Page 63 of Belgian Betrayal

“Or given it to someone else like the Deputy Prime Minister,” Fearghas said. “She has to be involved in this.”

A noise from somewhere below made Catya and Fearghas freeze.

Sounds of pans rattling came from the kitchen below.

“Cleaning staff?” Catya asked.

Fearghas nodded. “Probably. It’s time to leave.”

Catya tiptoed across the floor and into the sitting room, where she eased the door to the landing closed and twisted the lock in the doorknob.

Fearghas headed for the French doors, closed one side carefully, twisting the lock to the open position. As Catya stepped out onto the balcony, the sound of footsteps came from the staircase.

“Someone is coming,” he whispered to Catya.

She stared at the limb four feet from the balcony, gauging the leap it would take.

“I’ll go first,” Fearghas said. He stepped onto the wooden top rail and then leaped across, landed on the thick branch and dropped down to hug it until he had his balance secured.

Then he pushed to his feet and held out his hand toward Catya. She reached for it but came up about a foot short.

She glanced over her shoulder, shook her head and then flung herself across, hitting Fearghas hard enough to knock him backward. His back smacked against the tree trunk. For a moment, he held steady with Catya in his arms.

He glanced through the windows of the French door into the sitting room. The doorknob jiggled.

Fearghas switched places with Catya, leaning her against the tree trunk, and then dropped down to the next branch. He held up his arms.

“I’ve got this,” Catya said softly. “Keep going.”

Fearghas swung to the next limb and dropped the last six feet to the ground. As soon as he landed, he looked up in time to catch Catya as she dropped from the last limb.

She landed in his arms, kissed him on the lips and then dropped to the ground. “Let’s get out of here before whoever is in there looks out the back window.” Catya dashed for the back gate.

Fearghas followed, latching the gate quietly behind him. They hurried to where they’d parked the car.

As Fearghas settled behind the steering wheel, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the text, his heartbeat leaping into overdrive.

“What?” Catya said as she buckled her seatbelt.

He held out the phone with the text message.

Dmytro: Lucie cracked the code. She decrypted the data. And the photos you took of the guy who got into the Deputy Prime Minister’s car…? Hank showed them to Peter Atkins. He recognized him as his boss, Walter Sykes.

Catya’s lips pressed into a thin, tight line. “Sykes is the MI6 director. I thought he looked familiar, but I’ve only actually met him face-to-face once. He’s the man who sent me and Atkins to kill Gia Rosolino.”

Chapter 15

Catya and Fearghas arrived at the hotel where the rest of their team had secured rooms and hurried to the suite they’d rented.

Dmytro let them in and waved toward a laptop the others were gathered around. “You’re just in time.”

“What else has happened?” Fearghas asked as he strode across the room with Catya and Dmytro.

“About the time Lucie sent the decrypted data, we got a message from Ivan with the guest list for the event Stanhope’s hosting at his chateau in Buckinghamshire tomorrow evening.”

“And?” Catya prompted.

“The data on the disk lists many of the names we found on Stanhope’s guest list,” Ace said. “Take a look.”

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