Elite 2: The Wrong Side of Revolution

by Joseph C. Anthony

  Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the steam rising up out of the hot bath water against his skin and into his lungs. “It’s very relaxing just sitting out here.”

  Jordan turned her head and smirked. It was clear that something was on her mind.

  “Do you wanna see what it feels like in here?” she finally asked.

  Daniel opened his eyes and turned his head toward her, raising an eyebrow. Instinctively, he found his eyes moving up and down her naked body under the water, but something deep down in the still partially sober area of his brain caused him to turn away.

  “No I do not want to get in there with you.” He said it in a manner that made it sound as though he were playing it off as a joke.

  “Why not?” Jordan countered, trying to sound offended but allowing a tad of relief to come through with it.

  Daniel stood up from the toilet and made his way out of the bathroom, beer in hand. “Because you’re drunk.”

  Daniel awoke the next morning to the image of Jordan setting coffee and a Danish down next to him on the night stand. She was fully dressed in grey sweatpants and a black hoodie that read “Purdue” on the front in bronze letters. Daniel brought his hands up to rub his eyes and took the first deep breath of the day.

  “What time is it?” he asked her.

  “Almost ten,” Jordan answered. “Continental breakfast ends at ten-thirty. I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss it.”

  Daniel chuckled as he sat upright in his bed. Jordan always did love a free continental breakfast. “Thank you.”

  He reached for the Danish and took a bite with his legs still under the sheets. He followed the bite with a sip of hot, black coffee.

  “What do you think the beds at the farm will be like?” Jordan asked him as she took a bite of yogurt and granola.

  Daniel shook his head and shrugged. “Whatever they’re like I’m sure they’ll be a lot better than that cot I was sleeping on at Elite, and a lot worse than the bed you were sleeping on at Demérs’”

  Jordan laughed. It probably hurt to think about the bed she had shared with her villainous ex-fiancé, but there was no point in getting upset about it now. The bed was comfortable.

  “Do you think I need to be dressed nice to meet them?” she asked.

  “Eva’s cousins?” Daniel clarified. “I wouldn’t think so. We are going to be living with them after all.”

  “Good point,” Jordan shrugged.

  After they finished their breakfast, both took turns taking showers before they headed out on the final leg of their journey. Daniel asked the clerk at the front desk and thankfully there were no reports of the bridge being closed due to ice. It would only take them an hour or so to get to their final destination just outside of Petoskey.

  Daniel noticed Jordan biting her nails as they crossed over the five-mile long suspension bridge. “Nervous?”

  Jordan recognized her incisive chewing and immediately pulled her hand away from her mouth. “Bad habit.”

  “I know,” Daniel responded, “but your leg won’t stop bouncing either. Is it scaring you being on the bridge?”

  Jordan looked down to notice her bouncing knee. “It’s not the bridge. I’m really nervous about meeting these new people. What if they suck? We have to live with them.”

  Daniel laughed lightly. “We’ll just have to deal I guess.”

  Jordan appeared unsatisfied with his answer. “Give me the phone,” she ordered.

  “Why?” Daniel countered abruptly.

  “I want to call let and let them know that we’ll be there soon.”

  Daniel shrugged and pulled the phone out of the black duffel bag in the back seat behind him. He had called them the afternoon of the 24th to let them know that they would be arriving in the early afternoon on the 26th, but he supposed Jordan was right to be polite and alert them of their near arrival.

  She turned on the phone, selected the contact “Carlos and Marie” and hit send. “You got to talk to them last time, I want to hear what they sound like—Hi, Marie? Hi, this is Jordan…Yeah…Yeah, we’re just crossing the bridge now so we should be there in about an hour…Yeah…Okay…Okay see you soon. Thanks. Bye.”

  Daniel shook his head. He always found it amusing the way women changed the infliction of their voice when talking to someone they don’t know very well on the phone.

  “She sounds nice,” Jordan concluded.

  “I’m glad you approve,” Daniel jested.

