I stared down at the 20-foot drop below me. My ankle was already compromised, so I didn’t want to risk jumping. The thief had cleared the jump easily, hitting the ground running. I breathed in the cool, fresh Australian air, and tried to think of something to do. I pulled out my grappling hook, winding the claw around a lamppost, wincing as it banged against my sprained ankle. I grappled down pretty smoothly, landing in a vibrant clump of pink bougainvilleas. I caught my breath for a second, then ran. I chided myself for the good 6 minutes I'd lost in the jump. I poured on the speed, trying to catch up. Whoosh! Something flew past my head. Whoosh! Whoosh! I looked backwards, concerned.

Two more flew by, and this time it was clear the thief was throwing shuriken.  Just then, I spied the large gap between the building I was on and the next building. Thinking quickly, I positioned myself almost completely behind a wooden telephone-line pole. Crack! Just as I’d planned, the next shuriken hit the wood, splintering it. CRASH! The pole fell over and I dodged it. I then ran back, picked it up, and put it between the two buildings like a bridge. I stepped in front of it, and told the thief, “Hand over the emerald.” He had stolen a 9-trillion-dollar emerald. I was given orders to retrieve it, and that was exactly what I intended to do. The thief made a pouty-face, like a child who’d been denied candy.

He stuck his hand in his pocket, bringing out a corner of the emerald and stepping cautiously toward me. 

He reached me and said, “But I don’t want to.”, his voice dripping with childish petulance. With a sudden, forceful movement, I was flying over the street, my mind screaming. I was left dangling from the ‘bridge’ with one hand while he crossed the bridge at his leisure. I tried not to be nervous, taking deep breaths. It wasn’t like this was my first time dangling from a great height.  I swung my free hand wildly, grunting with pleasure as it found purchase. I pulled with all my might, and pulled myself up, straddling the pole. I stood up very carefully, and a fresh jolt of pain shot up my leg as I put my weight on my back foot (yay, it’s the sprained one).

Slowly, one foot in front of the other, I crossed the bridge. I resumed the chase, pushing my speed past the pain. I ran toward the old, abandoned house. It was a perfect cliché, but sometimes clichés are true. I crept in, the groaning floor boards betraying my position. In an old, crumbling, dilapidated bedroom, I found the thief, fast asleep in a sleeping bag. Suddenly, a deep rumbling sound echoed through the room. I tensed up, waiting for an ambush. Even though I couldn’t see anybody, my fingers tightened around the polished silver dagger in my belt.  The sound came again. SSSSNNNOOOORREEEEEE. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. Just  a heavy snore. I let go of the dagger, and carefully pulled out the emerald from the thief's back pocket, pulling something else out, too.

It was an ID card. I pocketed both, noting the name on the card: Kai Parchuli. I ran all the way to the park, where I took cover behind some trees to catch my breath. I heard a sniffing behind me, so I climbed up a tree, hoping to hide and catch my breath, hidden by the dense leaves.

“Oh,” I said. “It’s you.” 

“Well, of course it’s me!” remarked Jacob, a fellow spy-in-training and my biggest rival. 

“What did you think I was, a cute little bunny maybe?”  

“Actually, no,” I retorted. “I thought you were an extremely fat squirrel. Also, bunnies can’t climb trees.” 

“Hey-” Jacob started, but I’d already jumped down. 

I pulled out my phone, opening a secure app and clicking a button. I heard a noise a looked up.

I was just about to summon headquarters when I noticed I was surrounded by seven senior spies, all from my organization and pointing guns at me.

 “Hey, it’s me, Cristina,” I said. 

(Yes, yes, Cristina is an alias, but nobody knows that. Well, except for you now.) “Why the guns?” I inquired. 

“We just wanted to make sure you didn’t, ah, turn rogue, what with the cost of the emerald and all.” says a familiar voice. 

My boss, Mr. X, steps into the circle of agents. “Hi, Mr. X,” I say. “Hello, Sienna.” My stomach plummeted. No one was supposed to know that name. 

“May I ask how you found out?” I ask. 

“Oh, never mind that,” he says. “I want the emerald. Please give it to me now. I’ll pay you.” 

The offer was completely out of character. Mr.X never gives away money like that. Something had to be wrong. 

“I’ll just take it to HQ,” I replied. 

“No, we want it now,” growled Mr.X. “Hand it over or we shoot.” 

Mr. X loaded darts into his gun. 

The sensible thing would have been to just comply.  But sometimes, the sensible thing is not the right thing. I chose to do the right thing. I bolted. I ran as fast as I could, dodging darts, arrows, and bullets fired in my direction. The most important thing to me then was getting out of there alive. That would have been a miracle. Panting, I slipped behind a tree to catch my breath. Then I slipped out and ran some more. 

I heard a “Psst!” and something pulled me from behind into darkness.

I pulled out my silver dagger, listening for the scuffling sounds of a planned attack. A light came on, and I realized I was in some sort of safehouse. Standing over me was Kai, a.k.a. the emerald thief. I stand up quickly and drop into a low fighting stance, waiting for a fight that never comes. 

Very, very slowly, I relax.

”So, Kai, why’d ya bring me here?” I ask. Kai spins around, obviously surprised I know his name. He checks his pockets frantically. 

”Aw, come on,” he whined. “Taking the emerald, okay, but my ID card? That’s just mean.”

I laugh and toss him the card. 

“I may be ‘mean’ as you say,” I noted. “but stealing a 9-trillion-dollar emerald is wrong.” 

Kai’s face instantly sobers. “I know it’s wrong,” he answered, “but I only did it to keep your boss’s greedy hands off it. I used to work for your organization, but I found out about your boss’s plans to sell the emerald and fund his own private army. So I planned on hiding the emerald until Mr. X was exposed.” 

“So you’re saying,” I noted carefully, “that my boss was going to steal his own emerald?” 

“Yup,” 

“Okay, but are you gonna give it back?” I asked. “Yes, once Mr.X is exposed and fired.” said Kai. 

“Well!” I exclaimed. “Do you have any proof?”