I.N.E.T 4

by Brenda Cothern

  Being held by Slade after this type of play between them only made Knight love the man more. He never would’ve guessed he had a kinky side if he hadn’t met Slade. The day Slade made him ‘accidentally’ find all his kink equipment in the closet was an eye-opener that Knight would never forget. He’d never regret the things Slade taught him, either, just like he’d never regret being on the receiving end of some of those things.

  Slade came back down to earth and didn’t stop caressing Knight’s chest when he pulled back far enough to finish removing his lover’s dress shirt. He popped each button out of the holes at Knight’s wrists and pulled the shirt out from between them. His movement didn’t even cause him to slip out of Knight’s body. However, it did cause Knight to groan. Still, that didn’t stop Slade from closing the scant inches that were now free of the soft material.

  Knight leaned back against his lover, head resting on Slade’s shoulder, and turned his head. Slade kissed him softly as Knight knew he would. His hands caressed Slade’s thighs while he enjoyed Slade’s hands caressing his chest. Their soft kisses continued until Slade slipped from his body.

  “Shower,” Slade whispered.

  Knight groaned when Slade pulled out of their embrace. They took their time washing each other before they went to bed. Knight threw a towel over the wet spot he’d created. Neither man gave any thought to the dinner that was still on the stove when they cuddled together before sleep claimed them both.

  Four

  Knight was awake and drinking his coffee when Slade came out of their bedroom wearing nothing more than boxer briefs. He didn’t say anything to his partner before Slade made his coffee and joined him at the breakfast bar.

  Knight had no doubt that Slade was going to follow him on his first stint undercover that wasn’t just surveillance. Well, try to follow him. Knight had no idea where Hunt told Slade they were going, but that didn’t stop Knight from addressing the issue.

  “You can’t follow me on this op, Slade.” Knight watched Slade tense. “I know you want to be there to back me up, but you can’t. Lita will be there, so it’s not like I’m going under alone like Zep or Payne did.”

  “I don’t like you going without me,” Slade admitted again after he forced himself to relax.

  At first, he thought Knight found out that Payne shared where they were going. However, the rest of what his partner said reassured him that wasn’t the case. His lover just sounded genuinely sincere in his bid to convince Slade not to follow him.

  “Don’t you trust me to do the job or Lita not to back me up?” Knight fought to keep the sudden anger he felt out of his tone.

  “It’s not like that and you know it,” Slade spat out because even though his lover’s tone wasn’t angry, it was defensive and that triggered his own.

  “I don’t want to fight about this but try to see things from my side.” Knight ignored the frowning glare Slade leveled on him. “This is my first time going under at INET.”

  “And without me,” Slade interrupted with a growl.

  Knight ignored his partner and walked right over his comment as if his lover hadn’t spoken. “And I don’t need you compromising my op by following me.” Knight paused and returned the look Slade was currently giving him. “Plus, you’re suspended. If you follow me and Fish finds out, he will rain hell down on you so bad we may never get back into the field together.”

  Slade understood what Knight was saying and knew every word was spot on when it came to Fish. Still, that didn’t change his plans to follow his partner to South Carolina. Not Nashville. He couldn’t let Knight know that though, so he utilized his undercover training and lied to his lover’s face.

  “I get it, Knight.” Slade continued to frown, but put a touch of defeat in his tone when he spoke again. “I don’t like it one fucking bit, but I get it.” His lover seemed to relax a tad before Slade continued, “I’d never do anything to fuck up an INET op, especially one where you’d be under.”

  “Thank you,” Knight sighed.

  When his lover leaned in and gave him a soft kiss before heading to the bedroom to pack, Slade didn’t even feel guilty. He hadn’t lied to Knight. He did get it and would never do anything to jeopardize an INET op. Following his lover to keep an eye on him in case he or Lita needed backup wouldn’t put their op in danger. Slade was experienced in surveillance and that was all he planned to do. Well, unless he needed to do more.