  It was just after 12:30 when Daniel and Jordan pulled into the long dirt road that lead back to the house that sat on their hosts’ twenty acre farm. After spending more than an hour driving through the mountainous regions of northern Michigan, Daniel and Jordan found themselves feeling a bit isolated from any form of organized society. Large fields of land were cleared for farming, but they were surrounded by dense forest. Most of the trees were bare except for the snow that rested on their branches, though there were also many coniferous plants which hung onto their needles throughout the winter months.

  The two-story grey house could be seen from the road, resting beyond the tundra where crops grew during the summer. The driveway that lead to the house was much longer than it had appeared from the road, and also very slippery—coated by a thin layer of ice. The triangular roof of the house was covered in snow, as well as the lower sections of roof that hung over top of the front porch. As they approached they could see Christmas lights strung along the trimming.

  “It’s beautiful,” Jordan commented as they got nearer.

  “Certainly is,” Daniel concurred, sticking his head forward to get a full glimpse out the windshield. “And big.”

  Though simple and rectangular the house seemed to wield a lot of square footage, and even from the outside had a warm, homey feel to it. This was reinforced by the sight of a plume of grey smoke coming from the chimney.

  As they approached the end of the driveway, the front door opened and a man and woman in their early forties stepped out onto the porch. Daniel spotted what looked like an adequate parking spot off to the side of the house, next to an old Dodge pickup truck. He pulled in and put it in park.

  “Now that’s how you get around in the snow,” he told Jordan, pointing up at the truck.

  Jordan rolled her eyes and got out of the car. “Hi!” She called to the couple on the porch, waving as she made her way to the trunk of the black sedan. The couple waved back with a welcoming smile.

  Jordan and Daniel pulled their most important bags out of the trunk and back seat. Before they could close the doors the man from the porch came up behind them.

  “What can I grab?” he asked.

  Daniel looked at Jordan since she had the most luggage, all of which had been purchased after they left Chicago since they were unable go back to their own homes. Eva was most likely unaware of Jordan’s little shopping problem when she handed him a credit card under his new name that the government had volunteered to pay off. Out of guilt, Daniel had purchased most of his things with the cash he’d withdrawn from the bank in St. Louis.

  “Thank you,” Jordan said as she began handing their host bag after bag.

  “Let me help you,” Daniel cut in, taking a few bags off of the man’s hands so that their loads were even.

  “Sorry,” Jordan said sheepishly.

  “Come on in and get out of the cold!” The woman called from the porch. The trio currently weighed down with luggage was happy to oblige.

  “Carlos will carry your bags upstairs with you and show you your rooms,” the woman said with a motherly tone as she held the door open for them.

  “Follow me,” Carlos instructed his guests.

  The sky outside was overcast and grey, and it seemed like every light in the house were turned on as they made their way through the kitchen and up the creaky staircase. The house was old, with wood paneling everywhere, and Daniel could feel the dry heat coming from the large wood burning stove in the kitchen.

  When they
reached the top of the stairs, Carlos lead them down a narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway was a bathroom, one bedroom and a what appeared to be a closet were on the right, and there were two identical bedrooms on the left.

  Carlos walked into the first bedroom and dropped the bags he was carrying onto the bed. “This room can be hers, and you can have the one next to this.” Daniel guessed that Carlos had made that decision based on the fact that most of the bags he was carrying belonged to Jordan.

  Daniel was more than happy to take the second room and stepped inside to drop off his stuff. He immediately plopped down on the bed to test it out. It was an older, springy mattress, but it would do the job. He looked around the room and noticed that it was fairly empty. There was a modest wooden dresser and what looked like an antique night stand in the far corner next to his bed. After those three items there was not much more space on the off-white carpeting for anything else. The walls had wood paneling that extended halfway up, and the rest was white painted drywall. Except for a few hooks, there were no decorations.

  As he exited his room he noticed that in the bedroom across from his were a bunch of frames and decorations stacked up on the bed. Eva’s cousins must have cleared out his and Jordan’s rooms so they could decorate them however they pleased. He smiled to himself, deciding that these were indeed good people.

