Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

motionless.
    Sydney bent down to check the agent’s vitals. She thought about her friend Gabrielle back home. When they were still teenagers, Gabrielle was on the diving team while Sydney was on the swim team. Sydney was watching as Gabrielle was practicing her diving one day. As she began a reverse one and a half somersault, Sydney noticed that she was too close to the board. She started to scream to Gabrielle, but it was too late. Her head cracked against the board, and she plunged lifeless into the water. Sydney was first in the pool after her. When they got her out, she was concerned that Gabrielle was dead, but the diving coach reassured her that she had only been knocked unconscious. “The head can take a pounding,” he had told her. The agent’s beating pulse confirmed the diving coach’s words once again.
    Blood began trickling down from the agent’s forehead, but Sydney couldn’t worry about that now. The agent was alive, and that’s all that mattered. Sydney took the agent’s submachine gun and ran out of the stall. She eased open the bathroom door and took one step into the hallway. She gazed at the submachine gun in her hands. I will kill him if I have this , she thought. Sydney Dumas was not a killer. She would not murder another human being and then spend the rest of her life behind bars. She stepped back inside the bathroom and shoved the gun into the trash can.
    Unarmed now, Sydney stepped back into the hallway, took a deep breath, and walked purposefully toward the door that held the name of the man who killed her parents, gathering courage with every step. As she stood outside the office door, Sydney could feel the weight of revenge in every cell of her body. Her legs were brimming with nervous energy, but nevertheless felt incredibly heavy. As she put her hand on the doorknob, Sydney fueled herself by the memory of Knobby’s final story on his deathbed. It was about the man who killed her parents. Knobby started off with his name.
    “I know the man that killed your parents, Sydney. I didn’t want to tell you his name, but I can see that you will never rest until you know.”
    The name that crossed Knobby’s lips all those years ago now echoed in Sydney’s head, rekindling the promise that she made to herself in that hospital room as the warmth from Knobby’s hand slipped away.
    I will seek vengeance for what that man did to my family .
    Sydney felt a surge of adrenaline wash over her. By the time she swung open the door, Sydney Dumas was ready for her ultimate confrontation.

Chapter 83
    Danny dropped down into complete blackness. He heard his feet splash and then seconds later felt cold liquid ooze around his borrowed dress socks. I can’t believe I’m in a sewer in a suit, he thought. I can’t believe I’m in a sewer at all.
    He propped his feet up on the sides of the pipe, straddling the sewer water. He looked up and saw Luther’s head eclipsing most of the deadened light that fell through the hole from the Metro station. The voice inside Danny’s brain was begging him to climb back up the pipe and go for reinforcements. But he couldn’t. The president didn’t know whom to trust besides a stranger; that meant Danny had to fly solo. He tried looking on the bright side. He had the element of surprise on his side. The presence of more bodies would only chase away that advantage.
    From his armpit holster, Danny yanked out the SIG Sauer Tactical 9 millimeter that Peter Devon had given him. As he gripped it, he remembered the similar gun the Texas Rangers had issued him what seemed like an eternity ago. Feels like old times , he thought as he began an awkward hike down the pipe.
    He was counting each step and figured he had made it a full city block. He had to be nearing the Air and Space Museum. After hearing Danny’s theory back in the Oval Office about delivering a bomb underneath the city, the president showed him the map of the Capitol escape tunnels. One of the exit points was in the Air and Space Museum’s basement. The sewer system ran right by it.
    Danny continued shuffling north until he felt air blast him from his left and right. He inched forward in the pitch dark until his shoes reached a small ledge. He had reached a major pipe intersection. Must be the one under Independence Avenue. He continued his hike north for what he thought was another two hundred feet, when a stream of cool air hit his right side. He stuck out his arm and felt a grate protrude from the