Page 27 of Belgian Betrayal

“You’re in as much danger as I am. They gave me the same ultimatum. I’m to show up in Bruges at midnight.”

“For all I know, you were the one to set the explosives that nearly killed me. You could be the one who had those thugs waiting for any chance I would escape the townhouse.” She stepped around Fearghas and faced the bastard. “What makes you think I’ll trust you?”

“You have no reason to trust me.” He took off the sunglasses and met her gaze. “If I could do this on my own, I would. But the odds of failing are high, and the consequences are too horrible to contemplate.” His brow furrowed. “They have my Madison. My nineteen-year-old daughter. They took her from Trinity campus three days ago. When you asked me to give you that disk...I couldn’t. It’s my only leverage to get her back alive.”

Catya wanted to throw more insults at the man, but her breath lodged in her lungs, and images of her parents’ deaths replayed in her mind.

Fearghas reached out and grabbed Atkins by the throat. “If you’re lying, I’ll kill you in a very slow and painful way.”

Atkins managed to get enough air to say, “I wish it weren’t true.”

For a long moment, Fearghas refused to release his grip on the man’s throat.

Atkins didn’t fight him, his face turning red and then purple.

Catya touched Fearghas’s arm. “Not here,” she whispered. “And if anyone kills him, I should get the honor.”

Fearghas let go of the man, giving him a slight shove.

Atkins gasped, dragging air into his lungs. He straightened quickly when an older man and woman entered the room and gave them curious stares.

Catya headed for the door, followed by Fearghas. She paused before passing through, looked back, and lifted her chin, indicating Atkins should follow.

Even more careful and aware of the people wandering through the museum, Catya made her way to the exit, trying hard not to forget she was supposed to be an old woman with a shuffling gait.

She needed to get Atkins somewhere they could talk openly. If he was telling the truth, his daughter was in grave danger. Catya hadn’t said it aloud, but the girl could already be dead. The people after that disk didn’t care if they had to kill a preschool teacher or an old, retired couple to get what they wanted. They’d kill Atkins’s daughter without a second thought.

If he was lying...

Her fingers clenched into fists.

They left the museum without being accosted.

“Keep your distance,” Catya warned and set off. She hated leading him back to her hidden apartment, but she didn’t feel safe talking anywhere else.

She and Fearghas shuffled along the cobblestoned streets of Amsterdam as fast as they could without drawing attention. The casual observer wouldn’t expect to see older people jogging or powerwalking.

Atkins ambled along with his hood up and sunglasses in place. He walked twenty feet behind them, his head down, his hands in his pockets.

Catya wondered if he had a gun in one of his pockets. He’d said he would give them the disk, yet he hadn’t brought it out to prove he still carried it.

Catya and Fearghas were taking a considerable risk leading the man back to her apartment.

“You sure you want to take him to your place?” Fearghas asked. “What if he’s tagged and leading killers to you?”

“What if he isn’t lying,” she said softly. “What if they have his daughter?” Gia’s face haunted her. She’d been someone’s daughter. Catya had agreed to the assignment MI6 had put her up to, but not because she’d planned to kill Gia. She’d hope to learn why they’d wanted her dead. That’s why she’d insisted on going in first and alone. She’d have found a way to save her if someone hadn’t beaten her to the woman.

After several twists and turns through the maze of streets and narrow alleys, they arrived outside the church.

Catya’s gaze swept the area, peering into the shadow, looking for anyone who might have followed them. She waited until Atkins rounded the corner before she ducked through the bushes. He’d see where she’d gone in and follow.

Fearghas followed her in and waited for her to unlock the door. “You go in. I’ll wait for Atkins and make sure he wasn’t followed.”

She gave him a quick nod and ducked through the low door into her safe house, wondering if she was doing the right thing by trusting a man who’d left her to die in an explosion he could have set.

Catya shed the dress and overcoat, then pulled off the gray wig and eyebrows. Then she hurried around her apartment, stuffing her laptop, a change of underwear and clothing into a backpack in case she had to leave in a hurry. Even if Atkins was telling the truth, she couldn’t return to this location. Atkins was one too many people who knew of its existence. Her life depended on her ability to disappear.

She’d even had doubts about letting Fearghas into her safe space. The more people who knew where she was, the more chances her enemies had of finding her.

---