So distracted was he that it took Matt’s mind a moment to register that the two men who walked into his kitchen weren’t waiters. Instead the men wore FBI windbreakers and held guns.
“Hands were we can see them!”
A plate shattered on the floor and seemed to snap Matt out of his daze. “What the hell is going on?”
“Come on,” the dishwasher whose name Matt couldn’t even remember said from behind him. “Mary, shut everything off.”
“Everyone into the restaurant,” one of the FBI guys ordered.
“Tell me what is going on,” Matt demanded.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” the dishwasher answered calmly and started to heard the kitchen staff out into the restaurant proper under the watchful gazes of the FBI agents.
Matt followed his sous chefs into the restaurant and couldn’t believe his eyes. The place was swarming with more men wearing dark blue windbreakers that displayed FBI in white letters. The scene was straight out of some movie. It continued to play out when his boss along with two of Midnight’s regular customers were marched out in handcuffs. Matt still had no clue as to what was happening, but knew it was bad. It became even worse when the dishwasher approached holding several pairs of handcuffs.
“Why are you arresting everyone?” Matt asked and his question was ignored like the rest. “We haven’t done anything wrong.” Matt looked over his shoulder at the huge dishwasher as the man cuffed his hands behind his back.
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” the dishwasher replied.
Matt and his sous chefs were seated at a table. Without thought, Matt scanned the waiters who were similarly handcuffed and seated at another table. He realized he was searching for sight of Mark before he remembered the man didn’t come to work that evening.
Mark promised to come in close to closing and that would be any time now. He hoped Mark would see all the activity and stay away so he didn’t get tangled up in whatever the hell was going on.
Matt was too distracted by the waiters being led out of the restaurant to even think about the strange encounter he had earlier at Mark’s apartment. In fact, that was the furthest thing from his mind when the FBI led him and his sous chefs from the building.
The INET team watched the FBI go in to Midnight’s and round up all the employees along with the owner, Keith Gowdy, and their main target, Charles Harn. FBI Agents, Chris Harrison and Doug Maxim were also arrested which wasn’t a surprise to any of the INET agents. It was common for undercover operatives to be frequently busted to maintain their cover.
“Your chef seems more confused than scared,” Zep commented.
“He’s naïve about what was going on in the restaurant,” Knight replied.
“I agree,” Hunt added. “All the surveillance on him indicates all that he cares about is cooking.”
“And Knight.” Spider shoulder bumped his teammate.
“Probably not after this, though,” Zep said without looking away from the monitor.
“We will see,” Slade countered as if he knew something the rest of the team didn’t.
“When are you heading down to give your statements, Knight?” Spider glanced at his teammate.
“Lita will call once they get them all settled,” Zep answered his lover.
“I’ll go down there with him,” Hunt informed. “I need to take all this with us,” he waved at the surveillance in front of him, “They won’t need to interview the rest of you for a while.”
Knight groaned and Slade chuckled. “Don’t worry, babe.” Slade wrapped an arm around Knight’s waist. “Hunt only saved a copy of you and the chef for me.”
“Yeah, no one needs to see that and I wish I hadn’t seen what little I had.” Hunt shook his head. “I deleted your little attempt to kill Slade MMA style, too.”
“Speaking of.” Payne turned to look at both Knight and Slade. “How are you going to explain your faces to the feds?”
“I’m not,” Knight replied and ignored Payne’s questioning gaze before he turned around and crossed the room to his bag.
Zep laughed. “Are you just going to shoot whoever asks?”
“Shut it,” Knight growled out and stormed into the bathroom.
“What was that all about?” Spider asked the others while Slade followed Knight.
“No idea,” Zep replied before turning to Hunt. “What do you need us to do?”
Hunt didn’t look away from dismantling his surveillance equipment. “Go break down the stuff outside. Payne can help me with all of this.”
“Okay.” Spider turned toward the door and knew Zep was following him.
Slade opened the bathroom door and had to stifle his laugh. Makeup was spread all over the counter and Knight was frowning down at it.
“Don’t say a damn thing, Slade,” Knight warned when he met his lover’s amused gaze in the mirror.
“Not saying a thing since I’ll have to wear that shit, too.”
“You can’t go with me, Slade,” Knight stated seriously. “You’re not even supposed to be here.” Knight frowned. “Suspended, remember?”
Slade shrugged and stepped behind Knight. He wrapped his hands around Knight’s waist and rested his chin on his lover’s shoulder. He grinned and met Knight’s eyes in the mirror.
“There’s no way that Fish doesn’t already know I’m here.”
Knight continued to frown at his lover. “And just how do you figure that?”
Slade sighed. “Because he hasn’t once called me the entire time this op has been active. Not once has he checked up on me and even if I was suspended, he would have. And, do you really believe Fish wouldn’t have checked my bio tracker regardless of what Zep may have told him?”
Knight groaned again. “Shit.”
Slade placed a kiss against the side of Knight’s neck. “Don’t worry about Fish.” Slade turned Knight around to face him. “Now, let me make you pretty and you can do the same for me.” Slade winked and picked up several bottles of foundation to find the best match to his lover’s skin tone.
