“We need to get Slade more permanent surveillance equipment to pass on to Payne for him to plant.” Hunt looked at his teammates. “Please tell me Lita or Spider told you where they are staying.”
Zep and Knight shared a look and Hunt didn’t have to think about what that look meant to know the meaning. He suppressed a groan.
“I told Spider our address.” Knight glanced briefly towards Zep before refocusing his attention on Hunt. “Lita said they were staying in a motel, but he didn’t tell me the name.”
“Why not?” Hunt asked because he never knew Lita to withhold information like that when there were two separate teams in the field that might need to contact one another.
Hunt watched Knight shoot another sideways glance at Zep. He knew Knight’s behavior was directly related to whatever the hell happened while they were at Winn-Dixie.
“I didn’t get a chance to ask.” Knight was embarrassed which didn’t happen often. He fucked up and he knew it. He also knew Hunt and Zep would know it, too, the moment he explained.
“Lita was just as surprised to see me as I was him. The first thing he told me was that they checked into a motel. But before I could say anything, he said he and Spider were just there to pick up a few things.” Knight paused and couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Zep again. “The moment he mentions Spider being in the store with him, I went to find Zep. Spider was talking with him when I found them.”
Hunt looked at Zep and waited for his teammate to say something. Anything, but Zep remained silent. Hunt had only been working with Zep for three years and most of that time, shit, over half of that time, Zep had been undercover on the Fernandez case. Still, the short time he had worked with the man before he went undercover, Hunt had learned how Zep had been recruited by Slade and also was made aware of Zep’s almost paralyzing fear when it came to the ATF agent. He didn’t know the details of Zep’s history with Spider, but he didn’t need to in order to appreciate Knight coming to Zep’s rescue where the ATF agent was concerned.
“We can’t wait for them to make contact.” Hunt frowned.
“It’s not his fault,” Zep replied when he saw Hunt frown.
“What?” Hunt asked. His mind was already doing the calculations on how long it would take to make contact with Slade after he pinged the man’s bio tracker, so he really had no idea what Zep had just said.
“It wasn’t Knight’s fault,” Zep repeated and shot a glance at their newest team member that he was quickly beginning to respect. “We had no idea they would be at the store so running into them didn’t do anything but give us a chance to tell them where we are staying.”
“Not saying anything is anyone’s fault,” Hunt looked at both of his teammates before he glanced down at his equipment with another frown.
“What?” Knight asked because he didn’t like the look he saw on their usually easy going teammate.
“Let me pull up Slade and Lita’s trackers and we’ll know where they are soon enough.”
Hunt punched a few keys on his laptop and after a delay of about forty-five seconds; two more dots appeared on one of Hunter’s monitors. Hunt tapped the keys again and Payne’s dot joined Slade and Lita’s on the screen. One last tap on a key turned all three dots red.
“Why did you make them red instead of blue like ours?” Knight asked curiously.
“Easier to know which team is which at a quick glance.” Hunt grinned.
“You should give Payne a separate color from the rest of us,” Knight suggested.
“Why?”
“He’s been under for a long time...”
Hunt cut off whatever the hell Knight was about to say. “If you think Payne would blow this op by flipping sides then...”
Knight interrupted loudly. “So, he’s in the most danger. If they figure out who he really is, they will take him out.”
Knight crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at his shorter teammate. He fought to keep his temper in check, but it was hard. Knight couldn’t believe Hunt thought he suspected Payne was going to do anything other than his job even if he didn’t know the agent.
“He’s got a point, Hunt,” Zep added. “If Payne’s cover gets blown, the Blades aren’t going to kill him in their bar. They’ll take him somewhere else.”
Fear flared in Hunt’s chest at the thought of Payne being killed. He felt the blood drain from his face and cold sweat breakout all over his body. What the fuck?
Hunt turned away from his teammates and sat down in front of his computer. He knew there was no way they could have missed his body’s fucked up reaction to the thought of Payne dying.
“Hunt, you okay?” Zep stepped closer. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
“I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“What’s wrong, Hunt?” Knight’s anger was gone and he now only felt concern for Hunt.
“Think dinner might have disagreed with me,” Hunt lied smoothly and hoped his teammates bought his bullshit. They all lied for a living and they were excellent at detecting lies, so Hunt could only hope they didn’t press the issue.
“Okay.” Zep let the matter drop and gave Knight a glance that asked him to do the same.
“So, what color are you going to give Payne?” Knight asked just to break up the awkwardness of the last few minutes.
“See for yourself.” Hunt turned the monitor so that Zep and Knight could see.
“Pink?” Zep laughed. “You know he hates that color.”
“Yeah.” Hunt snickered.
“Slade’s team is already at the Minions.” Knight nodded toward the monitor. “Looks like they are with Payne, too.” Knight frowned. “I don’t like it. It’s too early for Slade and them to be back at the bar.”
“Agreed,” Zep said with a matching frown.
“I want eyes on, so here’s what we are going to do.” Knight was in full tactical planning mode.
He loved planning out his steps to take down a perp. Only now, it just wasn’t one perp; it was many and the thought gave him a rush of adrenaline that almost made him feel high. Not that he knew what feeling high actually felt like, but he was sure what he felt right now was pretty damn close.
