Elite (11 page)

It seemed that in a blink of an eye Daniel found himself walking through the front doors of the building, out into the blazing heat on the streets of Downtown Chicago.

He already knew that taking the job as an AE was not feasible—He would never be able to pay his rent that way. He had been left with only two options: Move back home to Indiana, or take Richfield up on his offer.

It seemed that in another blink of an eye Daniel found himself in the subway, waiting for the southbound red train to arrive at the station.  He didn’t remember any of his walk from the radio station building to the subway station. He had been so consumed by his thoughts that he had shut out the rest of the world and unconsciously began making his way home.

Something had suddenly brought him back into the world of the living.

His phone was vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out to see who was calling—it was Jordan.

He was surprised he got signal on the platform. Normally he lost it once he made his way underground and into the bowels of the subway.

Suddenly he was interrupted by his own thoughts.

“Navy Pier!”
He exclaimed quietly, yet still audibly to himself.

He answered the phone as his normal brain function began returning to him.

“Hey Jordan,” he said into the phone, still a little out of it as his conscious mind had not yet fully reached 100 percent efficiency.

“Hey, are you busy?” she asked.

Daniel looked around. He had probably never been less busy in his entire life.

“Not a bit,” he responded, not able to hold back a tiny smirk from emerging on his face.

He figured she was probably calling to decline his invitation to go and drink with him at the pier. It had become a common occurrence since she had moved to town. Between teaching and Demérs, she had very little time for a casual afternoon rendezvous with Daniel.

Today, Daniel thought, he almost preferred it that way. All he wanted to do right now was go home, crack open a beer, and try not to break down. For the first time since meeting her, he felt he would rather be alone than with Jordan.

“Are you still going to Navy Pier later?” She asked him.

Later?
He thought to himself.

He looked down at his watch. It wasn’t even ten o’clock. Then he remembered that he had only just gotten to work when they sent him packing. He hadn’t even sat down yet. In all of the chaos that had ensued inside his head, he had completely lost touch with the fact that it was still morning.

It was also very odd for Jordan to be calling him this early.

“Umm…” Daniel contemplated his answer. This wasn’t a situation he had prepared himself for. He truly didn’t know the answer.

“Yes,” he decided. He was curious to know her response, and decided that if she said she couldn’t make it he would most likely just stay home.

“Will you be joining me?” He inquired.

“I’m not sure yet.” It was her usual safe response. “I don’t have anything planned right now though, so I think maybe, yeah.”

Typical Jordan—telling him what he wanted to hear but leaving the door wide open for her to bail at the last minute.

Daniel let out an audible sigh, and he knew, that she knew, that he knew why she had answered the way she had.

He decided to just come right out with the news.

“Well I just lost my job, so even though I shouldn’t spend any money on it, I’m probably going to need a drink or two…or five.”

The intention was to grease her wheels a little, and guilt her into coming. This made him realize that his earlier thought of wanting to be alone had been a bold faced lie that he had only told himself so that it wouldn’t hurt as bad when she said no. The last thing he needed was more disappointment.

Still, even though he had used his unfortunate situation as a weapon, Jordan was his best friend and it wouldn’t have made a lick of sense
not
to tell her.

“Oh no!”
She said with sincere grief. “Daniel, that’s terrible!”

“Yeah,” he said plainly. “They offered me another job, but I would work entirely on commission. I’d never survive the first few months. I don’t have nearly enough money saved up to pay rent for even
one
month. I’m pretty much screwed.”

“Daniel…” she said, conveying as much sympathy as she could. Every bit of it was real, Daniel knew, but Jordan was definitely pushing it in her voice so that it would be clear that she felt sorry for him. “I’m so, so sorry. I hate this for you.”

“Well I’m not exactly dancing on sunshine,” he said, his voice still level and almost unconcerned. He wasn’t about to start pouting to Jordan on the phone in the middle of the subway station.

“I can only imagine,” she said despairingly. “Well I am definitely going to make it out to the Pier now, and drinks are on me at
Margaritaville.”

Daniel smiled. He truly did not want to, but he couldn’t help it. He would always love her.

Just then the train pulled up. It was his cue.

“Okay, well I’m headed home and the train just got here, so I’m going to let you go,” he told Jordan.

“Okay, I have to go too,” she replied. “Try to keep your chin up and I’ll see you around five-thirty. Text me if you need to.”

Daniel found that his smile had not yet disappeared from his face.

“Bye,” he told her, almost sweetly.

“Bye,” she reciprocated in a tone one would generally end a phone call with.

He hung up the phone and found an open seat on the train. He allowed a bit of happiness to rise up within himself. At least something positive would come out of this day. He now admitted to himself that he preferred being at Navy Pier with Jordan than at home by himself. Regardless, he would now experience the best of both worlds.

He decided that when he got home he would
lay on his bed and contemplate the horror film that had become his life, then head back into the center of town to meet Jordan for drinks.

Dammit!
He cursed himself. He probably could have gotten Jordan to come over to his apartment if he had asked. He had taken a passive-aggressive approach to trying to get Jordan over his apartment more often, but she was very skilled at finding ways around it. Only one time had he convinced her to come over—it was a Friday night and she came by after work to make dinner with him. He had tried then to convince her to stay, but she had refused.

