(Jenny's POV)
I've been monitoring the British Museum since the guests for the gala started arriving at around eight o'clock. It's ten to ten and during that time, nothing has happened. The only bit of activity that's happening is the drunken ruckus and singing of 'Happy Birthday' from the Museum Tavern – the pub opposite the British Museum. It's also where I'm monitoring the Museum from – on the roof, that is.
I know that stakeouts aren't supposed to be fun, but they are boring. I mean right now, I can be inside the Museum in my best dress (and wig), eating canapés and sipping champagne – all the while looking for suspicious individuals. But since MI9 are after the same criminal I want, I can't take that risk. They'll either see me as the Magician or worse, clock on that I'm the Cat – in disguise! Besides, Zeke is monitoring the inside of the Museum – via CCTV.
And speak of the devil; he's calling me on my communicator.
"Hey Jen, how's it going?" he says.
"It's like watching paint dry – it's boring," I reply. "Not a single thing is happening out here. What about you?"
"Same. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened – yet."
"God, this is so boring. I can think of better ways of spending my Saturday night."
"Like playing tonsil tennis with Frank?"
I sigh disdainfully, even though I can feel myself going red. "I hate you so much, Zeke."
He chuckles. "And I love you too, Jen," he smiles.
"Idiot," I mutter. But Zeke mentioning Frank's name reminded me of what I wanted to ask him. "Actually Zeke, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"Well… it's kinda personal and you can say no but…" I take a deep breath. "How would you feel if I told Frank that I'm the Cat?"
There's a silence, then Zeke comes out with, "Oh. Er, how… how long have you been thinking about this?"
"A few weeks – four to five weeks to be exact."
Zeke nods. "OK. What, er, what made you decide you wanted to tell Frank, nay anybody, this secret?"
"Well… it's one thing to not tell your family because that sort of secret will spread like wild fire. But with Frank… I don't know. When I'm with him, I feel like I can tell him anything – my dreams, my fears, my ambitions and my secrets. I keep thinking that if I told him that I'm the Cat, he'll pull me close, his arms around me and kiss me so tenderly on the lips and promise me he won't tell a single soul. I feel like I can trust him to keep this to himself and take it to his grave. But then again, if I told him, he'll probably shop me to the police as there is a £10 million reward placed on me…"
"There is no way on God's green earth that Frank will shop you or grass you up to the police," Zeke cuts in. "Frank thinks the world of you. He'd rather throw himself under a speeding train than turn you in. Besides, he's crazy if he turned you in – you're smart, beautiful and you're wearing an incredibly sexy catsuit that emphasizes your slender, pear-shape body. If Frank grasses you up without considering those qualities, there's something wrong with him."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying… that even though I'm not one hundred percent comfortable with you telling other people, you seem to care a lot about Frank. Heck, I may say that you're in love with him. Plus, he deserves to know the truth about you, so… yes – you have my permission to tell him you're the Cat."
"Oh, my God, are you serious?" He nods. "Oh, thanks, Zeke! You're the absolute best!"
"I aim to please. Oh hello! Looks like we've got a bit of action happening at the Museum."
"What's happening?"
"The director of the Museum is on stage. Looks like he's talking about the chalice and probably about King Athelstan. He's still talking. An-n-nd… here we go – the unveiling of King Athelstan's chalice. Everybody claps and… uh-oh."
"Uh-oh?"
"The lights have gone out in the Great Court!"
"So, the Magician comes out to play. Now the party can really get started!"
"I'm gonna try and get them back on."
"While I give the Magician a special surprise!"
I activate my jetpack backpack and swoop down to the British Museum to 'greet' the Magician. Just when I'm about to land, the doors of the Museum burst open and the Magician comes running out. As he runs down the steps into the courtyard, a suit-clad figure bursts through the entrance doors. He stops at the top of the steps. He raises his hand and suddenly, a net shoots out from under the sleeve of his suit and binds the Magician, causing him to fall over. He's an MI9 agent!
