Pass Them Over

Chapter 3 - Tagger

"Where is she? She's supposed to be here."

She has an accent, not as thick as some but thicker than others, and Slavic. You can't cut it with a knife, but you can eat it with a spoon. The girl is young, maybe fifteen or sixteen, blonde and fairly pale. She's tall, several inches taller than Maggie, as she paces about nervously in the warehouse, but still young. She's wearing a turtleneck that's barely visible under her hoodie, jeans, an old pair of Nikes, and a glove on just one hand. There's a beat-up backpack on her back, and in the gloved hand is a bottle of spray paint that she shakes about nervously. It's a habit.

"Tagger, relax. She'll be here." Maggie promises for the...she's lost count of the number of times she's said it.

Maggie isn't wearing her usual blue windbreaker or even discount blazer and slacks. Normally, she's not exactly the definition of upper middle class...buying your clothes full price. She's a middle-class girl now. Buy your stuff with coupons, grab things from the discount rack, and end of season closeouts are her friends. Tonight, though, Maggie Sawyer is playing a role that's been carefully crafted for her, and that role includes costuming. Her suit is Versace, dark gray with white pinstripes, and it might make her look just a touch taller. The boots definitely do with their three-inch heels, though they're chunky and the base stands an inch off the ground, so it isn't too uncomfortable. They did take some getting used to. Her watch says Rolex, and it didn't 'fall off the back of a truck'. She's wearing a necklace that is probably worth more than her 401k, though that may not be saying much. Maggie doesn't remember if the coat she's wearing is mohair, alpaca or...for all she knows it could be knit together from millions of dwarf hamsters. It's softer than anything she's actually owned, and it's stopping the Gotham wind that can turn your tits into glass cutters in about 3.5 seconds, so she approves.

"What if she doesn't show? What if there was an emergency at Arkham or something, and she left us to deal with this? What if--"

"Kid!" A hand on each of Tagger's shoulders to still the movement, Maggie looks the teen directly in the eyes. "She'll be here. She promised. Has she let us down yet?"

"No but..." When Maggie nods, Tagger finds herself nodding along. "Okay, okay. She'll be here. She'll be here. She better be here. We can't do this without her."

"You know I know what I'm doing, right?"

"Yeah, sure. You're good. You're really good, but you're not her."

Suppressing an eye roll, Maggie looks away and taps at her earpiece as she whispers, "You getting this?"

"Yes, I'm amazing." The amusement in Alex's voice is clear.

"She's talking about Kate, but...yeah."

There are several beats of silence. "I'm just finishing my perimeter check. Try to keep the kid from bolting. I'll be down in two minutes."

With a slight nod of her head, Maggie flashes her dimples at Tagger. "I bet she's just doing a quick check of the area, kid, making sure everything is secure. Nothing to worry about."

Squeezing the back of her neck, Tagger nods while she shifts from foot to foot.

"Hey, how about we go over the plan one more time?" Maggie suggests. "Let's just make sure we're both set on our parts."

"Yeah, but...okay." Tagger takes a deep breath, shaking the spray paint in her hand a few times as she releases some of the tension in her body. "So, once I know we have backup, I'll call my contact to confirm we're ready. They'll give me the meeting locations, and I'll give them to you. You'll send the pickup location to your people, and you and I will go to the drop off location. We'll...She's going with us, right?"