Page 46 of Belgian Betrayal

“They’re heading out of old town,” Fearghas said. “Going in the direction of the train station. Following.”

“Their sniper disappeared,” Ace said. “I’m coming down.”

“Four of their guys dropped back,” Dmytro said. “Get down!”

“Ace, find that sniper,” Fearghas said, his voice strained. “These guys are shooting at us. We don’t need bullets coming at us from behind.”

“They’re getting away with Atkins,” Jasmine said.

“Then let us take care of their expendables,” Dmytro said. “Moving forward, cover me.”

Catya’s heart leaped into her throat. Middleman had at least eight of them to Ace’s team of four. She needed to be out there.

Her gaze went to the young woman her MI6 father had fought so hard to rescue. She’d be lucky to see her father alive again.

“It’s my father, isn’t it?” Madison asked. “What happened?”

Catya wouldn’t lie to the girl. “They took him hostage and left.”

Madison’s eyes widened. “We have to help him. They’ll kill him.” She started for the door, bumping into a couple staggering drunkenly.

Catya caught her arm. “He wanted you to be safe.”

“I can’t stay here knowing he’s in trouble.” She shook free of Catya’s hand. “I’m going, with or without you.”

Catya would have to tie the girl up again to keep her at the nightclub. The best she could do would be to stay with Madison and make sure she didn’t get in the way if bullets started flying. Her team had moved out of range of her headset. If she could get closer, she might come in range again. And maybe, just maybe, Catya could be there to help keep Fearghas from getting killed.

Chapter 12

Fearghas covered for Dmytro as he moved forward, getting closer to the four men left behind to slow them down.

He worried they might have sent someone back to get to Catya and Madison, but he couldn’t focus on them when they needed to get to Atkins. Catya would take care of the girl and herself. She was strong, highly skilled and pretty badass. She’d be all right.

He fired a couple of rounds to keep their four opponents from killing Dmytro on his push forward.

Once Dmytro made it to the next alley where he took cover, he waved Fearghas forward.

“Got your back,” Jasmine said. “Go.”

Fearghas rose from his position and darted toward the corner of a building several yards further ahead of Dmytro.

A man leaned out from behind a concrete flowerpot.

Fearghas dove to the ground, aimed and fired at the man. His bullet glanced off the flowerpot and hit the man in the chest. The man fell.

Fearghas leaped to his feet and made it to the corner. He had a vague idea of where the other three had taken up defensive positions.

“We have one man behind the tree near the tavern,” Fearghas said.

“One on the corner of the building ahead of Fearghas,” Dmytro said.

“The third is on the ground behind the wooden wagon,” Fearghas said.

“Coming up on your left,” Jasmine said into his radio headset.

As soon as Jasmine moved, the man on the ground behind the wagon raised slightly.

Fearghas aimed down the barrel of his pistol, wishing he had a rifle with a scope. He was good with the pistol but needed to be great to hit the target at night with a handgun. He pulled the trigger and missed.

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