14. Paolo

After waking up to a dwindling fire, Paolo had carried a snoozing Tommy to bed with him and the pair of them had spent the remainder of the night happily sleeping side by side in Paolo's bed.

And when morning came, Paolo couldn't help but find himself basking in the glow of waking up next to the cutest hockey playing boy in the city. But rather than longue around in bed, Paolo had decided that what he and his special Little needed was a morning stroll to grab a coffee and a juice…

‘Bleurgh, I wish we could have stayed in bed,' Tommy groaned as he shielded his eyes from the morning sun.

‘Nope, was never going to happen,' Paolo laughed. ‘I want to make the most of our time together. Once we're back at the academy for more training, it will be business as usual. We'll need to keep things very professional. It won't be fun and games just because we're… you know.'

‘Okay, I guess,' Tommy replied. ‘But can I get a smoothie? Something really, really, sweet and sugary?'

‘You can get a fruit smoothie,' Paolo said, putting his arm around Tommy's shoulder as they drew closer to the coffee spot. ‘This place does a mean kiwi, pineapple, and apple smoothie that's great for energizing you.'

‘So why don't you get that then?' Tommy giggled, knowing full well that the only thing Paolo was interested in was a double espresso.

‘Because I'm Daddy, and Daddy knows what's best,' Paolo chuckled. ‘Now no more sass or I'll take you round the corner and wobble those cheeks something crazy.'

‘Ummmm… that actually sounds fun!' Tommy said, looking super-cute as he laughed.

Paolo smiled and made his order before walking with Tommy to a perfect spot in the seating area outside the café. With a wonderful view of the park across the street, and the morning sun having thankfully replaced the rain clouds of the previous night, it was looking like shaping into the perfect morning.

‘So how does a trip to the museum sound?' Paolo said. ‘We could go and see that space exhibition that's just opened. I know they've got a rocket simulator there. Sounds like you're kind of thing.'

‘I'm in,' Tommy said, thanking the waiter as he placed down the fresh smoothie. ‘And maybe we could watch a movie tonight?'

‘Now we're talking,' Paolo added. ‘We could make it a space double. I'm pretty big into science fiction movies. So leave the film choice to me.'

‘Now why do I think you're going to choose something old and weird?' Tommy asked, knowing full well that he would be pushing Paolo's buttons with that response.

‘It's not too late for me to take you down that side street,' Paolo said, sipping on his double espresso. ‘Or failing that, I could simply spank you right here and now?'

Tommy blushed and covered his face.

But before the back and forth could continue, Paolo suddenly felt a chill come over him. Something was up. He didn't know what. And he didn't know why. But something inside Paolo was bringing up a red flag.

Then, for the briefest of moments, Paolo caught a glimpse of a glare of light from inside the park.

‘Boy, get down!' Paolo bellowed, throwing himself across the table and taking Tommy to the ground.

A shot rung out and the sound of shattering glass behind them confirmed Paolo's worst fears. The glint in the park had been from a sniper's sight. It was Mick Teale. It had to be.

‘With me, now,' Paolo commanded, grabbing Tommy by his t-shirt and crouch-walking behind the tables as another shot rang out through the air. ‘Quick, up on your feet and run with me.'

With that, the pair of them ran down the side street.

Paolo knew that they were out of the sniper's line of vision.

But that didn't mean that the danger was over. In fact, it had only just begun…

With his engine roaring and his own fury seeming to propel his car to even greater speeds, Paolo was in no mood for waiting around.

As he drove his car out of the city, he knew that things were different now.

There would be no more planning or deliberating.

Mick Teale had signaled war, and this time there would be only one man walking away alive.

After the shooting at the café, Paolo had called an emergency meeting with Danilo Doni and Jack Steele. To his credit, Danilo offered Paolo the opportunity to walk away from the academy with no recriminations. The threat of Mick Teale was very real, and Danilo explained that if Paolo wanted to disappear into the night and never return then this was fine.

