Anne Calder thought one courier job could change everything. She was right-just not the way she hoped.
At seventeen, Anne is running packages through the industrial maze of Beltmoire, trying to pay off debts that could destroy her future. When a high-paying job comes along-transporting a mysterious eight-year-old girl with golden eyes-it seems like the answer to her prayers.
Instead, it becomes her nightmare.
Caught in a web of institutional conspiracy and enhancement protocols, Anne discovers that some cargo is worth killing for. When the job goes catastrophically wrong, she faces a choice between betraying everything she believes in or facing consequences that will shatter her world forever.
In the shadowy world of the Continental Authority, identity is currency-and Anne's is about to be sold.
What begins as a simple courier run becomes a brutal initiation into a system that transforms people into weapons. Where children disappear into "processing centers." Where loyalty is manufactured through pain. Where a girl named Anne Calder can be systematically broken down and rebuilt as something else entirely.
From the ashes of betrayal, Snips is born.
"The subject's previous identity must be completely dissolved before reconstruction can begin. Emotional attachments, personal history, and individual preferences represent structural weaknesses that compromise operational efficiency." -Dr. Evelyn Baeriss, Enhancement Protocols
Volume 3 of The Palisade Journals
A dark political thriller that explores what happens when institutions decide human beings are resources to be optimized.
For readers who appreciate morally complex characters, political intrigue, and stories that examine the true cost of survival in systems designed to break us.
Content Advisory: This story contains themes of institutional abuse, psychological manipulation, and the systematic dehumanization of individuals. Intended for mature readers.