Elite

by Joseph C. Anthony

  Charlie had just gotten a divorce from his wife of six-years and was pretty much living at the complex until he could find a new place.

  “Thankfully we never had any kids,” he said. “One because of the divorce, and two because I’m way too irresponsible to try and be a dad.”

  After dinner Charlie invited Daniel to have a beer with him at the lounge and Daniel obliged. After a couple drinks Daniel quickly began to realize that Charlie was what one might call “a character.” He had some sort of smart-ass remark for everyone who walked in.

  “Hey Bruno, you took a shower before coming in here this time right?

  “Hey Tammy, I took a pole, nobody believes that those tits are real Miss Hollywood – or that tan. We all know your last assignment was in Alaska!

  “Georgie! You’re an old man – Some friends and I were discussing the side-effects of Viagra the other night and I told them I knew a guy…”

  Everyone seemed to take whatever he said with a grain of salt, and no one seemed upset. They all just responded with a look of “classic Charlie.”

  It had been awhile since Daniel had sat down for a few drinks, so he was a bit tipsy as he made his way back to his room that night. Luckily it was still early so he would have plenty of time to sleep it off. He brushed his teeth and grabbed a couple bottles of water out of the cooler in the locker room before heading back to his room and climbing into bed.

  He recalled some of the things Charlie had said throughout the evening. He supposed Charlie was the first friend he had made at Elite. He selfishly hoped that it would be a while before Charlie found a place to live. It would be nice to have someone to hang out with while he went through the rest of his training.

  On the Friday of his first week of training, Robby came with it. It was pretty much the same routine they had done the couple days before only Robby had Daniel doing all of his exercises at double-time, doubling the pace and the number of sets Daniel was expected to complete.

  An hour in Daniel started to feel a pain in his chest caused by his heart working overtime, and for the first time he had to tell Robby that he needed to slow down. He probably could have powered through without pumping his heart as hard and fast, but he had become so accustomed to making things easier on himself by doing so that it was almost second-nature at that point.

  “God damn!” Robby yelled out after Daniel told him he needed to slow it down a bit. “It’s about time I broke you!”

  Daniel smiled, feeling a little bit better about needing the breather.

  “It’s rare I get through a whole week without someone asking me to slow down at least once,” Robby added.

  For the rest of the session they went at their regular pace and Daniel made sure not to put too much stress on his heart.

  At the end of the three hours, both men displayed a sense of accomplishment at completing the first week.

  “I want you to set your own, easy routine for this weekend,” Robby told him. “On Monday, we’re going to see what you’ve got on the obstacle course.”

  Daniel’s face lit up. He had completely forgotten about the obstacle course.

  “We were going to wait until next Thursday at the earliest, but I talked to Richfield and we don’t see any reason to wait.”

  “Sounds good,” Daniel said with as much energy as he could muster between his deep, exhausted breaths.

  “Alright, see you Monday,” Robby said as turned and walked toward the door.

  Daniel laughed to himself as he watched Robby go. He found it amusing how Robby always said his final words and would then just turn and walk away without any form of formal goodbye.

  Chapter 12

  Daniel woke up on Monday morning with more energy than he could ever remember waking up with. Most of that energy was a combination of nervousness and sheer terror at the obstacle course he would be attempting for the first time this morning. He wasn’t terrified of the course itself as it was unlikely to cause him any physical harm, but at the idea of falling flat on his face and failing to complete even the first few obstacles.

  Daniel had spent a large part of the weekend sitting and drinking with Charlie between his workouts, and the lion’s share of the conversation had centered around the obstacle course. At least twenty different people must have given their input, as every time someone overheard the phrase “obstacle course” they were immediately drawn into the conversation. Apparently completing said course was a big deal among Elite agents.

  Daniel had heard countless stories of different agents throughout the years and their tangles with the Elite obstacle course. Some were of failures, while some were of triumph – some told first hand, others passed down through the generations of agents. All made Daniel more and more nervous about his own attempt which was fast approaching.

  The only person to ever finish the entire course in their first attempt was Tyrus Jones, better known among the other agents as “Titan.” Titan was currently on assignment and unavailable for comment, but through the descriptions given by the other agents Daniel quickly identified him as the enormous black man he had seen in the gym – the same man that was standing next to Daniel when he first attempted the 90-pound curls.

  Daniel also recognized the name Tyrus Jones, as it was the name that currently sat the highest on the rankings board in the challenge arena.

  After hearing story after story, and Charlie’s overly extravagant rants on the difficulty of the task that lay before him, Daniel retained little of the confidence he had gained over the previous week. Granted, Charlie wasn’t the strongest or most athletic agent at Elite, but he was seasoned. He had attempted the course fifteen times before being able to complete the first nine obstacles.

  In fact, about half of the agents needed at least ten tries to get through it all. For most of those agents, there were specific obstacles which served as their own personal Achilles heel that for some reason or another they struggled to find a way to complete. For Charlie it was the pedal cable.

  “That damn thing, I just couldn’t figure out how to get the handles to move the right way,” he once said in reference to why it took him so many tries to complete the main part of the course.