Spider whistled when Knight and Slade rejoined the team. The makeup didn’t make either man totally bruise free, but the bruises looked weeks old instead of days.
“Do you two have side jobs as beauticians?” Spider laughed.
“Fuck you.” Slade laughed along with him.
“Did Lita call?” Knight started to ask, but was interrupted by a ringing cell phone.
“Yeah?” Hunt answered. “Uh huh… Yeah… Yeah… We will be there soon.” Hunt stood and pocketed several external hard drives. “They are ready for us.”
No one said a word when Slade started following Hunt and Knight to the door. They didn’t have to because the team had no doubt that Slade would be going with Knight.
“Hey Knight,” Zep called out.
Knight turned back just in time to catch his INET badge. Thankfully, Zep waited until after he caught his badge before his teammate tossed his weapon to him. Knight stuffed his gun into the waistband behind his back before he pulled his T-shirt down to cover the weapon.
“Thanks.” Knight gave Zep a nod and before turning back around to follow his teammates out the door, he slipped his INET badge chain over his neck. The weight of the badge against his chest felt good even though what was about to go down at the FBI building was sure to be anything but.
Slade leaned against the wall, arms crossed, next to the door of the small office they had been led to and seemed to belong to a very green FBI agent. His gaze stayed on his partner as Knight answered the young agent’s questions. He could see his lover’s frustration and anger building as the agent asked the same questions different ways.
They had been in this office for over an hour and a half and Slade was actually impressed Knight’s anger hadn’t exploded yet. Knight shoulders tensed and Slade grinned. His lover’s anger was sexy and Slade was going to be seriously turned on in three… Two… One.
“If you could tell me how,” the young agent beg
an and Knight exploded.
“Look you little shit,” Knight stood and leaned forward on his hands that he placed on the guy’s desk. “I have answered your questions and my answers won’t change regardless of how you phrase them,” Knight growled out.
“Mr. Knight, sir, please,” the agent started, but Knight interrupted again.
“You see this?” Knight lifted a hand and pointed to his INET badge that was swaying between his arms. “It’s a badge. Just like the one you have in your jacket. You know, a badge that allows us to enforce the law,” Knight explained as if he were talking to a child.
Slade chuckled and ignored the frown the agent sent him. Knight snapped his fingers in front of the agents face to get his attention and Slade couldn’t resist laughing.
“I am not ‘Mr.’ anything. I am an INET agent. A.G.E.N.T. that not only enforces the law federally, but can do so internationally.” Knight’s tone shifted back to anger and Slade had to resist growing hard. “Not a suspect either, so we’re done here.” Knight stood and started for the door.
“Agent…”
Knight looked over his shoulder and cut off the agent again. “Watch the surveillance if you need more answers because I’m done wasting my time with you.”
Knight walked out the door and Slade laughed again before following. “You lasted longer than I expected.” Slade shoulder bumped Knight and ignored the glare his lover shot him.
After the FBI first brought Matt and the rest of Midnight’s staff into the building, they were led to a large conference room. Their handcuffs were removed when each of his coworkers were escorted from the room individually. They weren’t told they couldn’t talk, but Matt was too lost in thought to join the conversations that were full of speculation as to why the FBI raided the restaurant.
Now, Matt sat in a cell that was disguised as a smaller conference room and he waited. Two different men, one at a time, had interviewed him. All of their questions revolved around his boss, Keith Gowdy. He didn’t have any answers for the agents and sensed they were frustrated with him. Still, he couldn’t answer a question if he didn’t actually know the answer.
“Here you go.” Matt held out the legal pad to the agent seated across the table from him.
“That’s everything?” The agent asked as he flipped through the pages.
“As I told you, I kept to the kitchen,” Matt stated once more.
The FBI asked him for a statement describing his employment the entire time he’d worked at Midnight’s. They wanted everything he could remember regarding employees, deliveries and the delivery companies, and every interaction he’d ever had with his boss and the guys in the two pictures that sat on the table between them.
Thankfully for the FBI, or maybe for Matt, he had an excellent memory so he was able to give them what they asked for. As Matt watched the agent he thought he detected a hint of surprise when the guy started reading the list of delivery companies. Matt remembered every one of them since the day he was hired. He could recite those companies and what they delivered in his sleep. The quality of his ingredients was vital after all.
Matt sat in silence and once more wished there was a clock in the room. It felt like it had been hours since he’d been handcuffed by the FBI and all he wanted to do was go home. He was just thinking of a hot shower when the door behind him opened. Matt only spared a glance over his shoulder to see if the other agent had returned. It wasn’t the other agent. No, it was the twins.
Matt looked exhausted when his eyes grew wide at the sight of him and Slade. Knight heard Slade close the conference room door behind them only a moment before the FBI agent seated across from Matt spoke.
“Agents, I was just about to release Mr. Curo,” the agent informed. “Did you have questions for him?”
Agents? Matt’s mind swirled as he looked both brothers over from head to toe.