  Knight believed every word Slade said about trusting him and not wanting to fuck up his op. Still, it didn’t escape his notice that Slade hadn’t said anything about staying home or not following him.

  Thank God I had Hunt tell him we were going someplace else, Knight thought as he packed his duffel bag.

  If Slade wasn’t suspended and had access to the office, Knight had no doubt that regardless of what Hunt told his partner, Slade would access their bio tracker system to locate him in order to follow. Thankfully, Slade was suspended and that wouldn’t be a problem.

  Slade remained at the breakfast bar and had just finished his second cup of coffee when his partner returned from their bedroom. He watched Knight drop his duffel bag unceremoniously next to the front door. Just seeing that bag made the fact that his lover was going undercover without him a certainty. It didn’t matter that he knew exactly where Knight was headed and he would be unofficially following. He still felt his gut clench nervously.

  Knight approached Slade and stopped in between his spread knees where he sat. He draped his arms over Slade’s shoulders at the same time as his lover grasped his hips. The thought of not knowing when the next time he would be able to hold Slade in his arms suddenly hit him hard and made the reality of Slade not being included in the op slam home.

  “I don’t know how long we will be under.” Knight knew Slade understood he referred to him and Lita. “But, I’ll call when I can.”

  “I know you will.” Slade pulled him closer and kissed him deeply.

  Knight had to force himself to break their kiss. “Try to get in Fish’s good graces and maybe he’ll send you in to help with surveillance,” Knight said sincerely even though he knew his lover would do no such thing. Although, he wished Slade would, instead of planning to follow him to a city where he wouldn’t even be.

  Slade snorted. “Yeah, sure.” They both knew Slade wouldn’t reach out to Fish.

  “I have to go,” Knight said reluctantly and leaned forward to take Slade’s mouth in another kiss.

  The kiss wasn’t soft. No, it was harsh and deep as if Knight thought this might be the last kiss they ever shared. Slade understood it could be since their undercover ops could go sideways and end up a clusterfuck in the blink of an eye. That wouldn’t happen if Slade had anything to do with it and he intended to have everything to do with making sure that wouldn’t happen.

  “Stay safe and I’ll see you when I see you,” Slade said when they finally broke apart.

  “I will and you will,” Knight replied and stepped away from his lover and partner.

  Knight picked up his duffel bag and gave Slade one last smile before he left. He wasn’t stupid enough not to realize that Slade didn’t tell him he’d see him when he got home from the op. However, he was smart enough to have insured Hunt would send Slade elsewhere so that his lover didn’t interfere with his op. Somehow, Knight just couldn’t be as pleased about that as much as he was sure he should be.

  The drive to Charleston took Knight a little over six hours. Finding the apartment Deat had set up for him was only a matter of following his GPS. He picked up his keys from the building manager and let himself into the ground floor apartment. Knight wasn’t surprised at all that Deat put him on the ground floor. In fact, he’d be more surprised if Lita wasn’t housed in the same kind of set up. Ground floors gave them escape options should they need them.

  The apartment wasn’t anything to write home about. It was modestly decorated and looked lived in enough that Knight couldn’t help but wonder if the original tenant wasn’t curren
tly enjoying a nice hotel at INET’s expense.

  Knight explored the apartment’s layout. The front door opened into a living room and he could see the kitchen and dining room through separate archways to his right. He entered the small kitchen and was happy to see another archway that would lead him into the small dining room. The kitchen wouldn’t be a dead-end, which was good. Walking into the dining room, Knight glanced out the sliding glass doors to see an open grassy area that led to another parking lot. He exited the dining room through the archway that led back to the living room before he walked down the short hallway.

  A bathroom was to his left and the hall ended in a bedroom. Again, the room was modestly decorated, but it wasn’t the furniture that Knight took in. No, it was the large black bin that sat in front of the folding doors of the closet. Knight closed the blinds to the sliding glass doors that were the only source of light for the room before he knelt in front of the bin.

