Confronting the Abyss, Part 6

[longstrt]

Part 6

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Three months later, William Bodie walked into Jase Stephens’ office with the documents the man had requested. It had taken Bodie awhile to settle in, but he had to admit that Jase’s firm did handle some pretty exclusive clients along with some individuals who were just plain pains in the arse. Thanks to his CI5 training, Bodie had handled one and all with ease. His diplomatic skills had made him popular with the hoy polloy as well as the lesser mortals who tramped the earth. Bodie figured that Jase had every reason to be pleased with his work, and since this was the first weekend since he had begun to work for SAVING LIVES that he didn’t have to work, he was looking forward to a change. He had been in contact with Murphy several times and knew that the tall, handsome agent was now working off and on with the highly volatile 4.5. Bodie wouldn’t admit it, but he wanted to hear more about what his former partner had been doing.

Jase read over the documents quickly, signing them immediately. His sandy hair was glistening, and his boss seemed to be in a good humour. Bodie stood quietly almost at attention until Jase looked up into Bodie’s deep blue eyes and noticed his rigid stance. “At ease, Sargeant.”

Almost automatically Bodie started to go to parade rest or at least or whatever and then realized that Jase was lightly mocking him. Bodie smiled at his long time friend then flopped into the large, comfy chair that sat behind him.

“This is really good, Bodie. You certainly have justified my faith in you. All of your recent assignments have been of a calibre that I would expect from you. Keep it up, and we’ll be discussing partnership a lot earlier than after a six months trial run.”

“Thank you, Jase. I’m still surprised about the calibre of agents you have working for you. I thought I noticed a couple that had been at CI5 at one time.”

Jase laughed, “Of course, you have. You don’t think I always let Mr. Cowley have the crème of the crop, do you, and now that I have you, my stable can only get better.”

Knowing Jase as well as Bodie did, he was not surprised by Jase’s crude phrasing of his last sentence. Nevertheless, the words antagonized Bodie for no specific reason, but it did irritate him that he had been somewhat compared to a stud who would now bring in the fillies to be “serviced”.

Deciding to ignore Jase’s careless remark, Bodie stood, needlessly straightening his perfectly tailored suit. Looking at his Rolex (faintly missing his Superman watch), Bodie looked up and smiled at the director of SAVING LIVES, “Well, Jase, if you don’t mind, I am off the time clock and I do have someone I’m going to meet in less than an hour.”

Jase studied him for several minutes, as if trying to decide what to do. Finally, he seemed to decide, “I’m sorry that you’re going to be busy. I was hoping that you and I could have dinner together and spend sometime in my apartment, talking about your promotion.”

Stunned, Bodie was barely able to put two words together so he asked, “Promotion?”

“Well, don’t look so surprised. You must know how well you’ve been doing and how quickly I’ve come to rely on you. With your knowledge of German and a few other languages, you’re a real find for the firm. I’m thinking of making you my partner and announcing it in the next month. That’s what I was hoping to discuss with you this evening, but if you have to go, don’t let me stop you.”

Bodie stood there staring, he really wanted to see Murphy and talk over old times, but as he had had to tell himself many times in the last three months, he had moved on, and Murphy would understand. “Well, of course, if it’s something like that, I’ll be more than happy to talk to you.” Putting on a smile that was rather forced, he waited for Jase to give him the information he would need.

Two hours later Bodie was seated comfortably in Jase’s magnificent lounge. The apartment had everything that a man could want, including a computer hook-up that was second to none and would give CI5 a real run for its money. Jase had been the perfect host, even offering Bodie a comfortable satin jacket so that he could relax and get out of his long worn suit jacket.

Bodie had declined the offer, but somehow found himself removing his jacket anyway because he had worn it for most of the day. Several drinks later, the two men were feeling at ease and talking about old times. The food that Jase kept giving him was delicious. More than once Bodie had thought about how easy it would be to get used to this life style.

