The agent in front of him grunted in agreement before he pulled out a small baggie from the front pocket of his jeans. The small baggie didn’t hold drugs like Keg expected to see. No, it held a tiny piece of metal. He watched the INET agent remove the eraser sized piece of metal and didn’t flinch when the man stepped into his personal space.
“Audiovisual.”
Keg nodded and let the agent attach the piece of surveillance equipment to his vest. Somehow, he never realized the size of the man until the guy was right up in his face. Keg was used to being taller and more domineering than anyone who crossed his path. The fact that this wasn’t the case with this INET agent unnerved him more than he wanted to admit to himself.
“Our tech will hear and see everything you do.” The agent stepped back. “Just forget it’s there and we’ll slam dunk both our cases.”
Keg met the INET agent’s grin with a smile of his own. He knew that if the international agency was gathering surveillance for their case that even the dredges of what they gathered, if it had anything to do with human trafficking, would be better documented than anything he could get. Keg nodded his understanding, but when the INET agent turned to duck out of the restroom, Keg reached out and grabbed the man’s muscular bicep.
“I don’t have any way to check in aside from my own handler… Unless you make Payne my contact for you guys.” Keg grimaced. “He’s not a fan, but even if you don’t make him a field contact between our agencies, he still needs to know I’m not just some shit head biker who’s over eager to prove his worth.”
“We’ll make sure he knows.”
The INET agent pulled out of Keg’s grasp and walked out of the restroom door. Keg only took a moment before he followed the huge ass undercover agent back into the bar.
***
Spider watched Slade stare at the Satan’s Blades’ lieutenant with a steely gaze that was too similar to the one Slade had leveled on him the night before. If Spider hadn’t known Slade was putting on an act for the benefit of the Blades’ lieutenant, he’d have been worried about what kind of hell the man could rain down on them. Trigger seemed to sense the same level of threat from Slade.
“We don’t want a war with KoV.” Trigger paused. “We’d like to do business especially since we’re honored that you sought us out because Payne is now part of our family.”
If Spider hadn’t been watching both Trigger and Payne, he never would have seen the slight flinch of ‘what the fuck’ that filtered across Payne’s face. Apparently, it was news to Payne that the Blades were honored to have KoV there. Hell, the way they had been treated up to this point was so far from honorable that Spider couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped his throat.
Neither Slade nor Trigger glanced at him, but Payne’s eyes met his and he didn’t break the stare. The message Spider read in Payne’s gaze was clear. ‘Stop making waves.’ Spider couldn’t help himself from shooting a wink at the INET agent to acknowledge the warning.
“I don’t want a war with the Blades, but I’m seriously considering why we put the effort in finding you, brother.” Slade glared at Payne. “When this is the club you’ve decided to call home.”
“Eliminator,” Payne started because he knew his role dictated he tried to defend his new biker family.
Slade held a hand up to stop whatever else Payne was about to say. Payne had to school his expression so that he didn’t reveal his relief that he didn’t have to fake a defense for the Blades.
“You wanted to talk business, so let’s talk business.” Slade looked pointedly at Trigger. “We need to move some merchandise. Since we already know Payne can move our shit, we want to cut the Blades in on a deal that we can only partially fill.”
“What do you mean partially?” Trigger asked neutrally.
“We have the merchandise for a buyer for the most part. The Knights are short on the weapons and drug end, but only by a little. The amount we’re short could easily be rectified by offering our buyer a lower price for what he is looking for.” Slade admitted with a frown that clearly indicated his displeasure at having to admit a Knights of Valor weakness.
“But our rep is on the line,” Slade finished and it was clear Trigger understood because the reputation of a club was everything.
“What about the other…,” Spider started to ask like they had agreed he would.
“Widow,” Slade growled out the warning and leveled a death glare on Spider. Spider looked thoroughly chastise before he frowned and glanced away.
“There something else we need to know about?” Trigger asked suspiciously.
Slade leaned back in the chair and studied Trigger as if he was weighing whether to say anything. The longer Slade remained quiet, the more Payne knew he wasn’t going to like what his fellow agent was going to say. He was right.
“We need Payne to reach out to his old contacts.” Slade glanced away from Trigger to Payne. “The ones who like the lively merchandise.”
Shit. That’s the opening for the human trafficking. Payne had only a moment to decide which way he wanted to play his role, but he didn’t need more than that.
“Fuck, Eliminator.” Payne shook his head and glared at Slade. “I thought the Knights weren’t going to fuck with that type of shit again.”
“For an additional quarter mil.” Slade shrugged. “That’s worth the cost of water, a few happy meals, a truck, and a few days on the road.”
From the corner of his eye, Payne saw the moment the Trigger connected the dots about what they were really talking about. Slade baited the hook so smoothly that Payne was once more impressed with the man he missed working with over the last two years.
“Can you make the calls or not?” Slade asked, but didn’t give him time to answer. “It’s not a deal breaker for our buyer, but don’t you think a few calls and barely any work is worth that kinda cash?”
“Shit,” Payne groused. “How many?”
“A dozen or so.” Slade grinned with a shrug of a shoulder.