"Whoa!" I exclaim, immediately pulling up and activating the cloaking device. I head for the roof of the Museum, leaning on the flagpole to catch my breath. "That… was too close. I hope he didn't see me."
"What?! Who saw you? What's going on?" Zeke quizzes me.
"The MI9 agent. I don't think he saw me before I activated the cloaking device. He was too busy playing Spider-Man to notice me."
"Spider-Man?"
"You should've seen him. He shot out a net to catch the Magician."
I look down at the courtyard and see the agent with the tied-up magician while holding the chalice. He's soon joined by another MI9 agent – this one, female and dark-skinned, wearing a dusty blue flare skirt dress and strappy black sandals. The male agent hands the chalice to the female agent.
"What's happening now?" Zeke asks.
"The MI9 agent is joined by a female agent," I answer. "They're with the Magician. Looks like they're waiting for someone… Hang on." I hear rushing footsteps. I look up to the gates and see two people running up to the two agents and the Magician – more MI9 agents. One is a girl, with honey-coloured skin, who looks younger than the fancy-dressed agents, dressed head to toe in black. The other is a man, who looks older than the three agents, dressed in a dark blue suit with an awful-looking black and white stripy shirt. "Two other MI9 agents have come into the courtyard. They're joining the two agents with the Magician. Words are being exchanged. I'm gonna find out what they're saying. Activate super-powered listening device."
The communicator screen turns black and the sound waves of the conversation below me appear on the screen.
"Oh… Y-you… You're a girl."
"You don't say! What's going on? Where am I? Why the hell am I tied up?"
"You mean you don't remember?"
"Remember what?"
"Stealing King Athelstan's chalice. Not to mention other priceless artefacts, paintings and gems!"
"What!? I did no such thing!"
"Yeah, right!"
"Oscar, she's right. She didn't do it."
That voice sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?
"How do you know?"
"The chalice that she stole… is a fake."
If I can see the look on my face, it would be beyond the realms of pissed.
"In the words of John McEnroe: 'You cannot be serious'!" I say, feeling frustrated. I carry on listening.
"…If this was the real chalice, it would've felt heavier since it's made of gold. The chalice that we have here must be made out of tin or something lighter."
"This could only mean one thing…"
"The Magician stole the real chalice earlier today and replaced it with a fake…"
"And used an innocent civilian to steal the fake, so we would think that she's the Magician."
"Exactly."
"Wow. I don't know who makes us look more stupid – the Magician or the Cat."
"Well, I don't know what pisses me off more – the fact that I was duped by the Magician… again or the fact that I wasted two hours of my life," I grumble. Two hours of my life that could've gone towards playing tonsil tennis with Frank.
I sigh in annoyance and continue to hear the conversation below me.
"Team, I have bad news. About ten minutes ago, the MI9 database was hacked into and I'm afraid… every scrape of MI9 information has been wiped clean from the database."
"WHAT!?"
"Oh no, please don't tell us it's who we think it is."
"I'm afraid it is. We are at the complete mercy of the Magician. Either he'll make us pay him a ransom for the information, or worse, he'll sale the information to the highest bidder and the lives of every MI9 agent will be in danger."
I stare, open-mouthed. I deactivate the listening device. The screen goes black and Zeke's face appears.
"Zeke, did you hear that?" I ask.
"As clearly as hearing Brain Blessed on a still day," says Zeke.
"This is a disaster. Not only did the Magician take the chalice from under all our noses, but he hacked into MI9's database and wiped out their entire system. The worst thing is we don't even know where he is…"
"You seem to forget that I can hack into anything, my darling Jen – including police dispatch calls and video surveillance. Eight minutes ago, police were called into pursuit after a black van was spotted speeding through Central London, going through red lights, nearly knocking down pedestrians and driving on the wrong side of the road. The police lost the van after it entered the Wapping/Whitechapel area."
"I better get down there right away. Keep me posted."