Alternatively, Danilo had also said that if Paolo was willing to lay low for a moment, he would provide the full use of his army of street soldiers to hunt Mick Teale down. But this would have to wait due to a situation that was developing with a rival family from New York.

Both options were fair, and Paolo appreciated them.

But Paolo saw this as his war, and it was a war that he wanted to fight right there and then. After letting Mick Teale off the hook once, he wasn't going to contemplate letting that happen again. Teale had to be taken out, and the sooner the better.

However, Danilo's first idea did give Paolo some inspiration. It was a tough choice, but Paolo decided that he would message Tommy and tell him that he was leaving town to take the heat off. Paolo knew that this would upset Tommy, but it was the best option for Tommy's safety – and to make it truly convincing, Paolo knew that he couldn't let Tommy in on his plans for sticking around and taking Teale out.

‘Fuck, I need to go faster,' Paolo said, swerving past an old truck as it huffed and puffed its way along the long road that led to Paolo's out of town destination.

But soon enough, the truck was a blip in the rear view mirror as Paolo took the hard right turn and drove down the long dusty path toward his old friend Roddy's gun shack…

‘Well, well, well… it's been a long time,' Roddy said, a big smile on his face as Paolo walked into his private gun armory. ‘And I'm guessing by the look on your face that this ain't a social visit?'

‘It's always good to see you, my man,' Paolo replied. ‘But you're right. This is business. Serious fucking business too.'

‘Got it,' Roddy said, a knowing look on his face. ‘Let's get down into the weeds then. Follow me.'

With that, the pair of old friends walked through the heavily reinforced rear door and into the armory's real treasure trove of supplies.

‘We've got some imported tech here, as always,' Roddy smiled, taking great pride in the vast array of weapons that he had sourced on the black market. ‘Anything in particular you're looking for?'

Paolo looked around the room.

It was difficult to know where to start. Mick Teale was a tricky opposition to figure out. It would need to be a gun or type of explosive that could take him by surprise. There was no doubting that Teale was good at what he did – in fact if it wasn't for Paolo, he might well have remained the number one hitman in the city up until this day.

And it didn't take long for Roddy to pick out something very special indeed.

‘Give me a minute, I'll be right back,' Roddy said, smiling with pride as he went about putting together a selection for Paolo that a renegade army general would be proud of.

As Paolo waited, it felt like as good a time as any to send the message to Tommy that he had been dreading…

PAOLO: My darling Tommy, I want to be honest with you. I need to leave town for a while. All I can say is that I will be back. I can't say when, but you have to have faith in me. This isn't easy, but know that you mean so much to me. Please don't reply to this message, Paolo.

Paolo hit send and immediately felt a strong pang of guilt for deceiving his darling boy like that. It was a white lie, but one that Paolo strongly suspected Tommy would struggle to not be upset by.

But as much as it would have been nice to tell Tommy the whole truth, Paolo knew that the less Tommy knew, the better. This was how he had been trained by his mentor, and Paolo knew that it was the right approach.

I must have faith in Tommy.

Once I take out Teale, I'll explain everything.

But until then, it's radio silence from here on out…

However before Paolo could put his phone away, he saw that Tommy had replied to his message, and just as anticipated he wasn't happy…

TOMMY: What the hell? Are you kidding me? Okay whatever though. You do you, I'll be fine.

Paolo shook his head. He didn't blame Tommy for being angry, but he knew that he couldn't bend and tell Tommy what was going on. It was far, far too dangerous to involve him any more than he was already.

For all Paolo knew, Teale had a street spy working for him who could not only reveal the extent of their relationship, but also compromise not only Tommy's address but the location of the academy too.

This was the only way and there was simply no turning back from this point.

Mick Teale was going to meet his maker very soon, but Paolo knew that it wasn't going to be simple – in fact, it could be the hardest kill of his whole damn career.