Take a Shot

Trust

"Heading upstairs. Where to?"

Already? Matt traced his finger along the schematics he'd been provided. She moved quick. Typical. "Hang tight, let me find you."

A small thud came from outside. Matt jumped, eyes wide towards the passenger's side window. Nothing there, but even if there was, it was so dark he probably wouldn't have seen it. He sighed, looking back to the schematics. Every sound outside was making him jump. He would never understand how Emerald could do this without so much as a waver in her voice. It just went to show how different their comfort zones were; he loved people, and she loved plans.

Schematics, maps, and plans were usually Emerald's game, while Matt played around inside, chatting, schmoozing, and gathering intel. For this job, however, Emerald was the one on the inside. The one in a suspicious-ass van, headset on, barely-decipherable maps laid out in front of him, and a block away from the party that was making his partner grind her teeth so hard that her earpiece was picking it up, was Matt.

"Okay, Jag. Two doors down, then into that one, and it should be in the fourth filing cabinet from the door."

The Sages insisted that attendance at this party was crucial. It was sort of a who's-who of magic users on Dalal and beyond, so exclusive that even staff had to be magicians. Harmony had unapologetically employed Dalan-born magic users back to Geechis's father's time, so the "King of Harmony and accompaniment" got an invitation annually. In truth, the King of Harmony had only shown twice in person since Geechis's father himself; Gee was incredibly paranoid, and Joy preferred spending time with his wife and small daughter to coming to some fancy party. As it happened, none of the rest of the Octave ever wanted to go, either, so the job got handed down into the ranks of the operators. The party was considered one of the biggest 'get' jobs of the year. The only requirements were look good, show up, not get too drunk, and make good impressions. It was so sought after that, a few years before Matt's time, the Sages resorted to putting names of magician operators in a hat and drawing at random.

This year, that tradition had been eschewed in favor of pulling Emerald and Matt into Geechis's office and unceremoniously plopping the assignment in their laps. Geechis requested a handful of documents be copied from the host's files, and Matt and Em were the most low-profile pick for that. Em's magic was a bit of an open secret, though she was known mostly as Harmony's Star assassin, and, importantly, it was well-known that she didn't work well with others. That factoid plus not being a magician himself made Matt virtually invisible.

Matt's eyes flicked to the comm unit his headset was wired to. She'd been quiet for a little too long. Normally, she would tell him something, even if it was just acknowledgement of having heard him. She had heard him, right? Was she okay?

"Copy?"

"Copy," came the response. Was she laughing? "Sorry, it's just...you called me Jag?"

"Yeah. Jaguar?"

"You said Jag."

"Jaguar is too long, that's all. It wasn't, like, a nickname."

"Oh, is my name a waste of your precious time?" The faux-sympathetic click of her tongue was barely audible over the line. He could picture the look on her stupid, smug, beautiful face. Ugh. "I'm so sorry that you feel it's a waste of breath to use my full name. Gods, won't someone think of the poor operator? The time wasted on long names, really! Criminal."

This was the more delicate part of Matt's job. This mission hinged entirely upon Emerald keeping her famously fiery temper in check long enough to get in, get pictures, and get out, all politely. 'You're the operator, tell her how to operate,' said the Sages, as if anyone could tell Emerald what to do, let alone when she was so uncomfortable. Matt would consider it a success if no one called Gee to complain about her attitude.