Mark and Aaron’s bruises were practically gone and they were wearing the same clothes as when he’d last seen them in Mark’s apartment. However, now Mark wore a chain around his neck that allowed a shiny badge to be clearly seen on the center of his chest. Aaron had a similar badge attached to the front of his hip. Neither man wore a gun, but there was definitely no doubt that the brothers were FBI agents.
Knight never looked away from Matt, so he didn’t miss the man’s surprise at seeing them turn into the realization that they were law-enforcement. Surprisingly to Knight, Matt didn’t look pissed off at being lied to. Instead, Knight would swear he saw a look of arousal enter Matt’s eyes a moment before he schooled his gaze and met Knight’s stare.
“We’d like to speak with the witness,” Slade informed the FBI agent as he pulled out a seat across from Matt and sat down.
“We will sign him out when we are finished,” Knight added and took the seat the FBI agent vacated.
The door had barely closed behind the FBI agent before Matt spoke. “So, you both work for the FBI.”
“INET actually,” Slade answered with a grin.
“What the hell is an INET?” Matt raised a brow. He’d never heard of a federal agency that sounded like the Internet.
“The International Narcotics Enforcement and Tracking agency,” Knight answered.
“Drugs?” Matt asked incredulously. “You thought drugs were going through Midnight’s?”
“That’s what we were sent in to find out,” Knight answered honestly.
Matt was quiet for a second. “The big dishwasher. Was he with you or the FBI?”
Slade chuckled. “With us.”
“I guess that makes sense since you,” Matt looked at Knight. “Were hired at the same time. Seems you got the better job.” Matt smiled.
“I am sure I did,” Knight returned Matt’s smile. “Look, Matt,” Knight started but Matt interrupted.
“Mark is really not your name, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” Knight confirmed.
“Is Aaron actually yours?” Matt turned his attention to the agent he thought was Mark’s brother. Now with the bruises covered up and having a chance to see each man up close, it was clear that the two men weren’t brothers even if they could pass as such.
“Yeah, it is.” Slade laughed and leaned back in the chair. Their meeting with the chef was going much better than he expected.
Matt sat in thought for a moment and neither man rushed him. “I was never supposed to meet you, was I?” Matt finally asked Aaron. “And you’re not really brothers, are you?”
Knight thought he heard a note of disappointment in Matt’s last question and he couldn’t help but mentally grin. Just the thought that Matt might feel any kind of disappointment toward him or Slade not being brothers gave Knight hope that Matt would be open to getting to know them better.
“Slade wasn’t even supposed to be here,” Knight shot Slade a glare that really wasn’t full of any heat. “And no, were not brothers.”
Matt frowned at the guy whose name he thought was Mark. He realized he had no clue what the man’s real name was at all even if he did know how the guy’s cum tasted.
“Slade. And you called him Knight,” Matt looked between them. “Introductions would be nice.” Matt’s tone was sarcastic and he glanced between the men.
“Aaron Slade.” Slade continued to grin at the chef and gave him a wink when Matt met his gaze.
“Mike Knight,” Knight said and waited for Matt to make the Knight Rider connection. It appeared Matt didn’t make it because his expression didn’t change when Matt shifted his gaze to him. Perhaps, Matt was just too young or more than likely the chef had been too absorbed with his career to have any time to watch classic TV.
“Okay,” Matt began. “Now what?”
“Well, now we escort you out,” Knight informed.
“And maybe get a coffee.” Slade stood and followed Knight and Matt toward the door. “And talk about your role-playing kink,” Slade whispered close to Matt’s ear.
Knight glanced over his shoulder in time to see Matt shiver and turn br
ight pink. He couldn’t believe Slade had just casually threw out the comment while they were still in the FBI building. Well, in fact he could. Knight just smiled at Matt and turned back to lead them down the hall. Signing Matt out of the FBI’s custody only took a moment then Knight led them to his rental. Initially, he thought to take them to his apartment, but then remembered it wasn’t his apartment any longer.
“I’d rather not go to the café for coffee because I’m sure the FBI is still crawling all over Midnight’s,” Knight said casually. “Where else is a good place for coffee?” Knight glanced at Matt through the rearview mirror.
“My place?” Matt replied and blushed.
“Works for me,” Slade stated with a smile in his tone.
Twenty minutes later they pulled into a condominium parking lot. Matt was nervous with anticipation to have the sexy look-alike agents in his condo. His nervousness was the only thing that caused his exhaustion to lessen. They had all been awake since at least yesterday afternoon and Matt had no doubt the agents had to be tired after dealing with the raid on Midnight’s because he sure as hell was.
“Make yourself at home.” Matt smiled. “I’ll make us some coffee.”
Knight and Slade took in the condo. The place had an almost unlived in feel. It wasn’t that Matt’s home was sparse; it just didn’t appear personal in any way. That was until they followed Matt into the kitchen. It looked like Matt had every kind of kitchen gadget along one long counter and the appliances appeared industrial grade.
Once the coffee finished brewing, all three men took seats at Matt’s dining room table. Silence settled around them while they fixed their coffee, but it didn’t last.
“So, Matty, what other fantasies do you have spinning around in that cute little head of yours?” Slade asked and Matt choked on his coffee.
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