Daniel gave a quick nod at which time Salvador turned toward the door and slid a key into the handle.
Salvador appeared to be very strong. He stood an inch or two shorter than Daniel, but his build was quite bulky. His shoulders were wide and began about three-quarters of the way up his thick neck. His jacket appeared to fit rather tightly across his broad chest and back, and underneath Daniel could tell that his arms were bigger than even Daniel’s own. Daniel could see how he would make a good body guard.
Salvador had very tan skin which seemed to be in part from his natural skin tone and part from increased exposure to UV rays. A thin, spiky black hairdo sat on top of his wide head.
After a couple seconds, Salvador was able to unlock the door and turned the handle, pushing the door open and holding it for Daniel to step inside.
As he stepped inside the door Daniel walked into what had to be the largest downtown apartment or condo he had ever seen. The main room had a wide open floor plan. To his left was a kitchen area, with an outrageous stainless steel fridge with a small LCD screen in one of the doors, a stainless steel range, two ovens built into the wall, and an enormous island countertop across from the appliances. A large hooded light hung above the island.
To the right of the kitchen was a dining area, that had what compared to the rest of the place was a considerably modest dining room table, two chairs placed on either side.
Further to his right and one step down was a large living area. In the living room was maybe the largest black, sectional leather sofa Daniel had ever seen, wrapping around the entire room in a horseshoe shape. In the middle of the horseshoe was a modern looking glass coffee table, with the focal point of the room being a monstrous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. In the far corner of the living room was a spiral staircase that led up to a loft that overlooked the room.
The entire room was paneled with dark stained hardwood flooring, similar to that in the entranceway.
What immediately caught the eye of anyone who walked into the room however was the wall opposite the doorway which was made entirely of glass, overlooking the dazzling Chicago skyline. The view was so vast and magnificent that it almost made Daniel want to cry.
Once the initial awe of the room began to wear off Daniel’s emotions immediately switched to jealousy. It was absolutely no wonder that Jordan wanted to live here. He could never have offered her anything like this.
In the far corner of the room was a hallway that led somewhere Daniel could not see. He guessed it probably led to the bathroom and master bedroom. Just moments after he and Salvador had entered the room, Demérs emerged from the hallway, adjusting his cufflinks on a suit that looked very similar to Daniel’s except that where Daniel was wearing a tie, Demérs had simply undone the top two buttons.
“You must be Daniel,” Demérs remarked, striding toward the doorway to greet him. “Gordon Demérs,” he said, abandoning his cufflinks for a moment to shake Daniel’s hand.
Daniel returned the greeting. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.” Interesting that Demérs hadn’t bothered to call him “Agent Hart.”
“Pleasure is all mine. I couldn’t believe it when I heard there was a new top agent at Elite. You actually managed to take down Titan?”
Demérs was much as Daniel remembered—classically handsome. He stood taller than Daniel with his slim, athletic build, but Daniel was now bulkier. Demérs had ruggedly strong jaw and cheek bones as Daniel had recalled, but something was different. Where Daniel had remembered a receding hairline was now a full, thick head of dark hair that Demérs slicked back with a no doubt ridiculously expensive hair product.
A guy like him probably has access to the most advanced hair restoration on the planet, Daniel thought.
“Wasn’t easy,” Daniel replied to his comment about defeating Titan.
“Yes, well,” Demérs sounded as if her were choosing his words carefully, “there must be something special about you.”
Demérs glanced up from his cufflink which he had gone back to fiddling with as if gauging Daniel’s response. Just how much had Richfield told him?
“We’ll be heading to dinner shortly,” he continued. “We’re just waiting for my fiancé to get home from work. She’s a grade school teacher at one of the academies downtown.”
“You don’t say,” Daniel responded, an uncontrollable sarcastic smirk forming on his face.
Demérs noticed the smirk and shot Daniel a questionable glance. Daniel’s initial reaction was to try and wipe it away, but he decided it didn’t really matter. Demérs would find out why soon enough.
