He looked over at the other male guest by the pool and saw he was still giving Ben the stink eye. “What?” he barked.
The man jumped at the sound and finally looked away.
“His name is Ulrich Huber, and he hates everyone younger, fitter, or better looking than him, and you tick all three boxes,” Yvonne said with a smirk.
“That can’t be why you’ve been glaring at me since I arrived,” Ben said reasonably. He didn’t want anyone feeling antagonistic to him as he didn’t need any spies reporting on his activities as he tried to escape.
Huber suddenly felt inclined to state his case. “Mr. Shepherd. You represent the excess and moral decay of your nation. From how you disregard any semblance of decency by commissioning those vulgar statues of yourself, to exposing the collapse of your marriage in print and television, to how you capitalized on the courthouse death of the sluts-URRKK!”
Ben’s hand was around Ulrich’s throat, and his other was cocked and ready to crush the man’s face as he pinned him to the deck. As he’d been lying on a lounge chair, the rest of his heavy body was now lifted into the air.
“I don’t give a shit what your tiny little brain thinks of me, but if I hear you speak of Gretchen in such terms again, they’ll be the last words uttered from your miserable lips. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”
Ulrich’s face was turning purple as his eyes bulged in terror. He struggled to speak but just nodded as best he could.
“You must let him go.”
Soft hands touched his arm, and the gentle voice spoke into his ear, pushing back the rage and tunnel vision. He yanked his hand from the man’s sweaty flesh, and the chair slammed back down to the deck.
Ulrich was gasping for breath as the purple slowly faded from his face. His eyes still held the terror from the experience, and Ben kept his eyes a moment longer.
“Ben! What have you been up to!” Kaan’s voice asked with an edge to it as he walked out onto the deck, accompanied by two of his security men who eyed him nervously.
“Just clearing up a misconception Ulrich had over his right to speak ill of the dead,” Ben said with a rough voice. He wiped his slick hand on a towel he was handed.
Kaan looked at him for a moment, then turned to face Ulrich, who was finally breathing properly again. “Is that what you were doing, my friend? Generally, that’s not a good idea.”
The heavyset man gaped at his host. “That man is a dangerous animal! You can’t leave him here with us! He’s incapable of civilized behavior!”
Kaan grinned at him. “On the contrary, I understand Ben has shown remarkable restraint in very trying circumstances. You must have poked the beast inside him, yes?”
The older man looked into Kaan’s cold eyes and deflated. “Yes.”
“It would be wise not to do that again.” He looked at Ben. “Do try to play nice from now on, yes?”
Ben nodded.
“Excellent. See you at dinner.” With that, Kaan turned and went back inside with his men.
It was only then that Ben noticed the slim Asian woman holding his arm. She’d been the one who spoke into his ear earlier. She was maybe five-foot-four, with a strong yet lean physique. Her hair fell in waves to her waist, and she was quite pretty.
“Thank you,” Ben said quietly.
The woman dipped her eyes submissively, and Ben felt a pang of loneliness from being so far away from his family. Something about this woman triggered a recent memory. Stephanie’s words.
“Moon?” he whispered for only her to hear.
Her eyes flashed back up to his in surprise, but he maintained a calm smile as he turned his back on Ulrich. So, at least one of Russo’s team found a way to survive. He nodded to her as she stepped back, and she dipped her eyes again. Now was not the time to open a conversation. He turned his attention to Noah and Yvonne, who were exhibiting opposite reactions to his little display of violence.
The politician was clearly nervous and uncomfortable, while the woman’s smile couldn’t be wider. Whether she’d enjoyed watching Ben punish the man for his misogynistic words or just wanted the violence, he didn’t know, but he’d earned her approval.
“Apologies for losing my cool. Gretchen was an innocent. She did nothing wrong and doesn’t deserve to have her memory abused,” he said firmly and glanced at Ulrich, who quickly looked away.
“But you don’t mind people thinking stupid things about you?” Yvonne said. “Did you commission the statues?”
