Chapter Text
Kent’s wrists were dragged behind his back and cuffed. Next to him, Santiago was cheerfully chanting a litany of obscenities aimed at the female agent who was strutting back and forth.
‘That one I understood,’ she said, swinging back her boot, and kicking at Santiago’s side.
Kent gathered his fuzzy wits enough to roll quickly to his left, just as Santiago rolled to his left, away from her kick. She stumbled, unbalanced, and Santiago rolled quickly to his right, knocking her onto her ass.
‘That was unwise,’ Kent muttered.
‘But so much fun.’
The agent squatted down in front of Kent as male agents dragged Santiago away. She was attractive, in a hard sort of way, with sharp cheekbones, flinty grey eyes, and icy blonde hair.
‘And then there was one,’ she said, as Kent looked up at her. ‘But what a one. You’re the one they call “Captain,” aren’t you? What’s a white guy doing serving as treasurer for a Latino motorcycle gang?’
‘Am I arrested?’
Her grin was predatory. ‘Oh, you absolutely are. We’ll start with the assault and battery charge and work up from there.’
‘Self-defence,’ Kent said.
‘Hmm, so you say. But he’s a cop and you’re a greasy, scum-sucking biker. Let’s see who the courts believe.’
Kent sighed as he was dragged to his feet. ‘You don’t care about a minor fracas in a bar. This is a transparent and unambiguous attempt to bring pressure to bear in your ongoing vendetta against the club.’
She put her hands on her hips. ‘A minor fracas?’ she mimicked. ‘An unambiguous attempt? What the hell kind of a biker are you?’
‘One who wants his lawyer.’
***
Kent rubbed his wrists as he sat back in his chair. He knew all about the Reid interrogation method. Better women had tried to intimidate him than Agent Steel. Although things had improved in recent years, historically any woman attaining high political office had to have a will of pure adamantium and a ruthlessness to rival Lady Macbeth. Kent preferred working for women, working with women, as he generally found them so much more… focused than their male colleagues.
By putting him in an interrogation room before his lawyer arrived, Steel was flouting the rules. She was that sort of federal agent. Doubtless she imagined his relaxed demeanour meant that he was a hardened criminal, when the truth was that after repeated congressional committees he was simply hardened to intimidation attempts.
‘You’re doing yourself no good refusing to give your real name,’ Steel said, putting her feet up on the desk. ‘Sure, there’s no “Stop and Identify” statute in this state, but it’s not going to look good in front of the judge.’ She prodded the table with her finger. ‘You’re gonna need the goodwill of the judge.’ She shook her head. ‘A lot of these judges are very conservative. They don’t like outlaws of any stripe and especially not bikers.’
Kent’s cheek was throbbing. He’d caught a stray blow in the melee, which was probably fair, since he’d started it. His knuckles hurt more. He knew how to throw a punch without breaking his thumb but there was little to be done to prevent injury to the knuckles.
‘The bartender didn’t wanna talk to us,’ Steel said. ‘But several of the other patrons seemed to think that you were drowning your sorrows.’ She made a pastiche of a sad face. ‘What happened, did you have your eye on some sweet butt but one of your brother gang members beat you to her?’
Kent met her mocking gaze and smiled slightly. If he spoke, then he would invalidate his refusal to answer without his lawyer. She wasn’t nearly as aggressive as Selina Meyer or as irritating as Ben, and neither of them had spurred him to losing his temper. Kent, if pushed, would admit to having certain regrettable weaknesses of character. A short temper was certainly not one of them.
‘I get it,’ Steel said. ‘You got booted from one of the white gangs and you couldn’t make it by yourself. What happened, you not quite white enough? You got a little chocolate mixed up in your milk?’
Kent stood up, shrugged out of his jacket, and stretched. He was feeling a little… tense. Steel had been correct about one thing, if one was willing to stretch the term ‘correct.’ He had not been drinking out of pleasure or to bond with Santiago, who was overenthusiastic to the point of embarrassing, but to offset bad news.
'Ignore me all you want, Captain. I've got all the time.'
The door was pushed opened.
‘What’s going on here?’ a woman demanded.
Steel was already sneering. ‘Who the hell are you?’
‘His lawyer.’
She was... majestic in her perfectly tailed suit and work of art shoes.
‘Is that so?’ Steel asked.
‘My client has asked for me and invoked his right to silence. You have no business in here.’
Steel shrugged. ‘Maybe he changed his mind.’
‘He hasn’t.’ She took a sheaf of papers from her bag. ‘You’re a federal agent attempting to illegally question my client. He was arrested for a simple assault. Not a crime you have any jurisdiction over. You’re obviously attempting to trick, pressure, or otherwise coerce him into providing some sort of information against his club.’
Steel shrugged. ‘Can’t blame a girl for trying.’
