana enjoyed her work and let it define her. For me, it was just something I needed to endure until I could get out.”
“You’re happy now?” Ed asked curiously.
Liliya flashed a bright smile at him. “Yes, I am happy. I live in a beautiful home, I have a purpose that does not require me to kill the innocent, and most importantly, my daughter is safe and has a bright future.” Her eyes went to Ben’s, and he could see relief, gratefulness, and joy in them.
He nodded and returned to his stretching as his face warmed up. His muscles needed some attention, so he got on with the business of pushing them to their limits.
Ed seemed to be right into it as well, and the two of them began comparing notes on their routines. As their muscles heated up, they took off their shirts, and Evelyn’s face suddenly got a little red.
Seeing all the scars, Ed’s eyes widened. “What-what happened?” he asked.
Ben smiled gently. “I’ve been through some things, and they left their mark. Shot with a handgun,” he said, pointing to the cluster of three circular scars. “Stabbed multiple times and slashed by a crazed lunatic with a knife.” He made a general gesture toward his chest and face. “Shot in the back with a shotgun and fell off my bicycle,” he said, pointing to his back. Grinning, he gestured to the bandage on his thigh. “Scraped by a falling cinderblock in a storeroom.”
Ed shook his head in awe. “It’s amazing you survived all that! Uh, that last one wasn’t too bad.”
Ben winced as he remembered Ed was a witness to the event. “Sorry to embarrass you like that. I should have resisted, but as I’ve said, Trish always seems to get her way. You have anyone in your life like that?”
Ed suddenly smiled, then tried to hide it.
“If I’m treading into personal areas you’d rather not discuss, please feel free to tell me so. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It just seems like we have more in common than I first thought.”
Ed seemed to come to a decision. “No, it’s okay. I just don’t discuss my time with the women in my life. I will say there’s one who makes me behave in ways I’m uncomfortable with. Nothing bad, just not how I usually do.”
Ben nodded. “I completely agree. I don’t talk about that either. I also don’t normally do what I did last night.” His face heated up, and he saw Evelyn watching him. She quickly looked away and moved on to her next exercise. He caught himself admiring her muscles and pulled his mind back on track.
Less thinking and more exercising.
Much safer.
-=-
Ben was smiling as the young executive of their second developer visit concluded his pitch. Unlike the previous day, during the tour of the three properties they were shown, their guide took them into mechanical rooms and let them inspect the electrical and water control systems for each building.
He and Ed were particularly fascinated though he could tell this was not the case for Louis and Dan.
The only thing marring a perfect presentation was the group of junior execs, team supporters, or whatever their role was, as Ben had forgotten how they were introduced. They couldn’t stop themselves from staring at Ben excitedly from the side of the presentation room and were comprised of three women and one overly excited male who’d been on the edge of his chair during the entire meeting.
Two of the ladies had been with them on the tour of the properties, and Ben was convinced more buttons on their blouses were coming undone each time he looked in their direction. He also caught them on one occasion casually taking selfies with him in the background. No doubt these would be up on some social media pages shortly.
Louis was speaking to their main contact and presenter, Peter Lee, and he looked over at Ben.
“I’ve been very impressed with their company’s offerings. If you have no objections, I believe we can start the contract negotiation phase,” Louis said with a smile, and Peter’s grin showed he was very pleased.
“I agree. It was a fine presentation, and the tour really sold it for me. The buildings are very well constructed, and I feel comfortable with this company building our Hong Kong Foundation headquarters for us,” Ben replied.
There was a burst of excited voices from the group by the side, and now they were all staring at Ben openly.
Peter said something stern, and they settled down a little.
Everyone stood as it seemed time to shake hands as the meeting was over.
The young man at the side of the room immediately rushed toward Ben only to find himself rolling over Tatiana’s shoulder to crash to the floor with the woman kneeling on his back.
Everyone froze.
“He has something in his hands,” Tatiana said to Liliya as she pinned his arms. She took the items from him and dropped them on the floor next to his head. Then she searched his pockets, dropping what she found next to him. Cell, breath mints, pass card, and keys ended in a pile. He made little gasps each time her hands were on his body.
