Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

could control for the moment.
    Open the cooler door. Grasp the Coke can. Close the cooler door.
    Danny repeated the procedure as he got Sydney a bottle of water. He stepped down the candy bar aisle and picked out two protein bars from a box at the end of the aisle. He approached the cashier as she hung up the phone.
    “Coffee fresh?” he asked, setting his items on the counter.
    The cashier nodded and then forced a grin on her scared face. As Danny looked into her shifting eyes, his stomach tightened with anxiety. He noticed the back of a small TV on the counter to his left. The sound was muted, but he could see the TV screen’s reflection in the window behind the cashier. One half of the screen showed a reporter standing in front of a scene that had never changed over the years: the soaring pine trees, the bursting azaleas, the seamless rows of monkey grass. The other half held the head shot taken on his first day as a Texas Ranger.
    Across the bottom of the screen were words that made Danny’s heart shudder.
    SENATOR BOOKER HALSEY PRONOUNCED DEAD
    The cashier’s hands were trembling as she reached for the Coke can. She could barely type its price into her register.
    Danny had his wallet halfway out of his pocket. He pushed it back down and slid his hand toward the knife in his waistband.
    The cashier grabbed the bottle of water. She was trying to input its price into her register when Danny ordered her to stop.
    “Keep both hands on the counter where I can see them.”
    The cashier’s eyes were glued on the blade in Danny’s outstretched hand. She jumped back from the counter, knocking over her stool. Then her eyes fell and focused on something behind the counter. Danny instantly knew what it was. He reached around the back of the counter and felt cold steel underneath it. He grabbed the Smith and Wesson .45 and pointed it at her.
    “Please don’t kill me!” she screamed, her whole body shaking.
    Danny didn’t bother asking her if she had called the cops. He grabbed the phone’s receiver and pressed redial. He put the receiver to his ear in time to hear three familiar tones in his ear.
    Danny dropped the receiver, and it clattered on the counter. As he calmly tucked the knife back in his waistband, grabbed his items off the counter, and turned to run away, he could hear a woman’s voice spill out of the receiver.
    “911. What’s your emergency?”

Chapter 52
    Prime Minister Anthony Fantroy’s breakfast at his 10 Downing Street residence consisted of eggs Florentine with roasted mushrooms, herb-filled sausages and a strong cup of Earl Grey tea. Afterward, he reviewed appointment changes for the next few days with his scheduling assistant. Fortunately, there was nothing major he would be missing.
    He used the open hour before an early lunch meeting with his two senior economic advisers to pack for his trip. He stood in the doorway of his spacious walk-in closet, staring at his collection of ties. He pictured himself standing at the podium in the White House in his favorite Maurice Sedwell suit as he sent his message to the American people and the world.
    The United Kingdom and all of her provinces give our full support to the United States in clearing up this unsettling matter.
    “Lost in a thought, Tony?”
    Even though he recognized the booming voice, it startled him. Fantroy turned to see Lars Karlsson leaning against the open bedroom door. Even though he had just celebrated his eighty-seventh birthday and a shock of wild, white hair cascaded down from his sunspot-speckled head, the sight of the six-foot six-inch Lars Karlsson in a perfectly tailored pinstriped suit demanded respect. That respect was intensified by the fact that Lars was head of The Group’s intelligence committee. It was rumored that, although he was just a young man at the time, Lars had served in Swiss military intelligence during WWII and was instrumental in building the secret channel of communication between Swiss military officials and the Nazis. While the details of these relations remained fuzzy, rumors had always circled inside The Group that Lars’s extensive knowledge of obtaining information from people relied heavily on methods he observed the Nazis use. Fantroy himself had been in Group meetings where Lars had informed members about certain individuals who were getting too close for comfort. However, each one of those people had unfortunate accidents that resulted in their untimely deaths. It was no secret that