Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

This number good?”
    “It goes where I go, Danny boy,” Chip replied. “You want to tell me what you’re thinking?”
    Danny darted out into the hallway and hooked a left. He studied the sea of faces surrounding him. Suddenly nothing was as it seemed anymore. He didn’t know who might be listening in on his conversation. Instead of thinking of something clever, Danny opted for a straight “no” answer and then ended the call.

Chapter 99
    “Find the lowest man on the totem pole.”
    Danny took Chip’s advice to heart. By definition, the grunts were the least likely to be corrupt. If they were, then they wouldn’t be the grunts. Danny just hoped the cops who had carted Ethan Goodnight down to his seat were men he could trust.
    “Officers, I need your help.”
    Neither one spoke. But the younger one looked at the older, alpha dog. Danny looked at the names on their badges. Cannon and Koontz. Danny concentrated on the alpha, Cannon.
    “I think we may have a security situation,” Danny said in a hushed tone. “Where’s the entrance to the escape tunnels?” The two officers looked at each other. “Come on guys,” Danny continued, “they’re no big secret. Hell, they’re even on the Internet.”
    “You’ll have to talk to someone in the Architect of the Capitol’s office,” Cannon finally replied.
    “I don’t have time for bureaucratic bullshit,” Danny said. He eyed Cannon’s sergeant stripes. “Sergeant Cannon, you must know where the entrance is. Can we just check it to make sure nothing’s wrong? If everything’s okay, then I’ll buy you both a steak dinner at Smith & Wollensky’s.”
    “Weren’t you the guy sitting next to the kid we took down to the balcony?” Koontz asked. He was pasty, almost sickly white, with pockmarks on his cheeks and the unsure stare of a rookie. He stood slumped over forward, like the accessories on his chest were weighing down his lanky frame.
    “That’s right,” Danny replied.
    “You’re the Texas Ranger who helped the president, right?” Koontz continued.
    “Right again, but I don’t have time for this. Y’all going to help me or not?”
    Koontz shrugged. He was about to say something when Cannon interjected.
    “I’ll take you down there.” Cannon was staring into Danny. His calm, black eyes matched the color of his hair, his skin, and his uniform. “Randy, you stay here. If anyone asks, I’m in the head. Not a word of this to anyone until I tell you. Got it?”
    “You got it, Sarge,” Koontz replied.
    “Follow me,” Cannon said to Danny.
    As they waded through wave after wave of lobbyists and Capitol Hill staffers exchanging hollow pleasantries along the massive stone hallway, Danny grew more and more confident with his theory.
    Sydney said Colin Tanner grew to be disgusted with what the Bilderbergers stood for. Look at this concentration of power. Tanner taught Jack Butcher and King Edward that this is not the right way to run a society. The only way they could possibly change it is to start from the ground up.
    They came to an intersection. Cannon led Danny to the right and then down a flight of steps to a landing. He took another right, and they swerved into a calm alcove. Cannon produced a barrel key and twisted it in a panel next to a set of elevator doors. Then he punched the button and it lit up.
    “Thanks for trusting me,” Danny said as they waited.
    Cannon’s face narrowed. “Let’s get one thing straight, Sergeant. I don’t trust you. I’ve followed your story. I know about how you killed that FBI agent. Hell, as far as I’m concerned, you’re still on the hook for Senator Halsey’s death. What I don’t know is how you’re mixed up with the president.”
    “You shouldn’t believe everything you read, Cannon. I’ve been cleared of those charges.”
    “That’s what I’m talking about. I’ve worked on the Hill long enough to know that the shit that fills the papers is just a dog and pony show.”
    Anger seared Danny’s gut. “So why the fuck are you helping me, Cannon?”
    The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Cannon thrust out his arm to hold the doors. “Because I’ve seen that look in your eyes before, in other cops. You’ve got a credible hunch. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t investigate it.” Cannon finished with a sarcastic grin. “After you, Sergeant.”
    Both men boarded the elevator. Danny noticed four floor buttons. The top one, marked ‘G’ for the ground floor, was lit