Ben scowled. “No! Of course, I didn’t. I modeled for the first one as a favor for a friend, but I thought it would be abstract as that’s what the artist’s previous works had all been. I wasn’t even aware of the second sculpture until the night it was unveiled! I wish I’d never posed for the damn thing.” he retorted.
She grinned. “So, you admit you posed for the second one!”
He shook his head. “No! The artist is blind. She builds an image of her subject… with her hands. She mapped my body in her mind the last night we were… together. Her art is uncannily accurate.”
“Oh my god! That’s so sexy!” Yvonne gushed.
Even Noah seemed less intimidated by Ben now. “A blind girl made those? She’s a rare talent!”
Ben nodded, but his feelings were mixed up about Stephanie Murino. He deeply liked her, but she’d betrayed him terribly, and he still had trouble dealing with that.
“I’m going to head back to my room. I’ll see you at dinner,” he said and nodded to the three as he left the solarium.
This time he found a staircase and climbed it up to B level, hoping to avoid bumping into the other guests. He stepped out into the hall and walked the length to get to his room when a door opened, and a tall woman stepped out of her door with her hands full of books. She squeaked in surprise seeing him and dropped three of the books. Then she tore into him with a blistering barrage of words in a language he didn’t speak. He ignored her tirade and bent to pick up the books for her.
“Would you like assistance in carrying these back to the library?” he asked calmly.
Her words petered out as her eyes widened, traveling over his body and face.
“You are the Shepherd man!” she exclaimed. Now, her voice had a delightful sing-song quality to it.
He nodded. “Ben Shepherd.” He waited for accusations or recriminations as he did a quick assessment of his own. She was surprisingly tall, easily six-two, with long toned limbs. The white bikini almost glowed against her ebony skin, as did her eyes and teeth. Her head was topped with a wild, uncontrolled mane of black kinky hair.
The tight fabric of her outfit showed she had piercings in both nipples and downstairs too. Small chandelier-style earrings hung from her belly button and earlobes. Fine gold chains went from her ears to small loops in her nostrils. She had a few ornamental ritual scars on her biceps. If he had to guess, he’d have to say she was in her early twenties.
Ben glanced at the books and saw they were fiction, thrillers, and murder mysteries. He hadn’t read any of them, so that wasn’t a conversation thread he could take. Still, she hadn’t answered his question. “Do you need help taking them back?”
“What? Oh, no. I will be fine, thank you,” she said.
He smiled at her. “You know my name. Do you have a name I may call you?”
She grinned, and her chin tilted up. “You may call me Princess Zama.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Princess Zama. Will I see you at dinner?” he asked.
“Yes!” she said excitedly.
He nodded, handed her the dropped books, and continued to his room. Her interaction had been mostly polite, which was a relief after meeting the others.
There was no lock on the door, so he just opened his and glanced back before entering. She was still watching him, so he smiled, nodded, and stepped inside to close the door. He looked back at it, but there was no way to lock it from the inside either. That didn’t make him feel very secure, but he was held captive on an arms dealer’s yacht. How safe should he expect to feel?
He sat on the end of the bed and went over what he’d seen on his little walk. The bow and stern staircases had security doors keeping wanderers from gaining access to the levels above B and below D. Sensor pads next to the doors were likely coded for specific electronic keycards carried by Kaan and his crew. There were also security cameras recording anyone attempting to get access. Even if he could get a card, he’d be seen going through the door.
When he was out in the solarium, he spotted a smaller ship tied up against the side of the much larger yacht. Ben assumed that was the boat that brought him and was currently offloading their supplies. Both vessels must have waterline loading bays for transferring stock and contraband between them. They’d have to have brought him in this way to ensure no one saw his drugged state.
Ben frowned as that made him think of something Kaan said about areas of interest. He didn’t want to start speculating, but the thought made him very uncomfortable.
He dropped back on the bed and rested his eyes. It’d been a rough couple of days, and he knew the ordeal wasn’t over yet.