Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

he had won. There was no reason for him to play games with her any longer. All she could do was keep him talking.
    “How’s that?”
    Speakes shook his head. “Uh-uh, Sydney. You’ll just have to die guessing.” Speakes only needed to look at Taber. In an instant, his powerful hands were on her.

Chapter 92
    As soon as they entered the West Wing basement, the president broke into a run. When they reached the East Wing basement, the president explained to Danny that there was only one possible way that Sydney could get out of the building without anyone seeing her. The tunnels.
    Danny took the lead as they came upon the women’s restroom in the East Wing basement. Blood covered the tiles in the corner of the stall where Agent Downing had been lying. He eyed everything in the room, trying to get a sense of what happened.
    “Sergeant.” The whisper trickled in from just outside the restroom.
    Danny retreated to the hallway. The president was staring at the door in front of him. “Yes, Mr. President?”
    “Jesus. Why didn’t I think of him sooner?”
    “Who?”
    The president pointed to the name on the door. “Ben Speakes. The Wizard of Oz.”
    “Wizard of Oz?”
    “As director of the White House Military Office, Speakes’s hand reaches almost everywhere. He controls Air Force One, the marine helicopters, Camp David, all communications and computer systems, the White House mess.” The president’s gaze hardened. “He even controls the nuclear football.”
    But while the last part of the president’s statement made dread clutch Danny’s core, his next words wiped away the confusion that had blurred his thoughts ever since L’Enfant Plaza.
    “Speakes also controls the White House garage.”
    “How much do you want to bet that all White House vehicles are LoJacked?” Danny asked, already knowing the answer.
    “You took a White House car to the L’Enfant station, right?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “He used the GPS to find out where you were going.” Realization waved across the president’s face. “It wasn’t Simon. Speakes told the people in the sewer you were coming.”
    Danny reached for his pistol and motioned for the president to take cover. He approached Speakes’s office door and stood to the side with his back to the wall. He tried the doorknob. It was locked. He spun off the wall and kicked in the door. He wasn’t surprised to find an empty office.
    Danny whipped around. “Sir, does Speakes know about the tunnels?”
    “Ben Speakes has worked here under seven presidents, close to forty years. He probably had a hand in building the goddamn things.”
    Great, Danny thought. “Can you lead the way, sir?”
    “Absolutely.”
    The two of them made a left and scampered down the hallway. They came to an unmarked, gunmetal gray door with a keypad on the wall . The president entered his code and opened it. They shot inside, only to reach another gray door. This time, an eye scanner jutted out from the wall with a keypad underneath it. The president jammed his eye into the scanner and waited. A bell chimed and then he punched a code into the keypad. An electronic lock buzzed, and the president yanked open the door.
    Danny followed him past the open door and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A long concrete hallway stood in front them. At the other end, the hallway split into five smaller passageways. The president was already moving, running at a solid clip with his gun in his hand, down the hallway. Danny caught up to him at the hallway intersection.
    “Now what?” President Butcher asked.
    Danny produced the Secret Service agent’s radio from his pocket. “We call for backup.” He put the radio to his lips and was about to talk when he stopped. He walked toward the edge of the fourth passageway.
    “What is it, Sergeant?” the president asked.
    Danny moved over so the president could see the thin slivers of blood that stained the concrete wall.
    “Is it blood?” President Butcher asked.
    “Yes, sir. More important, it’s Sydney’s blood.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    “She had cuts on her palms.” Danny put his own palms on top of the bloodstains and then held them up. Thin streaks of blood stained his skin. “She was trying to tell us which tunnel they used.”
    The president lunged into the tunnel. “So let’s go.”
    “Mr. President.”
    The president stopped. “What?”
    “Sir, I’ve been in situations like this one before. It’s still time to call in the