Just then a familiar bing sounded from out in the entranceway.
“Ah, right on cue,” Demérs commented, turning and heading back down the hallway from which he came.
Daniel took a step away from the door and down into the living room area. He looked up toward the ceiling, anticipating his reunion with the woman he once would have given his life to be with. He could suddenly feel his heart trying to escape his chest. He opened his neural pathways and immediately ordered it to calm down.
“Hey Salvador,” he heard a once familiar voice say to the body guard. Jordan strutted through the doorway, not noticing Daniel’s presence in the room. “I’m home!” she shouted in the direction of the hallway.
“Be out in a second!” Demérs shouted back.
“Oh hi,” Daniel heard her say, sounding as if it were directed at Daniel. “You must be the new…”
As he heard her take a few steps toward him Daniel turned around to meet Jordan’s eyes, stopping her in her tracks just two steps away from him. Her jaw dropped as she stared into the dark brown eyes of her long lost friend.
Demérs emerged from the hallway and immediately paused, unsure of what was happening between his fiancé and his new body guard.
“Daniel,” Jordan said softly, not fully trusting her eyes.
“Hey Jordan,” Daniel replied, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Daniel!” She shouted, dropping her oversized bag that she had slung over her shoulder to the floor and running up to throw her arms around him.
Daniel gently returned the embrace, unsure of how to feel at that moment. He hadn’t expected her to be so happy to see him.
After the embrace went on a little to long for his taste, Demérs walked over to break up the reunion.
“You know him?” He asked, placing his hand on her back as if requesting that she let go. She did so and as soon as she stepped back Demérs was sure to wrap one arm around her waist.
“Yes I know him!” She said as if Demérs should have known all along. “This is Daniel. I’ve told you about Daniel.”
Suddenly a flash of realization formed over Demérs’ face.
“This is that Daniel?” He asked.
“In the flesh,” Daniel replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Jordan looked up to Demérs and then back at Daniel. That was when she noticed his transformation for the first time.
“You look good,” Jordan told him.
Daniel dropped his head and used his ability to keep himself from blushing. The smile however, he could not control.
“How come you never called or texted me after you left?” She said with light anger behind her voice, hitting him on the stomach with the back of her hand. She stopped and stared for a split-second, shocked by how solid Daniel’s midsection was.
“You never called or texted me either,” Daniel countered.
“Well,” Demérs interrupted, “hate to break this reunion up, but we don’t want to be late for dinner.”
Demérs suddenly seemed a bit threatened by Daniel’s presence. Daniel liked that.
“I’ll go get dressed,” Jordan told Demérs, kissing him on the cheek before leaving. Surprisingly, the kiss generated no emotional reaction from Daniel. “We’ll finish this later,” she said, pointing a finger at Daniel as she walked off.
Demérs turned back to Daniel, a now forced smile on his face.
“Salvador
will fill you in on everything,” he said, swinging his arms and clapping his hand to his fist before following Jordan into the bedroom.
When he heard the door close Daniel turned and looked up at Salvador who was still standing in the doorway. The stocky man just smiled and shook his head.
Chapter 3
A large, black SUV pulled up in front of Demérs’ building at exactly seven o’clock, the precise time Daniel, Demérs and Jordan were walking through the front doors and onto the city sidewalk. Salvador was already at the curb to greet them when they arrived.
As the vehicle pulled up to the curb, Salvador opened the back door, allowing Demérs and Jordan to climb into the backseat before closing the door behind them. The valet then handed him the keys as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Hop in,” Salvador said, gesturing with his head to the passenger’s seat next to him.
Daniel did as he was told and made his way around the front of the car, assessing his surroundings as he did so. He knew that there would be no real danger this early in his assignment, but he was now officially on the clock—he needed to be in protection mode for the rest of the weekend, no matter how harmless a situation seemed.
