“I’d like a room for a week, please,” Zep spontaneously said and smiled at the man.
The owner pushed a registration card and a pen toward Zep through the small opening in the glass above the counter. Filling in the card with one of his alias’ details only took a moment. Zep pushed the card and the total in cash under the window. A glance over his shoulder showed the bikers still gathered in the lot by their bikes. The sound of plastic and metal brought Zep’s eyes back to the owner.
“Thank you.” Zep smiled again and picked up his room key.
Zep glanced at his room number that was barely legible in white on the orange plastic that was attached to the key. He stepped out of the office and had just opened the car door when the group of bikers broke up. The two Satan’s Blades mounted their hogs, fired them up, and soon tore out of the parking lot behind where Zep had parked.
His eyes followed the Blades riding away from the shitty motel, but when he turned back to Slade’s team, they were heading toward a room. Slade was talking to Lita and Spider, his hands waving around, but he didn’t seem nearly as pissed off as earlier. Of course, that would likely change the minute he told Slade that someone had fucked with his bike.
Surprisingly to Zep, Slade or Lita didn’t see him or if they did, they gave no indication. That wasn’t the case where Spider was concerned. Zep didn’t for a single second think that Spider was more observant, or a better agent than Slade or Lita.
No instead, it was almost as if he somehow pinged on some internal radar in Spider’s head. The man just always seemed to know where he was and Zep had to fight down the memories of how Spider was able to always find him in high school. Their eyes met and Zep only held Spider’s gaze for a moment before he got in the car, backed up, and drove around the other side of the hotel in search of his room.
***
What the fuck?
Spider spotted the light blue car when it pulled into the hotel. He didn’t need to turn his head to know it was the same car that Rob Zepple sat in just a few blocks away from Hell’s Minions. He had spotted the light blue Kia when they were riding away from the cluster fuck of a meeting with the lieutenant of the Blades. As they rode closer, Spider immediately recognized Zep’s sandy brown hair. Their eyes had met and Spider had to force himself to look away as they passed.
He barely had time to mention seeing Zep to Slade before the two Blades cruised into the motel parking lot. It was no surprise that the Blades sent members to follow them.
Spider wasn’t happy with Slade’s choice of tactic where the lieutenant of the Blades was concerned, but he understood the role that Slade was committed to play. Any ranking member of an MC, especially a ranking member of KoV, would’ve been rightfully offended and pissed off over the shit that went down at Hell’s Minions.
Still, Spider knew Slade gambled that the Blades would want to make things right with KoV. Not only make things right between the two MC’s, but Spider was sure Trigger’s interest went deeper than preventing a club war. Much deeper, especially after Slade mentioned a quarter of a million dollar deal.
However, the whole time the two Blades played the hand Slade dealt them, Spider was aware of the light blue car that was parked in front of the motel office. Admittedly, he was barely paying attention to the Blades who were apologizing on behalf of the club’s president and requesting another meeting. His role as an enforcer wasn’t to do more than look menacing and follow orders. Right now that was a good thing, too.
But, Spider was an excellent undercover agent with ATF and even when he was only supposed to be ‘muscle,’ he was always aware of whatever the perps were doing or saying. If asked, he could probably only repeat a third of what was said between Slade and the Blades. He knew that was unacceptable, but couldn’t help being distracted by Zep being so close.
The moment Slade finished the meeting with the Blades and they turned toward their room, Spider’s eyes shot to the light blue Kia. His gaze met Zep’s and as much a Spider wanted to change the direction he was walking and walk toward Zep, he didn’t. He couldn’t. So, he settled for holding the man’s gaze until Zep got in his car.
Slade and Lita had already entered the room while Spider watched Zep pull around the other side of the motel. A small grin spread his lips when he recalled the flash of orange plastic that Zep held in his hand when it rested on the roof of his car. It was the same gaudy color as the room key he currently had in his pocket.
