Confronting the Abyss, Part 1

[longstrt]

Title: Confronting the Abyss
Author: lbc
Word Count: 32,472

Note: Please note that the timeline I have used for the episodes does not follow the series, but they seemed to fit my storyline better.

“Sorry, mate, can’t stay. Got a hot date tonight.” With those words Bodie waggled his eyebrows in a lascivious manner and walked out the door.

Ray Doyle continued to stare into the rapidly darkening evening. He stood at the only window in his flat that fronted the street. Cowley’s demand for security always made windows the number one taboo on the security list, but Doyle somehow had lucked out and got a flat with one small window.

He had stared out that window for what seemed like hours, but it probably had been less than a half hour. For a few minutes, his hopes burgeoned as Bodie seemed to sit in his Capri staring at something or nothing, but then his partner engaged the gear and was off to whatever “hot date” was awaiting him.

Doyle sighed. That same scene had been played out so many times in the last few months. Maybe not the same words or the same scenario, but time after time when Doyle had asked his friend to stick around for a meal or a drink or just to watch a match and the response always was the same, “Sorry, mate, gotta go.”

In a lot of ways Bodie’s recent attitude reminded him of their early days together. It had definitely not been the best way to begin. When Cowley had first partnered the two men, antagonism had been so high on the Richter scale with a magnitude better than 8.9 that molten magma seemed to spew forth from the hot tempered Ray Doyle, bludgeoning its way into the cold personality of WAP Bodie. But, as in the instance of all magma/lava, its cooling formed new land and much like that land, Ray Doyle and William Bodie formed a solid friendship that had a rock solid foundation.

Their partnership marvelled everyone at CI5 because, while they were called the Bisto Kids, Cowley was much more accurate in his appellation of Chalk and Cheese. They were different from each other: in backgrounds, personalities, and their views of the part morality played in their activities, but they had made it work, and then one day Ray Doyle was shot in the leg while trying to bring the killers of Ann Seaford to justice.

Bodie had followed his zealous partner on his journey to vindicate Ann Seaford’s desire to save her daughter from a life of hell. Doyle had been faintly disturbed by Bodie’s attitude about “nice girls”, but it had been Bodie who had left his date behind in Doyle’s flat and had followed the green-eyed golli on his mission to find Ann Seaford. Bodie had also been the one who had accompanied the skinny CI5 agent to Seaford’s grave site when Doyle placed flowers on the dead woman’s grave.

Doyle had been angry; his seething fury had kept him going, but, at the end, Doyle had collapsed as he re-entered his flat after the graveside visit. Bodie had been there, waiting quietly, until his partner had settled down. It had been Bodie who had poured a couple of stiff drinks, handing one to his distraught friend. It had been Bodie whose ultra clean white handkerchief had magically appeared to wipe away the moisture from Doyle’s red eyes. It had been Bodie who had pulled Doyle into his warm embrace and lightly kissed the curly mop below his chin.

Very early in his arrival at CI5, William Bodie had made it very clear to everyone that he needed no one. He was quite capable of working solo and had done so quite well many times before, but it was readily apparent to George Cowley, who had recruited the young man from the Paras that Bodie had no anchor, and if his past work record was any proof, he would not stay but a measured amount of time, therefore, something had to be done, and Ray Doyle was the solution.

Now over four years into their partnership, the two men were inseparable. The rumours about their closeness had started after one too many injuries had kept one or the other partner in the hospital for a certain amount of time.

Although the two men’s prowess with the female population was legendary, many CI5 agents also noted the frequency with which each man seemed to dump the latest conquest - - they were always doing the dumping or the two men were being dumped for having to cancel a date or forgetting a date or whatever, but they never dumped each other.

Sex became part of their relationship soon after the Ann Seaford incident. It had begun with the kiss, but had soon exploded into hot, searing need to vent the frustrations and difficulties of the job. Both men crushed their bodies to each other as if they were practicing osmosis of bodily fluids, but the need for this type of activity seemed limited to times when a case was extra rough or one of the two men needed the comfort that only his partner could give.

Standing staring at the now totally dark nightscape, Doyle’s mind raced through some of the early conflicts that he and his partner endured. Doyle’s stomach still tightened with the thought of Bodie dropping through the open window from the flat above and yelling at Doyle about the correct procedure for taking on two terrorists. Doyle’s anger was barely controlled as he poured forth his true emotions with the simple words, “And what if I had missed?”

