Chapter 11 – Dangerous Truths
Dawn broke cold and silent over the Armagh depot. Heavy fog rolled across the cracked asphalt as lorries lined up outside the barbed wire gates. Karen stood near the back, clipboard in hand, her braid tucked beneath a grey woollen beanie. Beside her, Cormac barked orders at nervous drivers and checked manifests under the watchful eyes of two armed guards.
She glanced at her smart contact lens display, scanning facial recognition results as each illegal immigrant was unloaded and processed. Men, women, and children stumbled out of cramped trucks, blinking in the harsh floodlights. Some coughed softly, while others hugged their meagre bags to their chests, eyes hollow with exhaustion.
Fifty heads confirmed, she noted silently.
Cormac turned to her, his thick ginger beard damp with mist. “Snake wants you in his office by noon. You’ve impressed him.”
Karen nodded coolly, though her stomach clenched with unease. She checked the time on her wrist implant: 07:46.
“Tell him I’ll be there,” she said calmly, before walking towards the security shack. Inside, she connected her burner comms chip to the depot router, encrypting and uploading the biometric data.
Message to Salty:
Armagh shipment complete. Fifty moved. Meeting Devane 12:00. Horizon liaison present. Possible financial accounts access. Will extract data.
She pulled the chip free and tucked it into her vest lining. As she left the shack, she almost bumped into a small boy with dusty black hair and wide brown eyes. He stared at her silently, holding the hand of a tired young woman in a thin headscarf. Karen forced herself to smile softly.
“Stay close to your mother,” she whispered in Arabic, before walking away.
🐍 Later – Devane’s Office
Devane’s headquarters was hidden in a former pharmaceutical distribution centre, converted into a fortress of steel, tinted glass, and armed guards with AI-linked targeting visors. Karen entered through the reinforced doors, her boots silent on polished concrete.
Inside, The Snake sat at a wide glass desk, backlit by tall windows overlooking the loading bays. His tailored charcoal suit strained across his thick neck and shoulders. Beside him stood the slim Indian man in the navy suit – the Horizon liaison. His smart lenses flickered with data streams as he glanced at her.
“Kat,” Devane purred, gesturing to a leather chair. “Impressive work in Armagh.”
Karen sat gracefully, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap. “Thank you, Connor. I deliver what I promise.”
The Horizon man spoke, his voice smooth and accented. “We have an urgent expansion to finalise. New routes through Belfast to accommodate the recent Spanish losses. Your Belfast contacts – can they handle seventy-five to a hundred heads per week?”
Karen nodded. “Easily. But it will cost you.”
Devane chuckled, steepling his tattooed fingers. “Money isn’t the problem. Loyalty is.”
Karen tilted her head, her braid brushing her collarbone. “Then let me prove myself. Let me oversee tomorrow’s southern transfer to Dublin. I’ll ensure zero AI flags, zero Garda scans.”
The Horizon liaison raised an eyebrow. “You’re confident.”
She smiled faintly. “I’m not confident. I’m just better.”
Devane laughed, a rumbling sound that made her skin crawl. “Very well. But one slip, Kat… and your body feeds the pigs at the Naas farm.”
“Understood,” she said softly.
🔥 As She Left
Karen walked out into the freezing morning, her heart thudding in her chest. She pressed her hand to her earpiece, whispering:
“Salty. They’re planning a mass transfer tomorrow. 100 heads minimum. I’m in their system now. I’ll get you the Horizon financials by midnight. Then… we burn this whole rotten empire to the ground.”
The wind whipped her braid around her face as she disappeared into the shadows of the lorry park, ready for the next move in her dangerous game.
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