***
“Not sure how long you want me to stand here, but I’m thinking Zep should have been back to get me by now,” Knight grumbled and knew Hunt could hear him. The vibrating of Knight’s phone in his pocket told him that Hunt had indeed heard him.
“I’m on my way to get you,” Hunt informed. “Zep’s followed all of them to a motel. He’s still there, but not clustered with Slade and Lita so I don’t think he’s with them. More like he’s watching what’s going down and waiting for his chance to make contact.”
“It’s what I do.”
“Yep,” Hunt agreed. “See you shortly.”
Less than fifteen minutes later Hunt rolled the SUV to a smooth stop next to the curb directly across from the alley. It unnerved Knight slightly that Hunt pulled the SUV up for him to climb in as if they had prearranged the pickup. Once he was settled in the passenger seat and Hunt had them back on the road toward their rental, Hunt spoke.
“The video you were able to get is already being analyzed. We should have the names, aliases, addresses, and full records of anyone who parked a bike outside of Hell’s Minions. The results should come in tonight or before morning.”
To say Knight was shocked at the quick turnaround from surveillance to information was an understatement. When he was with TPD, it could take days, weeks, or months to get any information on anyone he was watching.
“What about the biker that was taking pictures?” Knight inquired because he really hoped that the guy was the ICE agent they knew was embedded in the Blades.
If he wasn’t, then they had another line of inquiry to decipher. There was nothing that led them to believe that the Blades used any tech in their dealings with other clubs or buyers. However, that didn’t mean that buyers wouldn’t plant someone inside the Blades and monitor the club, especially if the Blades were branching away from running weed to guns and people.
“I was able to pull several good facials from the video you got. I had to send them through facial recognition. Again.”
“Again?” Knight echoed and wasn’t sure what to make of the amusement he detected in Hunt’s voice.
“Yeah.” Hunt chuckled. “When I first ran his face, I got results superfast.”
“Superfast?”
“Well, just as fast as if he was your everyday biker criminal.” Hunt paused. “Though, I will say his record was impressive. Aggravated assault, with and without a deadly weapon, several busts for drugs, and a few years in prison.”
“Sounds like a typical biker rap sheet,” Knight commented as they pulled into the driveway of their rental house.
“I know, right?” Hunt grinned before he turned off the SUV and got out. “Even the various mugshots are aged enough to be believable.”
Knight followed Hunt through the front door and closed it behind him. He watched Hunt move directly to his surveillance set up on the dining room table and sit down in front of all the computers.
“So? What’s to say he’s not just some biker with a typical criminal history?” Knight wanted to know what made Hunt run the guy a second time.
At first, Knight thought Hunt hadn’t heard his question because the Irishman was tapping away on his keyboard. Knight stepped closer and Hunt seemed absorbed in what he was viewing on the monitors.
“His behavior.” Hunt finally answered without looking away from his screens. “So, I dug a little deeper.” Hunt finally grinned.
Knight thought the look on his teammate’s face was one that he would expect to see on someone who had won the lottery.
&n
bsp; “And I found this.” Hunt turned the monitor toward Knight and waited for his reaction.
Knight took in the file that filled the screen. It was a personnel file. An ICE personnel file. The picture of an agent was in the upper left-hand corner, and Knight had no problem recognizing the clean-cut agent as the biker who was fucking with Slade’s ride. He breathed a mental sigh of relief that his guess was correct.
“So, you were right.” Hunt stood and slapped Knight on the shoulder. “Good job. You found our ICE agent.”
That he did and Knight gave Hunt a smile before he took the seat his teammate had just vacated.
“Okay, Ryan Brewster, let’s see what you are all about,” Knight said to the monitor before he started to read. He barely heard Hunt’s chuckle when the man left the room.
##~~##
Fourteen
“How did you know they would follow?” Spider asked Slade once he closed the motel room door.
“I didn’t. I was counting on they would after I dropped the amount of the payoff that they would be missing out on if we sought another MC to partner with us.”
