Friends (Rimba Racer Story)

CHAPTER 5: BREAKING AND ENTERING

Tamira and Axle arrived at a tall apartment building about fifteen minutes away. The building itself stood out, looking more well maintained and better designed than most of the structures in the area. Axle stared at it as they walked up to the entrance of the lobby. In his mind, he assumed some random billionaire probably donated some money to build a high rise apartment in the middle of a ghetto neighbourhood. But his mind quickly went back to focus on what they were doing. Tamira was fiddling with a small tablet in her hands and put it away as they reached the door.

As they entered the lobby, they headed straight for the elevators. Tamira was walking rather calmly, which baffled Axle, since they were supposed to be sneaking around to steal something. As they wait for the lift to come, he stared at one of the CCTV's and decided to speak up about his concern.

"Aren't we supposed to be keeping a low profile?" He asked, with the quietest voice he could muster, which wasn't that hard for him.

"I'm friends with Meelo, remember? He taught me a lot of tricks... like how to mess with security feed," Tamira responded, confident with herself. Axle could only glance at her, narrowing his eyes, feeling unconvinced but he knew that she was a capable person when she needed to be and kept quiet.

"Anyway, you didn't have to come along," she sounded annoyed as she looked up to the elevator number going down to the ground floor where the lobby was. Axle pouted, feeling a little unwelcomed.

"And stay with that mechanic? No thanks," he remarked sneeringly, which amused her.

"Yeah, Jimmy has a way with people," for some reason, he could even hear a semblance of a laughter trying to come out when she talked, but it sounded more like a cough. The elevator arrived shortly and they walked in as Tamira pressed the button.

There was a moment of awkward silence hanging in the air as they focused on their own thoughts and space. Tamira was looking at the number going up and Axle just stared at the wall of the elevator beside him, waiting for the lift to stop.

"You know, this reminds me of that time we were in a lift together at the Ark," Tamira suddenly said out of nowhere. Axle turned his head, a memory of it flashing in his mind as well.

"Why did you tell me about King at that time?" Tamira's eyes was fully focused on Axle as he stared back, bewildered with this confrontation. But she wasn't aggressive about it. It sounded like a genuine, curious question. He sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to find the answer in his mind.

"I guess it was because I knew what he was like. And I always thought working with King would be too low for someone like you. So I just had to speak out. Hmph, it didn't matter anyway, I was already right," Axle muttered the last reply with a small smile on his face. Seeing this, Tamira raised her eyebrow, confused with the display of a positive emotion from him. She shifted her attention back to the door of the lift, feeling herself smiling as well.

"For someone so cold, at least you have a conscience," she remarked.

Axle stared at her with a frown, unamused with her comments. However, a moment later, his annoyance dissolved upon being more surprised with the realization that she had more sense of humour than he initially assumed. He didn't know what to feel about it, so he just stayed quiet, thinking of any response to her assumption of him. But before he could say anything, they arrived to the designated floor. Tamira stepped out, with Axle right behind as she followed the tracker on the device. They walked along the corridor, passing by doors to the units.