Trigger hadn’t said a word and Payne wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Still, he didn’t want to chance not setting the hook for the human trafficking angle so he continued to play his part.
“I can make a few calls, but man, it’s been a few years so I don’t know if they will pan out.” Payne frowned.
“A few years is a long time for specialty merchants not to be busted,” Trigger joined the conversation by agreeing with Payne.
“No shit,” Payne grumbled. Make the offer, Trig.
“Let me talk to Cutter. We might be able to help you out with your side order request.”
Payne whipped his head around to look at Trigger. He made sure his expression clearly displayed surprise. Internally, he was so relieved that the few tiny as fuck hints he picked up about the Blades’ branching out in this direction turned out to be true.
Trigger grinned at Payne before he looked back at Slade. “Give me an hour.”
Slade just gave Trigger a nod before the man stood and walked away from the table.
##~~##
Twenty-two
Payne’s eyes stayed glued to Trigger’s back until the Blades’ lieutenant passed the bar where he spotted Keg still sitting with Lita.
“Shit.” Payne went to stand. “I’ll be right back.”
Slade looked over his shoulder to see what had caught Payne’s attention. “Don’t bother.” Slade chuckled.
“We don’t need that asshole getting tangled up in this shit. As far as I can tell, he’s a decent enough guy.”
“He is.” Slade’s comment caused Payne to look away from Lita and Keg and back to his teammate.
“Sit down, Payne.” Slade waited until Payne resumed his seat before he continued. “There’s a shit ton of Intel we need to dial you in on, but first you need to take this.”
Slade pulled out a small baggie filled with white powder. He slid it across the table and Payne put it in the front pocket of his black jeans without looking at it. He had no idea w
hy Slade was giving him drugs unless his teammate thought someone was watching them and he needed to reinforce their cover.
“A/V.” Slade grinned. “Wipe the baby powder off. There are three in there. Make sure one of them finds its way onto you somewhere.” Slade looked at Payne pointedly. “Your belt will work since you don’t seem to wear a vest all the time like most of these guys.”
“A vest just gets in the way when I work on the bikes. I’ll take care of it when I piss.” Payne returned Slade’s grin. “Who is on the other end?” He asked more out of curiosity than anything else because wearing the mini cam wouldn’t change his behavior based on who was tuned into him.
“Hunt.”
“Hunter?”
The mention of the cute agent Payne hadn’t worked with for long before he went undercover with the Blades brought the image of the man to mine. The guy was easily a few inches shorter than him, but it wasn’t the guy’s height that popped into Payne’s mind first. No, it was his always happy attitude followed by the way the office overhead lights highlighted his flaming red hair and reflected off his startling green eyes.
“Good that you remember him.” Slade chuckled and Payne hadn’t even been aware he was smiling until Slade spoke.
“What else?” Payne forced and further thoughts of Hunter from his mind. “You sprung a new back story on me that I don’t know shit about. Not that I’m surprised.”
“I knew you could handle it.” Slade smirked before he filled in the details of Payne’s new history with the Knights.
“Okay, what else?” Payne shot a glance toward the bar to both check the time and to check on Lita who still sat with Keg.
“Widow, here, is ATF.”
“And I’m sure that’s not your real name.” Payne chuckled.
“Close enough,” Spider replied with a grin.
“Glad you’re here.”
“He is, too,” Slade interjected before Spider could reply and Payne couldn’t help but raise a curious brow. Slade didn’t pause to elaborate on his cryptic comment. “Your buddy Keg, over there with Lita, is ICE.”
Payne’s eyes shot back to the bar and it was as if Lita felt his gaze because his teammate turned his head to look in their direction. After meeting Payne’s gaze with a grin, Lita turned back to Keg. A moment later both men stood and started walking toward them.
“Jesus Christ.” Payne finally turned his attention back to Slade. “Any other alphabets here that I need to know about?” Payne asked seriously because all they were missing was the FBI, DEA, and fucking CIA.
He knew when he called in for backup last week and mentioned why, that ATF and ICE would eventually be pulled in for the raid, but he never expected them to actually be part of Slade’s undercover backup team.
“Wait,” Payne muttered when it dawned on him that Keg had been with the Blades for roughly six months.
There was no way the ICE agent came on board when Slade did. That could only mean that ICE had a heads up about the human trafficking before he even caught wind of it.
Slade watched Payne as the man absorbed the new information. He easily saw when Payne made the connection to how involved ICE was even before his teammate cursed.
“Shit.”
If he hadn’t called for backup and ICE raided, it would have been a nightmare. Getting his ass out of jail and the INET paperwork would have been the least of his worries if his ass didn’t get shot because they thought he was an actual trafficker.
“Yep,” Keg agreed when he and the INET agent stopped at the table. He knew exactly what scenarios were likely running through Payne’s mind since the same ones had ran through his.
“Well fuck,” Payne commented and kicked out Trigger’s chair so Keg could take a seat. He didn’t apologize for being a dick to the guy and it didn’t seem that Keg expected him to. “Seems we have some notes to compare.”
