“I have lunch with his family tomorrow,” I blurt out before I can stop myself.
Silence on the other end. Then I hear him laugh, low and satisfied.
“His family,” he repeats.
“Yes.”
“And he invited you?”
“Yes.”
He doesn’t speak for several seconds, and I picture him standing in his office, looking out over the Wicklow grounds like he always does when he thinks he’s winning.
“Well done, Saoirse.”
The praise is simple. Direct. Rare.
I sit up straighter without meaning to. “He trusts you,” he continues. “That’s what this was meant to build.”
“What this was meant to build,” I echo, my fingers tightening around the phone before I catch myself and loosen them.
“The Vigo disruption,” he says. “The noise around his lanes. The clerk.”
I freeze.
“You,” I say carefully.
“Yes.”
I stand and start pacing now, my bare feet silent against the rug.
“You were behind it,” I say.
“Of course,” he replies. “We needed a problem he could solve with your help. Something contained. Something that would make you valuable.”
“You put synthetic opioids through cloned containers,” I say, keeping my voice level.
He clicks his tongue against his teeth. “Small runs. Controlled. It was never about volume. It was about optics.”
I stop in front of the mirror again. “You risked his operation,” I say.
“I nudged it,” he corrects. “And you corrected it. That’s the point.”
My reflection looks like someone I don’t fully recognize. “You’re telling me the clerk was part of this?”
“He was incentivized,” Patrick answers. “Just enough to panic at the right moment. Just enough to talk when cornered.”
“And the Madrid consultancy?” I press.
“A shell,” he says. “One of ours, then sold to intermediaries so it doesn’t trace back.”
I drag a hand down my face. “You manipulated his inspection lanes,” I say.
“I created a flaw,” he replies quietly. “You spotted it. You fixed it. Now he sees you as indispensable.”
The word hangs there. “He invited me to his mother’s house,” I say, my voice lower now.
“Then you’re doing everything right, and we’re on track to finish this operation in time.”