Daniel closed the passenger side door next to him as Salvador put it in drive and took off down Superior Street.
Salvador and Daniel sat silent, staring out the windshield as they made their way to the restaurant. The radio was turned off, so Daniel could hear Jordan and Demérs speaking softly amongst themselves in the back seat, as if the two men in the front seat were in a completely different world from their own.
The situation made Daniel feel incredibly awkward. The person he once considered his best friend in the world was sitting only a few feet behind him and it felt as if they didn’t even know each other. He sat awkwardly in the front seat, twiddling his fingers in his lap as he stared out the window at the cityscape that surrounded them, trying not to eavesdrop.
After a couple minutes he heard Jordan cut her sentence short, allowing Demérs a turn to speak. Daniel could sense her realizing that he was in the vehicle with them.
When Demérs was finished speaking, Daniel heard her give a quick “mhmm” to signal the end of the conversation before turning her attention to her old friend in the front seat.
“So Daniel,” she spoke more audibly than in her private conversation with her fiancé, “tell me about your training. What’s it like training to be a body guard?”
Daniel took a deep breath and raised his eyebrows, not entirely sure where to begin. He probably should have anticipated the question, but he hadn’t thought about how he might respond to it.
“It’s a different world,” he finally spoke, loud enough so that they could hear him in the back seat without having to turn his head around. He glanced up at her in the rearview mirror. “A lot of work.”
“What kind of training do you do?” She asked, leaning forward to place her head closer to his shoulder.
“All kinds of stuff,” he responded vaguely, this time turning his head halfway toward her. “Combat training, shooting, obviously fitness training, and going over different mission strategies.”
“Mission strategies. That sounds intense,” she countered.
“Well we are supposed to be the best,” Daniel explained.
“And Daniel is supposedly the best of the best,” Demérs added.
Daniel caught his eyes widening in surprise. He hadn’t expected Demérs to pay him such a compliment in front of Jordan. Perhaps he wasn’t as threatened as Daniel initially thought, or maybe he was just trying to make it seem that way.
“Wow,” Jordan replied. “After just a few months? That’s really impressive Daniel,” she said with excitement, tapping Daniel on the shoulder as a sign of congratulations.
Daniel just smiled and nodded, trying not to come off cocky.
“So have you met any girls?”
Daniel rolled his eyes and turned his head to look out the window. Of course she would ask that question.
He paused a moment to think before answering. He knew there were multiple reasons for Jordan asking. The first was that she was genuinely curious. They had once been very close, and if he had met someone she would want to know about it.
Her second reason was to show Demérs that there was nothing for him to worry about. She was more perceptive than she let on, and if her fiancé were jealous she would have picked up on it immediately. By asking Daniel about his love life it showed both of them that she still considered Daniel nothing more than a close friend, if that.
She also knew that Daniel wouldn’t turn the answer to the question around on her and make it about the two of them as long as Demérs was only a few feet away.
“Yes,” he answered plainly.
“What’s she like?” Jordan inquired.
Daniel took another breath, trying not to think too much about Norma’s death at that moment in time. In the week following his fight with Titan, Daniel had learned to accept Norma’s departure from his life and had made significant strides toward moving forward—now was not the time to regress into depression.
“Dead,” Daniel said flatly.
He could feel Jordan’s horrified response behind him. She had not expected that answer. She sat silent, wondering if Daniel was serious or if this was some kind of off-color joke.
“She died on an assignment,” he elaborated.
After a few more seconds of stunned silence, Demérs chimed in.
“It’s a dangerous job you guys do. Don’t think we don’t appreciate all you do to keep safe those of us who need your protection.”
Almost twistedly, Daniel grinned at Demérs’ comment. He never believed that he’d hear Gordon Demérs say that he needed Daniel’s protection. Regardless of who it was coming from, it felt good to be needed.
