Elite (31 page)

Daniel didn’t even hear Richfield round out the rankings and
wrapp up the event before leaving the arena. He just sat, staring at his name on the top quarter of the board, next to the crooked number known to all as “seven.”

Behind him he could hear Charlie defending the ranking to the agents who had now gathered around them.

“He’s two-for-two on the obstacle course!” Charlie pleaded. “How can he not be top-ten?”

Norma slid down into the seat next to Daniel.

A non-enthusiastic “Wow,” was all she said.

“You said it,” Daniel replied, not taking his eyes off of his name on the board. “I’ve never even been on an assignment,” he said, questioning his own ranking.

Norma nodded, searching for the right words too say. It didn’t seem as though she fully agreed with the ranking herself.

“You are just as capable as anyone on that board,” she pointed. “Probably enough so to carry you while you gain experience and start to hone your instincts. This should be easy for you. By the end of the year I think you will have earned that seventh place ranking, and I think that is why Richfield put you there.”

Daniel exhaled, putting on a fake smile as he turned to Norma. Wise, tough,
and
sexy – she just kept getting more and more appealing.

“Then I guess I have
work to do.”

Chapter 15

Daniel bobbed and jabbed as he sparred with Elise during his Monday morning training session. Less than twenty-four hours ago Richfield had displayed supreme confidence in Daniel in front of the entire agency by naming him the number-seven ranked agent, and he had found a new determination to live up to the expectations that had been placed on him.

Daniel wasn’t sure whether he had truly begun to master
Krav Maga, or if Elise was taking it easy on him. He guessed the latter, but he found himself able to land a couple of good shots as they danced around the mat in their combat stances. He knew that if he were in a real fight for his life, those couple of shots would have been all he needed to take down his opponent, but while sparring with Elise he thought it would be a bit excessive to pump up and use super-strength to knock her out.

This theory was reinforced when he realized that she was actually teaching him a lesson in protecting himself. As he threw a wide punch with his right fist, Elise quickly under the punch and quickly shot up on his right side, throwing a counter-punch of her own and connecting with the right side of his head. His natural reaction was to throw his hands up to cover his head, providing her the opportunity to follow her punch with a knee to the gut. He felt the air forced out of his lungs as his arms fell to his torso, guarding his stomach and chest.

But Elise was one step ahead of him. She jumped on top of him, using his shoulders for leverage, twisted around and wrapped her legs around his neck, then reached down and grabbed his chin with both hands. She threw her entire body backward, pulling Daniel to the ground with her. He felt her squeeze her thighs as tight as she possibly could around his neck, crushing his windpipe. She continued pulling upward on his chin, leaving him unable to replenish his body with oxygen.

He was unable to escape as she maintained an unbelievably tight grip on his chin and neck, and without being able to take in any oxygen, there was no way for his abilities to help him. He had to tap out.

After several quick taps on her impressive thighs, Elise released her grip, allowing Daniel to gasp for air.

“You have to keep your guard up,” Elise instructed Daniel as he managed to bring himself to his feet.

He began expanding his lungs, taking in and absorbing large amounts of oxygen with each breath, enabling a quick recovery.

“You can’t give in to your natural impulses so easily when you get hit,” Elise continued lecturing. “Every time you do that, you leave another part of your body vulnerable to attack, and a trained combatant will be able to anticipate that.”

Daniel nodded in understanding. These are all things he had already known, he just found them to be more easily said than done.

“What about when I attack?” he asked. “When I threw the punch I left myself open for a counter attack on that side. How can I avoid that?”

“The simplest answer,” she replied, “don’t miss.”

The two exchanged smiles as Daniel brought
himself upright and prepared for another bout. Just then a loud banging came from the direction of Richfield’s office. Daniel glanced up to see Jitters stomping his way along the balcony that looked out over the complex from the offices and classrooms.

