Hidden Identity

Prologue.

...

‘Bang!’ a loud gun sound breaks the place's silence.

“Drop your weapon right now!” She yelled angrily.

“Calm down, I’m not who you think I am,” he said while pointing guns at each other.

The sky darkens, and thunder can be heard,it then begins to rain. I could still see the hatred and anguish in her eyes.

“I believed you, but how could you betray me like this? I’ve been honest to you, so why did you keep your identity from me?” She questioned.

“Are you sure you’ve been honest with me? Because I don’t believe you did.” She’s still trying to hide something from me.

“What are you actually trying to say? That I lied to you as well?” she said, faking a grin at me.

“Assume you did, because I’m not sure who you are right now. You’re not the person I saw before; you’re a long way from the Zoe I knew.” I put my gun down and turned away from her.

“Stop right there! Do not take another step,” she said.

“I’m not going to fight you; if you want to kill me, go ahead,” I said, continuing to walk.

“I won’t think twice about it, so tell me who exactly are you?” she said solemnly. I stop and turn around.

“Let me ask you the same question: Who are you?” I glared at her in the eyes.

...

“Z you know what you’ll do when you get there, will be sending back up for you.” Miss Pia said. Z just nodded and got into her car. When she arrived at the location, she started to prepare everything she needed.

“Agent Z are you ready, report back,” she picks up the radio phone.

“This is Z reporting, I’m getting ready. The target is heading at their hideout in ten minutes.” she puts on her eyeglasses and goes to the location.

“Zia is that you?” that voice freezes her, wishing it belonged to someone else, but as she turns around, he sees him. Author the man she’s hoping she can’t see in there.

“Aurthor., what are you doing here?” she tries to act normal.

“I’ll be meeting my dad here, he said that he want to tell me something”, he answered.

“I see” she removed her eyeglass and stopped the recording. “You shouldn’t be here. Leave before it’s too late.” Z said to her

“What do you mean?” Author can’t understand what she’s saying.

“Son, your here”, a man in his 50’s approaches them.

“Dad. I’m actually getting inside, but I met a friend on my way” then Aurthor introduced her to his dad.

“Nice meeting you. What are you doing here?” the man asked her, looking confused, she was about to explain when he spoke again “Anyway we need to head inside son the investors are waiting” and looked at his son.

“Excuse me sir, sorry but can I talk to him for a minute?” Z said to Aurthor’s dad

“Sure, go ahead. Just don’t make it too long,” he answered, then left them and headed inside.

“What do you want to talk about?” Aurthor asked

“Please don’t go inside, I know that you’re not one of them. Do what I say and I’ll tell you all the details later.” Z replied

“Sorry but I don’t get you. We’re not close, so why are you telling me this? “When she heard him say that, she didn’t talk and let him just go inside. She wears her eyeglass back and heads inside.

“Good afternoon gentlemen, let’s start the meeting.” Z said to them

“This is Ms Chu, representative of Glow up Company”, her assistant introduce her.

“We just met earlier. How could you not tell me about who you are,” Aurthor’s dad said to her?

“That’s not important anymore, sir, let’s just proceed to the meeting,” Z said. She wanted to finish it as soon as possible. The meeting takes 30 minutes, and Z is losing her patience.

“Can you just bring the product and let us see it.” Z said

“Good idea, let’s just proceed on that. Please bring out the product, and show to our new partners.” Mr Lee ordered (Aurthor’s father)

“This product is nice, did you already add the powder here?” Z asked while observing the product.

“Ms Chu you’re the best, you seem to know a lot about things like this,” Mr Lee said.

“What are you talking about, dad?” Aurthor become curious

“It’s nothing, you should go outside and wait for me.” his dad replied

“But how about the contract?” he asked

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.” he said

“No, I’ll stay dad. I think it’s time for me to do things like this.” Aurthor’s insist

“You should listen to your dad, don’t make things harder for me”, Z whispered.

“What do you mean?” he whispered back.

“I’ll let you know when everything is okay.” Z said to him

“You’re making me worried, can you tell me is there something I need to know?” he asked. Z looks at the man waiting for her and just sighs.

“Come on, let’s talk outside”, and she pulls him outside.

“Okay, stop! What is going on? Why am I not allowed to participate in signing a contract?” Aurthor look clueless

“Because you don’t know anything, so if you want to protect your daughter stay out of it and go home” it was the best thing she could do to help her friend. After all, Aurthor doesn’t really know anything based on what she witnessed earlier.

“Fine” Aurthor put his hands up as a sign of giving up and just got inside his car. After he leaves, Z goes back inside. The case is already out.

“Show me”, she ordered as she entered.

“Aren’t you going to show me the money first” Z smirks’ this man is getting on my nerves (she speaks in her mind)

“Well, of course”, she showed him the bag full of cash.

