14. Taine

Taine had never been a deep sleeper unless there was alcohol involved. And with the buzz from his whisky and Bud Light long since having worn off, it didn't take much more than a quiet knock at his hotel room door to wake him from his post-sex slumber.

‘Urgh, what… time is it?' Taine muttered, his eyes open and quickly seeing that it was three in the morning. ‘Who the fuck is that?'

The soft knocking at the door continued.

Taine assumed it must have been one of the hotel's twenty-four hour concierge staff, presumably having brought a food order to the wrong door.

But as Taine approached the hotel room door, his more suspicious instincts kicked in. The likelihood of the hotel still serving food at this hour was very low for all but the most prestigious patrons. And seeing as his room wasn't one of the top suites, Taine struggled to see how logically he could be mistaken for having made an order.

As Taine drew ever closer to the door, he remembered one of his old fighting mantras and repeated it back to himself in his head

On guard.

Alert.

Ready to strike.

However as he carefully peered through the door's spyhole, he realized that he needn't be worried. Or at least he thought not. It was Paolo Totti, Danilo's associate. But what did he want?

‘Paolo,' Taine said, opening the door and indicating for Paolo to step inside.

‘Taine,' Paolo replied, looking as immaculately dressed as he had earlier on in the night when Taine and Donovan saw him from a distance at ringside.

Taine took a moment to assess Paolo up close.

Paolo was well built but had a cat-like aura of agility and stealth to him. He was lean and had the kind of elegant posture that would put many yoga instructors to shame. But there was no denying that Paolo was as far from a peace-bringer as you could get.

Taine had been around Danilo for long enough to know a killer when he saw one.

Paolo Rossi had a dark edge to him, an aura that made it clear he was a ruthless, cold-blooded killer when required to be. With his dark hair and darker still eyes, Paolo looked like he could be a member of the Doni family himself.

‘We have a situation,' Paolo said, breaking the silence.

‘Okay,' Taine replied, the tension rising as he realized that this was very much not a get to know you late night stop off. ‘And you need me to assist, I assume.'

‘Correct,' Paolo replied. ‘I've located the rat. And I've been given very clear instructions to take him out without any further questioning.'

‘You're sure this is fully authorized by Danilo?' Taine asked, aware that killing a member of the wider Doni family without direct permission could come with severe consequences for all involved. ‘I have a good relationship with him and I'm not about to fuck that up.'

‘You can trust me,' Paolo replied. ‘I know how the game works. And I'll be the last man to cross the Doni family, believe me. I know what happens to those foolish enough to do so.'

Taine nodded.

He couldn't say beyond doubt, but Paolo was a decent man of integrity. Taine had met enough rogue characters in his life to know a bad man when he saw one, and Paolo was not giving that kind of vibe whatsoever.

‘Okay, so what do I need to do?' Taine said. ‘I mean, apart from put some fucking clothes on.'

‘That would be a start,' Paolo laughed. ‘You'll be with me. I've got a gun for you to use, but I'm thinking we do this as low key as we can. If possible, we don't draw any attention and it'll be a case of get in, do the job, and get out.'

‘Sounds good,' Taine replied.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Taine saw Donovan standing at the entrance to the bedroom in nothing but a short towel wrapped around his waist.

‘What sounds good?' Donovan said.

‘Boy, I think this is a me and Paolo thing,' Taine said, his Daddy instincts kicking in and wanting to protect his boy from any unnecessary danger. ‘You stay here.'

Taine could see that Donovan was about to protest, but before Taine could say anything, Paolo stepped forward.

‘Taine, with respect, Donovan is coming with us,' Paolo says. ‘For one, we're going to need the extra man. And secondly… this is coming directly from Danilo. Donovan is a part of this, and there's no getting around that.'

‘Fine by me,' Donovan said, returning to the bedroom to get changed.

Taine glared at Paolo but knew that there was nothing that could be said or done at this point. Donovan was going to be coming along and doing what needed to be done. Taine would have done anything to have changed that, but he realized that at this point the best thing he could do to protect his boy would be to stay alert and take the target out as efficiently as possible.

In less than five minutes, the three men were ready for action.

Taine and Donovan were dressed all in black and looked smart without standing out from the crowd. Taine knew that this was the first time that Donovan had ever been in a situation like this before, so was determined to keep him close and ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible.

Similarly, Taine also recognized that this was Danilo's way of testing Donovan.

If Donovan screwed up, then it could even jeopardize his future as an Ice Bear – and that was without mentioning the fact that any screw ups could be potentially fatal.

As Taine shut the hotel room door behind him, he paused as Donovan and Paolo walked ahead of him toward the elevator.

I'm going to look after you boy.

The mission is important.

But not as important as you are to me.

After a swift car journey across town, Taine looked across to Paolo in the driver's seat. They were at the location. It was a smart apartment block that had all the hallmarks of the kind of place that an affluent out of towner would use when they came to the city on a regular basis.

‘We're here,' Paolo said, turning the car engine off and looking at Taine and then Donovan in the rear. ‘I've got the apartment number. And I know that one of the rat's security team will have a key on them. We take him out first. Then we hit the room, do what is required, and it's goodnight.'

‘So… who is it?' Taine asked.

‘It doesn't matter,' Paolo replied. ‘Danilo wants this kept as quiet as it can be. The less people know the name, the better. And that includes you two.'

Taine nodded. In fact, it was probably easier this way. Somehow taking out an anonymous traitor was easier than had he known his name. Taine had only killed twice before, and both of those times were in situations that also involved Danilo.