  As he turned down the creaky wooden-floored hallway, he saw Carlos and Jordan waiting for him at the top of the stairs.

  “Lunch is ready downstairs,” Carlos told him.

  Daniel smiled and followed them down the staircase. As he passed by he took a quick glimpse into Jordan’s room. It was in fact identical to his, the only difference being that while his bedspread was beige, hers was green and white.

  Lunch was incredible. Carlos’ wife Marie had made homemade chimichangas that were to die for.

  “I got the recipe from Carlos’s grandmother,” she explained to them. “The women in his family make the most amazing Mexican food. It’s difficult to live up to their expectations.”

  “That’s why I married an Italian woman,” Carlos told them. “I knew she’d know how to cook.”

  Daniel and Jordan chuckled as they enjoyed their home cooked meals. It had been too long for both of them. Marie’s kitchen reminded him a lot of his mother’s only older. It was a large kitchen, divided into a cooking area and an eating area. The refrigerator sat across from the bottom of the staircase, and next to it began a long counter that lined one half of the longest wall in the room, and then curved out to form a sort of breakfast bar and separate the prep area from the dining area. A row of cabinets hung above the counter along the wall, and on the wall opposite the counter sat an oven, a modern stove, and the old wood burning stove.

  Beyond the breakfast bar was an open area which was filled by an oblong wooden table with a dark stain. Six chairs were able to fit comfortably around the table, and it was lit by a four-armed lamp that hung overhead. The table rested on a large brown rug, which sat atop a worn tile floor that spread across the entire room.

  “So you’re Eva’s cousin,” Daniel said to Carlos in an attempt to spark conversation.

  “Yeah,” Carlos responded simply. “On her mother’s side—the Hamilton’s.”

  “So she’s not Mexican, is she?” Jordan inquired. Given the names Stone and Hamilton and Eva’s rather pale complexion, it was not an unreasonable question.

  “No,” Carlos chuckled. “My father George—Eva’s uncle—married a Mexican woman. I am half Mexican.”

  “Ah,” Jordan replied in understanding.

  Carlos was a handsome man for being in his forties. His slightly brown complexion blended well with his dark brown eyes. He had a square jaw and strong cheek bones. His thick, dark hair was pushed back on top of his head, and streaks of grey ran through the sides. He carried a broad frame, and he seemed to be in pretty good shape. He was built like a farmer.

  “That’s what makes him so handsome,” Marie added, squeezing his cheek in jest as she sat down at the table with a plate of her own.

  Marie was also fairly attractive, in a motherly sort of way. She had a round, rosy face that seemed to never stop glowing, and a smile that stretched out as far as it could go. She had a round button nose, and big, half-moon eyes that were green with little brown speckles. Her hair was a bit out of place, but it shone a beautiful chestnut brown. Daniel also couldn’t help but notice her unavoidably ample bosom and hips that fit tightly into her jeans.

  “Do you have any kids?” Jordan asked innocently.

  “One,” Carlos replied. He spoke with a deep, very smooth infliction. “After him, Marie wasn’t able to have any more unfortunately—medical reasons—but we had our hands full with Jorge.”

  “Jorge?” Daniel repeated.

  “Yeah, it was a way to name him after my father but incorporate a Mexican aspect to it,” Carlos explained.

  “I like it,” Daniel assured with a smile.

  “He’s grown up and out of the house now,” Marie continued. Her voice had a barely detectable scratchiness to it, which was offset by a vague nurturing quality that made Daniel feel instantly comfortable around her. “Went to college at Central Michigan and now he lives down in Grand Rapids. Loves it down there in the city.”

  Carlos smiled and rubbed his wife’s back. It was clear they were proud of their boy but that they missed having him around.

  Jordan kept the conversation going. “What does he do?”

  “He’s a teacher,” Marie answered proudly.

  “Oh!” Jordan perked up. “What grade?”

  “High School,” Marie replied.

