Prologue: Ghosts of Belfast
The rain lashed down on the streets of South Armagh as a black SUV crept through the narrow lanes. Inside, three men sat in silence, their faces etched with the weight of old wars and unfinished business. At the centre of their mission: Declan Kearney — a ghost from the Troubles, long thought dead or buried in some foreign safehouse. But now, whispers in the underworld said he was alive. And someone wanted him found.
In a secure MI5 facility beneath Thames House, Jake Mercer and Emma Walsh stood before a digital map of Northern Ireland. Red pins dotted the borderlands, each marking a recent incident: weapons thefts, encrypted communications, and a suspicious uptick in paramilitary chatter.
“Ex-Provos,” said Director Caldwell, her voice clipped. “They’re mobilising. We believe they’re trying to locate Declan Kearney — and if they find him first, we lose control of the narrative.”
Emma frowned. “Why now? He’s been off the grid for over a decade.”
“Because someone’s funding them,” Jake said, tapping a pin near Dundalk. “And we think it’s not just about Kearney. It’s about what he knows.”
Their first lead took them to a derelict farmhouse outside Newry. Beneath the floorboards, they uncovered crates of Semtex, old Armalites, and a fresh shipment of encrypted radios — NATO-grade.
“Someone’s preparing for a war,” Emma muttered, scanning the serial numbers.
Jake’s phone buzzed. A message from their tech analyst: Intercepted comms suggest a meeting in Derry. Codename: Blackthorn.
Back in London, MI5’s internal security flagged a troubling anomaly — a senior intelligence officer had accessed sealed files on Kearney’s last known location. The name: Thomas Reilly. A decorated veteran of the Northern Ireland desk. And a man with a brother who died in a 1987 SAS raid on an IRA safehouse.
“Reilly’s gone dark,” said Caldwell. “Find him before he hands Kearney over to the highest bidder.”
Jake and Emma tracked Reilly to a safehouse in Belfast. But they weren’t the only ones. A firefight erupted in the alleyways of the Falls Road. Amid the chaos, Reilly escaped — but not before whispering to Emma, “You don’t understand. Kearney’s not the threat. He’s the key.”
As the pieces fell into place, Jake and Emma uncovered a deeper conspiracy: Kearney had brokered a secret peace deal in 1998 that implicated powerful figures on both sides of the conflict. If he resurfaced, the truth could unravel decades of carefully constructed lies.
Now, MI5 must decide — protect a war criminal to preserve peace, or expose the truth and risk reigniting the flames of the past!
In the heart of London - Surveillance at a glance... 
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