Richfield then turned to look at Blank. “And I asked that Mister Blank chose the right candidate.”
“And here I am,” Daniel said, completing the circle.
“And here you are,” Richfield repeated.
Daniel nodded as he filled in the rest of the blanks. Demérs wanted Daniel dead because he represented the biggest threat to achieving his goal of leading a group of Richie Rich psychopaths on the road to world domination. Even if Demérs did somehow find a way to put an army together, Daniel’s existence had proven that Richfield was already one step ahead of him.
Leaving Benze’s men to kill Daniel for him would have served to keep Demérs’ hands clean.
Then Daniel remembered what he saw in the room upstairs at Benze’s house. There was a person hooked up to all of those machines.
He almost said something, but then remembered his dream conversation with Norma just before he regained consciousness. She had told him not to trust anyone—that they weren’t safe. It was only a dream, but something told him to keep the information to himself.
There was still one matter of unfinished business however.
“So the FBI…” Daniel said, probing for more information.
“Harvell and his men must have been on the scent of whatever Demérs had gotten into. It was just dumb luck that they were able to pick you up,” Richfield responded.
“Harvell?” Daniel asked.
“The director of the task force your Agent Stone is a part of,” Richfield explained. “I know him from way back—he’s a very good agent. He’s been after the group threatening to overthrow the government for a while now. If he had an agent outside Benze’s house he must know that Demérs is planning something soon.
“Damnit!”Richfield barked unexpectedly. “This is why I was a little upset about you claiming top agent when you did. This is all happening to soon.”
“Too soon?” Daniel questioned. There was more that Richfield wasn’t telling him. “How did you know where to find me anyway? And why did you have to get me out of the safe house by drugging me?”
“You think the government was just going to let you go if they found out what you could do? Especially after you had just been seen working for Gordon Demérs?”
Daniel dropped his head as though he were ashamed for even asking. He supposed he should be thanking Richfield at the moment rather than questioning his authority. He hadn’t stopped to think what they government might have done to him once they got him behind sealed doors.
“Besides, if someone is after you there’s nowhere you’ll be any safer than here,” Richfield added.
Safe.
“Jordan!” Daniel shouted, unprovoked. “I have to warn Jordan!”
“Trust me kid,” Blank spoke up, “the less she knows, the safer she’ll be.”
“You’re phone wasn’t on you when we picked you up, I assume Stone has it?” Richfield asked.
Daniel nodded.
“Fine, you can’t be using it anyway. And don’t use any credit cards or any online accounts. Demérs has eyes and ears everywhere. The less he knows about what happened to you the better.”
Daniel again nodded in understanding.
“Good,” Richfield said assuringly. “Now go get yourself cleaned up and get some grub. You’re under house arrest for the time being.”
Daniel stood up from the bed as the four men prepared to clear out of the room. There was still one thing weighing on his mind. “What did you mean when you said it was all happening too soon?”
Richfield paused with his hand on the doorknob. At this point it seemed he had decided to tell Daniel the whole truth about his purpose. “I didn’t want you to meet Demérs like this. Not until you were ready.”
Daniel wasn’t sure why he still needed to ask the question that followed, but he did anyway. “Ready for what?”
Richfield took a breath. “It wasn’t random that you were chosen for this procedure, Daniel. We chose you because of your unique relation to him. It seemed you were in the perfect position to accomplish what needed to be done.”
Daniel waited this time, knowing Richfield was smart enough to know what he was going to ask without asking it.
Instead, it was Blank who came over to pat Daniel on the back of the shoulder and deliver the answer. “We needed you to kill him, Danny Boy.”
Chapter 9
Blank sat with Daniel in the cafeteria and spent all of lunch trying to justify Richfield’s and his deception of Daniel. Daniel listened to his words in silence and did his best to keep himself from getting too angry, but there were still a few things weighing on his mind.
“Why did you need me to kill him? Why not just send Titan or somebody else?” He asked.
Blank shrugged. “Poetic justice?” he said in the form of a question rather than an answer. “I’m not entirely sure, but Mister Richfield made it clear that the person who underwent the procedure needed to be the one to take down Demérs. Maybe he couldn’t trust anybody else, I don’t know.”
A few moments of silence went by as the two men took a couple more bites of their lunch.
“It’s important what you’re doing here, kid,” Blank said, breaking the silence. “Don’t think it was all a waste of time.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. Maybe it was important that someone take out Demérs and block the one-percent revolution from starting a war, but there seemed to be no good reason for choosing Daniel over anyone else.
“The reasons I chose you are still the exact same as the ones I gave you in the beginning,” Blank added, as if reading Daniel’s thoughts. “You were determined, and that determination is what made you successful.
“There are a lot of people who dislike Gordon Demérs out there—some of them a lot more than you—but you were the right one for the job.”
Daniel took another bite of his lunch, still attempting not to lose his temper. He could feel his body pumping up even though there was no reason to. It was the first time since the procedure that he truly regretted his decision to go through with it. He had never killed before, and he had no desire to start now.
