Page 66 of Belgian Betrayal

He held her close, his strong arms wrapped around her, shielding her from the world and all the bad guys who wanted to kill her and everyone she loved. She could almost believe she could have a life with Fearghas.

Almost.

As Catya drifted into sleep, instead of thinking about the event at Stanhope’s, her mind took her to a home in the mountains of Switzerland, where she stood on a wide front porch, watching children playing on the lush green grass—a red-haired little girl and a black-haired boy.

If they made it through Stanhope’s event, solved the mystery of who and why people were killing others and nailed the ones pulling the strings, she might consider retiring from her spy and assassination work.

Would retiring be enough to get her enemies off her back?”

“Probably not,” she whispered as she drifted into a troubled sleep filled with men shooting at her and her make-believe children. She’d have to go a lot further to get away from her past.

Was she willing to take the risk?

Catya rested her cheek against Fearghas’s chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart.

No.

Chapter 16

Fearghas was first out of the limousine they’d hired to carry Hank Patterson and his wife, Sadie McClain, to the country estate of Lord Johnathon Stanhope in Buckinghamshire, England.

Paparazzi, invited to record the annual event hosted by Lord Stanhope, lined the entrance to the massive French chateau.

Cameras flashed as he opened the back door of the vehicle.

Hank unfolded his long, lean frame and turned to offer his hand to his wife, helping her step out of the limo, dressed in a sapphire blue dress that hugged every inch of her curves.

Finding a dress on short notice had been a challenge she’d handled beautifully. An actress friend of Sadie’s who lived in London had commissioned the dress for an event that had been canceled at the last minute. Their measurements had been similar enough Sadie only had to have a few tucks made by a talented seamstress.

Hank and Fearghas had found a place to rent tuxedos for the occasion.

Fearghas had used hair dye to change the color of his hair from deep auburn to dark brown. He wore brown-tinted contact lenses to hide his green eyes, a fake brown mustache and a goatee beard Catya had found at a London costume shop.

He hadn’t liked that Catya wouldn’t be with him for the ride out to Buckinghamshire. She would arrive with Dmytro as a “date.”

Dmytro’s cousin had him added to the guest list as an up-and-coming Ukrainian chef, Viktor Federov, who had escaped the war in Ukraine and was building his name across Germany and parts of Spain and France. Lucie had found the chef’s name in foody articles posted on the internet. The man’s photograph had not been posted with any of the articles, making it easy for Dmytro to assume his identity and be added to the guest list as a celebrity.

Dmytro had also dyed his white hair dark brown and added a beard to partially hide the scar across his cheek. He’d found a tuxedo at the same shop as Hank and Fearghas.

Catya found a shimmering gold gown in a store in downtown London that fit perfectly, showing off her figure. Long slits up both sides made it easy for her to move, should she need to make a quick exit. She’d tucked her black hair beneath a long, blonde wig that hung straight down her back. She’d expertly applied makeup to hide her dark eyebrows, drawing lighter brown brows in their place.

Jasmine was coming as an interpreter for the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kostas Dimas, whose regular interpreter had come down with a sudden gastrointestinal ailment. Jasmine just happened to be available to fill in for the interpreter.

Hank had pulled some strings with Peter Atkins’s MI6 contact, Martin Reed, who appropriated a communications van they’d disguised as a news van and were able to park it outside Stanhope’s mansion in Buckinghamshire.

The van had all the latest communication devices they could possibly need. After hearing what had happened to Atkins, Martin Reed had insisted on helping with the mission, which ended up being a blessing as the equipment needed specialized skills to operate.

Reed had outfitted Fearghas, Hank and Dmytro with hidden cameras. He could only plant listening devices on the women since their dresses wouldn’t hide much. They had tested the devices before they’d left Ivan’s warehouse, where they’d staged before leaving for the estate in the country.

Reed and Ace would monitor the operation from inside the van.

Dmytro and Catya were armed with tiny surveillance cameras they could place strategically throughout the ballroom to give the guys in the van an even broader perspective, allowing them to warn the team inside the mansion of potential dangers.

Having been at the Roxburgh Mansion in Scotland when an explosion had destroyed the building and the people inside, Fearghas wasn’t entirely comfortable with the situation, and he wasn’t happy that Catya would be inside as well. Hell, he didn’t want any of the team caught in an explosion.

He hid his nervousness behind the stone-cold poker face of a bodyguard there to protect the megastar, Sadie McClain.

“The Sadie McClain entourage has arrived,” Ace’s voice sounded in Fearghas’s ear as he followed the couple up the steps. They entered the Stanhope mansion through the double doors opened by two liveried men.

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