“Zep will drop me off down the street from Hell’s Minions. I know you have shit here,” Knight waved toward the black containers that were still stacked against one of the living room walls. “That can keep me in touch with you both.”
Hunt nodded confirmation and Knight continued. “Zep can stay parked up the street. Far enough that there will be no doubt that he is not at all interested in Hell’s Minions.” Knight gave Zep a look and his teammate nodded in agreement.
“Once Slade’s team leaves, I’ll let Zep know. He can follow them to where they are staying then come back and pick me up. That should save us some time instead of just sitting here and watching for their dots to go somewhere else.”
Hunt didn’t hesitate before he replied, “I’ll get you the surveillance equipment to give Slade. He’ll know what all of it is so you’ll just need to give it to him and he can figure out how to get it to Payne.”
Hunt was already moving before Knight could reply. He pulled several items out of the black bins that were stacked against the living room wall before he walked back to the dining room table where his teammates stood.
“I’m sending audio and visual bugs with you,” Hunt told them even though he was sure they already knew what type of surveillance they needed Slade and Payne to plant. “I’m also sending trackers. They are for the bikes.”
Knight watched Zep accept two small Ziploc bags that held small electronic devices. The bags reminded him of the type that was usually filled with coke or crack when he busted dealers.
“Alright,” Zep said and stuffed the baggies into the front pocket of his jeans.
“I want to be well in place before they leave there,” Knight commented.
“Then we should get going.” Zep turned, grabbed the rental car keys off the table, and walked towa
rd the door. Knight made to follow, but Hunt stopped him by laying a hand on his arm.
“Here.”
Knight stood still and watched Hunt attach a pin near the collar of his T-shirt. The piece of metal was so small that Knight raised an inquiring brow at his Irish teammate.
“I’ll be able to hear and see what you see.”
Knight nodded at Hunt’s explanation and didn’t say another word to the man before he turned and followed Zep out of the rental house.
The ride to the street where Hell’s Minions was located only took about fifteen minutes. They didn’t talk and each agent seem to be getting into the right mindset for the surveillance they were about to do in order to make contact with the rest of their field team.
“Here’s good,” Knight broke the silence between them and indicated where Zep should drop him off.
Zep pulled over their rental car. They were several blocks away from the biker bar, but not too far away for Zep to see the parking lot out front if he used binoculars. It was a little before eight and they figured they would be out here for a few hours at the least before Slade and Lita showed up.
Knight picked up the binoculars and looked at Hell’s Minions. There were several bikes parked in a line out front. He scanned them and his eyes locked onto a custom tag. Got U.
Knight laughed. “I recognize Slade’s bike, but even if it wasn’t his, I’d know it had to belong to one of them.”
“Got U tag?” Zep grinned knowingly and accepted the binoculars from Knight.
“Yeah.”
“That’s Slade’s bike then.” Zep raised the binoculars to see for himself. “It’s a good thing that tag can be taken any number of ways or it could blow the op.”
“True, but I’m sure the bikers won’t think twice about it.”
“Why the hell would they be back at the bar so early?” Zep asked so softly that he could have been talking to himself or just thinking out loud.
“No idea.” Knight continued to stare at the biker bar, but still saw, from the corner of his eye, Zep lowered the binoculars. “You’ve known Slade longer.” Knight didn’t have a problem admitting that now that he knew Zep’s history with his lover. “Think it’s a good or bad thing that they are back in there so early?”
“There’s no way to tell when it comes to Slade, but he can hold his own.”
Knight didn’t miss the tone in Zep’s voice that dared him to argue because of what happened when Slade went undercover on the Fernandez case. Knight wasn’t going to argue Slade’s competence as an undercover agent. What happened with Fernandez could’ve happened to anyone and Knight knew it.
Knight nodded to Zep. “See you in a few hours.” With those words he stepped out of the car, and started walking down the street without looking back.
##~~##
Twelve
The guys had dinner at a small diner that was just up the street from their motel before they walked through the doors of Hell’s Minions. It was five till six, so they were technically early, but they didn’t see Payne or the other two Blades’ members they had met that afternoon.
The bar was only slightly more crowded than it was earlier, but that nor the lack of recognizing anyone other than the barmaid didn’t affect Slade’s behavior. He walked across the bar like he owned the place with Lita and Spider flanking him a half step behind on either side and sat on the stool’s they had occupied earlier.
“Word’s spread,” Spider said quietly before he swiveled on his stool so that he was facing Slade’s side and could look out over the rest of the bar.
“If it didn’t, I’d be concerned,” Lita replied just as quietly before he mimicked Spider’s lazy position on the other side of Slade.
Slade didn’t reply or even acknowledge that either of his teammates had spoken. He was watching the barmaid serve a few guys at the other end of the bar. She took a few minutes to talk to the guys and she didn’t try to hide the text she sent on her phone before she walked down to them.
“Beers again, boys?”
“That’ll work.” Slade gave her a charming smile.
