17. Cole

Chapter 17

Cole

‘You do have a choice. You know that don't you?' Cole asked, turning to face Joaquin as the pair of them waited patiently outside the warehouse where Katsen and his men were expected to arrive in a matter of less than an hour.

‘I know,' Joaquin replied, his voice calm and his eyes trained on the barren looking warehouse across the street. ‘This is what I need to do. I don't want to turn back now.'

‘Good,' Cole said, his voice low and full of serious intent. ‘Once this is all over, it'll be you and me. We'll build a life together. You'll never need to worry about anything again. I promise you that.'

Joaquin simply nodded and continued to stare ahead of him.

The truck was quiet, save for the sound of an old jazz radio station playing quietly on the car stereo. The rain had slowed too, although the wind continued to whip around and through the bridge overhead.

Cole was happy enough that Dante Chiellini could be trusted. Everything that Jack steel had told him about Dante had checked out, and Cole was confident that Jack would never lie to him about something so serious.

Cole and Jack had a long history. Their hockey careers had gone in different directions though, despite the pair of them being supremely talented and two of the most physically gifted athletes in the sport's history.

Jack was able to avoid the trouble that always seemed to follow Cole around. But it was more than that. Jack actively went about protecting his career and making sure that he presented himself as the ultimate professional. Cole meanwhile had always been naturally drawn to the wilder side of life. When the controversies and injuries came during Cole's career, he had less and less credit in the bank until the point of no return.

Cole didn't begrudge Jack his era-defining career on the ice, but he did sometimes wish that he had the same stability that Jack had. And perhaps that was why Cole wanted to help give Joaquin the kind of stable, steady life that he had never been able to give himself.

There was a future for Joaquin that Cole wanted to play a part in.

In fact, Cole felt from the deepest pit of his stomach that he wanted to be the central figure in Joaquin's life from this point onward. And knowing that both Jack and Dante both had similar relationships with their loves was a motivating factor for Cole.

However, this wasn't the time for Cole to be thinking too far ahead at what his and Joaquin's future might look like. This was strictly professional. They were lying in wait for Rohan Katsen and his thugs. This was a moment that would involve violence of the most severe nature – and Cole knew that he had to channel all his old ice-cold ruthlessness from his days as a hockey pro to pull it off.

‘Cole, your phone… it's Dante,' Joaquin said, his eyes lighting up. ‘Is that the signal?'

Cole lifted his phone up from the storage space next to the stick shift and took a look…

DANTE: Arrival imminent. Following behind shortly. Rear exit sealed. Upper floor secured. Kit located in side alley. No mistakes.

Cole read the message twice, just to make sure everything was clear in his head. It was time to go. It was time to put the bloody final touches on this chapter of his and Joaquin's life…

After watching Rohan and his men enter the warehouse, Cole and Joaquin snuck out from the truck and headed straight to the alley at the side of the warehouse. After quickly rummaging through the industrial trash can, the pair of them took out a metal suitcase that contained their arsenal.

‘You sure you don't need a quick tutorial?' Cole asked, watching as Joaquin locked and loaded his shotgun.

‘I've been in enough situations to know what's up,' Joaquin replied. ‘And my grandfather with a big gun guy too. I should be asking you if you're all good, Mr. Hockey.'

‘Right,' Cole said, smiling.

Joaquin's sassy humor never failed to amuse Cole, and even in a situation as stressful as the one they were in it was good to see it still shining through the darkness.

Without wasting a single further moment, Cole and Joaquin made their way from the alley toward the basement steps that would lead them down toward their entry point. Dante had secured the building and made sure that the pair of them could enter without detection as long as they held their nerve and didn't make any undue noise.

Cole could tell from the look of icy focus on Joaquin's face that he was absolutely ready to do what needed to be done. But what Cole didn't know was whether Rohan Katsen and his men would be ready to fight back. Even taking into account Dante's presence and that of his bodyguards, there was still a chance that things could go wrong. However it was a chance that simply had to be taken.

‘Quietly,' Cole hissed as Joaquin made his way up from the dark basement toward the internal lobby.

‘Sorry,' Joaquin whispered, carefully treading over some loose metal poles that were scattered across the walkway. ‘Over here, it's the window Dante told us about.'

Cole nodded and the two of them crept across the elevated lobby and peered through the small window down onto the warehouse's main unit. With Dante and three guards on one side and Katsen and his men on the other, it looked like the odds were stacked in Cole and Joaquin's favor.

All they had to do was hold their position, line up the targets as agreed, and then Katsen would be the last man standing for them to take down. Everything had been planned in advance and as long as they all played their positions, there wouldn't be any trouble finishing Katsen off.

But just as Cole was leaning over to whisper into Joaquin's ear, the boy made a sudden movement and dashed toward the staircase.

‘J! What the fuck! Come back here!' Cole snapped. ‘Fucking come back here right now!'

