Page 73 of Belgian Betrayal

He entered the hallway, stopped in front of the unit and pressed his hands against the wood framing. It didn’t move. If it was a hidden door, there would be a button, a lever or something to trigger it to open.

He tried to move a statuette to look beneath it. It only moved one way, forward. The shelf unit shuddered and swung inward, revealing a hidden staircase leading upward. The tap, tap of heels on wood rang out somewhere above him.

“I found a hidden door in the hallway. I’m going up.” He started up the stairs and slowed when he didn’t get a response from Ace. “Ace, do you copy?” he said softly.

Nothing.

The walls of the stairwell had to be insulated with something that blocked radio waves. If Catya had gone up the stairs, it would explain why they hadn’t heard from her.

Behind him, the shelf unit door closed slowly. Before it closed completely, the screech of a fire alarm echoed up the stairwell. He couldn’t stop to investigate.

Gut-wrenching fear gripped Fearghas. Too much time had already passed. Catya was in trouble. He could feel it in his bones. He had to get to her before it was too late.

Fearghas took the stairs two at a time, not caring how much noise he made. Time was his enemy.

At the top of the staircase, a long tunnel led to a door at the end.

Cassandra had just reached the door. She shot a glance over her shoulder and then dove through.

I can’t let her hurt Catya.

Fearghas ran as fast as he’d ever run. When he reached the door, he burst through it into what appeared to be…a closet? Or the back of a closet. He went through to the room on the other side and found Cassandra with a blond wig in her hand.

Catya’s wig.

Fearghas charged the woman, gripped her arms and pushed her up against the wall. “Where is she? Where’s Catya? What did you do with her?”

Cassandra’s eyes rounded. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. Who’s Catya?”

“You have her wig,” he growled. “What did you do with her?”

“I found the wig on the ground. I didn’t do anything with your Catya.”

“Lies!” He gripped her so hard he raised her off the ground.

“I swear,” she said. “I saw Walter Sykes come out of the hidden stairwell and came up to see what was here.”

“You’re in with the Sykes and Blackhurst. We know it. We saw Blackhurst leave your flat. Now, tell me where they’ve taken Catya.”

“Please. I don’t know. I’m looking for Blackhurst as well. But I’m not part of their dealings. I work for the king. He tasked me with finding out what Blackhurst, Sykes and Stanhope were up to. He suspects they’re involved in multi-national illegal arms trade.” She gripped his wrists, holding on, her feet dangling. “You have to believe me. And if they have your Catya, you’re wasting your time with me.”

“Why should I believe you?” Fearghas lowered her to the floor, his hands loosening around her arms. Something in her face and voice rang true, but he didn’t want to believe her. He wanted her to tell him where they’d taken Catya.

“You shouldn’t believe me,” she said, “but you also shouldn’t be talking to me when you should be looking for your girl.”

“Where?”

“A lot of foreign dignitaries just came out of here. I suspect Stanhope, Blackhurst and Sykes staged this get-together to cover for some illicit activities with them.” She nodded toward the next room that had rows of chairs lined up. “Maybe Catya found them, and they don’t want her to tell what she saw.”

Fearghas let go of Cassandra and went into the next room. If Catya had stumbled upon their nefarious activities, she would be a liability to them, and they’d want to make sure she never talked.

A door on the opposite end of the room stood open. They’d sent the foreigners down the secret passage, but Stanhope, Blackhurst and Catya hadn’t come down with them. They had to have gone out through the open door.

Fearghas dashed through the door, down a hallway and through a room with windows that overlooked formal gardens at the rear of the house.

Cassandra’s heels clicked against wood flooring as she raced to catch up with him.

Fearghas was about to keep going when a movement in the garden made him look again.

---