"Roger that."
After we hang up, I activate the jetpack backpack. Launching myself in the air, I fly off to East London.
xxoOoxx
Fifteen minutes later, I arrive at my destination. I receive a call from Zeke telling me that there is a black van parked in a location called Fletcher Street. With a map with a red dot flashing shows me the street on the communicator screen, I fly over to the location.
A minute later, I spot the black van at the street that Zeke mentioned. Landing near the van, the airplane wings and engine conceal themselves back into the backpack. The street is quiet and empty. On my left side is a small, dark path with a single-lit lamppost. On one side of the path is a primary school and on the other side is possibly a park based on the amount of trees and bushes that's there. On my right side is a modern five-storey terrace flat – some of the lights are on, most of them off. Ahead of me is a narrow pedestrian alley. One side is brick walls and fencing from the primary school, with street lanterns along the wall. On the other side is boarded-up buildings and peeling walls. Something is up ahead of the alley. I see someone leaning against the peeling wall of the building under a street lantern above the door. I move slowly and silently towards the person. I draw closer and glance at the person leaning against the wooden, pale red double doors. The man is tall and he's got dark hair under his black helmet and very dark eyes and he looks quite well-built. He's wearing a black jumpsuit and a padded black vest with red buttons and a white skull logo on the left chest of the… vest. He's a SKUL henchman! I realize instantly that the Magician is working for SKUL and this is where he's hiding – along with the chalice and all the other valuable items he's stolen.
Suddenly, the guard stands at attention. Frowning, I look over my shoulder and see what he's so flustered about. My eyes widen as I see the Grandmaster, with his rabbit companion, General Flopsy, and two burly henchmen coming towards me and the guard. There's a fourth person with them – a woman. She's sporting a short blonde asymmetric bob, wearing aqua-coloured jeans, teamed with a lime green top and a blue blazer on top with a blue and green striped scarf completing the look. Her hands are behind her back (tied-up) and with her eyes covered with a blindfold; she's being escorted with the help of the two henchmen.
When the Grandmaster reaches the doors, the guard salutes him and bends down a bit to open the doors before stepping out of the way. The Grandmaster enters, with the two henchmen and the woman following behind. I quickly enter with them before the guard shuts the doors.
I'm standing in the foyer, that's suffering from rot, crumbling walls and failing brick and mortar work. To the left of me is a box office. In front of me is a wide staircase with a label above the stairs that reads GALLERY. On the left side of the stairs are directions leading to the ladies toilets, while the gents are probably along the gallery or higher up. Near the stairs, next to the entrance, I peer into a room and see a saloon bar with tables and chairs and frosted glass panels on the windows. The room is dark and cold, and everything is covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. Taking my head out of the bar, I notice the Grandmaster, the henchmen and the woman head to the corner of the foyer. I hurry after them. By the time I reach the door, the Grandmaster and the other have already entered. The door is labelled STALLS. I peer through the doorway. What I see makes my mouth drop open in amazement.
The room is huge, like a concert hall, with a high ceiling. There's a large stage on the far end of the room with dusty, velvet red stage curtains that are decorated with a series of vertical box pleats along the top edge. There's also a large Grand piano on the side of the stage that's covered in spiders' webs and dust, but that's not what I'm amazed about. It's what filled in the room. It's like Aladdin's Cave of Wonder. The room is filled with the valuable artefacts, paintings, jewellery and gems. The artefacts are in all various shapes and sizes: sculptures, Ming vases, ceramics and ornaments. Paintings and drawings between the 15th- to 19th-century, including the Essence of Nature Collection from the National Gallery are in the hall. And on a large wooden table, in the middle of the room, is jewellery that is sparkling in gold, silver and rhinestone: earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings and even tiaras, along with a collection of brightly coloured gems: diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.