Perhaps Bodie’s response was even more an illumination of the younger agent’s feelings with his reply, “Since when do you miss?”

Their partnership had started out rough and continued to stay that way when Bodie’s former merc acquaintances showed up in London. Bodie had talked about a former lover who had been killed by Krivas, and Doyle had been unable to keep back his feelings about the merc way of life with his statement, “You’re no better than he is.”

In the early days, the antagonism between the ex-copper and ex-merc were often pitfalls that had to be navigated. Standing at the window, Doyle’s sad eyes reflected upon his own mirror image in the window, but the scene he saw was an old warehouse where IRA supporters had been gunned down by someone unknown and Doyle questioned his partner’s time in Ireland with the thorny question, “Ah, but whose peace?”

Now the partnership seemed to be coming to an end. Today was the anniversary of that first kiss, that first need to comfort and Bodie had chosen to go on a “hot date”.

Doyle had known from the first that Bodie was not sentimental but incidents like defusing an atomic bomb had made the two men closer. Sometimes they even seemed to walk in the same skin. After Cowley had given them the backhanded compliment of being damned good following the defusing of an atomic bomb, shock had set in and Doyle had begun to shiver. No amount of blankets or liquor could warm the slender man so Bodie had got into Doyle’s bed and comforted the man with warm words and an even warmer body.

That is what the relationship became: words of understanding and bodies of comfort. And then along came a knife in Bodie’s back which brought to the forefront Doyle’s demand for justice along with some tears. After the Empire Society was disposed of, it was difficult for Ray Doyle to know which hurt more, the beating that he had been given or Bodie walking away with the beautiful black nurse.

Ray Doyle never expected Bodie to say thanks for his partner’s efforts on his behalf, but standing there with Jax, Doyle felt the pain radiate throughout his body.

Shaking his auburn curls, Doyle left the window. His body was exhausted; he didn’t even care that the expensive meal that he had stored in the frig, waiting to be prepared in celebration of their anniversary, would go to waste. What was there to celebrate?

From the very beginning Bodie made it very clear that their need for each other was just that. Bad days, bad cases, bad events brought the two men together for a few moments in time, but neither man was committed to anything. Doyle had agreed, but he was the sentimental one of the two, and he wasn’t quite sure that the two partners could maintain a purely sexual relationship without damaging their friendship.

Even after Doyle’s obvious sentimentality in declaring that “Bodie would save him” during the Kathy Mason affair had largely been ignored by his partner, Doyle kept telling himself that Bodie really did care. Doyle would have been very surprised to hear Bodie’s words threatening Mason’s life when Doyle’s life was in danger from her husband, but Bodie had never told him. The only time that Bodie seemed to use sentimentality was in defence of CI5 itself when he had come charging into Doyle’s flat, demanding Doyle’s help while Geraldine Mather was battering at the ramparts.

Doyle had always known that Bodie had a tremendous loyalty to George Cowley and, therefore, to CI5, but he had hoped that he had gained some of that loyalty as well. Was Bodie, the man who never settled in one place, getting tired of CI5 and of his partner?

Doyle lay on his bed, his green eyes staring at the dark ceiling. No man had been more loyal than Bodie in the dark days after Doyle had been shot. The pain, the fears, the questions were all mirrored in the handsome agent’s face every time he came to the hospital to see Doyle in those long weeks of recovery. Bodie was always there.

After Doyle had been released, it was Bodie who had virtually moved in and made sure that Doyle kept doing his exercises, strengthening his muscles, and the myriad other activities which would see his return to CI5. Had all that devotion pushed Bodie too near the edge of the abyss of commitment and now Bodie wanted to back off?

Throughout their almost five years of partnership, the two men had never given up birds. The very thought was ridiculous. Bodie liked women; he loved women; their very being pleased him, but he had always hesitated to commit to any of them so why should he commit to a relationship with his very male partner? Besides Doyle wasn’t sure that he wanted to make a commitment either; their erratic bouts of lust and sex fit his needs as well so why complain, but something was different about their relationship and had been different for several months.

Ray Doyle had always thought he had that leverage over any of Bodie’s women. Bodie could walk away from any of them, but not his partner, but maybe now that was exactly what he was doing. As sleep finally overtook the exhausted man, Ray Doyle resolved to confront Bodie the next day and find out just where their relationship stood, and how solid their partnership was.

BDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBD

On the other side of the city, William Bodie entered the pub that Jase had designated as their meeting place. Bodie was unfamiliar with this particular pub, but it seemed the typical renovated ex-merc hang-out. It probably had been, at one time, extremely sleazy with the atmosphere of anonymity that mercs looking for jobs or contacts needed. Now it was slightly more upscale and the denizens certainly did not resemble the cinema-image of the blood-thirsty merc with the bandana and gun belt draped across a manly chest, using live bullets to pick his teeth.

When Jase mentioned the name of the pub, HE WHO FIGHTS, Bodie almost doubled over with laughter but his friend from a very long time ago had promised that this was the only relic left over from the “old” days. He was right.

It had been good to see Jase after almost 15 years. They had been close, very close. Those awful days in Jordan and other places had been some of the worst that Bodie had ever known, but Jase had made it more bearable. Their moments together had been some of the best that Bodie could remember in his young life. When his old friend and former partner had called several weeks before, Bodie could not ignore his request to meet up “for old times’ sake”. It had meant deceiving Doyle because Bodie knew how much Doyle hated that aspect of his former life, but seeing Jase again had been well worth the deception.

Now, while waiting for Jase to show up, Bodie reflected upon the amount of free time he had committed recently to being with Jase. Doyle had seemed to be acting so strange that Bodie had hesitated to leave after giving 4.5 his standard excuse, “Gotta a hot date.”

The last four+ years with Doyle had been the best of his life. It had been rough at the beginning and the partners had made a lot of mistakes, and Bodie would never deny that he had made his share of the blunders. Bodie’s anger with Doyle and Cowley over the Marikka Schumann episode had been a case in point. He had finally begun to trust Doyle and yet, it seemed, as if the scrawny auburn haired man had betrayed him. As he stared at Doyle and Marikka talking in the flat, his stomach had churned with a sense of betrayal.

Bodie’s deep blue eyes darkened even more as he remembered some of the other confrontations with his partner. He had lied to Doyle when the golli had demanded to know how Bodie would feel about losing a partner as Doyle had done when he was a copper. Bodie had replied that he didn’t know, but in truth he did know. He had lost so many men in Africa, the Middle East, and Ireland that his feelings almost seemed to be manifested in a rote fashion. He couldn’t afford to “feel” for those men because it would have driven him insane; it would have tarnished the magnificent war machine that he was.

And now, he had got mixed up with the most opinionated, moody, hot-tempered, compassionate, loyal man in the world. The very idea of commitment beyond just a partnership had become entwined in his lust for the slender, green-eyed imp who intruded into his every thought. As Bodie saw Jase enter the pub, an almost unthinkable thought entered the ex-merc’s head: maybe it was time to take Jase’s offer and leave CI5 to join one of the premier security businesses in the world.

Jase was smiling as he headed toward Bodie after picking up two lagers to cool their parched throats. Jase knew Bodie well enough to know that Bodie always had a parched throat. The two men had gone through hell in their old merc days, but somehow they had survived it, and now Jase was preaching the idea that it was their turn to enjoy the good life - - leave the fighting to others.

Several weeks ago when Jase had first looked Bodie up, 3.7 had quickly dismissed the idea of his becoming one of the elite operatives in Jase’s organization, SAVING LIVES. Even the name of the business had seemed overblown, but that was the way that Jase had always been. When the 19 year old Bodie had met Jase, he had been both repelled and attracted to the tall, slender man. Jase had sandy hair and the deepest brown eyes that Bodie had ever seen.

Jase was the veteran when Bodie arrived, and he had taken the newcomer under his tutelage, but within a few months, Jase had moved on and Bodie had had to fend on his own. It had been Jordan that had brought the two men back together again. Jase didn’t ask Bodie to be his partner, they just were partners. When they had met again in Jordan, Bodie told himself that he was as good as Jase now and wouldn’t be the burden he had been two years before. Bodie was a different which Jase immediately recognized so he decided to begin rubbing away at the supreme cynicism the younger man carried around like a badge.