Joaquin was running down to the warehouse floor and there was nothing that Cole could do to stop him. He'd either been unnerved at the sight of Katsen and his men or was experiencing some kind of flashback to what they'd put him through. Either way, Joaquin was running into a certain death unless Cole did something to protect him.

Cole knew that the next move was likely to be the riskiest play of his entire life – and it could also be the last move he ever made too. He had to make a distraction, and it had to be good enough to draw everyone's attention away from a soon to be visible Joaquin running directly into the line of fire.

‘Up here motherfuckers!' Cole bellowed, smashing the window with the butt of his shotgun and firing down onto the warehouse floor. ‘I see you Katsen! And I'm gonna kill you.'

Katsen and his men immediately returned fire on Cole and he dropped to the floor, unsure whether he had been hit or not. But after a quick glance, Cole could see that he was okay, save for some shattered glass that had cut and grazed his arms.

But while Cole may have been fine, he had no idea what the situation with Joaquin was – and with guns letting rip like fireworks, the answer could have easily gone either way.

‘You missed!' Cole roared, jumping up to his feet and firing off a couple of shots from his elevated position before making his way toward the staircase and closer to the gunfight.

Joaquin was still alive and shooting out from behind a large metal container.

Dante and his men had taken cover and were carefully placed near the entrance so that there was no escape for Katsen.

This truly was a full-scale shootout.

And as the bullets ripped and the bodyguards fell, blood splattered across the warehouse floor and a stalemate developed. One side had to make a move and risk it all to get the kill. It was only a matter of time before the police arrived, and Cole knew that they were in the realm of life with no parole should things play out as expected.

‘Dante, cover me,' Cole bellowed, rolling out from his cover and downing one of Katsen's thugs before picking up the thug's gun and using it as an extra weapon. ‘J, make your move!'

With that, Joaquin and Cole burst forward together and wiped out Katsen's two remaining bodyguards with shots to the chest and the head.

Only Katsen remained standing…

‘You dirty sonsofbitches,' Katsen said, a manic grin on his face as his own thugs' blood covered his white shirt. ‘You really gonna kill me? A couple of amateurs like you? Dante… why don't you tell them about our agreement?'

Cole and Joaquin exchanged a look.

Surely Dante and Katsen didn't have some kind of alliance together. Or did they?

‘Katsen…' Dante said, stepping out and walking over toward Cole and Joaquin. ‘Yes, we talked. And yes, I initially agreed to do business with you.'

‘Good. So shoot these motherfuckers,' Katsen said, a slight look of panic in his eyes. ‘I'll double my price. I'll take a smaller cut of the profit. Just kill these assholes and let's move forward together.'

‘I don't do business with people like you,' Dante said, his voice cold and his face showing zero emotion. ‘There's a code. And it's a code that's written in stone. Fuck you.'

With that, Dante stepped back and nodded at Joaquin.

‘This is for everyone you've ever bullied, tortured, abused, and killed,' Joaquin said, his voice full of venom but under total control too. ‘And most of all, it's for me .'

Joaquin wasted no more time and shot Katsen in the head, directly between his eyes.

It was all over.

Cole could see a weight lifted from his young man's shoulders right there and then. A new chapter was ready to be written in both his and Joaquin's lives. But before they could get ahead of themselves, it was time to make a sharp exit.

‘Follow me, we've got cars waiting for us,' Dante said. ‘It's been a pleasure gentlemen. Hopefully next time we meet it can be under more relaxed circumstances. You're welcome at Dante's Kitchen at any time. And you might want to check out my club too. We cater for all tastes, and you might just find something you like.'

Cole and Joaquin nodded their appreciation and before they knew it they were both sitting in the back of one of Dante's cars and being driven to a safe spot where they could wash and change.

‘J, I need to say something,' Cole said, looking across the rear seat toward Joaquin as the driver carefully took them out of the city center and toward the safe house.

‘It's okay, I get it,' Joaquin replied. ‘This was fun, you did what you thought was right, but now I'm safe you don't want to be with me anymore. That's cool.'

Cole couldn't believe what he was hearing.

‘Hell no,' Cole roared. ‘Hell, hell, hell no! I don't want to break up with you. I love you. I want us to be together. I want you to be mine. And I mean forever .'

For the first time that day, Joaquin's eyes filled with emotion.

‘And I want to be with you forever too,' Joaquin replied, tears streaming down his face as the enormity of the whole situation suddenly hit him. ‘I love you. I think I have since the first time I saw you. But now I know it's not a phase or some passing thing. I love you, Cole. And I'm yours forever .'

Cole took Joaquin's hand and nodded. His body was aching and he felt more exhausted than at any time during his hockey career or in the ensuing wild years in the wilderness.

But Cole was happy. And it was a feeling he wasn't ever going to let go of again…