[Blue Jays]

Concur with you that the handler feels a flashlight is the device that he will need ready for IMMEDIATE use seems rather far-fetched.
Who seriously walks around thinking all the lights will suddenly and simultaneously go out and that there will be no ambient light, either?
In this situation, the injection pen indeed seems more plausible given her recent behavior, too.

[Celerity]

My wife points out that even if it’s a pen, carrying it at the ready seems a bit odd too.

Unless the man is trained that the current situation she is in its known to trigger. This would be cameras in her face, or something going behind the view finder