“You will go down within ten minutes. Take my word for it,” Catherine said smoothly, giving the guy in front of her a lazy smirk.

The guard sneered at her. “You think?” he scoffed. “I’m the one with a gun here. All you have with you is a big bowl of nothing, if you count that as your weapon.” He let out a derisive laugh.

She merely raised her eyebrows at him, studying him with narrowed eyes. “For some reason, I’d like to see you handle a gun,” she stated in a challenging tone. “Maybe then you’ll be able to look intimidating.”

A corner of his eye twitched slightly at her words, and she knew that she’d hit a nerve.

She leaned back against her chair, crossing a leg over the other. “Look around you. I heard that this place is built with the highest-level security system, yet I managed to slip into the core of the building unnoticed – alone. Do you really think that I would have come unprepared?”

“Too bad you can’t get out now,” he jeered. “The whole building is on lockdown, and there is nothing you can do about it. You’re stuck here with me.” Her ears pricked at the information, and she let out a low chuckle. “And who did you think put the building on lockdown? Hacking into your security system wasn’t that hard, you know.” That was a lie, of course. She wasn’t that tech-savvy. She was going to have to deal with that problem later. For now, she would have to take him down first before security backup arrive.

For the first time, a hint of uncertainty passed the guard’s face. The guard pointed his pistol at her, narrowing his eyes. “Do you think that I would believe that? Locking down the building is the dumbest act for a solo thief like you.”

“A solo thief?” She pretended to frown, only to smooth out her forehead a moment later. “Right, I am in this alone.” She nodded to herself. Then she gave him a taunting smile. “Or am I?”

A confused look appeared on the guard’s face. Her eyes went to the exit door, and she gave a small nod in that direction. The guard caught her sudden movement, and immediately he spun around, bracing himself for an ambush. She quickly stood up, taking this opportunity to wrap her arm around his neck, pulling him into a headlock. Using the other hand, she smashed his head on the chair behind her. Immediately, the guard went limp in her grip.

She checked her watch. It had taken her less than five minutes. She laughed quietly, shaking her head. She had underestimated herself.

She briefly scanned her surroundings before sweeping out of the room, leaving the unconscious guard behind. Next stop: the database.

~

“You wished to see me, sir?” Catherine asked politely, knocking on the door before entering the major general’s office.

The man behind the desk raised his head and smiled when he saw her. He was in his mid-forties, but the twinkle in his piercing blue eyes made it hard to tell his real age. He was properly groomed, with short blond hair, giving him a professional look. He stood up to greet her, addressing her with apparent delight.

“Special Agent Nelson. Good to see you in such good spirits.” Catherine simply smiled, waiting for the general to get to the point. Her best guess: there was a new case for her. However, General Warner continued with his small talk.

“I have to say, you did an excellent job in your previous case. You managed to bring down an infiltrated government database within three days – singlehandedly, I might add. You have certainly made history.”

She lowered her gaze to the floor, sighing quietly. Then her gaze returned to the general and she said, “Sir, I appreciate the compliments very much. Now that the ice has been broken, perhaps we can talk about my next case.” When he raised an eyebrow, she simply nodded her head at the file on the desk. “I’m pretty sure that this is for me.”

He gave her a mildly impressed look. “And how did you guess that it was for you?”

She just shrugged, smiling wryly. Instead of answering the question, she responded with a question of her own. “I’m guessing that this is no ordinary case?”

He arched his brows at her question, trying to hide the look of surprise on his face. Then he sighed. “Sometimes I really wish that you were not that sharp, but you are Jumping Spider after all. Come, have a seat.” He sat down and picked up the file on his desk, flipping it open.

She did as she was told, part of her wondering what was so special about the case to make the general stall. She waited patiently for him to speak, wearing her poker face as she watched him intently.

The general peered at her fleetingly before turning his attention back to the file. “Your next case is to investigate a series of murders, and this case requires you to pay a visit to Tirjuan.”

Her body went rigid. “No,” she immediately declined, her voice stiff and impassive.

He gave her a tired look. “Look, I know how difficult it will be to return to Tirjuan, but there is no other agent better suited to take on this case. I’ve been alerted that this investigation has been going on for years and the local PD are still no closer to closing the case. The orders given to me are that Major Crimes Unit will be taking over the investigation, and they want this to be over with ASAP.” Then he leaned back against his chair, giving her a pointed look. “I need Jumping Spider on this one.”

She frowned, understanding herself well enough to know that she was not going to turn him down, not when he seemed so torn to have made this decision. But she still needed some convincing to take on this case. “Why does it have to be me?”

“I’ll talk you through this case. You’ll see why.”

~

Catherine sat in the stuffy little motel room she had rented, staring into the mirror. A pair of dark brown eyes stared back at her, reflecting nothing but emptiness in them. Her long wavy hair fell over her shoulder. Her dark hair used to be a natural shade of fiery copper, but she didn’t like it. It made her stand out too much in a crowd, she thought, and she didn’t feel comfortable with it. It wasn’t because she had low self-esteem or whatever made people feel self-conscious; it was just that she preferred to lie low and not speak to people when she didn’t have to.

After she lost her parents, Catherine felt as if the outgoing part of her had died with them too. She realised that her bubbly cheery nature had been a mask she had been wearing to please her parents all this while. The truth was, she had always felt more comfortable keeping to herself whenever possible. It was just that her parents didn’t understand her preference of being an introvert. So now she would only talk when it came to dealing with work as well as when she felt the need to speak her mind, which usually didn’t end up very well.

In the end, to make life easier for herself, she dyed her hair black and became a brunette. People didn’t notice her as much as they used to, and it did make her feel better – for a while. Catherine parted her lips and exhaled a long breath through her mouth, trying to shake off the heavy feeling that was settling itself in the pit of her stomach.

She would be spending a night here before continuing on her way to Tirjuan. Until now, she could hardly believe that she was actually going back to her hometown. Starting now, she would be undercover. That was usually the sort of thing that filled her with excitement and anticipation whenever she was working on a case. For her, it was fun playing a non-existent character, fooling everyone else with her superb acting skills.

But this time she was supposed to play Jenn – the young and innocent girl she used to be. Used to be. So how was she supposed to play a role that she had spent so much time trying to forget about? But anyway, she was back to being Jennifer Cole – an identity that she longed to erase from her memory – and she was anything but excited.