Elite (30 page)

“Hey, forty is a nice even number,” he said half-heartedly as he took an extended swig of beer.

The festive atmosphere in the lounge continued deep into the night, and when Daniel left around midnight at least half of the agents who had been there when he arrived were still going strong, including Shifty and Charlie.

As Daniel made his way down to his room he considered how far down the big board his name would appear in just twelve hours. He believed inside that he should be in the top-ten based on his unique talents, but he also knew that his total lack of experience would work against him, as well it probably should. It would seem unfair to many of the agents who had time and again put their lives on the line for this job to see themselves ranked behind someone who was completely unproven.

If he fell into the twentieth spot like Charlie predicted, he would be extremely satisfied. Even if Richfield decided to rank him dead last he would understand the logic behind it. Could he even technically be considered an agent at this point? He was still in training.

He fell into bed and closed his eyes knowing that he would soon find out just how much Richfield thought of him.

Daniel woke up at ten, feeling extremely well rested. He loved being able to sleep in on Saturday mornings after a long, hard week of training. The bathroom was far more crowded than usual this morning, filled with all of the agents who had stayed for the pre-rankings festivities.

The cafeteria was alive with activity as Daniel walked in to meet Charlie and Shifty for breakfast. There was
an energy in the room that Daniel had never felt before at Elite. Usually the general mood throughout the complex was all-business, but today the atmosphere was festive and filled with excitement. One couldn’t help but feel energized in the midst of it all.

Daniel was starving, so his first order of business was to fill two plates with eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and fruit, before spending a couple minutes searching for where his friends were sitting. He found them at a small table in the back corner.

As they ate the conversation was still entirely on the rankings, which were now only an hour and a half away from being revealed. Charlie acted as though he didn’t care, but Daniel thought he sensed that his indifference was only an act. When Charlie got up to get more juice Shifty confirmed Daniel’s suspicions by telling him that Charlie really wanted to move out of the bottom five.

Around eleven, the trio had finished their breakfast and made their way to the challenge arena which was already quickly filling up with not only agents, but all of the employees who worked at the complex. Medics, trainers, cafeteria workers,
janitorial staff – they were all there.

The three men walked into the arena through the north entrance, which led them to the bleachers on the wall opposite the rankings board. They found Norma sitting in the far, upper corner, saving
them seats. As he took his seat Daniel looked over the top of the cage which sat upon the octagon-shaped ring in the center of the arena, at the giant rankings board on the far wall. There were currently no names up on the board, just the numbers one through forty-three down the left side. His eyes trailed down to the number twenty, and he imagined seeing his name there in the middle of the board, signifying his position in the top fifty-percentile of agents at Elite.

Norma was sitting one row up over his left shoulder and must have noticed him staring at the board.

“So I hear you’re number twenty now,” she said to Daniel.

He turned to her with a lopsided grin, “That’s what Charlie seems to think.”

Her expression was one of concentration, as if contemplating the prediction. “I can buy that,” she finally said.

“You won’t be jealous, will you?” Daniel asked in a mocking fashion.

Norma laughed. She was currently ranked twenty-second, but the consensus was that she could possibly climb her way into the top twenty today, representing what was apparently a significant pay increase.

“Only if they put me at twenty-one,” she responded.

She had been smiling when she made the comment, but Daniel had a feeling that there was some truth behind her statement. He would feel pretty terrible if he were the reason she remained outside the top twenty. He would gladly relinquish the position to her if that were the case, but he had a feeling that wasn’t an option.

More and more agents and facility employees poured into the arena, and by eleven-thirty it appeared as though anyone who wasn’t currently on assignment was there. Suddenly, loud hip-hop music began blaring out of the speakers surrounding the arena. This got a reaction from the crowd as some started cheering while others felt motivated to get up and dance, Charlie being one of those people.

Norma looked up at Charlie who was standing and gyrating his hips next to her – practically in her face – and shook her head and covered her face as if to deny any association with the worm-like white boy.

Immediately following the hip-hop song was a hard charging rock song, prompting Charlie to transition from grinding the air to strumming and fingering it like a guitar. Daniel recognized the song as one of his favorites by a band named “Twice Over,” and bobbed his head along to the familiar beat.

By the time the clock finally struck noon everyone in the arena was fired up from the combination of rhythmic beats and anticipation. At exactly 12:00 P.M., the music faded out and Richfield and Blank made their way into the arena, provoking a loud, enthusiastic cheer from the crowd.

The two men made their way into the combat ring. Richfield held a wireless microphone in his left hand.

“Good morning,” Richfield said into the mic and over the loudspeakers, prompting everyone to quiet down and listen up.

“It has been quite a second quarter,” he continued. “We’ve had more assignments come in the last three months than we did in the first six
combined.”

Richfield paused while the agents gave a polite round of applause. The mood in the room had transformed from enthusiastic excitement to nervous tension in the blink of an eye.

“We’ve also had a number of agents show drastic improvements in their training regiments, making our agency more dangerous than ever. We truly are the Elite.”

The crowd let out a slightly more rambunctious round of applause this time around, appreciating the compliment from their leader and celebrating all of the effort the agents had put in as a team.

“We’ve also added a new member,” Richfield noted, turning to look up at Daniel as if he had known exactly where he was sitting. “And he has not failed to impress every last one of us.”

This also drew a reaction from those in attendance as the agents in the arena clapped and cheered for Daniel. He felt Charlie reach out and grab him by the shoulder, shaking him in an encouragement. It was all he could do not to blush.

