The Real Enemy

The Real Enemy


Emma's POV

Cold water hit my face like a slap.
I woke up coughing and choking, my hands tied behind my back. The world was spinning. My head felt like someone had hit it with a hammer.
"Good, you're awake," said Vincent's voice.
I was on his boat. The engines were going, and we were moving fast across the water. Vincent stood over me with an empty bucket in his hands.
"Where are my friends?" I asked, my voice scratchy and weak.
"Dead," Vincent said simply. "Marcus, David, Jess - all of them. You're alone now, Emma."
My heart broke into a million pieces. The people who'd tried to help me were dead because of me.
That's when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Actually, Vincent, I think you're the one who's going to need help."
I turned my head and couldn't believe what I saw.
Jess was crawling over the side of the boat, soaking wet but very much alive. She had a gun in her hand.
"Jess!" I screamed. "How did you—"
"Surprise," Jess said, pointing the gun at Vincent. "I'm a much better swimmer than you thought."
Vincent raised his hands, but he was still smiling. "Jessica Chen. I should have known you'd survive."
"Let Emma go," Jess said. "Now."
"I don't think so," Vincent answered. "You see, Emma is more valuable than you know."
Jess kept the gun fixed on Vincent while she used her free hand to cut the ropes around my wrists. As soon as I was free, I hugged her tight.
"I thought you were dead," I whispered.
"Not yet," Jess said. "But we need to get off this boat. Vincent's men are coming."
That's when I heard the sound of speedboats getting closer. Three boats were racing toward us, filled with guys carrying guns.
"Too late," Vincent said, still smiling. "My backup has arrived."
But Jess shocked me again. Instead of looking scared, she started laughing.
"Your backup?" she said. "Vincent, you really don't know what's going on, do you?"
The speedboats pulled up next to us, but the guys who climbed aboard weren't Vincent's men. They were FBI agents in steel vests.
"FBI!" one of them shouted. "Everyone on the ground!"
Vincent's face went white. "That's impossible. Director Johnson works for me."
Jess smiled and pulled out an FBI badge. "Actually, Vincent, Director Johnson works for the FBI. Just like I do."
My world turned upside down again. "Jess, you're FBI?"
"Special Agent Jessica Chen," she said. "I've been undercover for six months, trying to get close to you."
I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. Another person I trusted had been lying to me.
"So you were never my friend," I said quietly.
Jess's face got sad. "Emma, that's not true. I started this mission just watching you. But I came to care about you. Really care about you."
"How can I believe anything you say?" I asked.
"Because I'm about to tell you the truth," Jess said. "The whole truth."
The FBI officers handcuffed Vincent and dragged him to one of their boats. But Jess stayed with me on Vincent's boat.
"Emma, sit down," Jess said softly. "You need to hear this."
I sat on a bench, my hands shaking.
"There are three different groups hunting you," Jess began. "And none of them are telling you the truth."
"What do you mean?"
Jess took a deep breath. "The first group is Vincent's outfit. They want you dead because you know too much about their trafficking scheme."
I nodded. That much I'd figured out.
"The second group is Marcus and the regular FBI," Jess continued. "They don't want to protect you, Emma. They want to use you as bait to catch bigger crooks."
My heart sank. "Marcus lied to me too?"
"Marcus doesn't know he's being used," Jess said. "His feelings for you are real. But his bosses are planning to put you in danger on purpose, hoping the crooks will come after you so the FBI can catch them."
I felt sick. Everyone I trusted was either lying to me or using me.
"What's the third group?" I asked.
Jess looked uncomfortable. "The third group is the one I really work for. Not the FBI that Marcus knows about. A different FBI. A secret one."
"I don't understand."
"Emma, your father's criminal organization involved government officials, judges, senators, even people in the White House," Jess explained.
"So?"
"So when the regular FBI started investigating, they discovered that some of their own bosses were involved in the crimes," Jess said. "The FBI split into two groups. The regular FBI that Marcus works for, and a secret FBI that's trying to clean up the corruption."
My head was spinning. "Which group are you with?"
"The secret FBI," Jess said. "We've been watching you because we think your father hid evidence that could expose all the corrupt government officials."
I touched the locket around my neck, remembering what Rebecca had said about it containing a USB drive.
"The locket," I whispered.
Jess's eyes went wide. "You know about the locket?" "Rebecca told Marcus it contains evidence," I said.
"Rebecca Martinez?" Jess looked confused. "Emma, Rebecca Martinez is dead. She was killed three months ago."
"No, she's alive," I said. "She's FBI too. She told Marcus—"
Jess grabbed my shoulders. "Emma, listen to me very carefully. I've seen Rebecca Martinez's body. She is definitely dead."
