A man’s voice responded. “Mr. Shepherd, this is Yuri Gruzinsky. I believe my associate spoke to you about me.”
Ben held Niki’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 Niki ced 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 ce 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 rify 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, Gabrie 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 noter 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 ce 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,” Niki 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,” Niki 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.
Niki 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 ttened 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 Niki nodded, ignoring the implied question.
The two Russian brothers discussed the strategies with Dan and Wally as Ben and Trish watched.
The nning went on for a few minutes, and Ben jumped when his cell rang again. He nced at the screen as everyone looked to him. Ben rxed 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 Homnd 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 n 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 Homnd 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 exined.
“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 Niki.
“Why did he think I was speaking to him from a hotel in Moscow?” he asked his host.
Niki grinned. “We have the cell towers in the area spoofed to report they are all in different hotels in Moscow. Now,e back and join us. We must discuss how you will leave this viper’s nest alive.”
Corporal Evelyn Killcade was prepared to pull some serious strings to be included in the squads assigned to protect the Ashburn Court residents. Hermanding 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 previousmander’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 avable 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 rtionship 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.Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.
When she joined the squad at the local airport, she noted they were geared up in their dark green camouge body armor.
Killcade was wearing her ck techmando 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 ck knives strapped to her chest and thighs. Her twin guns strapped to her hips with silencers in ce. With her short but wavy blond hair tucked up under her ck knit beanie and her ck 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 d 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.