As expected, Sam ignored him when he finally snuck into the main office armed with two cups of coffee.  One glance, colder than Dante's vision of hell, to acknowledge his offering, and that was all.  Chris ignored the 'get to it' looks Backup was aiming in his direction, and settled down at the desk opposite Sam's to nurse both his coffee and his misery, until such time as he was needed.  With any luck, the next mission would see him walking in front of a bullet and he wouldn't have to face the consequences of his rather rash actions the night before.

Sam barely spoke to him for the entire morning, focusing on writing up his report on the last assignment they'd been on.  Chris tried to follow his lead - they were both drastically behind on paperwork - but found his concentration sadly lacking.  He was constantly aware of Sam sitting opposite him, tracking his partner's every move as Sam walked too and from his desk to the coffee machine, skirting around him at a safe distance each time.  The only positive sign was that each time Sam brought back two cups, depositing one on Chris' desk without a word.  By lunchtime Chris was almost at screaming point, desperate for some reaction from his lover - his ex-lover - any reaction at all.  He was torn between yelling at the man or throwing himself onto the floor at Sam's feet and begging forgiveness; for what he hadn't figured out yet.

Malone came to his rescue, with yet another mission, calling the pair of them into his office for a briefing.  Backup and Spencer were also summoned into the inner sanctum, and Sam managed to position himself so that they both were between Chris and him.  Thankfully only Backup appeared to notice but she limited her reaction to raising an eyebrow in Chris' direction, which he ignored sullenly as though that in itself would stop her quizzing him as soon as they were out of everyone else's earshot.

Malone's briefing was short and to the point, as usual.  They'd been investigating a suspected arms dealer, one Thomas Belmont, for months, sometimes getting close but always failing to catch the man or uncover any evidence at the last moment.  It was becoming a source of frustration to all of them, and to Malone in particular who was starting to consider taking this individual down as a matter of CI5 pride, for all of his admonishments to them to obey the first rule - never get emotionally involved.

They'd received another tip-off, although if this was anything like the last two it wasn't worth the phone bill their anonymous benefactor had run up calling it in.  A deal for several cases of small arms was going down in a warehouse near the London Docks, supposedly being supplied to Basque separatists as they upped their campaign for freedom.  Given the small size of the shipment, it was unlikely that their main target would be there but there was always a chance that they could nab one of his lieutenants and disrupt his operations.  There was also a chance to potentially access more information which could assist in further dismantling Belmont's operations.  One of the nuggets they'd gleaned on earlier ops was that his subordinates were armed with laptops as well as automatic weapons, and these were synchronised on a regular basis with Belmont's main system.  Grab one of these, and access it before the hard drive could be wiped remotely, and they would be able to download Belmont's entire delivery schedule for the next few months.  Even if they didn't catch the bastard, they could seriously hamper his business.

It was Sam who sounded a note of caution, wondering aloud how reliable the information was, given the wild goose chases they'd been sent on in the past.  He also, of course, put himself in Malone's firing line.

"While I understand your concern, Mr Curtis," their boss barked, "we cannot ignore this lead because the last few haven't panned out as we hoped."

"I understand, sir, but..."

"No buts, Mr Curtis," Malone ground out.  "And I would thank you not to second guess me."

Chris opened his mouth to defend his partner but shut it abruptly when Tina, anticipating his protest, kicked his ankle, hard.  Sam, meanwhile, was muttering a 'yes sir, sorry sir,' in Malone's direction.  Having to apologise to Malone was sure to improve Curtis' mood no end, thought Chris a little miserably.  Indeed, Sam still had a half defiant look in his eyes.  Before Malone could call Curtis on it, Backup insinuated herself smoothly into the conversation.

"I take it, sir, that you want Spencer and I in on this op because of our computer expertise?"

Malone gave her a sharp look, which she returned innocently.  "Correct, Miss Backus.  If we are to access this information, we have a very small window of opportunity.  As far as the intelligence we have goes, something will prevent us once Belmont becomes aware that his deal is off."

Well, that was informative, thought Chris.  Spencer seemed to be of the same mind.  "Something, sir?"

"That's all we have, Mr Spencer.  We are unable to determine what that something is, although it has been suggested that it is either an electronic device generating an electromagnetic pulse which can be triggered from a distance wiping the hard drive, or a small explosive device liable to take out the laptop, and potentially the user."

There was a short silence while the agents digested this.  "Let's hope it's the former," muttered Spencer.  "Although with Keel's propensity for finding explosive devices..."

It was a matter of opinion whose look was the frostiest; Malone's, Keel's or, Keel was surprised to note, Sam's.  Whoever it was, the combined effect had Spencer subsiding and once more Backup stepped into the breach.

"So the plan is that we hit this warehouse, grab whoever's there and access the information on the laptop?"

"Assuming there is a deal on, assuming that someone is there, and assuming that they have the laptop," interrupted Chris.  Malone turned his glare on Chris and this time it was Sam who came to the rescue.

"Will the priority be to access the information or disarm whatever the device is, sir?"

"Ordinarily I'd say disarm the device, however if it is something capable of generating an EMP, it's new and we may trigger it anyway by tampering with it.  I'd suggest that we determine whether the device is explosive in nature before we start messing around with it, and then make getting whatever we can our next priority.  Any more questions?"  At the various shakes of heads, he barked, "Well, get going then."

They scrambled out of his office, moving with the type of organised chaos that only comes with practice, grabbing headsets, armoured vests and tool kits.  They were ready to move within five minutes.  While this supposed meeting wasn't scheduled for another couple of hours, experience told them that arriving early and moving into position would only give them an advantage.