12. Taine

Taine was up early and feeling fresh. It was almost becoming a habit for him now, and it was a welcome break from his old wild living ways.

As he stretched and took in the morning sun as it burst through his hotel room window, Taine thought about how much of a release it had been to be with Donovan the previous day.

Of course there was the obvious fact that the two of them had got down and dirty in Donovan's bedroom, but it felt like a lot more than something purely physical.

Taine had enjoyed being on the flight with Donovan and spending some time outside of the confines of the academy. Sure, there was still the same power dynamic between them, but away from training drills and combat tutorials, Taine had enjoyed getting to know Donovan better.

‘The boy's… quite something,' Taine muttered to himself as he continued to stretch out his hips and feel them open up.

Taine knew he wasn't a young pup anymore – and probably hadn't been for quite some time. His morning stretches were important to him and helped keep him strong and free from injury.

‘Urgh, what does Danilo want?' Taine said, noticing his phone flash up with Danilo's name on the lock-screen.

Had it been anyone else in the world, Taine would have left the message unread until he completed his stretches. But this was Danilo. And if Danilo hated one thing more than anything else, it was being kept waiting – especially when it was Ice Bears business.

Taine bounced up from this stretch and picked up his phone.

DANILO: Good morning, Mr. Crash. I trust everything is going well. Tonight is fight night, the reason that you're there. I'm going to send you an itinerary of people I want you to look out for. Remember: only use violence if needed. And do not involve the police under any circumstances. I know, I know, they're the last people you want to see. And remember, no one there knows that you're working for me, so if anyone even suggests that they know then I want to know who. Go well, my friend.

Taine took a moment to digest the message. If he didn't know better, Taine might have suspected that him and Donovan had been sent to lure the Doni leak out of hiding. Many would have taken that personally, but it was just business as far as Taine was concerned. It was a dangerous situation either way, and he wasn't going to start getting his panties in a ruffle over it.

TAINE: No problemo, Mr. Doni. You know you can rely on me. But if I come back with some juicy information, I'm going to be expecting a nice, fat bonus in my bank account. Actually, scratch that. I want cash! See you in a couple of days no doubt.

DANILO: One more thing. My associate Paolo Totti will be in attendance too. It's unlikely he'll make contact, that's not his style. He likes to move in the shadows, like a viper waiting to strike. But try and see if you can spot him – you're going to be working alongside one another at the academy soon if I have my way.

‘Aww hell, a fucking surprise guest,' Taine said, shaking his head. ‘Just what I need.'

With that, Taine turned the phone face down and got back to his stretches. It was going to be a long day and then an even longer night. Taine wanted to make sure that he was as limber and warmed up as he could be.

After all, while it was mainly a reconnaissance mission, Taine knew all too well from his own recent past that violence was only ever round the corner – and with the added factor of being part of the Doni criminal underworld, Taine suspected that his fists and feet might be called into action sooner rather than later.

‘Taine are you okay?' Donovan said, subtly touching Taine's hand as they stood up in their seats, the main event only minutes away.

Taine could hear what Donovan was saying but didn't respond.

Being at a big fight night with all the bright lights, glitz, glamour, and charged atmosphere was bringing back a lot of memories – some good, some not so good.

‘Um, yeah, I'm fine,' Taine eventually replied, turning to Donovan and smiling. ‘It's been a while, you know?'

Donovan nodded and the pair of them focused their thoughts on the brief at hand. Taine had received the itinerary from Danilo and had run over it with Donovan. With several people to look out for, plus of course keeping an eye open for anyone who was directly connected to the Doni family, the pair of them had their hands full.

The arena was packed. Alongside the thousands of fight fans were celebrities, sports stars, and super-rich businessmen. In some ways this made it harder to spot people, but it did give both Taine and Donovan the chance to fly under the radar themselves.

‘Would it be uncool for me to ask Stallone for his autograph?' Donovan asked, a hopeful smile on his face.

‘Sorry, kid, not this time,' Taine replied. ‘The likes of Stallone have got so many cameras on them that the second we approach him, those cameras will be on us too. That's not how we need to roll this time.'

‘Okay but what if he asks me for an autograph?' Donovan continued. ‘He might be a huge Ice Bears fan!'

