Chapter 5 – Shadows Within Shadows
Chapter 5 – Shadows Within Shadows The sun set blood-red over Dublin’s docklands. Heat shimmered off the corrugated containers stacked five-high along the piers. Cranes hummed as they loaded shipments bound for Spain, Morocco, and the Americas. Salty, Sarah, and Hanin moved swiftly between shadows, the girl clutching Sarah’s hand, wide eyes darting at every echo. “Stay close,” Salty whispered, scanning the container numbers with an old dock worker’s instinct. Finally, he spotted it – EIR-MR-9032 , the one his old contact, Paddy Boyle, said would be unsealed for a fresh shipment at midnight before departure. They ducked behind a forklift as a squad of AI patrol drones hovered past, blue spotlights scanning the cracked tarmac for heat signatures. One paused, its camera-lens eye whirring. Salty held his breath, wrapping a protective arm around Hanin. Sarah’s chest pressed against his arm, her heart thudding fast. After three long seconds, the drone moved on, its metal wings clink...