Bodie looked at his watch and realized that it was getting late, and they had not yet discussed the promotion that had been the reason for the meeting in the first place.
“Jase, it’s getting late. Could we talk a bit about your thoughts about my promotion to partner? I do have some money put aside if that would be necessary. I don’t think it’s fair that I just move into the job without either more experience with the firm or, at least, contributing monetarily to the assets of the firm.”

Jase laughed, looking at the body of his friend in a much different manner than previously. “Don’t worry about that, mate. I promise you that you will be making quite a few contributions to the assets of the firm, as you put it. In fact, you’re right, it is rather late. Why don’t you bed down here for the night? I have a big comfortable bed . . . in the guest room that you are welcome to use. I’m sure I can find you all the appropriate necessities.”

For a moment a shiver ran through Bodie’s body at the possible meaning of Jase’s words, but he shook it off. Jase knew very well that Bodie wasn’t here because of their physical past; he was here to do an important job and nothing else. In a quiet but barely controlled voice, Bodie said, “I’m sorry, Jase, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. I want to get to the office early tomorrow. Remember, the Oppenheimer case might come to a head, and I want to be there since you gave it to me to control. Besides me getting up might bother you and we wouldn’t want that, do we?”

Jase stared at his friend, torn between making a big deal of the invitation and letting it go. It was perfectly obvious that Bodie was not yet ready to fall into line, but it wouldn’t take much more, if Jase played his cards right. Smiling, he stood up, and walked over to Bodie and patted him on the shoulder, “You’re absolutely right, my friend, with you on the payroll, I can relax and show up to the office at a decent hour instead of around dawn like I used to. I promise we’ll talk about you moving up, in the very near future.”

Saying good night, Bodie left quickly, his blue eyes displaying a faintly haunted look. Shrugging his shoulders, he realized that Jase’s behaviour tonight was different from his carefully controlled treatment of Bodie in the last several months. The two men had split up after Jordan on very good terms, but Bodie wanted to be sure that Jase had not fallen under the false impression that Bodie wanted anything more from him than the partnership that he had been promised.

The next morning the Oppenheimer case broke and several agents earned their pay for the month by saving the life of the man they were guarding. By 11.00 hours the whole thing was wrapped up and Bodie was sitting at his desk, reading the reports on what had occurred. Bodie looked up to see Jase just entering his own office and waved at him. Expecting Jase to come over and shoot the breeze with him, as he usually did, Bodie instead heard the sound of the expensive television set blaring out in Jase’s office.

Wandering next door to tell Jase about the success of the Oppenheimer case, Bodie turned his head to see Jase concentrating on a news event that had pre-empted the regular programming. Jase was a junkie for news; he constantly said that it was the life’s blood of the security business. Bodie hadn’t thought much about it since George Cowley had demanded that all his agents keep up with the news on a regular basis. Bodie, therefore, had just decided he would return to his office and talk to Jase later when he heard some words that stopped him in his tracks.

Just then Jase seemed to notice Bodie, and motioned him forward. There seemed to be a glow on his face as he watched the drama play out. “Hey, it seems some nutter was threatening to explode a nerve gas right in the middle of Battersea Power Station Park, but some of your lads stopped him. They had a tank out there and everything. I’ll bet Cowley puts a D-Notice on the whole thing, but in that public a place, he won’t be able to keep the lid on it long.”

Bodie stood there staring at the telly, barely understanding what Jase was nattering on about. His body felt like it had been hooked up to a 20,000 volt generator as his nerve ends began to prickle. Finally, after a few seconds, Bodie mumbled something like “Excuse me,” and rushed out of Jase’s office. Jase turned around to look at the rapidly fleeing Bodie, shrugged, and then returned to watching the wind up of the drama at Battersea.

Hours later, Bodie practically crawled to the door of his expensive, SAVING LIVES - issued apartment. It was everything that the CI5 flats never were. It had running water that stayed hot as long as you wanted; it had lifts that always worked, and it had the most amazing king-size bed that Bodie had ever seen, but, at the moment, he would have traded it and everything he owned to know exactly what had occurred at Battersea.

