Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

Benjamin Speakes.
    Sydney opened her eyes. The bathroom door opened and Stefan Taber appear in the doorway. A pistol was dangling in his right hand. Smoke rose from the end of its silencer.
    “Are you okay?” he asked her.
    Sydney was the furthest thing from okay. She was soaking wet on the floor of a strange bathroom while a man she didn’t trust was standing over her holding a gun. So many questions filled her head that she feared if she opened her mouth, they would all come rushing out at once. Instead of talking, she simply nodded.
    Taber cut off the zip tie that bound her wrists. Then he pulled an impeccably white towel off the rung above the bathtub and offered it to her. Sydney took it and began dabbing it against her face. Taber sat down on the side of the tub and rested the elongated weapon across his lap.
    “Sorry about the rough stuff, but I needed Speakes to think you were dead. He just told the others that I killed you. Hopefully, they’ll stop gunning for you now.”
    Sydney remained silent, but Taber no doubt saw the utter confusion in her eyes. He smiled.
    “You’re wondering what the hell is going on,” he started. “Let me begin by telling you who I really work for.”
    “Who?” Sydney heard herself say.
    “The president of the United States.”

Chapter 94
    Sydney’s sign.
    Danny was the first one through the bloodstained door on the hotel’s fifth floor. All six of the agents on the president’s Secret Service detail were tiptoeing behind him with their weapons drawn. The president himself brought up the rear.
    By the time they made it to the intersection of the hallways, Peter Devon was shoulder to shoulder with him. Danny had no idea what kind of training Devon had for situations like this one, but he wasn’t going to ask him to run through his résumé right quick. He could only hope that Devon knew what he was doing.
    Peter Devon flattened his back against the wall and slid over to the corner. He peeked around it and whipped back with a disgusted look on his face. Before he even uttered the words, Danny knew who was standing guard in the hall.
    “One of mine,” Devon mouthed.
    He pulled his Beretta into his chest. Danny read the intensity in Devon’s eyes. This is my guy; it’s my show. Danny took a step back and nodded. He didn’t have a dog in this particular fight. Besides, a compromise here would gain him leverage in the future.
    Devon wheeled around the corner and leveled his weapon at the man standing at the far end of the hallway.
    “Stefansky!” Devon growled. “Drop your weapon and get on the floor, now!”
    Danny peeled around Devon and looked past him, checking the hallway for exits. The only exits on the entire floor were the stairway and the elevators. Six Secret Service agents, a Texas Ranger, and the president of the United States stood between whomever Stefansky was guarding and freedom.
    The sight of seven armed bodies pouring into the hallway made fear shiver across Stefansky’s face. He immediately followed Peter Devon’s command. Devon ordered one of his agents to cuff Stefansky and then Devon pushed him up against the wall.
    “How many are in there?” Devon barked.
    When Stefansky didn’t answer, Devon dug his fingers into Stefansky’s eye sockets. The agent let out a hideous yowl.
    “Three! Three including the girl!”
    Devon released him. He faced the door and was through it with one well-placed kick under the doorknob.
    Years of protecting partners and covering fellow officers in dangerous situations had been hardwired into Danny’s body. He flew through the doorway. Peter Devon was standing in a firing stance in the suite’s foyer, an elaborate oval-shaped parlor. Sitting atop an oval carpet was an enormous oval table made of Brazilian cherry wood. The smell of fresh wood polish tangoed with the perfume of the color-coordinated flowers perfectly arranged in a giant crystal vase at the center of the table.
    There were two open doorways at either end of the parlor. Suddenly, they heard Sydney’s voice. “Danny! I’m in here!” It was coming from the hallway to their left.
    Devon churned down the narrow hallway first, with Danny close behind him. They spilled out into the master bedroom. Sydney was guarded by a taut man dressed all in black. Danny recognized him immediately. Stefan Taber, the ICJ guard. He finally caught us.
    Taber and Sydney stood together just inside a doorway on the far side of the bedroom. He held a gun to her