The first gunshot shattered the silence of the Brooklyn docks.
Emily instinctively ducked behind a rusted shipping container as bullets tore through the fog.
"Shots fired!" Walker shouted through the radio. "Everyone take cover!"
The quiet harbor exploded into chaos. FBI agents returned fire while armed men disappeared between towering stacks of containers.
Emily tried to locate the shooter, but the thick fog made it almost impossible.
Then she saw her.
Victoria Moretti stood nearly twenty yards away, pulling Luca behind cover just as another burst of gunfire ripped through the air.
Emily frowned.
They're shooting at her too.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
The FBI believed the Moretti family controlled everything on the docks.
So who was attacking both sides?
Victoria's heart pounded as concrete exploded beside her.
"This isn't the FBI," Luca yelled.
"I know."
Victoria looked toward the rooftops surrounding the harbor.
"Someone planned this."
A sniper's bullet shattered the container inches from her head.
She quickly pulled out her pistol.
"Find the sniper!"
Before Luca could move, another man from Victoria's crew collapsed to the ground.
The attack was organized.
Professional.
Whoever was behind it wanted everyone dead.
Emily crawled toward a wounded FBI agent.
"Hang on."
The young agent was bleeding from his shoulder.
"I'm okay..."
"No, you're not."
She wrapped a bandage around the wound while bullets continued flying overhead.
Suddenly...
A laser sight settled on Emily's chest.
Time seemed to stop.
She looked up.
A sniper.
Before the trigger could be pulled—
A gunshot echoed from another direction.
The sniper fell from the rooftop.
Emily turned in disbelief.
Victoria lowered her pistol.
She had just saved an FBI agent's life.
Their eyes met across the dock.
Neither understood why it had happened.
There wasn't time to think.
Another explosion rocked the harbor.
"Move!"
Victoria shouted.
A fuel barrel burst into flames, sending burning debris across the dock.
Emily sprinted toward safer cover.
The fire spread rapidly, blocking every escape route.
Walker yelled through the radio.
"Carter! Report!"
"I'm trapped!"
"So are we!"
The connection was lost.
Emily looked around.
No backup.
No clear exit.
Only smoke...
Fire...
And armed men closing in.
Then she heard footsteps.
She spun around, raising her weapon.
Victoria stood only a few feet away.
Both women aimed their pistols at each other.
Neither pulled the trigger.
Victoria spoke first.
"If we keep pointing guns at each other..."
"...we'll both die."
Emily didn't lower her weapon.
"Why did you save me?"
Victoria answered honestly.
"Because the sniper would've killed you."
"You're my target."
Victoria gave a faint smile.
"So I've heard."
More bullets struck the container behind them.
Emily finally lowered her gun.
"Temporary truce."
Victoria nodded once.
"Temporary."
Working side by side felt impossible.
Emily covered the left side while Victoria watched the right.
Neither trusted the other.
Yet somehow...
They moved perfectly together.
Years of training.
Years of survival.
Different worlds.
The same instincts.
As they reached another row of containers, they found one of Victoria's men lying on the ground.
Barely alive.
"He wasn't shot," Emily whispered.
Victoria knelt beside him.
A small dart protruded from his neck.
"Poison."
Emily looked confused.
"Who uses poison?"
Victoria's expression darkened.
"I know exactly who."
The realization sent a chill through her.
Only one organization used those darts.
The Black Vipers.
A ruthless criminal syndicate that had disappeared years ago...
Or so everyone believed.
"They're supposed to be gone," Victoria muttered.
"They're not."
Another wave of gunfire forced them apart.
Emily slid behind cover.
Victoria disappeared into the smoke.
For one terrifying second...
Emily thought she'd been killed.
Then a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her behind another container.
Victoria.
"You need to stop wandering off."
Emily couldn't help laughing.
"You're giving FBI agents advice now?"
Victoria smirked.
"Only the reckless ones."
For the first time...
They both smiled.
Just for a second.
Then reality returned.
Several black SUVs roared onto the docks.
Masked men poured out carrying automatic weapons.
Their uniforms bore a silver snake emblem.
Victoria's face went pale.
Emily noticed.
"You know them."
Victoria hesitated.
"They're worse than the mafia."
Emily stared at her.
"I never thought I'd hear that."
"You will."
The leader stepped forward.
His voice echoed across the harbor.
"Victoria Moretti!"
"You've ruled New York long enough."
"Tonight..."
"...your empire dies."
Victoria clenched her jaw.
Emily whispered,
"Who is he?"
Victoria never looked away from the masked man.
"My past."
The man raised his rifle.
"So does the FBI agent."
Emily tightened her grip on her weapon.
For the first time since joining the FBI...
She realized she wasn't standing between good and evil.
She was standing in the middle of a war she knew nothing about.
And the woman beside her—
The woman she was supposed to arrest—
Might be the only person who could get them out alive.
As dozens of masked gunmen closed in through the smoke...
Victoria quietly reloaded her pistol.
Without taking her eyes off the enemy, she spoke.
"If we survive tonight..."
"We go back to being enemies."
Emily nodded.
"Agreed."
But neither of them truly believed it anymore.