Ben stepped closer to look for himself. “It looks like he had a pen and notebook, Tatiana.”
The young exec on the floor turned his head. “Autograph?” he asked with a wobbly voice.
Ben sighed and looked in embarrassment towards the shocked faces of Peter and his team. “Sorry for the excitement. Tatiana, you can let him up.” He looked at the man on the floor and resisted the urge to moan. “I don’t do autographs, but if you want a picture with me, we can do that.” His offer triggered squeals from the other team assistants, who got their phones ready.
The man’s face lit up once more as Tatiana removed her knee from his spine. He slowly pushed himself back to his feet, his stuff going back into his pockets as he watched Tatiana with wide, almost worshipping eyes. Finally able to look away, he moved closer to Ben with his cell phone in hand.
Evelyn came forward and took the man’s cell to get the pictures as the three ladies walked past Tatiana cautiously, then got in line for their own photos.
Meanwhile, Louis and Dan shook hands with Peter and congratulated him on winning the contract.
Ed and Mark watched Ben with grins on their faces as they could tell Ben was regretting the offer already as the woman cuddled in next to him for their moment of glory with the big brute of a man. Each was very thrilled with the photos taken when they took their phones back.
Ben finally managed to make his way over to shake Peter’s hand when a photographer from the company arrived to take the official photo of the entire group. Ben smiled through that set of images as well.
“Dan will get the ball rolling on the contract, and you’ll be our main point of contact?” Louis asked Peter.
The senior exec nodded and gestured to his team. “Yes, and my team will assist.”
When they’d finished shaking hands and smiling at each other, the group made their way outside, where they faced a wall of press. Ben let Louis and his team slip out ahead of him to get to their taxis unmolested.
Tatiana and Liliya scanned the crowd and let Ben know they saw no immediate threats, so Evelyn led the way to the curb where another cab was waiting for them. She slipped inside and waved for them to follow.
The flashes were sending spikes of pain through Ben’s head. He managed to hear a few questions yelled at him, and they were outrageously rude. Likely meant to make him react badly so they could get their pictures of that. He kept his expression as neutral as possible as he passed through their midst, but his scowl was back by the time he was inside the car.
Once Liliya was in the cab, the police began arriving and cleared the press from their path so the taxi could pull away. Ben leaned back and closed his eyes to reduce the pounding.
He felt a soft hand grip his. He opened his eyes to see the compassionate expression on Liliya’s face. He gave her a small smile in return and gently squeezed her hand. His eyes went to Evelyn and saw she was also watching him sympathetically.
Tatiana’s expression was not so easy to understand. She seemed angry again, and he just didn’t have it in him to ask why. He closed his eyes again and leaned his head back against the rest, unaware he was still holding Liliya’s hand but taking comfort from it.
“We’re on our way to the airport. Our flight to Singapore leaves in ninety minutes. We’ll have a late arrival, but the next hotel is ready for us,” Evelyn said calmly.
“Thank you for taking care of this for us,” Ben said without opening his eyes. His tension was slowly draining away.
A short time later, he felt Liliya pull her hand back gently as the taxi came to a stop. He opened his eyes and flashed her a grateful smile as his headache was gone. He followed her and Tatiana from the cab as Evelyn settled the taxi fare. Once they were all on the sidewalk, they moved into the terminal and made their way through the check-in and security. They met Louis and the others in the waiting area before the gate.
“You made it through the press gauntlet in one piece,” Dan said with a smile.
“Resisting the urge to slap the smug expressions from the faces of those idiots was almost more than I could endure,” Ben sighed.
“They’re almost ready to let us board,” Evelyn said as she joined them.
“Good,” he sighed.
Ben looked around the waiting area, and this section was relatively quiet. People were resting in their seats, and some watched the overhead TVs currently tuned to the local news. Something caught his eye, and he walked closer to one of the displays. They showed a scene with a chaotic collection of police vehicles and ambulances near what looked like a warehouse area at night. At the bottom of the screen, the text indicated something about organized crime, gang wars, and a major battle last night. Ben’s expression froze as the ticker stated most of the dead were killed with bladed weapons, and the battle took place slightly after midnight.