He almost considered texting her—she would no doubt feel obligated to stop by if he told her he’d rather stay in and needed someone to talk to—but he decided against it. He wasn’t going to use his pain against Jordan any longer. He hated doing that. He’d rather bear the pain the nature of their relationship continuously created within him, than to pass that onto her. Sometimes he let it slip out when he got really low and wanted her to know how he felt, but he tried to avoid it at all costs.

The breeze coming off of Lake Michigan was warm and moist. It felt good as it blew across Daniel’s skin. He arrived at Navy Pier at five o’clock – a half hour before when Jordan said she would get there – which meant that Daniel could expect her around 5:45. He decided to get there early as he had quickly grown tired of his apartment.

              As soon as he had gotten home he flopped down on his bed, and hadn’t moved until deciding to change and go out for the evening. He had considered turning on the TV or reading a book, but none of that interested him. He had wanted to do absolutely nothing, so that’s what he did.

             
It felt good to be out of the apartment and out with the rest of civilization enjoying a little slice of life as if his whole world wasn’t in ruins. He decided to walk the length of the pier and bought himself a beer at the Landshark Biergarten, then turned around and made his way back down to Margaritaville Café.

             
He wondered if this would be the last time he would make the walk along the pier.

             
No,
he decided. Even if he were no longer a resident of Chicago he would still make many trips to this city that he loved so dearly. On top of that, he would make it his mission to find a way back. They might have successfully forced him out for the time being, but they wouldn’t keep him out forever. He would be back.

When he finished his walk back down the Pier he saw that Jordan had yet to arrive. He walked over to the railing and leaned over it, looking over at the Museum Campus on the other side of the marina. He would miss it, for sure.

After no more than a minute, a familiar face came up alongside him, only it wasn’t the one he had expected.

“It’s a beautiful city, Kid.”

Mr. Blank walked over and leaned on the railing beside Daniel. “I’d hate to know a life without her.”

Daniel wanted to be startled, but the reaction never came. In fact, he had hardly felt any surprise at all.

Blank was in what must have been his version of summer-wear. He wore brown, casual slacks and a brown and red checkered polo shirt that looked straight out of the fifties. His same fedora was still perched in its usual spot atop his head.

“I am certainly going to miss her,” Daniel responded.

“You don’t have to, ya know?” Blank countered, clearly referring to Horchoff’s procedure.

Daniel let out a small laugh.

“I’m sorry Mister Blank, but I don’t think I can take that risk,” Daniel said, as if repeating himself to a determined salesperson who refused to take “no” for an answer.

“I heard what
happened Danny—about your job,” Blank said, changing his pitch. “That’s a real shame. I hate to see that sort of thing happen to such a good guy. But you have to at least be considering Mister Richfield’s offer now. You
hafta
!”

Daniel stared out at the water for a moment. The thought had arisen within his mind at least a billion times since this morning, and if he was being honest, another thousand times every other day before that.

But every time he had ignored it—pushed it aside as if it were never there.

He dropped his head and stared down at his toes poking out of his flip-flops.

“I know it’s scary Danny Boy, but just think of all the great things that could happen to ya! You could do anything you wanted to. And better yet,
go
anywhere you wanted to.”

             
As Blank finished his argument he turned around and leaned his back against the railing, looking up at the Chicago skyline just off to his left. He was clearly alluding to the fact that Daniel would be able to continue living in Chicago should he take the job with Richfield.

             
And he had a point. Daniel had spent the whole day being miserable, deciding that everything he had ever worked to accomplish in his life was suddenly gone in the blink of an eye. But the truth was, it wasn’t. He could have it all, and so much more. But he would have to put his life on the line to do it.

             
Daniel turned to look up and admired the beautiful skyline of the Windy City alongside Blank. He really did
not
want to lose the place he called his home.

             
“Trust me Kid,” Blank said as he slapped Daniel on the back, “she’s worth it.”

             
Blank then stood up from the railing and walked off in the direction of the city. After only a few steps he passed Jordan who was walking the other way toward Daniel.

Had Jordan been the “she” he was referring to?
You never knew with Mr. Blank. If he knew about Daniel getting fired he could know about anything.

Daniel had to admit—the man would make one hell of a salesman.

“Who was that?” Jordan asked as she approached Daniel.

“He actually offered me a job,” Daniel answered.

“Really?!” Jordan cried with genuine excitement. “Doing what?”

“Why don’t we sit down at the bar and I’ll tell you about it?”

“So he wants you to be a security guard?” Jordan asked just before taking a sip of the pink, tropical concoction in her glass.

“More like a body guard,” Daniel explained. “They would provide all of the training.”

“And the guy in charge used to be in the CIA?” She retorted.

“Yes. He used to kill people, and now he thinks he knows the best way to protect them.”

“Wow,” she said. “Are you sure this thing is real? It sounds like a scam.”

“I saw their headquarters,” Daniel contested. “The training facility was huge. And there was a medical wing and everything. If it is a ruse, it’s the most elaborate and outlandish one I’ve ever heard of.”

Daniel took a sip of his Bahama Mama. It was one of his favorite summertime drinks and was loaded up with three or four different types of rum. Some men scoffed at “fruity drinks,” but Daniel didn’t subscribe to the idea that because his drink was delicious it was less manly. Plus it only took a couple to get him good and loose.