  The hard black travel bin had a built in combination lock. Knight smirked. The lock explained the extra six digits under the address that Deat texted him. Knight recalled the combination easily and within seconds had the bin open. A laptop sat on top of the other items Deat thought he’d need. Knight pulled it out and stood. He would go through the rest of the bin after he inspected what Deat, or more than likely Hunt, put on the laptop.

  Knight booted up the laptop once he was seated at the dining room table. There were several icons on the desktop; everything from word docs and folders to shortcuts to games. For a moment, Knight couldn’t help but wonder if the game shortcuts would actually open up games if he clicked on them. However, he wasn’t curious enough to find out. Instead, he inspected the folders.

  One was labeled ‘mom’s house’ and another labeled ‘brothers place.’ He clicked on ‘mom’s’ and inside the folder was the icon he recognized as their video surveillance software program even if it was labeled ‘mom’s house.’ Knight clicked on the icon and was prompted for a password. He frowned while he thought of what password Deat or Hunt would have set for him.

  First he tried his INET one. Incorrect password.

  Then he tried Slade’s. Incorrect password.

  Knight gave it some thought and tried the name of the restaurant he’d be working at for the op. Incorrect password.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake. What the hell did you assholes set it to?” Knights scowled.

  He didn’t have a password the last time he did surveillance with Hunt and was pretty sure if Hunt set up this surveillance that the man would’ve picked the password. Just that thought gave him another idea so he typed ‘Satan’s Blades.’

  Incorrect password.

  Knight refused to contact Deat or Hunt for the damn password, but he would have no other choice if his next attempt failed.

  ‘Rage’ Knight typed and the program opened.

  “Asshole,” Knight cursed Hunt while he watched his desktop partition into five screens after he clicked on ‘mom’s house.’

  The hallway outside of his front door, both sliding glass doors, and the living room window were displayed with small red dots in the corner of each screen to show they were live feeds. There was no way anyone could approach his apartment without warning. Knight’s past experience working surveillance with Hunt made him bet there would also be sensors that would alert him to anyone getting too close, as well. Hunt’s paranoia was overkill as far as Knight was concerned, but he had no doubt Hunt’s past experience must be behind his actions.

  Knight backed out of his apartment’s surveillance feeds and clicked on the ‘brother’s place’ folder. He was greeted with the same surveillance program icon. One click and eight screens opened up. Five looked almost identical to the surveillance around the outside of his apartment. However there were enough differences to know he was viewing an apartment complex that wasn’t the one he currently occupied, so Knight ignored them. The remaining two screens displayed the inside of the apartment.

  Lita was on a laptop. Just seeing Lita, the inside of Lita’s apartment, made Knight realize there had to be cameras somewhere inside of his. He wasn’t sure how he felt about being watched in what would become his personal space for however long he was on this op. There was nothing he could do about it though unless he wanted to try and find the cameras that were sure to be as small as the ones they used on the biker pins when they were surveilling the Satan’s Blades.

  Knight just shook his head at the thought and closed the screens that showed Lita’s place. He reopened the video feeds of his apartment and carried the laptop into his bedroom. After setting it on his dresser, Knight turned back to the bin. Inside, he found a plethora of audio bugs and video cameras along with two firearms. One was a 0.9 mil without holsters and the other 0.38 with an ankle holster. At least he could be armed when he started work tomorrow.

  That thought made him inspect the closet. After he pushed the bin to the side, he found several sets of black slacks along with tuxedo shirts. Now he knew what his work uniform would be. Knight moved to the lone dresser and pulled open the drawers. Black socks and bowties filled the top drawer. He gave a groan at seeing the ties. They weren’t the clip-on kind and Knight hated tying the bastards. He knew how, just hated doing it. Knight shut the drawer and found the rest empty.

  At least I don’t have to wear casual clothes provided by Deat, Knight thought and turned to open his duffel bag that he had dropped on the bed when he initially entered the bedroom. After putting his clothes away, Knight left his apartment to get a lay of the land and buy groceries.

