sub·ter·fuge 
(sŭbtər-fyj′)
(sŭbtər-fyj′)n.
1. Deception used to achieve an end: tried to get her to sign the contract by subterfuge.
2. A deceptive stratagem or device: The meeting was a subterfuge to get him out of his office while it was searched.
[French, from Old French suterfuge, from Late Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugere, to escape : subter, secretly, beneath; see upo in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + fugere, to flee.]