‘These say otherwise.’
Steel took the paperwork with bad grace. ‘He’s still under arrest for assault.’
‘Twelve witnesses state that was self-defence. You’ll see the memorandum from the DA authorising his release.’
Steel smiled sweetly as she leafed through the papers. ‘That so? Problem is, these are all referring to a “Kent Davison.” This gentleman refused to give his name and he wasn’t carrying any ID. So how do I know that he's this Davison character?’
His lawyer raised a perfectly styled eyebrow. ‘I suggest you talk to your supervising agent, before you find yourself in even more of a mess.’
‘Ooh!’ Steel shuddered. ‘I’m so scared!’ She sauntered to the door. ‘Enjoy your little chit-chat.’
His lawyer sat down.
‘Diane...’
She held up a hand.
‘Given her general approach to the law, she’s probably listening at the door.
‘Thank you for flying out,’ he said meekly.
‘For a fistfight, how could I resist?’ she patted his hand. ‘What happened, Kent, bad day at work?’
Kent pulled a face. ‘Something like that.’
‘Well?’
‘She got married. I knew she was going to. I... just... Now I find out she didn’t even bother to tell me when it happened.’ Kent looked at his hands. ‘Did you call Ben?’
Diane nodded. ‘Everything will be squared away. He’s sending someone to pick you up.’
Kent snorted. ‘I don’t require a nursemaid.’
‘Yes you do. Look at you. You’ve been split up a year and she can still do this to you.’ She put her hand to his cheek. ‘You’re lucky that you weren’t seriously injured.’
Kent took her hand, squeezed, and gently put it on the table. ‘It was nothing. This whole thing is Agent Steel attempting to rattle something loose. She has nothing but a hunch and a vendetta.’
Diane stood. ‘She’ll have to be satisfied with your little friend. Doubtless she’ll get no more success with him.’
‘Santiago’s still here?’
Diane checked her lipstick. ‘His lawyer probably doesn’t have quite the same motivation I do.’
Kent nodded. ‘Is a check okay?’
‘Really not what I meant.’
* * *
‘I don’t want you to think of this as goodbye, Captain,’ Steel said as she escorted him out. ‘Think of it as au revoir.’ She grabbed his ass and squeezed.
If she was expecting anger or disgust, she was disappointed. Kent was only somewhat surprised. He had met women before who used sexual aggression to put men off guard. He’d even slept with a few. They tended to have a refreshing lack of hang-ups about their bodies.
‘Does that in some way ameliorate the desperate lack of control and agency you feel in your life, Agent Steel?’ Kent asked. ‘Aping the behaviour of boorish men who can only deal with their inadequacies by assaulting women may feel transgressive and empowering. However, it merely makes you appear boorish, inadequate, and unimaginative.’
She cocked her head. ‘I’m gonna find out what your deal is, Captain, and then we’re gonna tango, you and me.’
‘Can’t wait.’ Kent walked down into the lot and glanced around for whoever Ben had suckered into nursemaid duties.
‘Sue?’
She was dressed casually in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and had her arms tightly folded.
‘Get in the car,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘We have a long drive back.’
‘Actually, I need to stop at the clubhouse first.’
She glowered at him. He said nothing. The irresistible force met the immovable object.
***
Sue’s hands tightly gripped the wheel. ‘It's Thanksgiving. I was supposed to be with my husband and our families,’ she said.
With her husband.
‘You knew the job when you took it,' he said.
‘Running a cab service for drunken old men play-acting as bikers was not a part of the job description,’ she said.
Drunken old men. Kent counted to five. ‘Rest assured, I am no more pleased to have you here then you are to be here.’
She slammed on the brakes. They jolted in their seats. Behind then, someone lent on the horn. Sue gestured at them to go around.
‘You didn’t ask Ben to send me?’
‘Why would I do that?’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘He said I had to come. He implied it was my fault you were arrested.’
‘He was being characteristically overdramatic. I didn’t speak to Ben. I’m sure Diane didn’t say anything of the sort.’
Sue started the car again. ‘Diane?’
‘My lawyer,’ he said. ‘Also my sister-in-law.’
Sue relaxed a fraction.
‘Why did you come?’ he asked quietly.
‘Ben asked me.’
‘You don’t work for Ben,’ Kent said. ‘POTUS would understand if you’d refused.’
Sue gave him a look. ‘You think I would discuss any of this with her?’
‘I suppose not.’
Sue pursed her lips. ‘That police detective was wearing Gucci.’
‘How could you tell at that distance?’ Despite everything, he was still impressed. He still admired even her more esoteric skills.
‘It’s distinctive if you know what you’re looking for. I do.’
Kent looked out of the window. ‘She wasn’t a detective she was an FBI agent.’
