Part 2
…
Esther speared her last chip with her fork and ate it. Then she put her knife and fork together on her plate. "That was delicious. How was your fish and chips?"
"Delicious, as always." Zero ate his last chip. "I expect nothing less from London's best fish and chip shop."
They were sitting at a table at the window of the café, with a good view of the jewelry shop. They had been sitting there for two hours now, and nobody had robbed the store. Esther propped her head on her elbow and watched people going in and out.
After a couple of minutes, she spotted a man with a weird hairdo and a white lab coat going into the shop. He looked shifty. He also looked like the picture of the suspect that Inspector Initials had shown Esther and Zero earlier. Esther slowly got up, never taking her eyes off the shop. Zero asked, "Hey, where are you going?"
"I need a new bracelet."
Zero seemed to understand. "Our mission was to not go into the shop!" he hissed. "You're going to jeopardize the whole thing!"
"I've seen the suspect."
She didn't wait to see her partner's reaction. She left the café, crossed the road, and entered the jewelry store to the tinkling of a bell. The shop was practically empty. The bored shopkeeper behind the till gave her a brief smile. Esther moved around cases of jewels, spotting the suspect in a corner.
The corner where none of the security cameras reached.
She knew she now was about to jeopardize the mission, but she tapped the man on the back, and when he turned round, she asked, "Are you Professor Daniel Bannister?"
He looked extremely suspicious. "Yes," he said slowly. "Why?"
His accent was American with a hint of a foreign country. Iceland or Greenland, maybe?
Esther hesitated. She hadn't gotten that far. However, Bannister didn't give her a chance to reply. Fast as lightning, he picked up one of the smaller display cases and flung it at Esther. Because of their close proximity, Esther couldn't dodge. The cabinet hit her in the abdomen and made her double over with pain. Bannister vaulted over the display case and, grabbing a fistful of jewels from the case, ran for the door. Recovering, Esther followed. A quick glance into the café made sure that Zero came running to help.
Bannister leapt up, bounced off a car, and swung up onto the roof of the building next to the café. Without hesitation, Esther followed. Bringing a small knife out of her jacket pocket, she flicked it. The blade extended until she was holding a full-length katana. With this in hand, Esther chased the suspect across the thin, flat rooftop of the British Museum. Bannister skidded to a stop at the edge of the roof, unable to go any further. He turned to find Esther's sword pointing at his chest.
"Give up."
Bannister grinned slyly. "You're not going to fail to save your partner this time, are you?"
Esther narrowed her eyes and aimed the sword closer to her enemy's chest. "What are you talking about?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Bannister still had a grin on his face. "I'm talking about Isaac."
Esther took in a sharp breath and her sword arm dipped. Taking advantage of the opening, Bannister kicked Esther in the abdomen. It wasn't a powerful kick but it made Esther lose her balance. The sword sailing out of her hand, Esther tumbled down the slated tiles and fell off the edge of the roof. She landed hard on the back of her head, the rest of her body smacking painfully against the cobblestones as she came to rest on her back, her left arm making a ninety degree angle by the side of her head and her right arm out by her side. Through her dazed eyes and the pain in her back, Esther saw her enemy get away. She couldn't fight the blackness any longer; her eyes closed and her mind shut down.
…
Zero witnessed his partner's fall with horror. Now, sick with worry, he ran to her side. James slid down the ladder from the roof and joined him. Zero touched her forehead tenderly and made a move to pick up her shoulders.
"Don't move her!" James shouted, panicked.
Zero froze.
"She might have spinal injuries."
"Right, right." Though Zero's anxiety was growing, he should have remembered that.
James felt her throat. "She's breathing. She's just been knocked out. Her life isn't in danger, even if she does have spinal injuries."
"Are spinal injuries likely?" asked Zero worriedly.
To his relief, James shook his head. "She only fell thirty feet. Usually I'd say yes, but Esther has extra strong bones. She'd need to fall from at least fifty feet for there to be a chance of a serious spinal injury. We should wait until she wakes up before we move her."
"What happened? She had him!"
"Bannister mentioned something: a name," remembered James. "It threw her off."
"What did he say?" Zero demanded.
"He said the name "Isaac", I think."
Zero blanched. "That was the name of her former partner," he said huskily, his heart in his throat. "Isaac Brandt."
"Oh, I remember him," James recalled. "He was the young man who recruited Esther, right?"
"Right. I don't know what happened to him but it must have been bad because I asked her about him last year and she completely shut off. She looked like she was going to be sick."
"Well, something must have happened to him, or you wouldn't be her partner."
"No kidding. We should get Esther back to the office.
…
Don't worry guys, Esther's the main character. She's going to be fine. Mostly. But who really is Isaac and what happened to him?