“It does,” Keg agreed with a slight nod. “I told Trig I asked you to flush the fluids on my bike when he saw me approach you last night. So that’ll give us an excuse to meet up in the shop tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
“Try to get Keg involved with the deal. It takes more than one of us to move weapons, drugs, or people,” Slade ordered.
“That shouldn’t be too hard.” Payne glanced at Keg. “The Blades know he’s been wanting to prove himself so he can earn extra cash to take care of his brother.”
“Trig’s back,” Keg commented quietly when he saw the Blades’ lieutenant walk through the door of the bar.
“That’s my cue to go piss.” Payne stood from the table and yelled out to Trig’s wife on the way to the men’s room. “Another round for us.”
“Nice meeting you, man.” Keg stood and held out his hand to Lita when Trig pulled out the chair Payne had just vacated.
“You, too.” Lita returned Keg’s shake. “Thanks for the beers.”
“No problem.” Keg walked back to the bar without a backward glance.
“Cool guy.” Lita grinned. “More so than those other assholes.”
“Thor,” Slade warned.
“No, he’s right.” Trig shot a smile in Keg’s direction. “Keg’s a good Blade.” Trig didn’t apologize or make excuses for the behavior of the other Blades’ members. He’d already done that so none of them expected him to repeat himself.
“Shame about his brother,” Lita commented and knew Slade trusted him to pad the way for Keg to be brought deeper into the op. “I don’t know how the hell he affords to keep his brother in one of those homes on a construction worker’s pay.” Lita shook his head.
Payne was just returning to the table when Lita finished his comment. It was obvious that Lita was talking about Keg and he had no doubt the man was planting seeds in Trigger’s mind.
“Money has always been tight for Keg because of his dedication to his brother,” Payne added nonchalantly.
“Slick, Racer, and Bear are handling things on our end,” Slade said to get them back on the topic of business and as if Payne would actually have a clue as to who the hell he was talking about. For all Payne knew, Slade was pulling names out of his ass. Still, he rolled with it.
“Good. They’re reliable,” Payne stated.
“So, can the Blades help us out where we’re falling short on our smoke and guns?” Slade focused on Trigger.
“Yeah. That won’t be a problem,” Trig agreed and smiled at his wife when she set another round of drinks down on the table. “We can even help you fill your other order.”
“Excellent,” Slade smiled happily. “We’re supposed to deliver in two weeks. Our buyer is offering a bonus if we can deliver early, but we weren’t stupid enough to commit until we tracked down and talked to Payne.”
“We have everything you need to contribute to our portion of the deal for your initial order right now. It’ll take about a week to acquire the items for your special order.”
“A week.” Slade nodded. “That would add a very nice bonus to the overall profit.”
“It would,” Trigger agreed with a grin that matched Slade’s. “Let’s talk numbers.”
***
Knight stood in the shadows of the same alley he had used two days ago to observe Hell’s Minions. The only difference this time compared to the last was that he was wearing an earbud. Not one of those flashy ones with the curly cord that would hang behind his ear and act like a red flag to anyone who spotted it. No, the earbud Hunt gave him so he could listen in on the team inside the Minions was more like a small hearing aid that no one would even know he wore unless they pulled his earlobe down and peeked inside.
He knew his partner was a skilled agent just from the months of training with Slade and the additional time he spent getting to know him personally. Still, this was the first time they had been undercover together and Knight was beyond impressed by his lover’s skill. If he didn’t actually know Slade, and know everything his lover said was part of his cover, Knight would swear he was just listening in remotely to some bi
kers planning to do some illegal shit.
Knight would say the same about Lita, even though Knight could still sense some of the loyal and caring giant under the biker act that was his cover. Lita was still in there where it felt like Slade wasn’t inside the biker Eliminator that he was portraying. Listening to Slade’s voice, even if it felt like he was listening to a stranger, still made Knight feel good.
The thought of taking advantage of the room Zep rented at the motel where Slade’s team was staying so that he could spend some hot and sweaty time with his lover did cross his mind, but only briefly. Having one of them meet up with one of ‘the out of town’ bikers on anything that appeared to be a regular basis was risky enough to blow the op and their cover. The sound of Slade’s voice, his hand, and the memories of them fucking one another sore before they each went into the field on different ends of this op would just have to do until they took this set of bastards down.
Knight still had the ability to talk to Zep or Hunt, but he had yet to need to update them on anything. He doubted he would need to, either. Hunt not only had visuals on him and Zep, who was currently more than likely twiddling his thumbs while he was parked up the street, but Hunt had full visual and audio on Slade’s team.
“The ICE agent is online,” Hunt’s voice informed them in Knight’s ear. “Not patching him in since he and Lita are just shooting the shit.”
There was no need for Knight to confirm he heard Hunt’s update so he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until the Blade member they had identified as the club’s lieutenant exited the bar that Knight spoke softly.
“The lieutenant just pulled out of the parking lot.”
They had all heard and at least Hunt, had seen the man leaving the team in the Minions. But, just because the man claimed he was leaving the bar, didn’t mean he actually was until Knight confirmed the guy pulling out of the parking lot. Knight listened to the team update Payne and introduce him to the ICE agent before he had to speak to Hunt again.
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