Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

the truck bed as he was thrown out. He stared at it now, lying idle in the backseat. He finally had a surprise on his side.
    Sydney had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, which was an incredible feat considering the amount of jarring the truck was putting them through. Danny wanted to sleep as well, especially now that day was bleeding into night. But while his body was tired, his mind was brimming, feasting on a new buffet of details.
    After forty-five minutes into their trip, the two of them finally felt safe enough to talk. Sydney had filled Danny in on Nathan Broederlam. Originally from Amsterdam, Nathan was not only the presiding member of their chamber, but he was the current ICJ vice president. Danny looked at Sydney’s mouth as she slept. He pictured it moving, forming the words that made him cringe.
    Nathan is a powerful man with powerful friends. All he has to do is reach for the phone to speak with almost any world leader.
    An avalanche of imaginary scenes, each more vivid than the previous one, plummeted through Danny’s head. He watched helplessly as both his and Sydney’s throats were cut by unknown assailants. Then he saw them both get hanged. Then shot in the face. The last horrific vision had them both drawn and quartered by unrecognized men speaking in foreign tongues. But these scenarios were not just fantasy. For Danny, every scene was experienced, each sense sending information to his extraordinary brain as if he was actually living it. He felt the knife slice across his skin, catching on his Adam’s apple and then ripping it in half. He saw Sydney’s eyes bulge beyond comprehension as the hangman’s noose applied terrific pressure to her head. He smelled the gunpowder and then the cooking flesh of the gunshot wounds. He finally heard his own bones crack, as cables pulled his limbs in different directions. Goddamn my fucking mind , he thought.
    Danny finally crested the hill at the edge of San Miguel Camargo. Not wanting to arouse anyone’s suspicion by driving a vehicle that, thanks to the guards and their automatic rifles, resembled a giant block of Swiss cheese, he pulled off the main road at the first side street. He was careful to avoid hitting the goats and chickens that littered the street and parked next to what looked like an abandoned mill house.
    He gently nudged Sydney’s shoulder. Her eyelids rolled up like sagging garage doors, revealing her piercing green eyes. Seconds later, those eyes hardened along with the rest of her body. She bolted upright in her seat, her torso catching against the seat belt.
    “Hey, it’s okay. We’re okay, Sydney,” Danny said calmly as he touched her arm. “Don’t freak. We’re almost home.”
    The fog of sleep cleared away from her mind and her face eased. “I’m sorry,” Sydney offered as her head fell back against the headrest. “For a moment there I thought I had dreamed all of this.”
    Danny produced an understanding smile. “It’s easy for your mind to play tricks on you?” Believe me , Danny thought . I know .
    “Where are we?” she asked, looking around.
    “We’re at the border,” he replied. Sydney stared out of the cracked windshield at the ramshackle adobe buildings around them. “Actually, we’re about three miles away from it. Welcome to beautiful San Miguel Camargo. It’s a village just outside the city of Díaz Ordaz. I figure we can get a bite to eat and stretch our legs before we cross.”
    Sydney nodded and got out of the truck. Moments later, three little boys appeared from nowhere and immediately besieged her.
    “ Chicle! Chicle !” they chanted as they held up tiny packs of gum in their filthy hands. Before Danny could tell her not to, she took one of the packs, thinking that a simple “ gracias” would suffice.
    Danny came to her rescue with change stashed in the truck’s ashtray. “These kids are born salesmen.” He handed two quarters to the boy who had just unloaded his gum on Sydney. As soon as the other two realized who had the money, they surrounded Danny and shoved their wares in his face.
    “Chicle! Chicle!”
    “Oh. I’m sorry. I thought it was a gift,” Sydney replied.
    “Don’t worry about it.” Danny took a package of gum from the two other boys and handed them each fifty cents. He was rewarded with smiles and many “graciases.” Then, as quickly as they came, the children tore off to find their next marks.
    Danny looked back at his busted-up truck. He yearned for his