They had sex, they argued, they laughed, they talked, but they never really became lovers. They did what they had to do to survive, and now Jase was here, standing in front of him, asking Bodie to join one of the most prestigious private security organizations in the world. Of course, if Bodie had really thought about it, he would have realized that he already was a member of THE most elite security organization in the world, but as in all things, familiarity bred a feeling of taking CI5 for granted.

Bodie grabbed the lager being held out to him and took a large swallow. It tasted so good. He closed his eyes for a moment remembering how he would have killed to have had a lager in Jordan. They always seemed to be running out, and as Bodie had shown many times, he could put down a prodigious amount of beer.

“’Bout time, mate. I could have won three fire fights in this amount of time in the old days.”

Looking up at the sandy-haired man, the twinkle in his midnight blue eyes, told Jase that Bodie was not really angry, but he went along with Bodie’s banter.

“I’m not gettin’ any younger, and it takes me longer to do things than when we were just young ruffians runnin’ around foreign lands.”

Bodie snorted into his lager and then swallowed the liquid, handing the glass back with the obvious gesture that he wanted another. Jase stood staring for a moment then handed him his own lager, turning quickly to head back to the bar.

Bodie closed his dark eyes thankful for a few more minutes respite before Jase asked the inevitable question, “Do you want a job with me?”

For the last four weeks, since Jase had first asked that same question, Bodie had been mulling the answer. A year or so ago, the answer would have been quickly an unequivocal, NO! but things had changed and Bodie wasn’t sure when they had changed.

Images of he and Doyle sharing a room in a city run by a bigoted, egotistical copper named Green and his nasty, vicious minion Chives, might have been the first leak in the wall that Bodie had built so carefully. Having sex with Doyle had been nothing, just a bit of plaster to shore of the crumbling emotions during years of rough cases, but Thomas Pellin’s need for some help with anti-gay bigots had opened Bodie’s eyes to his relationship with his partner.

Bodie caught his breath as his remembered the tall, slender ex-copper prancing along in the street with his leather jacket, open shirt, and tight jeans looking like a million quid. They were pretending to be members of a youth organization for gays and the possibility of being gay hadn’t been terribly hard to adjust to. Doyle’s claim that this city was the place where he had first had sex with a female had made Bodie laugh until he found himself contemplating the pleasure of being Doyle’s first . . . male.

Bodie shook his head at that sentimentality that came rushing forth every time he thought of his partner. Maybe that was another reason why he should think about taking Jase’s proposal of a good paying job with his security firm.

Suddenly, Bodie realized that Jase was back and holding out another lager to him. Smiling, Bodie replied, “Thanks, mate. You make a good waiter. Ever thought about changin’ your line of work?”

Jase’s eyes twinkled. He hadn’t seen Bodie in almost fifteen years, but, at one time, they had been very close, and he felt he could read him now. Laughing slightly, he replied, “More like, mate, have you thought about changin’ your line of work?”

Bodie stopped, stunned at his foolish mistake of walking into the subject that he most wanted to avoid.

Jase sat there patiently for a moment or two then continued. “Don’t sit there looking like an angelfish, trying to feed, you know it wouldn’t be such a bad life. We do get to handle some very important cases, and I promise not to be the puppet master that Cowley seems to be.”

At the mention of Cowley, Bodie managed to break out of his angelfish impersonation. Just the mention of an angelfish had made him recall the time that he had heard Doyle’s story about how the cat had eaten his angelfish. That name had quickly become one of the many nicknames that Bodie had come up with for his friend and partner.

“I’ve been thinkin’ on it, and you’re wrong about Cowley. He appears to be remote and somewhat of a martinet, but he’s got the lives of his agents and the civilian population of England to protect. You’d be more demanding if all that was laid at your door step wouldn’t you?”

Jase could easily see the loyalty that Bodie exhibited for his boss. George Cowley was important to Bodie, and Bodie was important to Jase so he decided to back down and not push the issue. Instead he decided to direct the conversation in a slightly different direction.

“I’m sure your Mr. Cowley is an excellent leader, but remember those days in Jordan and lesser places; we were pretty good partners then, and I wasn’t too bad of a boss was I?”

For a moment, Bodie hesitated, he had never pulled his punches with Jase and now wasn’t the time to start. “You weren’t me boss in Jordan; we were equals. I learned a lot . . . after you hauled your arse out of the Congo. What I learned earned me the right to be your equal and you know it.”