“But why not just do away with Horchoff’s research? Why create a super-human at all?”
“What do you think would have happened if Richfield paid Horchoff to come finish his research with him, and then just destroyed it all? Do you think Horchoff would have just walked away?” Blank countered firmly.
Daniel felt himself go flush, feeling foolish for asking such a stupid question.
“Besides that, once Demérs found out that it was possible to create a person with the ability to take full control of their body functions, there was no way he was going to leave it alone with or without Doctor Horchoff.
“That’s why the boss was so broken up about you beating Titan so soon. He knew that as soon as Demérs found out that a radio salesman had become the top agent in just a matter of months, he would know who you were—what you were—and he would come after you. But with the damage you caused to Titan the boss couldn’t send him out in the field again so soon.”
Blank shook his head and begrudgingly threw another roasted potato into his mouth. Another quick thought caused him to cut his chewing short and swallow.
“We just didn’t think he would make his move so soon,” he said almost apologetically.
Daniel felt a wave of sorrow rush over him as he silently stared at Blank. He wasn’t sure whether he felt sorry for his recruiter, or himself, or both—but he didn’t want to be a part of it any longer.
He finished his meal and prepared his tray to be dropped off at the dish station, but he had one more question for Blank before he went. “Are you the reason I lost my job at the radio station?” He asked pointedly.
Blank stopped eating but kept his gazed down at his tray. “I had no idea Richfield was going to do that,” he responded solemnly.
Daniel tightened the grip on his tray, almost snapping the ends off. He clenched his teeth under his lips and slowly stood up from
the table, leaving Blank to finish his meal alone.
“What do you mean you’re going to quit?!” Charlie shouted, half standing out of his chair as he did so.
“I don’t see any way I can continue working for him,” Daniel responded, finishing a long swig of his India Pale Ale.
The lounge was nearly half-full on this Monday evening, and to his surprise none of the other agents seemed to be paying any extra attention to Daniel. Maybe they hadn’t heard anything about what had happened to him out in the field.
It was nice to be back in the lounge with Charlie and Shifty again. It was the first time he had felt even remotely at peace since the night before the incident at Benze’s.
“He lied to me to get me here.”
“Yeah, but look at you,” Charlie retorted. “You’re a real man now.”
“So what exactly does that make you?” Shifty countered, sitting down from his trip to the bar to get a second Jack and Coke.
Charlie craned his neck and shot Shifty a nasty glare. “Don’t tell me you’re taking his side!” He shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.
Shifty explained his position. “He makes a good point. We’re supposed to be here to protect people, not assassinate them. In fact that’s the exact opposite of what we do.”
Charlie was still not satisfied. “Yeah, but this Demérs guy is clearly a psychopath and needs to be stopped.”
Then he turned and placed his elbow on the table, extending his index finger toward Daniel. “You know I heard about this group when I was still at the Bureau.”
“No you did not,” Shifty disputed, taking a sip of his cocktail.
“Sure did,” Charlie corrected. “There was some special division dedicated to stopping this thing called ‘The Revolution.’ They wouldn’t tell us regular field agents anything about it, but we were federal agents, we had our sources.”
Daniel lifted his eyebrows as he took another swig of his craft brew. Given the few factoids he had gotten out of Eva Stone, Charlie’s story was at least somewhat adding up.
That night Daniel went to bed wishing there was some way he could leave the agency but still be allowed to come in to have drinks with Charlie and Shifty. They were easily his best friends and he hated the thought of having to make new ones all over again. It was awkward making new friends as an adult.
He lied down and realized it was his first night back in his own bed, which was nowhere near as comfortable as the one in Demérs’ guestroom.
Holy shit it’s been a long day, he thought to himself.
As he tried to drift off to sleep he began thinking about his other best friend and how she was trapped living with a deranged man hell bent on ruling the country and there was nothing he could do to get her out. She was living a lie and he feared what might happen to her once she discovered the truth.
He also wondered about Eva Stone and what might have happened to her after being ambushed by two Elite agents who kidnapped her best lead in the case against the one-percent revolution.
But all of that would have to wait for another day. For now, he would try to find harmony in the thought that tomorrow would be his first normal day in what seemed like forever.
Early the next morning Daniel woke up, excited to jump into his morning workout routine. The fitness area of the complex smelled like stale sweat as it always did, which Daniel found to be oddly comforting.
He worked out for two hours before deciding to call it quits, and made his way down to the locker rooms to take a long, hot shower. It was sometimes difficult to enjoy a tranquil shower in a community bathhouse, but Daniel had spent the past seven months sharing a shower with other men—and sometimes women—so it no longer affected him.
He stared at the wall and felt every vapor molecule against his skin as the steam rose up all around him. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, attempting to wash away all of the events of the past weekend.