I'm still staring at these untold amounts of riches when I hear a loud squeaking sound. I walk in the room and look to the stage and see the curtains being automatically pulled open. After the curtains are completely open, there's a puff of smoke that makes me – and the Grandmaster – jump in surprise. In seconds, the Magician makes his big entrance, emerging from the smoke, his black cape billowing out behind him.
"Bravo!" the Grandmaster calls, clapping. "Bravo! What a magnificent entrance!" He turns to his henchmen to ensure that their applauding too. As their clap, the Magician takes a deep bow. One of the henchmen gives a piercing whistle that echoes around the hall. When the clapping dies down, the Magician stands up from his bow. The Grandmaster steps to one side to reveal his female captive. "As you can see, I have fulfilled my side of the bargain. But… have you?"
The Magician steps off the stage towards the table with the jewellery and gems, walking slowly, majestically.
Stopping at the table, the Magician removes his top hat and shakes it right-side up to indicate that it's empty. He places the hat on table and knocks on the flat part of the hat three times. He removes his hat off the table… to reveal the gold chalice.
"Superb! Magnificent!" says the Grandmaster as he applauds the Magician, along with his henchmen.
I gape at the chalice on the table. I'm gonna hate myself when I admit this, but that is a totally awesome trick.
As the room quietens down, the Magician shows the palm of his hands to the Grandmaster to show that their empty. He closes his right hand into a tight fist and uses his left hand to beckon one of the henchmen to come to him. The Grandmaster obliges and the henchman near me with a fair complexion and blue eyes goes to the Magician. The Magician nods at the henchman and then to his closed fist. The henchman looks confused, until the Grandmaster tells him to blow onto the fist. The henchman gives out a huge blow onto the fist. The Magician opens up his hand and reveals a USB flash drive – MI9's information data!
"Wow!" says the henchman, clapping once more. He takes the flash drive from the Magician and hands it to the Grandmaster.
"Excellent. You have done well, Magician," says the Grandmaster, pocketing the flash drive in his dressing gown. "You may have your reward. Untie her."
The henchman with very dark skin and brown eyes unties the rope from the woman's wrists and removes the blindfold from her face to reveal her dazzling blue eyes. She looks about thirtyish. The woman rubs her wrists to numb her pain. She stops when she looks at her surroundings.
"Where am I? What is this place?" the woman asks. She turns to the Magician. "You! You're that magician the media have been talking about."
The Magician walks towards the woman, taking long and graceful strides. The woman freezes on the spot – looking terrified.
"Wh-who are you?" she stammers. "What do you want with me?"
The Magician doesn't say anything. Instead, he takes the woman's right hand and closes it. He brings the closed hand to his mask and pulls away. (I think that's supposed to be a kiss.) The Magician nods at the woman to open her hand. As she does, the woman gasps at what she sees in her hand – a gold diamond heart ring.
"Oh, my God," says the woman, stunned. "It can't be. Randolph?"
Randolph?!
"Emma Jean…" he rasps. He has a hoarse voice, like sandpaper. "It's been so long."
"Randolph, what are you doing? What is all this?" She gestures to the valuables around the room.
"I've come to reclaim what is mine."
"What are you talking about?"
"I was foolish for losing you, my darling. After the accident, I fell into despair and selfishly focused on my own dilemma while rejecting your love, causing me to drive you away in anguish. Eventually, I came to realize that your love was too important to me to lose, but it was already too late, you were gone. Losing both you and my career, I stumbled from day to day with the verge of committing suicide – something I haven't thought about since my mother died – when I met the Grandmaster." Randolph nods towards the Grandmaster. "He promised to reunite me with you if I amassed a fortune in stolen items."
"And you have a done a marvellous job, my dear Magician," says the Grandmaster.
"Now that we're together again, we can start over," says Randolph. "It'll be just like it was in the beginning."
He bends to hug Emma Jean, but she pulls away. She takes a few uncertain steps back.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Randolph asks.
"What's wrong?" she repeats. "What's wrong is that the man I loved all those years ago has turned himself into a criminal – working for some dressing gown-wearing bunny handler!"
