Elite

by Joseph C. Anthony

  He knew that why was she hadn’t texted him yet today, and probably wouldn’t until tomorrow.

  He turned his attention back to the business card. “Mister Blank,” he said to himself.

  Was that seriously his first name? He highly doubted it. The dude had to be a loon. He goes around dressed like a 1940s gangster going by the name of Mister Blank? And no first name on the card either. The mysterioso act this guy had going was just plain obnoxious.

  Then again, he had been very perceptive. And the way he had presented his offer was awfully intriguing.

  If it gets to be too much to bear, give me a call. Daniel could still hear the man’s voice in his head.

  Daniel had to admit, the sudden turns his life had taken recently become a lot for him to bear. That was why he had decided to give up on him and Jordan – For now anyway.

  The man in the fedora had also mentioned that he could change Daniel’s life around – That he could make him a whole new person. Daniel had to admit that the offer sounded pretty tempting at the moment.

  Then he recalled the last thing Mister Blank had said to him before getting in the cab.

  It couldn’t hurt to call, Kid.

  Daniel pondered, looking at the number on the card. Blank was right, it wouldn’t hurt to call. Daniel had nothing to lose at this stage of the game, and everything to gain. The worst that could happen was that his number would be added to some solicitors list. That was a gamble he was willing to take.

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number. After two rings a man picked up.

  “Hello?” A familiar voice answered.

  That was strange, Daniel thought to himself. Was this a direct line? He had expected something more along the lines of, “Hi, you have reached Elite Personal Security, this is Mister Blank speaking.”

  “Hello,” Daniel responded. “Mister Blank?”

  “Who is this?” The man retorted, short, sweet, and to the point.

  “Uhh, you may not remember me Mister Blank…” Daniel wasn’t sure why the man had made him so nervous. “You gave me your card a few weeks back. I had just put a girl in a cab…”

  “On Michigan Ave,” the other cut him off. “Yeah, I remember. You were lookin’ real down kid. I take it things haven’t gotten much better.”

  Daniel wondered whether or not Blank had expected Daniel to ever call him. There seemed to be no surprise in the man’s voice.

  “No…er…well they did for a while but now everything has gone back downhill. Worse than before.” Daniel wasn’t sure if he was talking to Sigmund Freud or John Dillinger. This guy even spoke like a character James Carney once played in an old mobster flick. Yet for some reason, Daniel didn’t find it difficult to take him seriously.

  “So you’ve decided to take me up on my offer. What’s yer name son?” The man inquired.

  “Daniel, sir.” Sir? “And I only called because I was curious. I’m not trying to commit to anything just yet. I just wanted to hear what your offer was.”

  “I hear ya Danny Boy. Tell you what, come to the address on the card tomorrow at noon and we’ll answer all of your questions.”

  “Tomorrow…I can’t. It’s Friday, I have to work.”

  “Well take it off. See ya tomorrow Danny boy.”

  And with that, Mr. Blank hung up.

  Daniel checked his phone to confirm. Yep, call was ended. That was bizarre.

  It took Daniel less than a second to make his decision. He would go see Blank on his lunch break tomorrow. It would take him a lot longer than that to get out there, have a chat with Mister Capone and get back to the office, but he didn’t care. If his bosses didn’t like it, they could fire him. This was too intriguing to pass up.

  He had to stop a minute to think about what he had just thought – A meeting with this Mr. Blank character was more important than work? Then he realized that it had nothing to do with Blank, this was about Jordan. This was about moving forward and trying to find a new and exciting direction he could take his life in now that his former plans were down the drain. His old life was now behind him, and it was time to start a new one.

  He was going to change his life around. He was going to become a whole new person.

  And on that thought, he grabbed his beer and toasted to his future.

  Chapter 4

  The next day Daniel decided to tell his boss that he was taking a half-day. It was Friday after all and he didn’t figure anyone would miss him. He had however elected to tell his boss that he had a doctor’s appointment rather than the reveal true reason for his early departure. A doctor’s appointment was always the perfect excuse to get out of work because no one ever asked too many questions due to the personal nature of the subject. For all they knew he was going to get tested.

  Around eleven o’clock he gathered his things, saved his work, logged off his computer and was headed out the door. He didn’t bother to say his goodbyes as he wanted to draw as little attention to himself as possible. The fewer questions people asked about where he was headed the better.

  He took the red subway line down to the Downtown Loop, where he hopped on the Blue Line which he rode out to the neighborhood where the address on Mr. Blank’s card was located.

  Mr. Blank. He couldn’t help but chuckle every time he thought about him. He half expected to find him dressed in normal street clothes today, holding a camera and laughing at Daniel’s expense, the whole thing having been an elaborate practical joke. That would be just his luck. That wouldn’t be all bad though, he thought. It would mean one less big decision he would have to make and an excuse for an extended weekend.

  The train stop was only a few blocks south of the address on the card. As he neared the location he took a look at his watch. He had had near perfect timing catching the trains on his way over, so it was now only 11:30, meaning he still had a half hour to kill. He looked around for somewhere he could go to occupy his time and didn’t find much. The area seemed to be very industrial, occupied mostly by warehouses and office buildings. There seemed to be very few ways for a guy to kill thirty minutes without looking awkward about it.

