The Real Story

Agent Webb's POV

Marcus Webb smiled as the FBI men surrounded him. The fools had no idea they were going into his trap.

"Drop your weapon!" the lead FBI agent screamed through his megaphone. "This is your final warning!"

Marcus slowly raised his hands, but his finger was already pressing a secret button on his phone. All around the courthouse square, his real team was getting the cue.

"You think you've won," Marcus called out to Jake Morrison, who was still standing three feet away. "You have no idea what's really happening here."

The FBI officers moved closer, their guns trained on Marcus. But something felt wrong. Jake could see it in the way they moved - too slow, too careful, like they were afraid of their own target.

"Agent Webb," the lead FBI man said as he got closer. "We've been looking for you for a very long time."

Marcus started laughing. A cold, scary laugh that made Jake's skin crawl.

"You've been looking for Agent Webb?" Marcus said. "That's funny, because Agent Webb never existed."

Jake felt his stomach drop. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I was never really FBI, you stupid boy. The badge, the training, the relationship with your father - all fake. All part of a much bigger plan."

Maya grabbed Jake's arm. "That's impossible. We saw the FBI files."

"You saw the files I wanted you to see," Marcus said, still smiling even with guns pointed at him. "Twenty years ago, I was working for the Serpent Organization - the most powerful crime family on the East Coast. My job was to get close to FBI agents like your father and steal their cases."

The FBI agents looked confused. Their boss spoke into his radio, asking for orders that never came.

"Your father was investigating corruption in small towns," Marcus added. "Perfect for my bosses. We needed to know which towns had crooked officials we could buy and which ones had honest cops we needed to eliminate."

Jake felt sick. "You killed him for information?"

"I killed him because he figured out what I really was. But not before I got everything I needed from his files. Names, addresses, bank accounts of every dirty judge and crooked sheriff in thirty states."

"The Phoenix network," Maya whispered.

"There never was a Phoenix network," Marcus laughed. "There was just me, using the rot your father found to build something much bigger. I took control of the dirty officials, turned them into my personal army."

The lead FBI agent stepped closer. "Sir, we need you to surrender now."

But Marcus wasn't done talking. He was liking this too much.

"The beautiful part is how I played everyone against each other," he said. "I told the corrupt officials I was Phoenix, their mystery boss who would protect them if they followed orders. But I also stayed in contact with the real FBI, giving them just enough information to keep them happy."

Jake's mind was spinning. "You were working for both sides?"

"I WAS both sides!" Marcus shouted. "For twenty years, I controlled everything. When the FBI needed to charge someone to look good, I gave them small-time crooks. When my crime bosses needed witnesses removed, I used corrupt judges to frame innocent people."

"Like Tommy and Danny," Maya said.

"Like hundreds of Tommy and Dannys over the years. The system worked wonderfully until you started digging where you shouldn't."

One of the FBI officers tried to get closer, but Marcus held up a warning finger.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Marcus said evenly. "Because half of your fellow agents work for me."

The FBI team looked at each other with sudden suspicion and fear.

"That's right," Marcus continued. "For twenty years, I've been hiring FBI agents who were tired of low pay and dangerous work. I offered them real money to feed me information and look the other way when I needed them to."

The lead agent spoke into his radio again. "Headquarters, we need help. The situation is more difficult than we thought."

Static. No answer.

Marcus's smile got bigger. "Your headquarters isn't answering because the agents there are having their own problems right now. My people are cleaning house tonight."

"What does that mean?" Jake asked, though he was afraid of the answer.

"It means everyone who knows the truth about my operation dies tonight. Starting with you three, then moving on to Tommy, Danny, and their families."

Maya stepped forward bravely. "The livestream already exposed you. Everyone in town knows what you did."

"The livestream that mysteriously went offline five minutes ago?" Marcus checked his phone. "My tech people are very good at their jobs. As far as the world knows, you three died in a gas explosion at City Hall while looking for evidence."

Jake realized with horror that Marcus had planned for everything. Even their moment of victory had been part of his trap.

"The beautiful part," Marcus added, "is that tomorrow morning, I'll be the grieving federal agent who lost his partner's son and two brave journalists in a terrible accident. The corruption investigation will die with you, and I'll continue running my group from the shadows."

The FBI agents were backing away now, clearly not sure who they could trust on their own team.

"Sir," one of them said slowly, "we need to call this in to a different field office."

But before anyone could move, Marcus pulled out a second phone and hit another button.

Instantly, three of the six FBI agents turned their guns on their own partners.

"Sorry, boys," one of the dirty spies said. "Nothing personal."

Jake watched in horror as FBI agents prepared to shoot other FBI agents. Marcus Webb had corrupted law enforcement so totally that no one could be trusted.

"Now," Marcus said cheerfully, "let's finish this. Jake, the ring. Give it to me, and I'll make your deaths quick."

But as Jake reached for the chain around his neck, he heard something that made his heart race with hope.

A voice he recognized, speaking clearly through a secret speaker somewhere nearby.

"Marcus Webb, this is Special Agent Sarah Chen, FBI Internal Affairs. You and your corrupt spies are surrounded by federal marshals. Drop your guns immediately."

Maya gasped. "Sarah Chen... that's my sister!"

Marcus's confident smile faded for the first time all night.

And Jake suddenly understood that maybe, just maybe, they had one more card to play in this dangerous game.

But as federal marshals appeared from the shadows around them, Jake saw Marcus Webb's finger moving toward what looked like a bomb trigger on his belt.

Whatever was about to happen, Jake knew the next sixty seconds would decide whether they lived or died.

And whether the truth would finally win against twenty years of lies and murder.