My blood turned to ice. "But I saw her. We all saw her."
"Then whoever you saw was pretending to be Rebecca," Jess said. "Which means we've all been played."
That's when everything clicked into place. The woman pretending to be Rebecca had appeared at exactly the right moment. She'd known exactly what to say to make us trust her.
"Jess," I said slowly, "if Rebecca is dead, then who was that woman?"
Jess pulled out her radio and started calling for help. "I don't know, but—"
The radio was shot out of her hand.
We both spun around to see someone getting onto the boat from the water. Someone we both recognized.
It was the woman who'd claimed to be Rebecca Martinez. But now her short gray hair was gone, showing long black hair underneath.
"Hello, girls," she said, pointing a gun at both of us. "Surprised to see me again?"
"Who are you?" Jess demanded.
The woman smiled, and suddenly I knew exactly where I'd recognized those eyes.
They were my eyes. My exact eyes, but older and much more dangerous.
"My name is Maria Cross," she said. "But you can call me Mom."
I stared at her in shock. "That's impossible. My mother is dead. Vincent shot her."
"Vincent shot a body double," Maria said. "I've been dead to the world for twenty years, Emma. But I've been watching you your whole life." " But Alexander Cross said—" "Alexander Cross lied about everything," Maria interrupted. "He's not your real father."
My world exploded. "What?"
"Twenty years ago, I was an FBI agent researching a trafficking ring. I fell in love with a thief named Thomas Martinez. We had a kid together."
She looked straight at me.
"You, Emma. Thomas Martinez was your real father, not Alexander Cross."
I couldn't move.
"Thomas was killed by Alexander Cross when you were two years old," Maria continued. "Cross stole you from me and gave you a fake identity."
Jess stepped protectively in front of me. "What do you want?"
Maria's smile got wider and more frightening.
"I want my daughter back," she said. "And I want everyone who destroyed my family to pay."
She raised her gun higher.
"Starting with your friend Jess, who's been lying to you from the beginning."
"No!" I shouted, stepping in front of Jess.
"She's FBI, Emma," Maria said. "They're all your enemies."
"Jess tried to save me," I said.
"Tell her, Agent Chen," Maria said. "Tell Emma what your real orders were."
Jess was quiet for a long moment. Then she looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"Emma, I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Sorry for what?" I asked.
"My orders weren't to protect you," Jess said softly. "My orders were to get close to you, gain your trust, and then hand you over to the FBI for questioning."
Another deception. Another lie.
"Everyone was going to use you, Emma," Maria said. "Everyone except me."
"Where do you want to take me?" I asked.
Maria pointed to another boat coming in the distance.
"Somewhere safe," she said. "Somewhere you can finally learn who you really are."
The new boat pulled up beside us. It was full of armed people I didn't recognize.
"Get in the boat, Emma," Maria said.
"What about Jess?"
"Jess stays here."
I looked at Jess, this person who'd lied to me but who'd also saved my life.
"I can't just leave her," I said.
"You can and you will," Maria said. "Because if you don't get in that boat right now, I'll kill her."
She pointed the gun at Jess's head.
"Choose, Emma. Your lying FBI friend, or your real mother."
I looked at the gun, then at Jess, then at the woman claiming to be my mother.
Everyone I trusted had betrayed me. Everyone who said they loved me had lied to me.
But which lies were bigger? Which betrayals were worse?
"Ten seconds, Emma," Maria said.
I closed my eyes and tried to think.
"Five seconds."
I opened my eyes and looked at Maria.
"Time's up," Maria said.
I took a step toward the boat.
That's when Jess grabbed my arm.
"Emma, wait," she said quickly. "There's something else you need to know."
"What?" I asked.
Jess looked directly at Maria.
"She's not your mother," Jess said. "She's Vincent's sister. And she's the real boss of the trafficking group."
Maria's face went cold and scary.
"That's impossible," I whispered.
"Vincent was never in charge," Jess continued. "He was just the front man. Maria has been running everything from behind the scenes for twenty years."
Maria started laughing, but it was a scary, crazy laugh.
"Very good, Agent Chen," she said.
"So you're not my mother?" I asked.
"Oh, but I am," Maria said. "Just not the way you think."
She pointed the gun at my chest.
"I made you, Emma. I made you into exactly what I needed you to be."
"What do you mean?"
"You're not Emma Martinez," Maria said. "You never were. You're a weapon I've been making for twenty years." That's when the boat exploded.
Fire and smoke filled the air. I was thrown into the water, breathing and choking.
Strong hands pulled me out of the water and onto another boat. I looked up to see Marcus, living but bleeding.
"Marcus!" I gasped.
"We have to go," he said. "Now."
As our boat sped away, I couldn't shake Maria's words.
If I wasn't Emma Martinez, then who was I?
And what kind of weapon had she been building?