Detective Danny Cavanaugh 01 - The Brink

of the unassuming man seated on the couch along the back wall. But instead of heading straight for his guest, Taber loafed into the bathroom. Although he was Stefan Taber’s temporary employer, Taber wanted to show this man who was really in control.
    Taber smelled his hands. Whether it was imagined or real, the odor of burned gunpowder was still on them. He washed them vigorously, swallowed two handfuls of tap water, and then finally strolled into the sitting room.
    “How’d it go?” the man asked, keeping his voice low.
    “You of all people must have access to a TV. You tell me.”
    “Did anyone see you?”
    Taber grinned. “No one saw me.” The grin slipped from his lips a moment later, but in his mind, he was still smiling.
    No one saw me. But someone felt me.
    Although he didn’t want to, Taber entertained his guest for exactly thirty minutes. It was the least he could do for the man who was paying his rather exorbitant fee. They discussed the next steps of Taber’s mission, something Taber had already committed to memory. After his guest left, Taber fixed himself a tap water on ice and sat next to the open bedroom window. As he looked over the Washington skyline that was both receptive and intimidating, he replayed the moment when he engaged Sydney Dumas in a little fun and games underneath the Potomac River. He had to will himself to stop thinking about what he would have done to Ms. Dumas if he was still under The Group’s orders.
    Not only had Danny Cavanaugh and she survived the fantastic fall he saw them take from the enormous Federal Express plane, but at least Sydney had enough stamina to pursue her goal.
    Taber grabbed his PDA and, in seconds, was scrolling through the information regarding Sydney Dumas he had scanned into it from Nathan Broederlam’s computer one more time. She was like that blasted Energizer bunny; she kept going and going and going. Stefan Taber needed to know what exactly would make her want to quit.

Chapter 71
    “Do you believe me?”
    Chip glanced up at Danny and then went right back to work. Danny was dressed in Chip’s bathrobe, while his clothes were spinning in the dryer in the nearby locker room. News of the incredible act of terrorism still spewed out of the TV behind them, but it couldn’t hold a candle to Danny’s story of what happened at the border with the Espinoza bust and why he was on the run in the first place. Danny felt the weight of the Junglee knife in the robe’s pocket. Although his only option was to trust Carver Sutton, which he prayed was the right move, his head still throbbed with doubt about Chip’s motivations.
    “I do,” Chip replied. Armed with two spatulas, he was standing over the sizzling grill, cooking two different piles of ground chicken and thinly sliced onion. Although the last employee had left an hour ago and Sydney was showering in the employee locker room that Chip had installed shortly after he bought the bar, Danny was thankful that the grill’s hiss camouflaged their intimate conversation.
    “I saw the news coverage of what happened in Nuevo Laredo,” Chip continued. “Right away I knew you were the scapegoat.”
    “How’s that?”
    “Informants were always coming to us way back when I was still with Naval Intelligence. All they talked about were all the dirty Fibbies mixed up with smugglers along the Mexican border. I can only think how much worse it’s gotten over the years.”
    “The navy used to investigate smuggling at the border?”
    “Christ, Danny. Every federal outfit at one time or another has had a border case going. They knew whoever could curtail the Wild West shit down there for good would be eternal heroes.”
    “What do you think I should do?” Danny asked.
    “I’ll see if I can set up a meeting with some old friends.” Chip took the side of one spatula and ran it through each pile, chopping up the mounds of meat and onion. Then he used both spatulas to mix them. “What kind of evidence do you have?”
    “Just my word.”
    “You got names, dates, places?”
    Danny tapped his head. “All up here.”
    Chip snorted. “Ah yes, that supercomputer in your skull.”
    “Thanks for believing me, Chip.”
    “Think nothing of it, especially after you brought such a beautiful creature into my otherwise mundane world.”
    Danny made sure the shower was still running before he continued.
    “Speaking of, what are your thoughts on her?” He was dying to know what a fellow law enforcement