Realizing that he had once again made a mistake, Jase nodded, acknowledging Bodie’s point. “You’re right, mate. You and I did some damn fine work in Jordan, and you were in every way, my equal. That’s why I want you to join the firm. After you get your feet under you, I want you to be my partner in the firm as well as everything else.”

For a moment Bodie was stunned by the words: a full partnership in one of the most profitable and prestigious security firms in the world??? Jase had to be mad to even contemplate giving a partnership to Bodie. Just the idea of the lifestyle he would be living was mind boggling.

For what seemed like an eternity, Bodie kept quiet, playing with the puddle of moisture that had dripped off the glass onto the table, then he voiced a question that had been puzzling him ever since Jase had arrived in the city four weeks ago, “Why are you really here, Jase? You could get some highly talented individuals to join the firm and you didn’t need to come to London to do that. You could also get a partner with ease, seein’ the money you pay. So how come . . .me?”

“I’ve missed you, Bodie. Oh, not the way of life we led when we were together, but after you left to return to England, I decided I was going to get out as well. Why should I risk my life to do someone else’s dirty work? I guess security work just came naturally. I had saved up a few quid from all that muscle and mayhem and I put it to good use. I invested it when I returned to England, and now I can pretty much pick and choose as I desire, and I des . . . and I would like you to join me in the firm. What’s so bad about that?”

“Nothing, I suppose. I really appreciate you thinkin’ of me, but I’ve got responsibilities to . . . people, and I just can’t make decisions like that so fast.”

“The Bodie I knew could pick up and move out at the drop of beer, if it meant money and doin’ something new. You’ve changed; what’s done that?”

Bodie shook his head, “Lots of things. I grew up for one thing. When I first met you I was 19, I’m not that kid any more. The Army, SAS have all matured me. I would think the same thing would have happened to you?”

Throwing the ball back into Jase’s court, Bodie waited.

Jase nodded, “Yeah, I guess that’s true. I’ve seen enough blood, chaos, and sheer cruelty to last a lifetime. My cynicism almost choked me so I got out . . . well, sort of. I hope what I’m doing now is making things better. Protecting people for money, instead of slaughtering the enemy for money has got to be better, doesn’t it?”

“I’d like to think that I’m doing the same thing, working for CI5. That’s why I’ve stayed with them longer than with anything else I’ve ever done.”

Jase quietly stared at his friend for a moment, seemingly studying every feature of the handsome man, then he nodded and asked the question that had been upper most in his mind “Is doing good for others, the real reason you’ve stayed with CI5?”

Bodie suddenly sat up very straight, his deep blue eyes penetrating across the table to the man that he had trusted so long ago. “What ya mean by that?”

Jase shook his head, “Nothing . . . except when we first met a couple of weeks ago . . . when we first got together, you constantly mentioned your partner, Ray Doyle. Isn’t he really why you stayed with CI5?”

Bodie’s handsome face took on a cold look. It was a look that had frozen many a villain during interrogation sessions, but Jase had seen it over and over again in years past, and he knew that he had struck the nerve that might get his friend to finally be honest with him.

Bodie took a sip of the last few drops of lager obviously playing for time. Finally, he raised his eyes and focused them directly on the ex-merc across from him. “It’s none of your business why I’ve stayed with CI5, Jase, and if I go with you, it’s none of your business why I choose to do that either.”

“Okay, Bodie, I just thought we knew each other well enough that we could talk about it with openness and honesty.”

Without really thinking about his words, Bodie blurted out in a slightly raised voice, “Talk, talk, talk, you remind me of someone else. Listen, Jase and listen good, you probably know more about my past than almost anyone alive, but the decisions, I make are mine, and they don’t have to be discussed or dragged out ad nauseum, is that clear?”

“Perfectly, would you like another lager?”

Bodie shook his head in the negative. He knew that he shouldn’t have been so brusque with Jase, but he needed to feel that he was in command of the situation and recent events seemed to be whirling out of his control. He had had sex with Doyle, and it had been so good, but nothing, nothing was going to make him commit to his moody partner. He had been upfront with Doyle and now it seemed like everything was falling apart.