She delivered their drinks before returning to talk to the bikers at the end of the bar. Slade saw her glance at her phone and he was sure it was a reply to the text she just sent regarding their arrival. Almost in sync, Spider and Lita barely looked at their beer mugs before picking them up. Neither man took a sip, but instead just held the mugs while they looked out over the bar. Slade paid them no mind.
“Payne and Trigger should be here soon, or at least Trigger,” Slade commented. “I’m sure that is who she texted when we sat down.”
Slade didn’t turn toward either of his teammates when he spoke. He didn’t turn when he caught the sight of two full beer mugs being set on the bar on either side of him, either. Slade didn’t need to turn in order to watch Lita and Spider stand to confront whoever was approaching them since he could see plenty in the mirror behind the bar.
The Knights of Valor patches on their backs should have guaranteed them a higher level of respect then most clubs. It was public knowledge and more importantly well known, that a requirement to become a Knight was being Special Forces in the military.
That alone usually gave all but the severely stupid or the very brave, who were just as stupid, cause to tread lightly around a Knight. The KoV were known for their honor, hatred of Uncle Sam, and for putting anyone down who fucked with them. Sometimes permanently.
“You the assholes’ who shot up Rowdy today?”
Spider sized up the Satan’s Blade who spoke. The word ‘beefy’ came to mine. Dark hair that was long enough to touch his shoulders and dark eyes were all Spider made a note of aside from the fact he had about two inches over the man. His eyes shifted to the four other men who were stupid enough to back up the guy’s idiotic behavior when he taunted Slade.
The four guys behind the instigator weren’t nearly as much of a threat as they thought they were. Only one was Spider’s height, but that was the only thing they had in common since Spider was sure he had at least thirty pounds on the scrawny fucker. He and Lita could more than likely put all five Blades down by themselves.
Still, all Spider did was glare at the guy and the morons who stood behind him. Half his body was covering Slade’s back and Lita was standing the same way covering the other side of Slade. They stood practically shoulder to shoulder behind Slade protecting his back. Not because he was the leader on this op, but rather because it was the behavior that would be expected of enforcers.
“Got nothing to say for the shit you pulled earlier in our house?” The instigator started and it didn’t escape any of the agent’s minds that the bar had gone quiet enough to hear a pin drop. “Figures. You Knights are only bad ass when the odds are in your favor.”
The Satan’s Blade smirked and glanced over his shoulder at his club brothers. “Always knew that Special Forces guys were nothing but a bunch of queers.” He turned back to face them. “Nothing but a bunch of fags.” He laughed and the four guys behind him joined in.
The rest of the bar remained silent as a tomb as if they were all holding their breath waiting to see what the Knights would do.
“Your pleasure or mine?” Spider asked Lita without looking away from the smirking Satan’s Blade.
“I’ll flip you for it.” Lita pulled a quarter out of his pocket.
“Ooooh.” The Satan’s Blade laughed. “So scary.” He waved his hands in an imitation of being afraid. “You really think we’d be afraid of one of you when all three of you don’t scare us at all?”
Lita shrugged. “Call it,” he said to Spider without looking away from the assholes.
“Well, since I’m a fag, I guess I want tails.” Spider smirked at the little shit that stood as the tip of a pathetic Satan’s Blades spear.
Lita chuckled. “You would, too, but head is fine with me.” He winked at the Satan’s Blade who was suddenly speechless and flipped the quarter.
It was still spinning in the air when
Slade finally spoke, “you boys sure you want to do this?”
Lita caught the quarter and slammed his palm down onto the bar in front of Slade. His eyes never left the Satan’s Blades’ who confronted them
When silence greeted Slade’s question, he smirked and met the gaze of the barmaid when she looked up from texting on her phone. He’d been watching her and the moment the dickwads behind him approached, she started texting. Slade knew because she was texting Trigger and that they would be held accountable for what he knew either Spider or Lita was about to do to the asshole idiots behind him. However, he also knew that whichever one of his teammates ended up putting the Satan’s Blades asshole’s in their place, it was exactly what a Knight of Valor would do. Slade gave the barmaid a saucy wink.
“Don’t kill them,” Slade ordered in a voice that was so casual and calm that he knew he sounded scary as fuck. A slight tap on the back of Lita’s hand had his teammate remove it from where it covered the quarter.
“Tails,” Slade called the flip without looking away from the barmaid.
“Son of a bitch,” Lita cursed. “You always get the ass.”
Spider laughed. He had never worked with the huge INET agent before and wasn’t sure how his comment would be taken. The fact that Lita rolled with his gay analogy made him grin honestly.
“You just need practice flipping them,” Spider quirked back and knew the Satan’s Blades in front of him wouldn’t get the reference to ‘flipping’ straight guys. He wasn’t sure if Lita would either.
“Nah, that’s too much like work,” Lita said seriously and Spider understood that Lita knew exactly what he meant.
The look of confusion on all five Satan’s Blades’ members who faced off with them made Spider laugh. Suddenly, he was looking forward to the beat down he was about to dish out. This was going to be fun.
“Guess I’ll just drink my beer, instead.”
The leader of the idiot squad looked at Lita incredulously when the man half sat back down on the stool, blindly picked up his mug, and took a sip of beer.
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