  As he approached the street corner he stopped, and glanced at the enormous rusty warehouse across the street. It was a giant, ugly box that was rusty-brown in color. On the side in white lettering it read, “13 W Adams.” From where he stood near the corner of the building he couldn’t see any doors. He guessed the front doors would be a little further up the block, which seemed to belong entirely to the 13 W Adams Street warehouse.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered to himself. He had not expected a legitimate security agency to be located in a giant warehouse. He had expected something more along the lines of a police station – though he didn’t really know why – but certainly not a big ugly warehouse. He could feel the skepticism starting to grow stronger inside of him, but he was already there. He figured he might as well go through with the meeting and hear what Blank had to say.

  “What if I told you I had something that could completely change your life around?” He heard Blank’s words echo in his mind.

  “We’ll see,” Daniel said to himself, as he took a deep breath and looked around, continuing his attempt to find something to do until the time came that he could have his life turned around.

  To the left he saw a tall sign along the road, alerting any passerby of the strip mall that stood to the right of it. He noticed that one section of the sign was dedicated to some sort of Chicago hot dog restaurant, which was undoubtedly home of the “Genuine” or “Original” Chicago style hotdog. It was the first time that Daniel realized he hadn’t taken the time to eat lunch since leaving the office. It appeared to be the perfect opportunity to metaphorically kill two birds with one stone, although he assumed literally killing two birds with one stone would prove much more difficult than any accomplishment ever associated with that expression. So he walked the half-block over to the strip mall and had himself a hot dog.

  He ord
ered himself just a chili-dog, as he didn’t much care for all the toppings associated with Chicago style dogs, such as the relish and a pickle spear. He always felt like a traitor, not liking such a classic Chicagoan delicacy, but he was a die-hard Chicago-style pizza fanatic, which he justified as being good enough.

  Daniel sat at the counter that lined the outer window of the small restaurant, which he classified as more of a hot dog “joint,” than a restaurant, and glared out at the warehouse which held the address of 13 W. Adams Street. Would that really be where he would be spending the majority of his future? It seemed like such a grim reality – working in some old warehouse day-in and day-out.

  Then again, maybe he wouldn’t. It was a security agency so maybe he would spend the lion share of his time out in the field rather than in the office. But why would they want him as a security guard of any kind? It didn’t add up. Maybe Blank had in fact known exactly who Daniel was all along and just wanted him to sell advertising or something to that effect, and the whole “Mister Mysterious” routine was just an act to humor himself.

  Of course there was still the possibility of the entire thing being a rude practical joke. Daniel would soon find out the truth.

  By the time Daniel had eaten his chili-dog and finished perusing his Facebook wall via his phone it was already 11:50, which meant it was time to find the front door to the warehouse and meet with Mister Blank. He made sure to put his phone on silent before putting it back in his pocket and threw his trash away before making his way out the door and back down to Adams.

  As he made his way around the front of the warehouse and headed up Adams Street he found the front doors right where he expected them to be in the center of the building. The doors were made of tinted glass and above them on the glass framework were white numbers and letters, once again reading “13 W Adams” and nothing else. Before walking in he took a good look around – there was no other signage of any sort anywhere. Nowhere was the building labeled as the home of Elite Personal Security Force. To the outside observer it was just an enormous eyesore in the middle of the neighborhood, with no obvious purpose. It appeared to Daniel that the location of the front doors had been the only logical thing about the entire company thus far.

  He entered the building to find himself in a tiny, white office area, with tile floors and a drop ceiling. To the left was a small wooden desk with an African-American man who looked to be in his mid-thirties behind it. He wore a white security officer’s uniform and sat in a reclined black leather office chair. His hands were folded in his lap and he was staring straight at Daniel with an indifferent expression on his face. The desk in front of him was completely empty but for a folded up newspaper and a coffee mug.

  Just beyond him Daniel saw a set of elevator doors, and about four feet to the right of the elevator was a short hallway that led to a pair of heavy fire doors.

  Across from the desk was a group of four waiting room chairs, with metal frames and red cushioning on the seats. In front of the chairs was a simple black coffee table covered in random magazines. In one of the chairs sat a man reading the Chicago Tribune. He sat with his legs crossed, his right ankle resting on his left knee. He held the paper open so that it blocked his face and most of his body from view, but from his pants it appeared that he was wearing a dark blue suit with lighter blue pinstripes. Peering out over the top of the newspaper, was a dark blue fedora.

  Before Daniel could make any sort of inquiry to either of the men, Blank abruptly closed the paper he was holding, exposing his face to Daniel.

  “Danny boy!” Blank said in his semi-scratchy voice, standing from his chair and extending a hand out to greet Daniel.

  “Mister Blank,” Daniel returned, shaking the man’s hand.

  “It’s good to see ya here, kid. I was hoping you’d show. The boss is sure excited to meet ya.”

  “The boss?” Daniel blurted out the question before he could stop himself. For some reason all this time he had just assumed that Blank was the boss.