"It's not a dressing gown, it's a ceremonial robe," the Grandmaster interjects.
"I loved you, Randolph," Emma Jean continues. "I loved you even after the accident, but your selfishness and rejection to me caused me to leave you. It took me almost a year to get you out of my system. I had longed to be touched and caressed by you, at the same time vowing to resist never allowing you back into my space again. I was tormented until I met Michael, who helped me erase you from my system. He made sure that you, Randolph – you were a distant memory."
They stand in silence. I can feel the tension crackle between them, like lightning skipping along an electric wire. I take this opportunity to wander to the Grandmaster and using considerable dexterity; I skilfully take the flash drive from his dressing gown pocket and put it in one of the cylinders of my belt.
"Bu-but… I did this for you," says Randolph at last, suddenly sounding more sad than angry. "I did everything for you. And now… you're rejecting me?"
"Now you know how I felt," says Emma Jean.
"Emma Jean, I-I love you. You're everything to me. Without you… I'm nothing."
"Well, guess what, Randolph? I don't love you. In simple English, I don't love you." She pronounces the words slowly and distinctly. "And by the way, I am not yours. And I never was!"
I can only imagine Randolph's mouth dropping open. His face filled with a mixture of shock and anger.
"We'll just see about that," he states, moving quickly, walking towards Emma Jean with what I can picture a menacing expression behind the mask.
Emma Jean stumbles back, raising her hands as if to shield herself. Before Randolph can grab hold of his ex-lover, I swoop in and scoop her off her feet and carry her to the balcony of the hall.
"What the…!" Randolph cries angrily, gazing up at Emma Jean landing on the upper floor, wondering how she got there.
"Deactivate cloaking device!" I command to the communicator, revealing my visible self to Emma Jean, Randolph, the Grandmaster and his henchmen.
"It's you!" Emma Jean gasps. "You're…"
"The Cat!" the Grandmaster finishes. "You interfering little –"
"Say you prayers, Grandmaster!" I declare, pointing at him. "You and your little friends are not gonna get away this time! Not from me and certainly not from MI9 when I'm finished with you!"
"The only people finished around here are MI9! Especially since I've got their information –" The Grandmaster stuffs a hand into an empty pocket. "What?! The flash drive – where is it?!"
I whip out the flash drive. "Looking for something?" I say. I hear the Grandmaster gasp in shock when he sees me hold the drive.
"Get her! I want that flash drive!" he orders his henchmen.
The henchmen head towards the stage. Next to the stage are stairs leading up to the floor that Emma Jean and I are at. While they make their way over, I spot a door behind me at the end of the balcony, close to the stage. I tell Emma Jean to go to the room behind us and hide.
As she leaves, I pocket the flash drive and go into a martial arts stance as the henchmen reach the opposite end of where I stand. The fair henchman goes first, lunging at me with clenched fists. I step out of the way just in time, causing him to punch thin air, stumble and very nearly fall over. The henchman turns to face me, but I pull him to his shoulder and strike through, knocking him to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I see the dark henchman coming towards me, but with the spin of my body, I deliver a solid strike to his stomach.
"Uuugh!" he grunts, clutching his stomach.
I'm about to finish him off when I feel my hands being pulled behind my back. I struggle to free myself, but the fair henchman squeezes my wrists tightly. The dark henchman recovers from his blow to the stomach and glares at me. His dark eyes are blazing. He sneers, baring his teeth. He cracks his knuckles, getting ready to punch my lights out.
"Smash her face in," says the fair henchman. I can feel his hot breath against my cheek.
"With pleasure," says the dark henchman, raising his fist.
Before he can lunge at me, I hit out hard, catching him right where it hurts most.
"Oooooomph!" says the dark henchman, doubling up.
While he's distracted, I give the henchmen my special double whammy high kick – a high kick that kicks one henchman on the chin with my foot and hitting the other henchman on the nose with my shin.