He had called Murphy to find out what was going on, but the handsome 6.2 was unavailable so Bodie left a message. Had Ray been involved in the case with the nutter? Why couldn’t someone at CI5 just tell him if Ray was all right? They had treated him like he was an outsider!!! At this thought Bodie dropped his head and stared at the floor, only now recognizing the impact that not renewing his contract would make on his life.

Walking into the spacious kitchen, Bodie thought for the hundredth time since he had moved that it was ridiculous to have so much room in a kitchen when he was usually on the go, or ate out or did takeaway. Grimacing to himself, he realized that the probably had very little in the frig, but hopefully there was something frozen. Maybe Doris or was it Doreen, or Dora or whatever had left something in there the last time she had been here.

In the last three months, Bodie usually came home feeling too tired to do anything so he kept a long list of restaurant pamphlets available for perusal. He seldom saw anyone and if he did his hours with SAVING LIVES quickly curtailed any relationship. He had expected Jase to ask him to go to their favourite restaurant, but Jase seemed to have changed from the days when the two men had gone out frequently. The thought came to Bodie’s mind that maybe all this previous attention had been a ploy on Jase’s part to get Bodie “in his stable” and now he didn’t have to do that.

Collapsing on his beautiful sofa while he waited for the restaurant to deliver, Bodie wiped his face. The tension over the events at Battersea had knotted all the muscles in his back so that they were extremely tender to the touch. He had remembered the time he had been stabbed in a tower while investigating a killing in Black Town. He had been delirious for days, but he could remember very clearly one thing: Doyle’s face and the tears that he was trying to hold back as he walked next to Bodie’s gurney.

Bodie couldn’t ever remember one other person who had cried over injuries done to him. Even Doyle’s words, “Oh, Bodie, you half-Irish son-of-bitch, what did you go and do that for?” had made a lasting impression on the ex-merc who had always worried about number one and had fought tooth and nail to remain independent of anyone, and now here was that scrawny, moody, sentimental golli crying about him.

A ringing of the doorbell brought Bodie back to the present. Expecting the delivery person, Bodie reached into his pocket for his wallet as he opened the door. It was Murphy, however, instead of the delivery boy. Bodie stood there stunned. He had left his new address with Murph, but he had never expected to see him. Immediately, fear gripped Bodie’s entire body - - why would Murph be here unless . . . unless something awful had happened? Speechless, he motioned the tall agent into the apartment.

Finally, Bodie noticed that Murphy was carrying his takeaway order. Murph smiled which relieved Bodie’s apprehension slightly. Taking the food from Murphy, Bodie handed him the money that was owed.

Murphy’s eyebrows shot up as he said, “Well, that’s a change; usually I have to beg and plead for months to get paid back. I saw the delivery guy and I figured that you might invite me to dinner, if I was a good boy?”

Bodie smiled, “And are you a good boy?”

“Of course, that’s what everyone in CI5 says, besides I’m here bringing news.”

For the next several minutes the two men quickly laid out all the goodies on the expensive, antique table, then they sat down to eat. Murphy did justice to the many choices, but for once Bodie seemed hesitant to eat. He knew that Doyle must be all right, otherwise Murphy would have said something right away, but why wasn’t Murphy telling him instead of feeding his face?

Finally, Murphy seemed to be full so he began to explain. “If Cowley ever finds out that I told you, I’ll be in files for the rest of me natural life, but when I got your message, I figured you deserved to know what had happened. The whole case is pretty much wrapped up so the bare facts will be appearing in print in a few days.”

Bodie felt a headache coming on and Murphy droned on. In fact, Bodie was on the verge of letting out a scream and throttling the large agent when Murphy took pity and told the story. As Murphy completed the tale, Bodie felt drained by the images of Doyle running across the open field after a sniper had shot the uniformed man dead. They were withholding his name, but Murphy said it was Lawson and the man had felt such guilt over the loss of some of his men in NATO war games that he had decided to use the supposedly “forbidden” poison gas against the population of London.