Immediately after the announcement of the rankings the day before – and more importantly immediately after the announcement that Daniel had been ranked one spot higher than Jitters – Jitters had gone on a man-hunt trying to find Richfield and Blank so that he could protest their decision. Unfortunately for him, the two men had made a point to make a quick exit from the building the instant they left the arena.

Jitters instead used the after-party in the lounge as an opportunity to take his frustrations out on Daniel.

“You don’t know who you’re messing with!” He shouted, pointing a stubby finger at Daniel.

“What the hell are you talking about Manny?” Charlie responded, coming to Daniel’s defense.

But before Jitters could reply, Titan walked up to the table. Jitters stepped back, expecting Titan to take his side, but Daniel knew better.

A big, white smile spread across Titan’s face as he reached out a monster paw to shake Daniel’s hand.

“Welcome to the top ten big guy,” he said with the voice of a jolly black giant.

“Thanks Titan,” Daniel said, shaking the top agent’s hand and directing a satisfied glance at Jitters as he did so.

Jitters looked up at Titan in disbelief before turning around and storming off in a huff.

This morning Jitters had been waiting for Richfield when he got to his office, and by the way Jitters had slammed the door on his way out, it was safe to assume that things had not gone his way.

Daniel chuckled as he turned back toward Elise, ready to go another round. But before they could get started, a voice called out to him from above.

“Danny!”

Daniel turned to see Blank leaning over the railing outside Richfield’s office.

“Come up here!” he instructed.

Daniel turned to dismiss himself from Elise before making his way over to the stairs that led up to the office level. As he climbed the stairs he wondered if Jitters had actually succeeded in convincing Richfield to change the rankings. But if that were true, why did Jitters look so pissed off?

Probably because he’s always pissed off,
Daniel thought to himself.

He laughed at the thought, but in all honesty he wouldn’t be surprised if it had happened. Jitters probably did deserve the position more than he did.

He hurried his way up the stairs and across the walkway until he finally arrived at Richfield’s office on the other side of the building. Blank was waiting for him outside the office.

“Come on in, Danny Boy,” he said.

“Daniel,” Richfield greeted as he reviewed some papers on his desk. Then he picked up one of the sheets scattered across its surface and handed it to Daniel. “You have been challenged.”

Daniel glanced over the typed form. There were blank spaces throughout that had been filled in with someone’s chicken-scratch, and a signature at the bottom that appeared to belong to one, Manny
Costello.

EPSF Ranking Challenge Request

I, Agent
Manny Costello
challenge Agent
Daniel Hart
to hand-to-hand combat in the Challenge Arena to contest the number
7
ranking of the Elite Security Agents. By doing so I acknowledge that should my challenge be accepted I surrender my quarterly ranking and should I lose may be re-ranked wherever deemed fit.

Manny Costello

Challenger

I, Agent
        
accept/decline the challenge of Agent
      
, and acknowledge that by accepting this challenge I surrender the right to my quarterly ranking, and should I lose may be re-ranked wherever deemed fit. Should I decline, I will accept the current ranking of my challenger, and all other agents above my challenger’s current ranking will improve their standing by one.

                    .

Challenged

Charles P. Richfield

Director

“Official,” Daniel said sarcastically. He was really beginning to dislike Jitters.

“So do you accept?” Richfield asked.

Daniel looked over the form again.

“Should I? It looks like if I don’t I just move down to eighth. Is one ranking really worth fighting over at this point?” He asked.

Richfield leaned back in his chair and let out a disapproving
pfft.
“Do you want to look like a pussy?” He retorted.

Daniel was taken aback by Richfield’s comment. He didn’t realize the alpha-male image was so critical around here.

“No one ever turns down a challenge, Danny,” Blank added from behind Daniel. “Especially not to a cocky prick like Jitters.”

Daniel turned to Blank with a look of slight surprise. Maybe it was the stress of determining the rankings for the agency, but these two were not in the mood for holding punches today.

“Then I accept.”