  That part of the conversation had been the main cause for Daniel’s concern. Lifting heavy weights and sprinting for miles on the treadmill was one thing, but he had never needed to put those skills to practical use. The obstacle course required more than strength and endurance, one needed agility, balance, strategy and concentration – all of which extended beyond the realm of being able to control muscles and organs.

  For these reasons, Daniel gave up his hopes to join the ranks of Titan, and instead turned his focus to the other end of the spectrum, hoping to avoid falling into the same category as Corbin Hinkelman.

  “Do NOT end up like Corbin Hinkelman!” Charlie shouted after Shifty, another one of the agents who had joined the conversation, brought up the name.

  Shifty explained that Corbin was a German spy that, through some unknown connection, had crossed paths with Richfield and had been asked to join Elite. According to the other agents who had known Hinkelman, or at least had heard of him, this was a mistake.

  “He didn’t have any clue of the guy’s ability!” Charlie shouted in a half-drunken fit of humor. “No one knows why he even hired him!”

  Shifty went on to talk about how Hinkelman walked into the complex acting like he owned the place, thinking that Richfield’s personal invitation to join Elite made him special.

  “He didn’t realize that we all got here because of a personal invitation from Richfield,” Shifty commented, actively mocking Hinkelman even though these events had taken place long ago.

  Shifty was a tall blonde-haired, blue eyed, California boy, with big broad shoulders. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties. His hair was trimmed short and pushed up, creating a multitude of tiny spikes on top of his head. He spoke with a noticeable Southern California accent, and while Daniel hadn’t gotten much of a backstory on him �
� or even his real name – he would have guessed that Shifty had spent a lot of time at the beach, most-likely surfing and playing beach volleyball.

  When Daniel later asked Charlie why they called him Shifty, he replied, “Because the dude’s shifty!”

  “So he’s walking around for days acting all ‘large and in charge,’ lifting weights and actively making sure everyone could see him while he did it – he was a big guy and could pump some iron, don’t get me wrong – but nobody gave two shits about his workout.

  “So Richfield assigns him to the obstacle course one day, and Corbin is walking around the complex all morning, telling everybody how he’s going to do the obstacle for the first time, and telling everybody that they should come cheer him on and learn some things about how they get it done in Germany. Total ass-bag this guy.”

  Before Shifty could go on, Charlie started uncontrollably giggling, knowing what came next in the story.

  “So the time finally comes for him to get on the course, and of course no one shows up except for me, because this asshole,” he pointed at Charlie, “tells me to meet him there and then doesn’t show up.”

  “Hey, I’m sorry,” Charlie said, jumping into defend himself, “but that was when my ex-wife and I were still having sex, and that was pretty much the only thing we ever did well together.”

  Shifty held up a hand, blowing off Charlie’s insincere apology, and continued. “So it’s just me and Hasheesh - the guy who never said a fucking word the whole time he was here - standing there to watch this German tool try the obstacle course.”

  “Wait – Hasheesh was there?” Charlie cut-in. “Why?”

  “I don’t know man,” Shifty replied with a half-chuckle mixed in, “Dude just stood there with that same expressionless look he always had, just watching.”

  Charlie fell back in his chair laughing. “You never told me that! Why the fuck was Hasheesh there?”

  Shifty just shrugged and went on with his story. Daniel didn’t bother to inquire further about this Hasheesh character as Shifty had been obstructed from finishing his story enough as it were.

  “So Hinkelman gets ready to go – myself, Richfield, Blank, and Hasheesh watching him – and he gets up the rope wall no problem. So next is the Tarzan swing – you know, where you swing from one rope, and then to the next, and then over to the platform on the other side – not that big a deal…”

  Daniel nodded to acknowledge that he was following along with the story.

  “Well, he grabs the first rope, gets ready to swing, and for some reason as he is on the downward part of his swing he completely loses his grip, and slides right off the rope, smashing hard into the ground. I mean, the ropes not even slippery! I don’t know how it happened.”

  Charlie sat up in his chair, shoulders bouncing as he laughed at Shifty’s retelling of the legend.

  Daniel smiled and chuckled a bit, but was waiting for the rest of the story to be told before breaking out into full-on laughter.

  Shifty continued, “So the wind is completely knocked out of him, and he’s just lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity. It was probably only two or three minutes, but it felt like forever because nobody moved. Richfield, Blank, Hasheesh and I just stood there watching – not moving or saying a word, just staring, waiting for him to get up.

  “So he finally catches his breath after a few minutes, and gets back up to try it again – again, up the rope-wall no problem. Now time to try to Tarzan swing again – this time he hangs on tight, but for way too long. He swings right past the second rope and for some reason doesn’t think to reach for it until he’s already way too far past it, and completely let’s go of the first rope, as if that’s going to help him counteract physics and move back toward the other rope, so the dude goes flying…”

  Shifty moved his hand through the air, as if making a gesture for an airplane taking off and landing, simulating the trajectory of Corbin’s flight.

