They were in the right hand corridor of the storage facility, which linked up the two large storage rooms. The corridor had been painted red, which had faded over the years. The others had started to walk down to the bottom storage room. Sarah quickly moved to catch up with them. Jack pulled open the door into the next room, Sarah went through last following Cooper. The bottom storage room was very large, Sarah looked up and saw that ceiling was at least thirty or so feet up. The room was fairly well lit as sections of the roofing had broken over the years. The room was filled with many large wooden crates, Sarah guessed that the company had gone bankrupt, which would explain why so much stock had been left here. It dawned on her that the crates, which would fit an automobile inside, could provide useful cover in a firefight.
Sarah looked around the room above her about fifteen feet up were various metal walkways, which were all interconnected allowing someone to look around the entire building easily. Pembleton headed off to a staircase in the lower left part of the room, which led up to those walkways. Sarah watched the female agent moving into position above them. She then noticed that Jack and Pendrell had gone off to check out some other part of the room, leaving her alone with Cooper. He was looking at her expectedly.
"We need to go and secure the other room, Sarah," He told her.
"Sorry, I was distracted for a moment there," Sarah replied.
Cooper led her to the other side of the room, weaving in-between the crates which were strewn everywhere. Sarah tried to look into some of the crates on her way past, to see what was inside them. It looked to be some kind of plastic. Cooper had stopped by the door leading into the left corridor. It looked like he was struggling to get it open. Sarah just stood there and watched him, he took a step back and Cooper lined himself up with the door and shoulder barged it. Sarah heard the door crack under the force of Cooper's blow, she was also sure she heard him groan a little in pain. The young agent stood there obviously trying to conceal his pain from Sarah.
"After you," He said jokingly.
Sarah headed out into the corridor, like the one on the other side it was also painted red. The room smelt quite badly as it had been used by someone for a toilet more than once in the past. Sarah put her hand over her mouth and nose in a vain attempt to stop herself from further inhaling the noxious fumes. Cooper laughed and started to head off towards the other storage room.
"So have you been on many operations like this," Sarah asked.
"This is only my third mission and it's my first non-FBI operation. I only graduated from Quantico six months ago," Cooper answered.
He walked up to the door connecting the corridor to the upper storage room. He tried the door handle first, Sarah laughed at his actions. To Cooper's relief the door opened with his first attempt.
"I'm going to go and check in here. I want you to check the office at the end of the corridor. And Sarah, find some place secure to hide. It's almost time," He told her.
"Sure," She answered, before making her way to the office area. |