  “Oh, I teach fourth…” A dark realization came over Jordan’s face, as she realized for the first time that she would no longer be able to go back to her teaching job in Chicago. For all she knew, she had been working for, or teaching kids whose parents were members of the Birthright. “Or I guess I was a fourth-grade teacher.”

  Marie and Carlos exchanged a concerned glance next to one another at the table.

  “When Eva asked us to put up a couple people in trouble for her we were very skeptical, but when she told us that we’d be paid a thousand dollars a month to give you a room well—we could really use the extra money,” Marie explained. “But I imagine you guys must be in real trouble if the government is willing to pay that much to stick you way out here.”

  Daniel stared down at his plate and continued eating while Jordan looked at Marie and nodded glumly.

  “It’s been really hard,” she said. “Especially with Christmas and not being able to see our family.” Then Jordan slid her arm over and placed her hand on Daniel’s forearm. He looked up, slightly confused. “But I take a lot of comfort knowing that I’m not in it alone. There’s no one I’d want dealing with me during this impossible situation than this guy.”

  Daniel forced a smile as he saw tears begin falling from Jordan’s eyes which she quickly wiped away. He didn’t know what to say. Truthfully, he took no solace in having Jordan there with him. He felt horrible that she had to be a part of this. The only thing he felt was the need to keep her safe and make sure they both got out this. It was his duty to her.

  He knew that he did care about her though. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have felt so strongly about protecting her. He supposed if there had to be someone else stuck in this mess with him, it might as well be Jordan.

  “Well I’m just glad that you two seem like a couple of nice, normal people,” Marie said comfortingly as she stood up from the table and gathered everyone’s plates.

  Daniel bit his lip. He wasn’t exactly what you might call a “normal” person, but it was surprisingly nice to be thought of that way again. By the looks of it, Jordan didn’t appear to catch the flaw in Marie’s observation.

  “Thank you,” both Daniel and Jordan said as she took their plates.

  “We’re equally as pleased at how nice you guys seem,” Daniel added. “Truthfully. And we promise to always respect you and
your home. If we’re ever any trouble you just let us know.”

  Marie smiled from the kitchen while Carlos remained unsure. Sooner or later Daniel was sure they would start to feel like family.

  “So you guys are from Chicago, are ya?” Carlos inquired.

  Daniel and Jordan looked at him suspiciously, wondering how he’d known that.

  “Eva works out of the Chicago field office,” he explained.

  Daniel and Jordan both let out a discreet sigh of relief. Everything seemed to have them on edge these days.

  “You didn’t get caught up in the jewelry store robbery a couple weeks ago did you?” Carlos had said it as a complete joke, but Daniel and Jordan couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

  Daniel eventually looked over at Jordan, fighting back a smile as best he could. He waited for her to respond to the question. “I was in the area but fortunately I managed to avoid any trouble.”

  Carlos looked back and forth at the pair, suspicious of their reaction to the question. “You aren’t jewel thieves are you?”

  Daniel and Jordan both laughed. “I promise you, no,” Jordan assured Carlos, placing her hand on his forearm and shaking it gently.

  “Quite the opposite, actually,” Daniel added.

  Carlos opened his mouth to follow up with another question, but decided it best not to know too much. Instead he stood up from the table and asked, “Would you like to see the rest of the place?”

  The rest of the house was both rustic and elegant at the same time. Outside of the kitchen, wooden floors extended throughout the entire first floor. Just through the open kitchen doorway was a hallway that led back toward the front door. On the left side of the hall was a storage closet, and on the right was a window that looked out over the front porch and the vast fields that led out to the road beyond.

  A coat hanger stood next to the front door located directly on your right at the end of the hallway. On the left the house opened up to a large gathering room. The room was filled with antique tables, bookcases, floor lamps, and china cabinets. Clocks, photos, and other art and decoration hung all over the walls. There seemed to be no more space for stuff and yet felt nowhere near cluttered. In the center of the room, four plush chairs surrounded a large, furry rug, which sat in front of a stone fireplace that protruded from the rightmost wall.