Chapter Five
The mansion loomed as it had the previous time, every line of it sharper, if that was possible. He went to the tall doors and rang the bell, Mars not being there, as Eli had expected.
His anxiety was at a ten, panic attack waiting to set in motion. He wasn’t prone to them, but he’d had them, always around the time of final exams. It would start in his chest, the tightening and shaking, then radiate to his limbs, weakening them, making them tremble.
The smell of the flowers in pots and beds around the front was cloying, sweet, his stomach souring at the scent. When Mars opened the door, a flourish as he swept it open, standing there like a sentinel.
“Mr. Bloom, welcome. Please, come inside and we’ll set right to work.”
“The senator isn’t here?”
“No, no, he’s away today on a business trip. I can get everything set for you.”
Instead of the study, they went to the kitchen, where a desk sat off by a paned window.
The kitchen itself was magnificent. It was a kitchen, sure, but the white wood cabinets, rich, grey tiled floors, it all was so beautiful and welcoming. There were two chairs by the desk, and Mars took one, offering him the other.
As soon as they were both seated, Eli grew nervous again, seeing the thick folder there with his name on the tab.
“Are those all things I have to fill out?”
“Mostly sign, but some, yes, you’ll need to fill those with your emergency contacts, preferences for medical, legal, religious, and any other exemptions and designations.”
Thinking of that, he didn’t know who he’d say to contact. His parents, sure, but they were far from Washington, in New Mexico, where he’d grown up and where they would surely always live. His childhood was filled with cactus needles in his hands and legs from roaming the countryside, sand in his shoes that was different from the sand of the beaches where all the people went for weekends from DC.
It had taken a full year to get used to the weather, the humidity, the greenery, but he had, and he’d fallen in love with it, though New Mexico still held his heart. No, he’d put Sandy and hoped that would be okay.
It was an hour that he filled out forms and signed others. The hardest one to sign was a Non-Disclosure Agreement. There, he was to sign that he’d never divulge to anyone, not even spouses or family, what happened while under the employ of the senator.
“How long is this for?”
“Why? Planning a tell-all book? I’m afraid it would be boring if the subject were Senator Madison.”
“No! I’d never. It’s just…you want to tell parts of your life to people sometimes. I’d never speak badly of him.”
“It’s for life, Mr. Bloom. If that’s an inconvenience, then this is over immediately, and I’ll send you back from where you came.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m fine with it. Really.”
Another form was for direct deposit for his pay, and he was concerned about giving his bank information, but it wasn’t like a man like Senator Madison, with all his millions, could want the scant funds he had.
Then, there was one that blew him away and confirmed all his worries.
“This is…this is a form to hold the deferment of my student loans.”
“Yes, Mr. Bloom. The Senator, in doing your background check, found you owe a lot of money to the creditors for those loans. It’s a temptation to those who work for powerful men, like Senator Madison, to make money from telling their secrets. The NDAs are not always enough of a deterrent, so the senator has had to come up with more ways to assure loyalty. If, at the end of your tenure here, you have not disclosed things you see and hear, then your loans will continue to be deferred. If you go back on that, not only will you be sued for breaking the NDA, but your student loans would no longer be deferred and instead, be immediately due, in full, on that same day.”
The red flags that were waving were blinding him to Mars, to the papers laid out in front of him and the kitchen itself, but those were nothing compared to the fact that Lee Madison owned him. “If I back out of this job…say a year from now, I get an offer to do what I studied to do…my loans…”
“Will continue as they have been before Senator Madison bought them. They are insurance, nothing more, Mr. Bloom.”
“Is that in writing here?”
“If it’s not, I’ll speak to the senator immediately.”
That made him feel a little relief, so he finished up the paperwork and placed it all back in the folder.
“Very good. Now, let me show you to your quarters.”