Jase’s suggestion about changing jobs had come at a great time. Bodie had four months to go on his contract; could he stick it out that long, watching Doyle, protecting Doyle, and still not really being with Doyle? He knew Ray had entered into the relationship because of the events that had occurred with Ann Seaford. Each time they had come together, it wasn’t because of love or anything sentimental like that; it was because that intimacy fulfilled a real need in each man. Bodie had found much of the same thing with Jase at a lesser depth while in Jordan and other hell holes, but he was no longer interested in being intimate with Jase, but what did Jase want?

Staring into his friend’s eyes, Bodie flung back his head to empty a glass that was already empty. Jase’s one eyebrow shot up into his forehead. It was obvious that Bodie’s temper was on the edge of bursting forth and his control was on the brink of being lost. Yes, this was definitely not the man that the ex-merc had known in the past. Someone, namely Ray Doyle, had got under his old partner’s skin. The point now was how that was going to affect Jase’s plans for getting Bodie on board with his security firm.

“Let’s go to my hotel room, Bodie. We need to talk, and we certainly need more privacy than what we’re getting here.”

Suddenly, Bodie felt exhausted. 3.7 knew that if he went to the hotel with Jase they would end up in bed together. Bodie hadn’t been with any man except for Doyle for years. He had continued to date birds, but his need for a male/male relationship had been satisfied by Doyle. Would Jase expect them to take up where they had left off, if he took the job with Jase’s firm? Bodie made up his mind - - no physical intimacy with Jase until he knew exactly where his future lay.

Bodie sighed, declaring his intention to go home. “Sorry, Jase, can’t do that. I’m on call at headquarters at 600 hours. George Cowley does not like his men to be late.”
Bodie said this last sentence with so much emphasis that Jase had to laugh at the intended meaning behind the words.

As the two men walked out the door of the pub, it was obvious that Jase did not want to take “No” for an answer so he started to encourage Bodie to change his mind. Instead, however, his perceptive ex-partner suddenly brought up the part of a comment that Jase had hoped Bodie had missed.

“What did you mean, Jase, when you said that you wanted me to be partners with you in the firm AND EVERYTHING ELSE?”

Jase sighed, a few minutes ago that seemed like the right thing to say, but it was now obvious that Bodie was not interested in a more physical relationship and his question hinted at his possible suspicions. Jase rapidly tried to recalculate his plan, but he suddenly realized that Bodie’s lack of interest might be indicative of how his friend had changed. Maybe, just maybe Bodie and Doyle were far more than partners and that was why Bodie had thrown up barriers. It was time to change tactics, if he was to convince this enigmatic man to join him.

“I just meant that I want us to be equals in everything, just as we were in Jordan. I don’t want you to go home each night and think of yourself as just another cog in SAVING LIVES. I want your participation, your ideas, and your savvy about security to be committed to the firm.”

Bodie almost physically stepped away from the man he had known long ago - - there was that word, committed, once again. It seemed to follow him around everywhere. Being in a partnership with Doyle was enough of a commitment because that way he could choose the time that he would leave.

Having sex with Doyle had changed none of that, but somehow Doyle seemed to be changing. Every year after the Ann Seaford episode, Doyle seemed to make a big deal over “celebrating” the physical side of their relationship. Bodie could always tell when Doyle was planning something in commemoration for an act which probably happened thousands of times a day across the world. Why did Doyle have to make such a big deal out of it? That was one reason why Bodie had cooked up an excuse that he had a hot date but refused to tell Doyle anything about his date.

Besides, staying in one job with one partner for almost five years was dangerously close as it was to entering the abyss of commitment. Now might very well be the time to move on. Rubbing his head as if he had a headache, Bodie turned to the silent Jase who seemed not to mind waiting patiently for a response from Bodie.

“Ta, Jase. It’s late and I got to get going. I’ll think about the job offer, but I want to be honest with you. I’m not sure it’s for me, but I will think about it.”

“That’s all I ask Bodie.”

The two men stared at each other for a moment, then turned and went to their respective cars. Bodie left the parking area immediately, but Jase sat in his Jaguar pondering Bodie’s recent words. His mind concentrated on the unhappy man that he had just spent time with. Was Bodie unhappy because of the chance for a new job or was he unhappy over his old job? Or, maybe just maybe, he was unhappy over his relationship with Doyle. If that was true, it was even better because Jase knew that Bodie and he had had a very good partnership, both professionally and physically. Jase certainly didn’t mind playing upon the positive aspects of their friendship to get what he wanted: Bodie in his firm and in his bed.

End of Part 1

Part Two