“Kinda risky,” Spider commented, but understood Slade’s tactic even if he didn’t agree with it.
“No riskier than anything else we do.” Lita chuckled before he pulled his T-shirt off over his head and sat on the end of the bed to remove his boots.
“True,” Spider agreed and looked Lita over from head to toe. He didn’t hide his appraisal of the man and didn’t care if the agents caught him looking out of curiosity.
Lita was huge. The man definitely had a few inches on him which had to put him around 6’5” or 6’6”. He was all muscle, too. Not meathead muscle, but it was clear the guy hit the gym to keep in shape. Long blonde hair and forest green eyes only added to his Thor-like image.
Spider could admit the guy was hot, just like he could admit Slade was sexy. However, neither man did a damn thing for his libido. Not a damn thing. He liked his guys lean, toned, and shorter than him by at least two or three inches. He also liked his guys to be younger. Every box that needed to be checked to crank up his libido was checked when it came to Zep. Just thinking of the man caused his arousal to start to hum.
“I’ve only got one more temp bug,” Slade began. “We will use it tomorrow when we meet with the club president. One of us is going to have to get more from Hunt. I’m not sure why they didn’t just make the drop for them when you guys ran into Zep and Knight at the store.”
“I don’t think Hunt was tracking us yet because Knight was surprised as shit to run into me.” Lita stood and walked toward the bathroom. “I’m getting a shower.” The bathroom door had barely shut before Spider jumped on what Lita had said.
“Did you guys put a tracker on my bike as well?” Spider wasn’t happy that they more than likely did without telling him. He wouldn’t have argued the precaution, but it still should have been his choice or at the very least, he should have been told they put a GPS tracker on his Harley.
“No,” Slade replied honestly and met Spider’s heated gaze.
“How the hell could you guys be tracked then?” Spider looked at the pins on Slade’s KoV vest then glanced at the ones on Lita’s. Ninety-nine percent of the pins on their vests matched the pins on his, but there were a few they had that he didn’t.
“Doesn’t matter,” Slade said because the bio trackers that INET used weren’t known to anyone but INET agents.
The CIA, MI6, Mossad, and other intelligence agencies around the world didn’t even know about them. It had to be that way. The criminals knew all of the conventional ways to be monitored and tracked through surveillance. If bio tracking was leaked, every undercover cop and agent would definitely end up in the morgue if their cover was blown. The risk of being killed if a cover was blown was high enough. There was no reason to guarantee death by letting anyone outside of INET know about the bio trackers.
“The fuck it doesn’t,” Spider growled.
“It doesn’t. We are not discussing this,” Slade growled right back and before Spider could retort, plowed over whatever else the man was about to say. “Go see if Zep brought us any surveillance equipment. I doubt Hunt would have let them out again without being prepared to get us what we needed after the last time.”
Slade’s words knocked Spider for such a loop that his anger turned to surprise and he knew his expression displayed as much. He would’ve sworn that neither Slade nor Lita had spotted Zep, but apparently he was wrong.
“The car he was driving will be parked four doors down on the right from his room.”
“Okay,” Spider finally managed and his surprise tripled because he knew that there was no way in hell that Slade wasn’t aware of how Zep felt toward him.
“Try not to scare him, Spider,” Slade called out sincerely right before the motel room door closed.
I never ‘try’ to scare him, Slade thought sadly as he headed down the sidewalk in front of the rooms on their side of the motel.
***
Zep opened the door to his room, stepped inside, locked the door, and pulled the drapes closed before he even looked at the accommodations. The room wasn’t anything he hadn’t expected. It was a shit hole, but more because of age than because it was a dirty roach infested motel. He had stayed in much worse, so the few hours or night he’d be staying here wouldn’t be a hardship even if he did rent the room for a week.
He turned on the wall lamp near the night table, clicked on the TV for some noise, and pulled out his cell. Zep pulled up a contact and started typing a text.
Hey mom, I know you’re busy, but give me a call when you get a chance.
