We reached simultaneously for the radio receiver. Now both our hands were touching. Mumbling an apology, Robbie instead placed his hands on the steering wheel and edged the car forward toward the warehouse. I fumbled with the radio controls and mumbled, in a voice that sounded strangely removed from my own, the codes for the back-up units to move in. We parked in formation, blocking off the warehouse entrance, and began preparations to raid the building. Robbie whispered urgent instructions to the uniform commander, who directed various units to surround the building. Beckoning me to follow Robbie levered open the roller door that served as the entrance, and crawled underneath.
The darkness enveloped me when I joined Robbie inside. A sliver of moonlight through a broken window high above our heads, accompanied by a frigid breeze, was the only evidence of the outside world in the dank building. At least until a bright, decidedly unnatural light was shown in my eyes. Shielding them, I tersely whispered "Was that really necessary?" to my smirking colleague.
"I wanted to make sure you hadn't chickened out." He softly chuckled, then moved the torch beam so it illuminated a rusty ladder in front of us.
"Peters was spotted on the top floor." He smirked, and gallantly stepped aside. "After you."
I uneasily began to climb the ladder. Robbie waited until I was halfway up to follow, affording him an excellent view of my arse. I shook my head in disbelief. Here we were in the middle of a raid situation, and he still had sex on the brain. "Men," I whispered to myself.
"If our positions were reversed, Reid, you'd be doing exactly the same thing."
He'd heard me? I'd certainly underestimated his hearing.
Reaching the top, we began to stealthily cross the floor. A dull, yellow light shone weakly out of an alcove on the other side of the building. Halfway across the floor, the torch flickered and died.
"Well that is just bloody fantastic." Robbie turned to me, handing me the useless torch. "Can you switch around the batteries or something?"
I grudgingly took the torch, and watched as he continued toward the alcove. I popped open the battery case and took both the dead batteries out. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash, as all the warehouse lights were simultaneously turned on, then an explosive crack, as we were plunged into darkness again. With a sinking feeling, I realised what had just happened.
The power had been cut.