Time to make it a hattrick.

And after this, forget about being all square…

Danilo owes me a big favor.

Without further ado, the three of them got out of the car and quietly and quickly made their way toward a side entrance to the building that Paolo had scoped out.

‘Follow me, Donovan,' Paolo said. ‘Taine, you watch the rear.'

‘A pleasure,' Taine quipped, his dark sense of humor coming to the fore.

As the three men made their way up the staircase, there was an eerie silence. If Taine didn't know better, he might have thought that they were walking directly into trap.

Suddenly, his mind began to rage with possibilities. What if this was a case of history repeating itself? Taine had been betrayed and duped by the fight promoter all those years ago. What if this was the same?

‘Daddy, are you okay?' Donovan said, turning and seeing a look of anguish on Taine's face. ‘Don't worry about me. I'm good. I know I'm safe because I'm with you.'

Taine didn't know whether Donovan was saying that just to make him feel better, but either way it worked. With his mind refocused on the here and now, Taine walked with the others until they reached right floor.

‘So what's the play?' Taine asked, noting that Paolo hadn't yet taken out the guard required to gain access to the apartment.

‘We've got two options,' Paolo said, peering out from the door and onto the lobby. ‘It looks like the security detail is on patrol. So we either wait for him to return and take him out, or we improvise.'

‘Improvise?' Taine replied, arching his eyebrow. ‘I can do that.'

Taine knew that if the rat was at the fight night, then he would almost certainly know who he was. And as Taine knew from experience, nearly all fight fans were more than keen to have a selfie or regale a former contender with stories about how they too were a fighter who could have made it – almost always total bullshit, but that was beside the point.

‘Watch and wait for the right moment,' Taine said, stepping out into the corridor and heading toward the apartment door, stumbling and banging into the corridor walls. ‘Who wants a fight? Who wants to fight a real champion?'

Taine spoke especially loudly as he walked past the rat's apartment door.

And just as he would have bet his last dollar on, the door opened and the traitor in question was standing on the other side of it, a stupid grin on his face.

‘Taine fuckin' Crash!' the man said, no doubt ready to tell Taine all his old gym stories.

Taine smiled and pretended to hiccup.

‘Any chance you have some whisky?' Taine said, doing his best impression of a boozehound drunkard searching for one last drink of the night.

‘Hell yeah I do,' the man replied. ‘Step inside and we'll let rip on my finest bottle.'

It was at this moment that the man turned around and Taine seized his chance. Swiftly wrapping his arms around the man's neck, he applied the hardest, most ruthlessly efficient choke hold he could.

And no sooner than the man's knees were buckling, Taine was joined by Paolo and Donovan.

‘Get him inside,' Paolo said. ‘We move quickly. Efficiently. As planned.'

Taine released the man from his grip once Donovan had shut the door. To Taine's surprise, the man was still conscious.

‘Who the fuck are you three sonsofbitches?' the man said, a look of arrogant defiance on his face. ‘You've got no idea who you're fucking with.'

‘I think it's you who doesn't know,' Paolo replied, his voice cold and in complete control as he put one hand inside his jacket. ‘A message from Danilo… rot in hell.'

As the words came out of Paolo's mouth, Taine could see a look of realization come onto the man's face. It was all over. And he knew it too.

‘Fuck you, and fuck the Doni family forev-'

But before the man could finish his sentence, Paolo had planted a bullet from his silenced pistol directly into the man's frontal lobe.

Paolo made doubly sure by shooting the man in the heart twice. It was a classic execution and the Volcheck family would know exactly what had gone done. But this was the way that Danilo wanted it, and it was a clear message that the Doni family were not to be messed with.

‘Let's move,' Paolo said, turning to open the door.

But just as the three of them stepped out onto the corridor they were faced by two security guards. Without hesitating, Donovan charged the pair of them and took them down to the ground like he'd been studying one on one combat all his life.

‘Fuck, that was good,' Taine shouted, much to Paolo's obvious disapproval.

‘I said keep things quiet!' Paolo hissed. ‘Now go and finish the job with your boy.'

And with that, Taine powered down toward Donovan and the pair of them saw to it that the two Volcheck security men would be waking up with aching bones and swollen faces.

‘Should we…' Donovan said, towering over the fallen men.

‘No, it's a better signal to leave them alive,' Paolo interjected. ‘It's more humiliating that we didn't consider them a big enough threat to kill.'

Taine chuckled. Paolo made a great point. It was the equivalent of making a fighter tap out.

And just like that, Taine, Donovan and their new ally Paolo disappeared from the lobby, the apartment building, and then out into the blackness of the night.

The mission had been accomplished – and now all that was left was to head back to the hotel and try to get some sleep before an early departure the following morning.

‘I'll be seeing you around,' Paolo said, smiling enigmatically before speeding away into the night.

‘That guy. Jeez. Talk about an enigma. Anyway… you did good, boy,' Taine said as they walked up toward their hotel building.

‘You mean that, Daddy?' Donovan replied. ‘I was a bit scared. But…'

‘Fear's good,' Taine replied. ‘It's how you use fear that counts. Trust me. I've been there a thousand times. But it's too late for philosophy now. Let's get all snuggled up and asleep as quick as we can.'

Donovan smiled sweetly and held out his hand for Taine to take.

Taine duly obliged and they walked back into the hotel, hand in hand, the image of the perfect Daddy and Little.

As far as Taine was concerned, it felt like paradise.

But Taine knew that once they got back to the academy, it would very much be a case of business as usual…