  Lita went through his routine of getting familiar with his undercover environment. He wasn’t surprised that Hunt had installed cameras inside his apartment. It was standard operating procedure, but he couldn’t help but wonder how pissed off Knight would be once he discovered Hunt would be watching him while he was inside the apartment. Lita chuckled because he could watch Knight too if he wanted just like Knight could watch him. At least they both had the privacy of their bedroom and bathroom. The surveillance didn’t bother him, so he ignored it. He hoped Knight would do the same.

  However, Lita was surprised when he opened his closet to find his undercover clothes. He never would’ve suspected a dishwasher to have to wear slacks and dress shirts. Because who would really see a dishwasher aside from the kitchen staff?

  Just the thought of the restaurant that would require such an attire for a dishwasher made Lita return to the case file he had buried in the bottom of his duffel bag. He had already studied it, but unlike Knight who had a photographic memory, he felt that he needed to review it again. That’s exactly what he did for the next three hours.

  Slade waited exactly eight hours before he started his trip to his Charleston hotel. Payne gave him not only the city when he pressed, but also the primary location of the op. If Hunt found out Payne shared the Intel, Payne was sure to catch hell from his partner and lover. Slade only felt slightly bad about that, but planned to utilize all of his skill to remain undetected by Hunt’s surveillance. It would be difficult because Hunt was so incredible at executing surveillance.

  However, Slade knew their surveillance procedures like the back of his hand. Payne was the one who would be watching Midnight’s and keeping an eye on Knight and Lita. Still, just because his fellow agent gave him the information on where Knight would be didn’t mean he wanted or would let Payne spot him keeping an eye on his lover.

  Slade would also keep an eye out for Zep and Spider since he didn’t know if Fish had sent them as well. Usually, the entire team participated in an op, so Slade had to assume this would be the case since Payne wouldn’t give him more than the city and restaurant name.

  He unpacked his duffel bag since he knew he’d be staying in this hotel for a while. The urge to go out and case the area around the restaurant was strong, but he resisted. Knight and Lita would be doing the same while Payne was likely placing surveillance equipment around the outside of the building.

  Slade didn’t want to risk being spotte
d so easily and could certainly do a few drive-byes in the middle of the night to get familiar with the area. So instead, he searched for a grocery store that was nowhere near Midnight’s and headed out to stock up on microwave meals and other food that could be packed in the mini fridge provided in his room.

  The hours of Midnight’s were five to one a.m. so Knight arrived at four. He was greeted by the host when he knocked on the door. From the file, he knew the guy was Chris Harrison’s partner at the FBI, Doug Maxim, but had no idea what the guy’s cover name was so he treated him as a stranger. He would have done the same even if he’d known Agent Maxim’s cover name, so it really didn’t matter.

  “You must be our new waiter,” the agent greeted with a knowing gaze that Knight was so much more. “I’m Chad, the host of Midnight’s.”

  Knight mentally acknowledged the FBI agent identified himself by stating his position at the restaurant. He held out his hand and gave the man a firm shake.

  “I am Mark Williams. Nice to meet you in person.” They ended their handshake and Knight followed the man inside. He looked the agent over while they walked to the server station.

  Agent Maxim was several inches shorter than him and Knight pegged him to be around five foot ten or five foot eleven. He had sandy blonde hair that was stylishly cut and bluish-gray eyes had met his when they shook hands. His shoulders weren’t very broad, but the fact the man worked out was evident and Knight wasn’t surprised since ‘Chad’ was an FBI agent. His shoulders tapered into a trim waist and a tight ass that, Knight couldn’t help but notice though he doubted the man was gay. Even if he was, Knight had no intention to find out.

  “This goes around your waist,” Chad handed him an apron that reached just above his knees. A small pocket was on the right-hand side and clearly meant for the billfold-like order pad he was handed next.