  “I have no idea how the dude got up that kind of momentum to fly so fucking far,” Shifty continued, “but dude kept on going until he eventually smacked into the tower wall on the other side, and then BOOM!” he smacked the table with an open palm to describe the intensity with which Corbin hit the ground, “Faceplant!”

  At this point Charlie’s head was buried in his arms on the table, his torso moving erratically due to uncontrollable laughter. He lifted his head and Daniel saw tears in his eyes.

  At this point Shifty begun having to fight back his own laughter as he tried to finish his story.

  “So again, he lays on the ground for minutes, gathering himself. At this point I have my hand over my mouth, trying not to die laughing because Richfield, Blank, and fucking Hasheesh are still just standing in place, staring blankly at the poor bastard.

  “He finally gets up, blood running down his face from his nose and his mouth, and slowly walks over to where we’re standing. He walks up to Richfield, looks him square in the eye, and calmly says,” Shifty spoke in his best fake German accent, “I vill try eet again another time.”

  Shifty rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, finally able to break down laughing at his story.

  Charlie was able to stop his uncontrolled laughter just long enough to say, “Guy was gone within weeks.”

  Daniel started laughing along with the two, though not as intensely. He did find the story truly hilarious, but he was sure he would have laughed harder had he actually known Hinkelman and been able to draw a clearer picture of the scene is his head.

  Once the two men’s laughter finally began to dwindle, Charlie reached for his drink, and before polishing off his vodka-tonic repeated, “Do not be Corbin Hinkelman.”

  So here Daniel stood before the first obstacle, Charlie’s words running through his mind. Both Shifty and Charlie were there to watch their new drinking buddy face the dreaded monster that was the Elite Personal Security Force obstacle course.

  Alongside Shifty and Charlie were Robby, Horchoff, Blank, Richfield, and Jitters – the former Army Ranger who Daniel had watched attempt the pipe-ladder during his tour with Blank.

  The name Jitters suited the man, as he never seemed able to stand still. He was always moving about in some shape or form. Daniel had noticed him listening in on some of his conversation with Charlie, Shifty, and the others Saturday night, but he never added anything to the conversation – only listened and reacted to what the others were saying.

  From what he had observed, Daniel gathered that completing the obstacle course was something that meant a lot to Jitters, and the fact that he was never able to complete all ten stages consecutively greatly bothered him. Daniel was pretty sure that Jitters had come to root against him.

  Robby prepped Daniel, running him through his stretches and asking him questions to make sure he was mentally prepared for the task that lay ahead. After a few words of encouragement, Robby went over to stand with the others as Daniel got into position in front of the first obstacle – the rope wall.

  The rope wall was not a wall of rope, rather a wooden wall with two ropes hanging down from it.

  Just as he was about to walk up and grab one of the ropes, Daniel noticed a female figure stride into the room – it was Norma.

  “Hideous name, but a beautiful body,” is how Charlie had described her. He told Daniel that she had been on assignment over the past week, and Daniel certainly had not expected to see her here.

  “Great,” he muttered to himself. As if the pressure of avoiding the footsteps of Corbin Hinkelman wasn’t enough, now he had to worry about not embarrassing himself in front of the hot girl.

  Still, he knew what he had to do. He had gone through what he called his “brain exercises” the night before, trying to improve the quickness with which he could identify the different signals being sent from his brain, and alter them to operate his body the way he wanted. He was as prepared as he could be.

  He walked up to the fifteen-foot tall, forest g
reen-painted wall and grabbed the rope which was tied to the platform at the top of it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to wash away the nervous tension he felt inside of him. He opened his eyes and looked up to the top of the wall. He pulled on the rope, feeling the muscles in his arms tighten as he did so. He planted his left foot firmly on the wall, then pushed off with his leg as he simultaneously pulled on the rope with his arms, pulling his right leg up and planting his right foot on the wall, a step above his left. He repeated the process, using his arms and chest to pull his upper body upward, and the friction between the wall and his shoes to help his lower body follow along. He eventually reached the top, planting his feet on the edge and using the rope to pull himself up and over, onto the platform. Much to his surprise, he was able to complete the obstacle using only his natural strength.

  He shook his arms around and cranked his neck to ease a bit of the tension built up in his muscles. That was the easy part. It would only get tougher from here.

  Daniel walked to the other end of the platform, where a rope was tied up to the railing. The rope hung down from a support which stretched from the platform he currently stood on, to another platform about twenty feet away. About halfway way across the gap hung a second rope, and then just beyond that, a third.

  Visions of a dopey German flying through the air and smashing into the ground were running through Daniel’s mind.

  “Do not be Corbin Hinkelman,” he said to himself.

  He took the first rope and pulled it to its maximum tension. He wrapped it around his right hand, and placed his left hand above. He jumped up and held on tight, using his biceps to support his upper body and keeping his elbows bent as he and swung across toward the second rope.

  His momentum carried him quickly, and before he knew it he was flying past the second rope.

  Oh no! He thought to himself, remembering how Corbin Hinkelman had overshot the second rope before flying through the air to his doom.