Page 24 of Belgian Betrayal

Venezuela continued to implode, with fighting breaking out between the military government in power and civilian rebels tired of being wrongfully persecuted and suppressed.

A resurgence of ISIS attacks on Syrian cities had NATO in talks on how to respond.

Fighting continued between warring factions in several countries scattered across Africa.

He’d shut down the news sites after reading too many articles about everything wrong in the world when a message came through on Catya’s laptop.

He read it, frowning.

Take a chance. Today’s a date. Join me where the almond blossoms bloom ASAP, and don’t be late. It could be our last chance.

The note was signed U.S.

He turned, hating to wake the Russian woman sleeping peacefully with a hand tucked beneath her chin. But he’d promised to wake her if any messages came through.

Though this message was confusing, he needed to wake her.

“Catya,” he called out softly.

She sat up instantly, the sheet and blanket falling down around her waist, exposing her naked breasts.

Fearghas’s groin tightened. He tamped down his automatic response to her lovely curves and nodded toward the laptop. “You have a message. I’m not sure what it means. It seems to be gibberish. Maybe you can make sense of it.”

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, detoured to the wardrobe, snagged jeans and a T-shirt and carried them over to where Fearghas sat in front of the open laptop.

Catya leaned over the monitor and read the words, frowning. “I don’t know what that means. No one has ever tried to ask me out on a date through this message application.”

“How is your messaging account used?” Fearghas asked. “Is it a social media platform where anyone can message you?”

She nodded. “I use it to pass messages to some of my contacts and to receive messages back. But this—” she shook her head, “—might take a minute to understand.”

“Could ‘U.S.’ stand for the United States?” Fearghas asked.

Catya shook her head. “Take a chance? Could it mean someone I don’t know or trust?”

“I assume today is self-explanatory,” Fearghas said.

Catya nodded, frowning. “Join me where almond blossoms bloom.”

Fearghas’s gut clenched. Was some bastard trying to hit on Catya? He pushed back on his desire to hit something. “It doesn’t make sense to mention almond blossoms and ASAP. Does that mean he wants you to meet you in a field?”

Catya shook her head. “There’s urgency in this message. Meeting in a field of almond blossoms could take time for us to locate..”

“He said meet me where the almond blossoms bloom,” Fearghas pointed out. “Do you know of any fields of almond blossoms nearby?”

Catya’s eyes widened. “No, but I do know a place where almond blossoms bloom.” She smiled.

Fearghas didn’t see what Catya saw. “I don’t understand.”

“Amsterdam is famous for several museums,” Catya said. “One of which is the Van Gogh Museum.”

Fearghas’s brow lifted. “The Almond Blossoms painting is one of his most famous paintings. I’m supposed to meet in front of Van Gogh’s painting by that name. ASAP means as soon as possible.”

“The museum doesn’t open until nine o’clock,” Catya said.

Solving the riddle in the message didn’t make Fearghas feel better. “The main question I have is who sent the message?”

Catya’s frown was back. “U.S.”

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