  “Sure, Mister Richfield. He’s the brains behind this whole outfit,” Blank explained, seemingly not thrown off by Daniel’s confusion. “Say Danny, this is Frank,” He said, gesturing a hand to the security guard. “Frank, this is Danny, he’s interested in our new opening. I’m gonna take him up to talk with the boss now.”

  “Do your thing,” Frank responded, unconcerned as he waved a hand toward the elevator but continued directing his gaze at Daniel.

  “Right this way Danny,” Blank said, putting an arm on Daniel’s back and leading him to the elevator.

  Blank pushed the button on the wall and the elevator doors opened immediately. Blank gestured for Daniel to enter first and Daniel obliged. Blank followed, hit one of the buttons on the elevator, and the doors closed in front of them. That was when Daniel realized that there were only two buttons for the elevator - “Up” and “Down.” There were no floor numbers.

  This place is as goofy as the people in it, he thought to himself. Then again, it might be fun to work with an eccentric man like Mister Blank.

  He felt the shift in gravity as the elevator began moving upward and he took a moment to try and digest what had just happened in the lobby. It had all happened so quickly he hadn’t had time to get out a thought of his own. Being in sales he knew that it was sometimes a successful sales approach – Talk quickly and guide the client to the sale without giving them too much time to think it over and ultimately end up changing their minds. That may be what Mister Blank was trying to pull here, and he needed to make sure he kept his wits about him when talking to this Richfield guy.

  Daniel and Blank both stood silently in the elevator with their hands folded in front of them, staring at the doors in front of them.

  “Wait ‘til you see the place Danny Boy,” Blank said, breaking the silence. “You’re gonna love it.”

  As soon as he finished his sentence Blank did a complete one-eighty and took a small step forward. Unsure of what was happening, Daniel took a step sideways to move out of Blank’s way. As he did so, he felt the elevator car come to a halt. The back wall of the elevator slid open and presented Blank with a doorway, his forward momentum carrying him out of the elevator.

  Daniel froze for a second to allow the synapses in his brain to fire, and pieced the events together. He hadn’t realized when he had entered the elevator that the car had two sets of doors – one in the front and one in the back. Until he had abruptly turned around, Blank had given him no indication that when they reached the top the doors behind them would be the ones to open rather than the set of doors they had entered through.

  Just another one of his games, Daniel thought, shaking his head.

  Once he had his bearings Daniel took a couple of quick strides to catch up to Blank. Once he was out of the elevator he found that they were walking across a catwalk, overlooking the entire main floor of the warehouse.

  “Really is somethin’, ain’t it kid?” Blank asked, catching Daniel staring in awe at the enormity of the facility.

  And that was exactly what it was – a facility. Not just some old warehouse.

  The catwalk they were walking on appeared to be about four stories above the main floor, which was divided into three sections by folding walls, suspended from tracks that were attached to the ceiling – like you might find at a large recreation center. The middle section appeared to be for sparring. There were padded wrestling mats scattered around the floor in that section, and on a few of them pairs engaged each other in hand to hand combat. Two of the pairs were made up of two men, and one pair was made up of both a man and a woman. The woman appeared to have the man in a submission hold, her legs tightly wound around the man’s neck while he struggled on his hands and knees to break free.

  The section to the right of the sparring area appeared to be your everyday fitness area. The far wall had a wide mirror on it and was lined with an impressive selection of weights, benches, and weight machines. Further back off of the mirrored wall were cardio
machines such as treadmills, stationary bikes, and elliptical machines.

  The third section, which was to Daniels left, looked like some sort of crazy obstacle course. It reminded Daniel of the one he had seen on a Japanese TV show where men tested their ninja skills against one another. For someone like Daniel the course was quite daunting. The enormous rope wall at the start of the course seemed to be the easiest obstacle. Once reaching the top of the wall one had to clear a large gap by jumping, grabbing a rope, hanging over the gap, swinging over to a second rope and grabbing that, and then swinging to the platform on the other side of the gap. Then came what Daniel could only describe as some sort of upside-down, unicycle, tightrope obstacle where one had to grab onto what served as some sort of pedals and use their strength to rotate the pedals in order to turn the wheel and move themselves across the cable. After that came an inverted log roll, where the challenger had to balance themself on the log and roll it down an incline until they reached the ground. There were several other obstacles throughout the course, but the one that caught Daniel’s eye was the tall metal tower at the end of the course which had what looked like two sets metal bars protruding from it at a forty-five degree angle like teeth on a saw blade, each about a foot higher off the ground than the last. He could only imagine what it must be for. At the moment it appeared that no one was interested in challenging the course.

  “It sure is,” Daniel finally answered Blank’s question, after surveying the enormity of the space.

  It was a longer walk across the catwalk than Daniel had realized when they had gotten off the elevator. He had not yet fully grasped the sheer size of the building, perhaps because it was such a wide open space. As they neared the end of it, Daniel noticed that the back wall of the upper level of the complex was lined with office windows. When they finally reached the windows, Daniel glanced into the one directly in front of them and noticed a large office area with a couple dozen cubicles inside of it. The majority of them appeared to be occupied, with their occupants either on the phone or engrossed by whatever happened to be staring back at them on their computer screens.