He looked up and happened to make eye contact with Jitters who was sitting about fifty yards away in the section along the wall to his right. He had a smug look on his face and had opted not to join the other agents in congratulatory applause.

“All of these factors meant for a long process of trying to decide who fits in where as it pertains to rankings,” Richfield resumed, taking back control of the room.

“Mister Blank and I were up into the wee hours of the morning hashing out these rankings, giving what we felt to be very fair evaluations of every one of you. There has been a significant amount of change this quarter, more than I can remember ever having in any previous quarters.”

This drew a nervous rumble from the crowd as everyone now felt even greater uncertainty of where their name might fall on the big digital board hanging on the south wall.

“We know how important these rankings are, and believe me we do not take them lightly. We hope you take your ranking in stride, and use it to either motivate you to continue your success, or to continue bettering yourself as an agent. So without further delay…”

The room sat dead silent as Blank handed Richfield a single piece of loose-leaf paper. Richfield held it out in front of him, and began reading the names.

“Number forty-three…” he began.

Daniel held his breath. He would understand being ranked last, but deep down he really didn’t want to be.

“Barbara ‘Babs’ Donovan,” Richfield announced as the first name appeared on the big board next to the number forty-three at the bottom.

Daniel noticed a woman to his left, hugging the people who were sitting around her. He concluded that she must have been
Babs.

The crowd remained silent.

“Forty-two,” Richfield continued, “Fredrick ‘Finch’ Maynard.”

Another name popped up on the board, and another agent received encouragement from those around him.

“Forty-one…Gabe Samson. Forty…”

Daniel heard Charlie take in a breath behind him.

“Charlie Barner.”

Daniel heard the air pour out of Charlie’s lungs with a sound of defeat behind it. Shifty patted his friend on the back to console him.

Richfield continued, listing off name after name, each time Daniel expecting to hear his name called, and feeling more and more anxious each time it wasn’t.

“Thirty…Eric ‘Shifty’ Robinson.”

Daniel turned in time to see Shifty shrug and turn to Charlie. “Another nice, even number,” he said in a lame attempt to cheer up Charlie.

Eric Robinson,
Daniel thought to himself. It was the first time he had heard Shifty’s real name.

Richfield continued up the list. It was usually pretty easy to pick each agent out of the crowd as they heard their name called. Some reacted with positivity, while others with disappointment. It was also common to see reactions from agents as they heard another name called out in their previous ranking, signifying their movement up the ranks.

As Richfield approached twenty, Daniel found himself getting very nervous. He quickly realized though that he wasn’t as nervous for himself as he was for Norma.

“Twenty-one…”

Daniel clenched his fists and held his breath, knowing that if Norma’s name was not called that would mean that she had succeeded in her goal of making the top twenty.

“Tom Tipton,”

“Yes!” Daniel whispered excitedly under his breath. Without thinking he turned and grabbed Norma’s knee, shaking it in excitement. Daniel felt a bit sheepish when she returned his gesture with a mild smirk, communicating simple satisfaction and nowhere near the level of excitement that Daniel felt.

“Twenty…” Daniel turned as he heard the number called out. He was interested to find out if Charlie’s prediction would come to fruition, and also realized that this meant that he himself had made the top twenty.

“Emily ‘Bunny Lass’ O’Malley.”

Daniel chuckled. “Bunny Lass” was the nickname for Emily O’Malley, the daughter of two Irish immigrants who had moved to the States when she was six years-old. It was by far his favorite nickname of any agent. When other agents said it, it was always accompanied with an awful attempt at an Irish accent. It was strange to hear Richfield say it in such a flat, even tone.

“Nineteen…Norma ‘Gene’ Amiri.”

Daniel turned to Norma, with far less enthusiasm this time, to find her nodding in approval. He was happy for her.

But where would he fall?

With every new name that appeared on the board Daniel anticipated his to be called next, but Richfield kept moving up the rankings list, hitting every number and still not calling out Daniel’s name.

After Richfield began announcing the top fifteen Daniel could feel the room begin to stir. Maybe it was his own self-absorption, but Daniel felt as though much of the conversation going on around the room was centered around him.

By the time Daniel was able to double-check to make sure Richfield had not already announced his name or skipped a number, he was announcing the top ten.

“Ten…Tobias Crain. Nine…Eddie ‘Groucho’ Knowles. Eight…Manny ‘Jitters’ Costello.”

Daniel’s eyes immediately shot over to his left to Jitters. Jitters was standing up, staring right back at Daniel, a look of utter disgust on his face. Not only had Jitters failed to meet his absurd goal of making the top five, but this meant that he was now ranked lower than Daniel, something that Daniel knew was shredding him up inside.

Daniel couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of pleasure at Jitters dismay.

“Number seven...” Richfield said, this time taking a slightly longer pause before reading the name, “Daniel Hart.”

Suddenly the room erupted as the volume of hushed conversation in the room suddenly rose a few decibels.

“All-right!”
Charlie blurted, putting Daniel in a playful headlock.

“Way to go buddy!” Shifty said, rubbing Daniel’s head.

Daniel couldn’t believe it. Richfield had ranked him in the top ten. He wasn’t sure he deserved the honor, but he was certainly glad to have it.

The rest of the top six played out pretty much the way everyone expected to, with Ace
coming it at number two and Titan remaining at the top, but everyone’s concern was still on Daniel’s surprise seventh place ranking.