‘Ha!' Taine chuckled. ‘Well that would be different. Obviously.'

As the main title fight drew closer, Taine and Donovan noted several members of the rival Volcheck crime family. From senior looking figures to low level thugs, it seemed like the Volchecks were making their presence felt.

But there was no sign of anyone who could be connected to the Doni family.

‘Keep looking,' Taine said, his voice low. ‘Danilo's convinced that there's a rat in the family. After what went down when he first arrived at the Ice Bears, it's been his mission to find and takeout whoever the hell it is that's leaking information and working against them.'

‘I'm on it,' Donovan replied, subtly nudging Taine in the thigh. ‘Over there. Two rows from the front. The handsome guy in the black suit. Is that…'

‘It might be,' Taine said. ‘But Danilo told me not to approach Paolo Totti. He's an assassin. Does things alone. If he's decided to move in the open like this, it could be that he's onto something. We're best staying the hell out of his way. And less of the handsome guy, boy.'

Donovan giggled and nodded his head.

Suddenly the lights went out in the arena and the crowd gasped and then erupted into cheers. The lights came back on and started flashing as loud entrance music began to blare. It was fight time, and for a brief moment Taine felt all of the old adrenalin from his years as a prizefighter surge back into his body.

It's been a long time.

Fuck, I miss this.

Nothing else comes close.

And if Taine felt like wanted to be back fighting from the ring-walks, then his feelings went up a notch as the fighters were introduced to the crowd and then began to fight.

Suddenly, Danilo's instructions were the last thing on Taine's mind as he roared the fighters on and shouted instructions from the side. Taine felt like he was living each and every punch and kick as the blows landed.

‘Dip, low kick!' Taine bellowed as the title challenger made good headway with a series of body shots. ‘Take him to the mat!'

‘Who's going to win?' Donovan said, seeming like he was getting into the fight in a major way too. ‘I want the challenger to win. He's just not going to give up. He seems like he wants it more.'

‘He's got that hunger,' Taine replied. ‘It's all he's ever dreamed of. And now he's so close to doing it too. All he has to do is keep the faith and trust in his skills and all the hard work he's put in in training camp.'

Taine was feeling every punch and kick at this point, the sound of the crowd roaring their approval bringing a feverish atmosphere to a head. And just as the challenger was about to land a crushing blow toward the end of the final round, the buzzer sounded.

‘No fucking way!' Taine shouted, his voice hoarse at this point. ‘They called it early!'

And from this moment, Taine could almost see how this was going to play out.

The challenger was looking dangerous, like he might win. The powers that be had stepped in and ended the fight just early enough to prevent the champion being knocked out. Corruption was still playing a major part in the fight game, and it made Taine fill with rage.

‘He might still win on the judges' scorecards,' Donovan said, a note of hope in his voice.

‘Yeah, and I might make a comeback,' Taine replied sarcastically, his mood soured somewhat by the inevitable miscarriage of justice that was coming.

And just as he anticipated, the champion was soon after declared the winner. And even though the crowd booed and showed its disapproval, there was one heartbroken challenger in the corner of the octagon.

Taine's head was suddenly filled with all the painful memories of his own title fight, or lack of one. He knew how painful it was to have your dreams unfairly snatched away at the hands of corrupt, power hungry people who would never dare set foot inside the octagon or ring themselves.

As he stared into the distance, Taine could feel his heart sinking deeper and deeper.

‘I'm sorry, Taine,' Donovan said. ‘I guess this brings back bad memories.'

‘Fuck it,' Taine replied. ‘I'll sulk later over a whisky. We've still got some work to do. Let's head to the VIP area backstage and see what's up.'

With that, Taine led the way as he and Donovan left their seats and went about continuing their reconnaissance mission. Taine wanted to wrap the evening up as quickly as possible at this point, and with a sense of deflation filling his heart, he was starting to have second thoughts about involving himself in this world again.

Life as a wild living party guy was fun with no responsibilities – and best of all, it didn't require dredging up painful memories from his fighting past either.

This sport won't ever change.

I'm best out of it for good.

Maybe this whole academy thing was a bad idea too…