The continued duration of the drive lasted only two-and-a-half minutes, but it felt much longer given the awkward silence that resulted from Jordan’s interrogation into Daniel’s love life. It was unlikely that she would be diving into that subject area again anytime soon.
Salvador pulled the black SUV up to the curb in front of the restaurant. As the truck came to a stop, Daniel looked out to see a sign that read “Enzo’s Italian Bistro.” He hadn’t thought to ask where they would be dining that evening, and the prospect of eating at Enzo’s rather excited him.
Enzo’s was a restaurant owned by world-renowned chef Giuseppe Arconi, who named the establishment after his grandfather. Daniel had never been able to afford to eat at Arconi’s restaurant before, but he had heard amazing things.
Daniel hopped out of the car more hastily than he probably should have, a new sense of excitement flowing through him. Before joining Elite, Daniel had considered himself an amateur “foody” of sorts, and eating at Enzo’s was on every amateur foody’s bucket list.
He turned to find Salvador—who hadn’t spoken a word the entire car ride—opening the rear door for both Jordan and Demérs.
Daniel shook his head, disappointed in what Jordan had become. Open your own damn door, he thought to himself.
Daniel wondered what he would have thought of the couple were he not working for them and saw them climbing out of their SUV.
They were a glamorous looking pair. Demérs—ruggedly handsome with his somehow finely groomed stubble and his custom tailored suit, the top two buttons of his billion thread white undershirt undone showing off just the right amount of chest hair—and Jordan with her auburn hair styled elegantly up above her shoulders, a slim fitting red cocktail dress that showed off her figure perfectly, and matching strappy heels that Daniel was sure were made by a foreign designer whose name he had probably heard before.
Wow, he thought to himself. Jordan really did look beautiful. Until now he hadn’t stopped to take notice. White collar life suited her.
After climbing out of the car, Demérs turned to say something to Salvador while Jordan turned to catch Daniel staring at her.
“What
is it?” she asked him.
“I’m just realizing that it’s been a while since I’ve seen you last. You look really good,” he admitted. “You’ve got kind of a modern day Audrey Hepburn thing going on.”
“Huh,” Jordan responded, not sure what else to say. “Thanks?”
Daniel laughed under his breath. Still don’t know how to take a compliment I see.
Just then Demérs finished his conversation with Salvador who made his way back around to the driver’s side of the vehicle. “Shall we?” he asked, holding his arm out for his bride-to-be.
Under normal circumstances Daniel would have waited out in the car with Salvador while Jordan and Demérs had dinner, but given that this was Daniel’s first time working for Demérs as well as his unique relationship to Jordan, Demérs decided that Daniel should join them in dining with his newest business partner. After all, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Daniel to familiarize himself with the man he was supposed to be protecting his client from.
Enzo’s was just as high-class as Daniel had expected it to be, with more plates, glasses and silverware at each place setting than he could figure out what to do with. He did his best to follow Demérs’ lead and blend in as best as possible.
Demérs’ business partner had already been seated when they arrived, so the hostess led them back to the man’s “special table” all the way in the back corner of the dining room.
“Jordan, Daniel,” Demérs said as they arrived at the table, “I’d like you to meat Roger Benze.”
The man stood to first greet Jordan with a gentle grasp of the hand, and then Daniel with a firm handshake.
“Jordan. Daniel,” he greeted accordingly.
“Pleasure,” Jordan replied.
“Nice to meet you,” said Daniel. Truthfully, he was unnerved by anyone who had their own “special table” in the back corner of an Italian restaurant.
Roger Benze was an older gentleman, and his advanced age showed. His head was shiny and bald savor the mangy grey hair with patches of dark that stuck out from the sides and just above the neckline. He had bushy grey eyebrows which sat above his narrow brown eyes. His skin was a leathery tan, and a large nose sat above his thin lips. When he smiled his teeth were a nasty shade of yellow, no doubt the victims of tar stains from decades of smoking.
Elite 2: The Wrong Side of Revolution Page 3
