Brett Battles - Shadow of Betrayal

The old woman moved one of the pictures to the side and touched a spot on the wall. There was a faint click, then the wall eased open an inch. Roslyn reached around the edge of the opening and pulled the wall out like a door.

Marion’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Come, come,” the old woman said.

Marion hesitated a moment longer, then moved around the desk and joined Frau Roslyn.

Since the hidden door swung out into the office, Marion had not been able to see what was inside until the door was all the way open. The space it revealed wasn’t large, maybe a meter deep at best, and only as wide as the opening. It was made even more cramped by the fact that it wasn’t empty.

One of the older boys was inside. He was maybe thirteen or fourteen. Marion had seen him many times before but couldn’t remember his name. In his arms he held another child. A girl, much younger than he was. Her head rested against his chest and her eyes were closed in sleep.

It was Iris. There was no mistaking her.

The old woman held her hands out, and the boy gave her the child.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“She slept the whole time, Frau Roslyn.” The boy smiled. “She was very good. Are they gone?”

Before Roslyn could answer, the loud pounding of feet came from the stairs near the front of the building.

“Madame Krueger? Madame Krueger?” a voice called from the direction of the footsteps. Male, deep. One of the soldiers, using Roslyn’s surname.

Roslyn looked back at the boy. He was still in the tiny space behind the secret door. “Out,” she said. “Quickly!”

The boy stepped out into the office.

“Madame Krueger?” the voice was closer.

“Take her,” Roslyn said as she held Iris out to Marion. “Get inside. You have to hide.”

“What?” Marion said.

“There’s no time,” the old woman said. “Please. Take her.”

Marion instinctively pulled the child into her arms, careful to point the end of the stunner away from the girl’s back.

“Now get in,” Roslyn said.

“I don’t think I’ll fit.”

“They’ll take her if you don’t.”

Marion nodded as she realized there was no choice. She stepped past the woman and the boy into the small space in the wall.

“I’ll let you out when they’re gone,” Roslyn said.

“What if she wakes?” Marion asked.

“I gave her something to help her sleep. You’ll be fine.”

Before Marion could say anything else, the secret door closed, entombing her and Iris in the wall. The seal was a good one. There was absolutely no light. Marion could never remember being anyplace so completely dark. For a moment she allowed the fear to shake through her like a deep chill. But then she heard the office door fly open, and she froze.

“What are you doing?” It was the same voice that yelled from the stairs, muffled by the closed secret door, but still distinct.

“One of the boys was missing,” Roslyn said, her voice calm and unhurried. “I came to look for him.”

“What were you doing down here?” the soldier asked.

“I… I got scared,” the boy who had been taking care of Iris said. “I was hiding.”

There was the sound of movement, then the scrape of metal along the floor. The desk, perhaps, being pushed back or out of the way.

“Please, no,” the boy yelled out.

“You want to be scared?” the soldier said.

“No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hid. I wasn’t thinking.”

Silence for a moment.

“And you were alone here?”

“What?” the boy said. “Yes. Alone.”

“Please,” Roslyn said. “The boy is young. He saw his parents killed in the middle of the night, so naturally he gets scared sometimes.”

“We’ve all seen people killed in the night,” the soldier said. But Roslyn’s words must have gotten to him. The harsh tone in his voice was gone. “Next time, you don’t hide, you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said.

“Go upstairs with the others.”

Again movement. Feet, not as loud as the soldier’s, moving out of the room.

“Come with me,” the soldier said.

“Where?” Roslyn asked.

“I’m the one who asks the questions.”

“Of course.”

There was the sound of several feet walking out of the office, and then there was silence.

Marion waited, hoping that the sleeping child in her arms would remain that way.

What could the soldiers want with her? Her difference from the other children should have made her less desirable for the soldiers rather than more. Her kind was seldom wanted. Not just here in Côte d’Ivoire, but in most countries throughout the world. Yet this wasn’t the first time the soldiers had come looking for a child like her.

The darkness made it impossible for Marion to know what time it was. She began counting off minutes in an effort to remain calm. But after a while she lost her place and gave up. Where was Roslyn?

Finally, she heard footsteps enter the office. It sounded like more than one person, but she couldn’t tell for sure. She tried to angle the stunner so it pointed toward the door just in case.

The steps seemed to stop near the desk. She thought she heard someone whisper, but she wasn’t sure. Then the steps came forward again, stopping less than a foot away from her on the other side of the wall.

She brushed the button on the stunner with her thumb, checking its position so she’d be ready.

Something scraped along the wall. A picture being moved.

Then there was the click again. Only it was louder inside the hidden room.

The door popped open an inch and light seeped in.

The sudden change caused Iris to move, her head rocking against Marion’s chest.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Marion whispered, trying to coax the child back to sleep.

Marion could see the tips of several fingers grabbing the edge of the door. Iris twisted again, this time lifting her head up, her eyes opening at the same moment the door did.

Marion held the child tightly with one arm while the other was occupied with the Taser, ready to ram it into the first piece of skin she saw.

Outside, blocking the light, was a dark form. Large, like one of the soldiers. Without even realizing it, she pushed down with her thumb, activating the weapon in her hand. Only nothing happened. There was no arc of electricity, or even a vibration that would tell her the device was on.

“I would appreciate you moving that away,” a voice said. It came from the shadow. The voice was male, speaking French like the soldiers. Only it was different. The accent was Germanic.

As he stepped backward, the weak light of the office revealed that he wasn’t one of the soldiers from before.

It was Jan, Frau Roslyn’s cousin.

“I don’t think that works anymore, anyway,” he said.

He held out his hand. After a moment, she gave him the stunner.

As he set it on the desk, he said, “It’s safe now. You can come out.”

“They’re gone?” she asked.

He nodded. “Fifteen minutes ago.”

He helped her to step out of the space in the wall, then he closed the door behind her.

“Where is Frau Roslyn?” Marion asked.

The look on Jan’s face darkened. “They kept her out front for over an hour talking. Then they took her away.”

“What? What do you mean ‘away’?”

Jan hesitated. “I’m going to go look for her as soon as I can find someone to watch the children.”

“I’ll stay.”

“No,” he said. “You have to get out of here. You have to take Iris with you.”

They both looked at the child. She was awake now, but she hadn’t made a sound. She was looking at Marion, smiling.

“Where do I take her?”

“Someplace safe,” Jan said. “The UN compound. They won’t bother you there. But—”