‘Why did the FBI arrest you?’ Sue asked suspiciously.
‘She wanted to show me her handcuffs.’
Sue wasn’t amused. There had been a time, a brief, beautiful window, when she used to smile at his light-hearted comments. She never laughed. He knew better than to hope for anything so overt. But she had smiled.
‘You never smile at me anymore,’ he said quietly.
Her brow furrowed slightly. ‘What?’
‘Doesn’t matter.’
They rode in silence until they were approaching the club. ‘I don’t understand,’ Sue said.
Kent stirred himself. ‘Hmm?’
‘You said clubhouse.’
‘I did.’
Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘I see factories, garages, and run-down bars. I do not see anything approaching a golf course.’
Kent thought about it. ‘Not that kind of a clubhouse.’
See gave him a dark look. ‘If you have made me drive you all this way to take you to a strip club, you will walk back to D. C.’
‘It’s not a strip club,’ Kent said. ‘Pull over there.’
‘Then what is it?’
‘It’s just... a club. A place for people with similar interests to gather. Sometimes to drink, sure, but mostly for sociable interaction.’
Sue parked the car. ‘It sounds like a strip club.’
Kent leant back. ‘Sue, you are an intelligent, educated woman. Do I look dressed for either a golf course or a strip club?’
‘Possibly performing in one,’ she said tartly. ‘You took dressed for Halloween.’
She got out of the car before he could answer.
‘I don’t think you should come inside,’ he said.
Her lip curled in an expression of such disgust that he felt a little piece of himself die.
‘I do not know what other women will accept,’ she said. ‘But I will not be left in the car like a dog while the men talk.’
Kent rounded his shoulders. ‘I simply meant that it’s loud, dirty and rarely has the most salubrious smell.’
Sue raised an eyebrow. ‘Kent, take me inside your ridiculous little boys’ fantasy play pen and point towards the rest room. Otherwise your helmet will have the salubrious smell associated with my relieving myself in it.’
Unlike most of their contemporaries, the club accepted female members. It was one of the factors that had attracted Kent to it. It also meant the female facilities did at least receive more than marginal attention from the prospects tasked with cleaning.
Or so Kent speculated when Sue did not either scream or exit at high speed.
The club was fairly busy, and Sue’s appearance had been so sudden and surprising that it took a moment or two for the president to clasp Kent in greeting.
‘Where’s your little friend going?’ he asked.
‘She insisted on visiting the ladies,’ Kent said. ‘Or she was going to violate my helmet.’
There were some sniggers and Kent heard Crazy Lupe announce that everyone had done that at least once.
‘So who is she?’ the president asked.
Kent waved his hands. ‘That’s Sue. She came to pick me up from the lockup.’
The president squeezed Kent’s shoulder. ‘And you take that as a bad sign?’
‘She just got married.’
‘That makes it sweeter!’ he sniggered.
Kent rolled his eyes. He was well aware that his compatriots considered him.... in need of a good woman, so to speak. A bad one would be even better, but nobody expected miracles.
Roby sat on the bar next to him. ‘So, you like your women a little less MC and a lot more DMV.’
Kent snorted. ‘Working at the DMV wouldn’t pay for her shoes.’ He turned to the president. ‘I think Santiago is still being questioned.’
‘Sure, sure. The lawyer is on his way.’
Sue walked out of the ladies. She looked around, before walking across to Kent.
‘I have my bike outside,’ he said. ‘So you can drive –’
‘If you think I am driving all the way home on my own, you’re wrong.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘You are riding home with me if I have to Taser you first.’
‘She should bust your balls,’ Roby said approvingly. ‘She’s not an Uber.’
‘What’s he supposed to do with his bike?’ someone else asked.
Sue looked at Kent. ‘Does everyone here speak Spanish?’
‘It’s a club tradition,’ Kent said. ‘Roby here believes that it would be disrespectful and rude not to drive back with you.’
Sue caught Roby’s eye and nodded.
‘You don’t actually have a Taser?’ Kent asked.
‘Would you have me drive all this way to a police station? Driving while black is not a joke, Kent, particularly not while driving a new car.’
The president clasped Kent’s shoulder but addressed Sue in English. ‘Of course, he’ll drive back with you. What kind of man wouldn’t leap to protect his woman? Especially a fierce beauty. We’ll see if we can put his bike inside your car.’ He gave her a lascivious wink, and ambled away with most of the others.
‘He was teasing,’ Kent said quickly. ‘He’s aware we’re not together.’
‘You told a gang of bikers about our relationship?’
‘They’re my compatriots. We talk about things.’
‘You ride a motorcycle,’ Sue interrupted.
‘I do.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘You are in a motorcycle gang.’
‘A club.’ He licked his lips. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘I’m thinking that I don’t believe I ever knew you at all.’