Zep hit send then chuckled. He had sent the cryptic text out of habit. The chance that anyone pertaining to the op would intercept his call to Hunt was slim to none. Still, habits were habits. He knew Hunt would call and the line would be secure. Less than two minutes later, his cell vibrated in his hand.
“You’re on speaker,” Hunt started. “It doesn’t look like you’re with the team.”
“I’m not,” Zep confirmed. “I checked in and will try to make contact in a little while. I need to make sure the Blades don’t decide they want to play babysitter for the team before I hook up with them.”
“You think they are watching Slade?” Knight asked neutrally.
“No, but better safe than sorry.”
Zep proceeded to catch Hunt and Knight up to speed on what he witnessed of their team and the two Satan’s Blades in the parking lot.
“I’m not sure what went down inside Hell’s Minions before Slade stormed out, but he looked pissed,” Knight commented.
“Yeah, he did,” Zep agreed. “He didn’t look too happy when he was talking to the Blades here, either.”
“Something must have went down,” Hunt stated the obvious then cursed. “We need eyes and ears in there. I doubt the ICE agent has anything inside there because I couldn’t find any data when I hacked their system.” Hunt casually informed as if he hacked into government agencies everyday.
“He might not have anything inside, but if the guy who was fucking with the bikes is ICE, then he at least has something,” Zep pointed out.
“True,” Hunt agreed. “And he is ICE.” Hunt gave him all the Intel they were able to gather on ICE Agent Ryan Brewster.
“I’ll pass it along.” Zep’s phone vibrated in his hand again.
“I just sent you the picture we captured of him outside the bar. Tell Slade, Lita, and Spider not to fuck with those trackers,” Hunt ordered. “I’ve already tapped into them and they give us a backup to track Slade and Lita. Oh, and not to mention that it’s the only way we have to track Spider’s movements.”
Zep hadn’t even thought about their lack of ability to track Spider. Now that it was brought to his attention, his gut clenched. He wasn’t sure if it was fear from hearing the man’s name or for the man’s safety that made him suddenly feet ill.
“Are you staying out?” Hunt asked.
Zep gri
nned. He knew why Hunt was asking. When he and Knight left earlier, he didn’t take his weapon. He rarely did when he wasn’t going to be directly interacting with suspects. Unlike most INET agents, he didn’t feel the need to have his gun glued to his body somewhere. He carried and used it enough while he was undercover that sometimes he just didn’t want the feel of a weapon on him. Eight out of ten times he didn’t need it anyway.
“Not sure,” Zep replied. “Depends on when I can make contact.” Zep’s phone vibrated in his hand again.
“I just sent you the updated data for the ICE trackers,” Hunt informed him. “When you log into the site, you’ll be able to track them.”
“Sounds good.” Zep flopped down on the bed. He pulled the baggies that contained the micro surveillance equipment out of his pocket and put them on the night table.
“See you when you get back,” Hunt said and hung up just as someone pounded on his door.
Zep had a gut feeling about who would be on the other side of his door, but that didn’t stop him from hoping it was Lita or Slade. He pushed off the bed and was just pulling the drapes aside enough to look out when his room door was pounded again. He ignored the noise, parted the curtains, and looked out.
His heart rate sped up and once more Zep wasn’t sure if it was because the man on the other side of the door scared the shit out of him or because of the sudden, surprising, and unwanted attraction his body decided was a good thing.
“Christ!” Spider’s deep voice came clearly through the door. “Open the door, man. I don’t want to draw any more attention than I already have for fuck’s sake.”
Zep’s heart rate spiked again and it had nothing to do with his fear or fucked up attraction to the asshole that had made his younger years a nightmare. No, it had everything to do with the possibility that their op could be blown all to hell if anyone from the Satan’s Blades was still watching Slade, Lita, and Spider. He quickly released the chain, and turned the lock before yanking the door open. Spider stood there scowling in all of his scary-as-fuck suddenly sexy-as-hell glory.
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