“You never fail to impress me, Ms. Chu. I hope my son will be like you in the future” he looks thrilled saying that.

“That’s why we’re business partners”, Z smiled. “Anyway give me the contract so I can sign them already”, as she brings out her ball pen. Once she presses that, it means her backup will come in.

“Dad, sorry but I left my phone..” Z turns to see him, and she can’t help but curse. She already presses the ball pen. Any time soon, her team will be here.

“Just go get it and wait outside,” Mr Lee said. He did what his dad said, and when he was about to leave, I saw my teammate coming.

“Police! Stop what you are doing! You’ve been surrounded so don’t even think to run away.” Mitch shouted to one of her teammates

“Dang it!” Z uttered

“What’s the meaning of this?” Z can see that Mr Lee was perplexed and nervous.

“You are under arrest for selling illegal drugs.”

“There must be a misunderstanding sir, we don’t sell that we only sell makeup. You should know that because Light Up is a famous makeup brand.” Mr Lee says he is trying to cover up his illegal works

“Come on we need to go” Z pull Aurthor out, but he insists.

“No, something is wrong here I need to help my father.”

“Listen to me, don’t get yourself into trouble remember your daughter”, Z start to feel anxious.

“Don’t tell me you’re with them?” Aurthor asked

“Yes, I am, but you’re not part of the plan. You shouldn’t be here,” Z directly answered. “And if you want to be good in the eyes of your daughter, we should leave right away”, she added.

-bang..bang-

Z suddenly pulled him as she saw that there was already war happening, the guard of Mr Lee was exchanging bullets right now with her team, and it would be dangerous if she let him stay there.

“What are you doing? Let me go back my dad is inside” he tries to remove his hand from her, but she doesn’t let go.

“Damn it! Stop doing that your dad isn’t worth saving. Just think about your daughter” Z couldn’t think straight right now; all she wanted was to get him out of there.

“I’m very confused, I don’t get it. What did my father do to deserve this?” Z looked at him

“He did worse than..”

Bang!

Her eyes get bigger when she sees blood from him as he stumbles. Z pulls her gun and shoots the guy. She hurriedly runs to Aurthor and tries to stop the bleeding.

“You’ll be okay, just stay with me” she immediately calls 911.

“Daddy!” she looked up and saw Cloe standing before them, crying.

“Cloe!” she uttered

“What happened to my daddy? Why is he bleeding too much?” she asked continuously.

“Baby calm down your dad will be fine.” She calmed down, and after that, the ambulance arrived.

Cloe keeps on crying as they go to the hospital. Z called her team to see if everyone was okay. Thankfully, no one got hurt, but Mr Lee is dead. Everything was not according to the plan, but what she could do, Mr Lee tried to fight with them. It wouldn’t happen if they didn’t start to shoot.

“Is my dad going to be okay?” she looked at Cloe and embraced her.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

“I’m scared”, Cloe hugged him back.

“Sshh... Don’t be. I’m here,” Z comfort her. Cloe kept on crying until she fell asleep. Aurthor is still in the ER. The surgery is taking too long. After waiting too long, the doctor comes out, so Z hurriedly stands up.

“Are you the family of the patient?” the doctor asked. She just nodded.

“We take the bullet out from his body, but he is in a coma right now” he stops for a minute. “I’ll be honest with you, there will be 30% chance that the patient will wake up so prepare for the worst” hearing that makes her knees weak.

“Are you saying that there’s a possibility that he’ll not wake up anymore?” Z asked

“We shouldn’t lose hope there still a 30% chance that he’ll wake up.” the doctor said

“I told you that he’s innocent, why didn’t you believe me?!”

“Dawn!” she looked at her and could see the anger in her eyes.

“Dawn, I believe you. I tried my best to save him from there you should listen to me.” Z said more calmly, trying to explain

“If you did, then this shouldn’t happen” then she gets Cloe from her, which wakes her up.

“I tried to get him out of there but he insists. If he just listens to me he wouldn’t be here right now.” Z want her to know that she did her best to save him.

“Whatever you say, this is all your fault. Go tell that boss of yours I’m quitting! I won’t go back to that place ever!” Dawn was outraged, and Cloe started crying

“Fine! Do what you want, but please believe me.” Dawn didn’t respond and went directly inside Aurthor’s room while carrying Cloe.

Z fell down to her knees and cried. She can’t accept that someone is in danger because of her. The fact that this is her mission and an innocent person almost lost his life makes her guiltier. This isn’t what she planned. If only she had seen that coming, then nothing would happen.

Since that day, she didn’t see Dawn again. All she knew was she had moved to another country with Cloe. Aurthor died, and after his funeral, they left immediately. Z didn’t hear anything from them ever since. Z also decides to leave and return to the United States to have an everyday life.