During his morning workout he had the dreadful thought that he might not be able to go home for Christmas as long as Demérs was after him. He had nearly broken down at the idea of telling his mother that he would not be coming home. That was when he decided that Demérs needed to be dealt with quickly. He would do what needed to be done to eliminate Demérs and would then walk away from Elite forever. He would feel no remorse for what he had done, as he would be doing it for the sake of his family and friends. As long as Demérs was alive, they were not safe.
But that was for tomorrow.
He walked from the locker room to his bunk, deciding what he would do after breakfast. He was under house arrest so his options were limited, but he was sure he could find something. A day of sitting around watching movies sounded rather nice after the eventful weekend he had just had.
He never made it into his room however, as Doctor Horchoff was waiting outside of his door when he arrived.
“Daniel, there is something that you need to see,” the doctor told him, a sense of worried panic all over his face.
“What is it?” Daniel asked, concerned.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but get up to the briefing room right now,” Horchoff ordered.
Without any further questioning, Daniel decided to do as he was told and made his way up to the briefing room in nothing but his workout shorts. Every agent he passed turned in curiosity as a man who was clearly on some sort of mission hurried past them.
He skipped every second and third step as he climbed the metal staircase in the fitness area to the upper level of the complex. When he reached the top he found himself jogging across the catwalk, passed all of the other offices and conference rooms. Something about the way Horchoff had delivered the message had made him feel the need to hurry.
When reached the briefing room he immediately reached for the handle and swung open the door, not even bothering to knock. As he took a step into the room he saw Richfield’s face glaring at him in an angered warning, stopping Daniel in his tracks.
Richfield was in the middle of a video conference. A small camera hung down over a projection screen and was pointed at where Richfield stood in the center of the room. On the projection screen was the image of a man’s face. It was Gordon Demérs.
“I know you have him!” Demérs barked in an angry tone. “You wouldn’t just leave your best investment out on the streets for the FBI to pick up.”
Clearly Demérs had not seen Daniel barge into the room.
“I’m telling you, I have no idea where he is!” Richfield barked back at Demérs. “He’s disappeared on me. Probably got scared!”
“No one disappears from you,” Demérs retorted with a snarl. “If he’s not there then you know exactly where he is!”
“You’re wrong Gordon,” Richfield replied in an inappropriately gentle manner. “Now leave the girl out of this.”
Daniel’s eyes widened. Richfield turned his head to look Daniel in the eye with look of regret. It took Daniel everything he had to remain silently still so as not to tip Demérs off to his whereabouts.
“I don’t think so,” Demérs replied. He then moved out of frame and turned the camera in a different direction. Now the screen showed a beautiful young woman tied up to a barstool. They were in Demérs’ penthouse apartment.
“Jordan,” Daniel whispered low enough that the microphone would not pick up his voice.
“You have two hours to tell me where he is before I make her my next test subject,” Demérs commanded, turning the camera back onto him.
“You’ve, known me a long time Gordon, why would you think that threat would have any consequence to me?” Richfield inquired.
“Because if you let her die he will never forgive you for it,” Demérs responded. “Two hours.”
And with that, Demérs ended the video stream.
“Well he’s right about that,” Daniel said to Richfield.
“I know,” Richfield replied.
“What did he mean by test subject?” Daniel asked.
“I would guess tha
t he’s trying to make more of you,” Richfield answered.
Daniel turned and started back toward the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Richfield called after him.
“I’m going to end this,” Daniel told him.
“No! I’ll send someone else.”
“Can’t trust that,” Daniel responded, starting down the stairs. “You wanted me to kill him? Well here’s my best chance.”
“You are walking into an admitted trap here, on his home turf!” Richfield pleaded. “You can’t win!”
“So be it,” Daniel responded in a firm, confident tone.
“He will kill you.”
Daniel stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to Richfield, a furious scowl on his face.
“I won’t let her die for my poor choices!” He shouted at his boss, loud enough that everyone in the complex turned to stare.
Richfield turned his gaze toward all the agents staring at them, but Daniel held his angry stare on Richfield.
“Fine,” Richfield conceded. “If you die I’ll just send someone else to kill him.”
“Fine,” Daniel agreed. He turned and headed back down to his room to get dressed.
Daniel rode the train from the complex into downtown, the same way he had after his first interview at Elite back in June. It was mind boggling to think of how much had changed since then.
He called his mother on the train, disguising the conversation as a routine check-in, but really using it to tell her that he loved her one more time in case the worse were to happen to him.
At this point he was not afraid to die—not if it were in exchange for Jordan’s life. He couldn’t help but feel as though it were his fault that they were in this predicament, but in reality he supposed that both—or perhaps neither of them were actually to blame—he wasn’t sure which.
Neither Daniel nor Jordan had any idea what they were getting into when she hitched her wagon to Demérs, and Daniel hitched his to Richfield. There was no way they could have known that they would end up caught in a war between an ex-CIA agent and a bunch of lunatic, self-entitled rich people.
Elite 2: The Wrong Side of Revolution Page 11
