Free Trapped by Isla Whitcroft Page B

They just vanished into thin air.
    â€˜That was until last month, when we received this film from one of our undercover guys. He’d discovered these animals waiting in Tendo to go on a ship bound for – yes, Cate – Antibes.’
    â€˜Why didn’t he call the police and get them to raid the place?’ Cate was bewildered.
    Marcus sighed. ‘Because he knew just how corrupt the local cops are. But he was rumbled anyhow and he hasn’t been seen since. This is Tendo, remember. The poor sod is probably lying at the bottom of Tendo harbour, hugging a concrete block. That is, if he’s lucky.’
    Suddenly the room, and the world, seemed to be a colder, scarier place. Cate shuddered.
    â€˜Somehow, he managed to get a message to his IMIA handler and tell him where he had hidden the data card that held the film file,’ continued Piot.
    â€˜Who was his handler?’ asked Cate, although she already had a pretty good idea.
    â€˜Yes, it was Andrei,’ said Piot soberly. ‘He was trailed back to Antibes where he was attacked and, if it wasn’t for you, would probably be dead.’
    â€˜Clearly whoever is running this operation knows someone is on to them,’ broke in Marcus.
    â€˜We have to stop these thefts. Not only are we losing too many precious creatures but we have no idea what is being done to them. At this rate, some of these species could be facing extinction. Gone, forever.’
    There was silence. Then Cate took a deep breath. ‘OK, I understand all that,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s terrible, it’s . . . disgusting, it’s revolting.’ She struggled to find the words. ‘But where do I come in? If they are in Antibes, those animals could be anywhere.’
    Marcus and Piot exchanged glances.
    â€˜We don’t have much to go on but we do have one lead,’ said Piot. ‘Animals often disappear when Nancy Kyle comes visiting. It happened in China, Thailand, in Nepal, in South Africa, Rwanda and Kenya. She turns up, big fanfare, talk on animal rights, donates money for conservation, an orphanage whatever, sometimes adopts a small child for the heck of it and then, nine times out of ten, an animal goes missing. And now that the trail is leading to Antibes, she turns up right here, out of the blue, when she was actually scheduled to be in London for the entire Wimbledon fortnight.’
    â€˜But this is Nancy Kyle we’re talking about,’ said Cate, horrified. ‘She loves animals, campaigns for them, raises moneyfor them. God, she has saved thousands of them. Why on earth would she be involved in something as awful as this?’
    â€˜It doesn’t make sense, I agree,’ said Marcus calmly. ‘But either it’s one huge coincidence – and personally I don’t much believe in coincidences – or Nancy Kyle is involved in the sort of devious double bluff not seen since the end of the Cold War.’
    â€˜Those were the days,’ said Piot dreamily.
    Marcus glared at him. He turned back to Cate and looked at her, almost pleadingly. ‘Cate, you’re right at the epicentre of this whole thing. And the beauty is, no one will ever suspect you of being anything other than, well, a kid. You can find out so much more than we ever could. Just hang out near Nancy, find out things about her, snoop around, keep close to her. She could be completely innocent, but I’m sure she’s the key to cracking this case. And you’re the best person to help us do that.’
    And if I decide that this is all too big for me, too scary, then what?
thought Cate, staring at Marcus’s intense expression.
    The agent seemed to read her mind and shrugged. ‘Cate, if you don’t want to do this, just tell us. We’re not monsters or modern day Fagins, forcing you to do something against your will. Say the word and we’ll get you away from here and we’ll never mention it again.’