The fair henchman staggers back, freeing me from his grip. I turn to him. He's holding his nose to stop the blood. He scowls angrily at me and charges towards me but I swing my leg, kicking him. Then I come around and kick him again with my other leg, sending him over the balcony and crashing into the jewelled-covered table below. I look below. The fair henchman is lying motionless on the broken table, his left leg sticking out in an odd angle. I hope he's not dead.
"Uuuuh…" the fair henchman groans in pain.
I let out a huge sigh of relief. Thank God. The last thing I want is the ghost of a dead person haunting me.
I hear more groaning – this time coming from the dark henchman. He climbs very gingerly to his feet, shaking his head. With dark, angry eyes, he takes out something from his trouser pocket. It looks sharp and glints silver in the light.
A knife!
The henchman lunges at me with his knife. I kick the blade out of his hands and I roundhouse kick him. The henchman is about to take a swing at me, but with startling quickness, I whip out my Lipstick Stun Gun from the cylinder cartridge of my utility belt and jab the stun gun in the his abdomen.
"GYAAAN!" he screams as the electric current is being applied.
Five seconds later, I pull the stun gun from his abdomen. With smoke coming out of his mouth, the dark henchman falls back with a thud, his muscles twitching uncontrollably.
"Grrrrr…!" I hear the Grandmaster growl angrily. I turn to him. "You haven't heard the last of me, Cat!" he calls. He drops a smoke bomb and he and General Flopsy disappear.
"Damn," I mutter, slamming my fists on the balcony because he's gotten away – again! I let out a sigh and call out to Emma Jean. "It's OK, Emma Jean! You can come out now!"
No reply.
"Emma Jean? Are you all right?" I ask.
I hear Emma Jean's faint cry. "Help! Somebody – help me!" she screams.
I rush to the room where I told Emma Jean to hide. When I get there, I find it empty. Randolph! But how? I hear a sound from the next room. It sounds like footsteps. I go through the echoing, empty room. There's a small door at the end of the room. Creaking it open, I find a staircase. Activating the torch from my communicator, I walk down the slightly rickety stairs.
Three flights of stairs later, I feel a cold draught blowing through me and half opens a door at the bottom of the staircase. I stride through the door and realise that I'm standing behind the counter of the bar that I peeked into earlier.
"Kyaaaa! Nooo!"
"Emma Jean!" I jump over the counter and dash out of the bar.
Pulling the doors open, I run out and spot Randolph dragging Emma Jean to the black van. While running to the van, the SKUL henchman who was guarding the door comes running up to me. But my business is not with him, so I punch the henchman with great force that knocks him out instantly. I continue to run to the van, when Randolph starts the engine and begins to pull out. From my utility belt I whip out a black lipstick tube. Removing the lid, I point the lipstick to the wheels of the van, rotating the bottom base of the lipstick that shoots a red beam from the lipstick, blowing the tyres up.
Randolph gets out of the van and angrily marches up to me.
"Laser Lipstick – never leave home without it," I say, pocketing the lipstick.
"You meddling little bitch!" Randolph rages. "You have no right to stop me from reclaiming my love for Emma Jean. She is mine, she is mine, she is mine, mine, mine – all mine!"
Randolph delivers an overhead strike to my head, but I block it with both hands, intercepting the attacking arm in a smooth, flowing motion. I twist and turn the arm, flipping Randolph to the floor. Randolph sweeps his leg at my feet, tripping me.
"Ah! Christ!" I groan in pain, sitting up. Randolph towers over me, but I lie back, drawing my legs to my chest and thrusting them both into Randolph's stomach, causing him to stagger backwards. Sitting up, I do a valdez back walkover and then a back handspring to a standing position.
Randolph shakes his head and growls. "Ergh… Wh-why you…!" He sweeps his cape behind him, sending a pack of razor-sharp playing cards flying in my direction.