Daniel exhaled as Robby wrapped his hands in athletic tape in the ready room, waiting anxiously to be called out into the arena.

He had never felt so nervous. He had never been in a fight in his entire life, and now he was going to have to fight in front of dozens of his peers in order to prove his worth. He had to win.

It didn’t help that even his friends and biggest supporters had shown uncertainty in the days leading up to the fight.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Charlie had told him one night in the lounge. “I mean this guy was an Army Ranger. He was literally trained to kill people.”

“You’re not going to die,” Shifty assured Daniel. “Just don’t let him make you look
completely
stupid.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to handle yourself out there,” Norma said, adding her own opinion. “You should do well enough to stay in the top fifteen.”

Per the agreement Daniel had signed, losing would not result in simply switching spots on the totem pole with Jitters. It would mean a complete reevaluation. He would be knocked down to whatever spot Richfield felt appropriate.

Elise had done everything she could to try and prepare him. She stopped taking it easy on him during their sparring sessions in an attempt to give him a feel for what a real fight would be like. But he was only a week into his training, and even with the accelerated course he was unable to keep up with her. He managed to land some descent blows here and there, but nothing substantial enough to give him an edge.

Jitters had issued the challenge Monday morning, and the challenge fights always took place on a Saturday, giving Daniel five days to prepare. Five days was not nearly enough time to teach a radio salesman how to win a fight against a Ranger. He was screwed and everyone knew it.

There was one person however, who did believe in him.

“You only need to land one good punch,” Blank said over his right shoulder.

The ready room was a dark and dreary place. It was lit by a single fluorescent light that hung above a medical exam table in the middle of the room. The rest of the room was filled with shadows, making it feel smaller than it actually was. It was impossible to tell exactly what color the walls were, but they appeared a shade of grey.
In the back corner of the room stood a bank of three gym lockers. Blank lurked in the shadows, leaning up against the lockers.

“You use that crazy strength of yours, and you can knock him out with one blow kid,” Blank stated, slowly stepping out of the shadows and into the light.

Daniel nodded slowly in understanding. The logic in Blank’s statement was sound, but putting it to practice would be infinitely more difficult.

Robby finished taping up Daniel’s hands and wrists, and Daniel dropped his head, staring down at the floor.

He wore a pair of black and red shorts that Blank had given him when he had showed up to the challenge arena that morning. They looked a lot like the board shorts a surfer would wear, only with a bigger waistband. They were designed especially for mixed martial arts fighting.

As he looked down, he glanced over his body, admiring his physique. He had come quite a long way in the last ten weeks. He now fit in with the other agents when walking around the gym and locker room. He no longer felt out of place or embarrassed. He was impressive.

If only Jordan could see him now.

Daniel had thought less and less of Jordan as his time at Elite rolled on, but his thoughts of her had increased in the week since the rankings were released. He wished he could show her what he had become. He knew she would be highly impressed by his accomplishments, and he liked to think it would be enough to re-ignite her romantic interest in him.

But Jordan was a matter for the past, and possibly the future. He had to think about right now. There would be plenty of time to worry about his reunion with Jordan once his training was finished. His job now was to make sure he continued his journey to being the best. He had come so far, to fall short now would be devastating.

From outside the doors Daniel could hear the sound of the crowd erupting.

There were two challenges that had been issued that week. The first contest was for the number sixteen ranking between Donny “Slackjaw” Wilson, who currently held the spot, and the eighteenth ranked Harm Romsen. Their fight had kicked off the Saturday afternoon bill, with Daniel and Jitters’ fight slated as the main event.

Daniel looked up as the door cracked open and the sound of the rambunctious crowd outside loudened. A bright light poured in through the open doorway, and a short, stocky bald man in a tight black t-shirt poked his head in.

“Five minutes!” he yelled.

Daniel hopped off the table and started to roll his neck.

“You good and loose?” Robby asked him, giving Daniel’s arms one last good rubdown.