Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

to do this.”
    “What about Simon, sir?”
    “I can’t … I just don’t know. I have a hard time believing that Simon’s got something to do with this mess. Someone may be using Simon, setting him up. They may have his office bugged, who knows. But I have to play this thing out for whoever’s pulling the strings.”
    The president cracked the door and looked out into the waiting area next to Vanessa Dempsey’s desk. It, along with her chair, was empty.
    The president faced Danny again. “We need to hurry.”
    Danny gave him a fairly obvious look. “Don’t wait on me, sir.”
    “You don’t understand. We’ve got another problem.”
    “What’s that?”
    “The Capitol’s not the only building that has escape tunnels.”

Chapter 91
    A smile crept onto Benjamin Speakes’s gray lips. He was sitting in an elegant winged-back chair that matched the hunter green stripes in the hotel suite’s wallpaper.
    Sydney was sitting down on the unmade bed. She watched Stefan Taber wander in through the French doors that separated the bedroom from the rest of the suite. He sipped on a crystal glass of ice water as he sat down on the crumpled white sheets next to her. They were trying to intimidate her, using the bed as leverage. They wanted her to think that they might molest her, even rape her, if she didn’t give them what they wanted. Sydney willed herself to think positive thoughts.
    Danny will come for me.
    She had to keep these two men guessing. She had to keep them going in circles for as long as possible. She looked Speakes straight in the eye with no fear and zero respect. Then she used the same look on Taber. “Let me guess. There’s a piece missing from your puzzle, and you think I have it.” She settled her eyes on Speakes again. “But if you ask me, you’re missing more than just one piece.”
    Speakes ignored her taunt. “You’ve surmounted incredible obstacles to reach the president, Sydney. Why did you feel the need to see him?”
    “So there it is,” Sydney managed an irreverent smile. “Take a guess, Speakes. Take a wild guess.” Speakes remained silent. “No? Here’s a hint, I told him all about the Bilderbergers. I told him what I witnessed in Mexico.”
    “So what did you tell him?”
    “I told him about the lawsuit that Japan issued against the United States.”
    “Countries sue each other all the time.”
    “But not for payment in gold. Not when they already struck a blow against the U.S. by stopping their debt purchases.” Sydney narrowed her eyes at Speakes. “I worked for Dexter Walsh. I know what he’s capable of.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “He’s engineering the financial collapse of America.”
    “Did the president believe you?”
    “Yes. Especially since I also showed him Senator Booker Halsey’s signature on the lawsuit. Like you, Halsey was a bottom feeder, a pawn the Bilderbergers play with.”
    Speakes eyes flashed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, young lady.”
    “Really? I know you work for the Bilderbergers.”
    Speakes laughed, but his nervous eyes gave him away. “I’m not interested in your fantasies, Ms. Dumas.”
    “What I have to say is the furthest thing from fantasy, Speakes. Before his death, Colin Tanner filled me in with explicit details about who you are and what the Bilderbergers do. As soon as I saw the lawsuit in Mexico, I knew what it meant. I beat you, fichu bâtard !”
    Speakes laughed again. But this time, his eyes were steady as he leaned forward. “You’re not as smart as you think, Sydney,” he whispered. “We know everything about you. Let me ask you a question. How do you think a lowly economics professor at a second-rate institution becomes an ICJ judge?”
    Sydney jumped ahead. She couldn’t believe she didn’t see it. Her ex-boyfriend, Alexandre Lacoste, the prince of Monaco, the one who nominated her supposedly because of her talent and her intelligence, was he one of them?
    “Alexandre Lacoste is a Bilderberger,” she stated flatly.
    Speakes saw the realization crash into Sydney. “You thought you knew everything, but you didn’t know Lacoste is one of us? Tsk-tsk-tsk. Oh well, what’s that old saying, love is blind?”
    “So what? This was all some kind of test?”
    “If you want to think of it that way. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
    Sydney’s mind scrambled. Is he telling the truth? Or is he just trying to confuse me? Sydney recognized her situation. Speakes thought