"Whoa!" I say. I manage to dodge most of them, but I hiss in pain when some of the cards cut my shoulders, forearms, legs and my left cheek. Once again, Randolph sweeps his foot, tripping me. "Oww…" I moan. I look up and see Randolph towering over me – this time; he has a dagger in his hand!
"Say goodnight, Miss Cat," he says, ready to stab me. "This will be the last time you'll ever interfere in other people's business."
I close my eyes, waiting for the pain. But it doesn't come immediately as expected. I open my eyes and see Randolph is frozen on the spot. It's only when I look behind him and realise that Emma Jean has given her ex-boyfriend a full force groin attack from behind. The kick is so great; it causes Randolph to drop his weapon, giving me a chance to escape. Emma Jean pulls her foot from between Randolph's legs. He bowls over in pain and goes into the foetal position, placing his hands between his legs. Taking out the Lipstick Stun Gun, I remove the lid and jab it in his upper hip.
"Eeee! Eeee!" he squeals.
Pulling the stun gun away, Randolph's body twitches uncontrollably.
I let out a sigh of exhaustion. "Thanks," I say, patting Emma Jean of the shoulder, wincing in pain as I do it.
"No problem," she says. She points to my injuries. "Are you OK?"
"I'm fine. I'm like Destiny's Child: I'm a survivor. Right. Let's see what Randolph is really hiding."
I kneel down next to Randolph and roll him on his back, his body still shaking. I remove his top hat and gently lifting his head, I remove the mask. What I see makes my eyes widen and Emma Jean gasp. Randolph's face is barely recognizable: there's a gash on the right side of his partly balding head, an elongated right nostril, a missing right eyebrow, swollen lips, different coloured eyes: his left eye is ice blue and his right eye is bloodshot red, and he has a deep purple scar that runs all the way down his right cheek, as well as severe burn injuries.
"How… how did this even happen?" I say, not believing what I'm seeing.
"It happened three years ago," says Emma Jean. I look up to her. "Back then, he was a professional stage magician and hypnotist known as Randolph the Great. Back then, he had everything: money, fame… and me. I was his assistant and his fiancée. We were in love having built a steady living together. Life was good, until – until –"
She hesitates.
"What happened?" I ask.
Emma Jean clears her throat and continues. "It was a month before we were supposed to marry. Randolph was performing his escape trick at one of his shows, but… but the trick went wrong when the box exploded prematurely, leaving his face and reputation permanently scarred. When he was healing in hospital, he became too stressed with his own dilemma that he came to ignore me…"
"And in a selfish move, he drove you away."
Emma Jean nods. She shuts her eyes and keeps them shut for a long moment. "I quit the magic show business after I left Randolph," she says with a sigh, opening her eyes. "I studied photography to distance myself from the Randolph and the world of magic and tricks, and I passed with flying colours. I now work for Vogue magazine as their resident fashion photographer. It was there that I met Michael Cohen, a self-made fashion designer, during a photo shoot. One minute we're striking up a conversation, the next minute, he's asking me to move in with him."
"Looks like you got your happy ending after all."
She smiles. "Yeah. You're right. Michael is a total sweetheart and he treats me like princess. He not only fits into my world, he is my entire world."
"There you go!"
My communicator beeps. I read the text.
MI9 coming in two minutes – Z
"Listen, I gotta jet," I say, standing up. "Could you hold the fort for a couple of minutes? Just until MI9 get here."
"Sure," Emma Jean says, nodding.
"Thanks." I activate the backpack. Before I take off, I take out the flash drive from my belt. "Here," I say, handing the flash drive to Emma Jean. "Tell MI9 that the Cat says you're welcome."
"OK."
"Take care."
I launch myself in the air and waving at Emma Jean, I take off. Man, my body is aching all over. Those stupid razor-sharp cards. Its paper cuts times fifty. I need to get bandaged up. Oh God, what am I gonna tell Aunt Hermione? She'll wanna know why I'm wrapped up like a mummy.
I fly to Zeke's house while I think up some (very lame) excuses.