Doyle’s trim, runner’s body had made it to the fallen canister and then thrown it to Murphy who was waiting on top of a tank to dispose of it. It all went to perfection, and Doyle was the real hero of the day. He had spotted a blind spot and had called it to Cowley’s attention. Euphoria spread throughout the military assembled there to watch CI5 handle the situation, and everybody seemed ecstatic that the danger was past. Only one man seemed to be less than thrilled: Ray Doyle. He stood watching the corpse of the fallen soldier for quite awhile and then walked off the field, ignoring all the congratulatory remarks, and pats.

“I went back to headquarters with Cowley, but Doyle had already been there, written his report and gone. I thought I would try and find him, but Cowley said to leave him alone. It had been a hard day and Doyle needed some time to himself. That’s when I got your note so I thought I would come and see you.”

Murphy stopped talking, but he continued to examine Bodie’s reaction to the amazing story. He had known Bodie and Doyle for a very long time, and he suspected what Bodie leaving CI5 had done to Doyle, but now he could see what it had done to Bodie. As much as he was here to praise Doyle, he was here to let Bodie vent his feelings.

Murphy was less than pleased, however, when Bodie shook his head and smiled, “Should have known that the golli wouldn’t need me. He’s the best, and I hope Cowley recognizes it, but how come he was crazy enough to throw such a valuable parcel to you?”

Murphy didn’t hesitate as he replied, “4.5 announced to me and everyone that I was so large that he couldn’t possibly miss me.”

Bodie laughed briefly then remarked, “Sounds just like my former partner. Never pulls his punches.”

Murphy sat there for a moment, not knowing what to say, but he figured, it was always safe to ask for another beer. Bodie quickly got him one and then sat down next to his old friend, “So, everything’s goin’ okay, is it? You workin’ with Doyle now?”

“Yeah, sometimes, sometimes Jax, but it hasn’t been easy. You know Doyle; he’s never easy on you and even harder on himself.”

Bodie was disturbed to hear that. “You know I always said that he’d feel guilty about everything, even the invention of gun powder, but he’ll get over it. After all with you and Jax to work with, he’ll have the best guarding his back.”

“Are you sure that you’re William Bodie? I don’t think I’ve every heard a compliment comin’ from those lips, but thanks.” Hesitating for a moment as if trying to decide how to phrase his next words, Murphy continued, “The only trouble is that we are kind of short on healthy agents right now so Doyle has been assigned to an agent from the group that has just finished their training. Cowley figures that all of the veterans are going to need to train these agents pretty fast. I’ve got a person named Neal Gresham, and Doyle has . . . Percival Coltrane.” Murphy stopped and looked at Bodie preparing to see Bodie’s reaction, and it wasn’t long in coming.

“PERCIVAL COLTRANE, what kind of “hello Henry” is that? How did Doyle take it?”

“He didn’t say much except that, if Coltrane called him Curly one more time he was going to thump him.”

Bodie laughed, sounded just like his part . . . ex-partner. “Well what do you know about this Coltrane? Is he Army?”

“No, he worked in security for awhile, but that’s about all I know. He’s a good looking enough, and certainly seems willing. I think it was love at first sight when he saw Doyle.”

Bodie frowned as if a thunderstorm was moving overhead, “What’d you mean by that?”

“Just that Coltrane, even though he risks his life by calling 4.5, Curly, really seems to worship Ray. I suspect, if Doyle doesn’t kill Coltrane in the next few weeks, they might become very good friends.”

Bodie’s mouth began to form a pout as he thought back to his first few days with Doyle. Doyle wasn’t the easiest man to work with, but gain his trust and he would do anything for you, even throw away his life. That thought devastated Bodie. He looked up at Murphy, “Doyle’s the best, Coltrane is lucky to have him as his partner.”

“Yeah, I guess he is, but something’s not right. Ray just doesn’t seem the same. You know he’s always stayed on the outside, but he’s even more that way now. You don’t hear two words out of him in the restroom. I sure hope Coltrane can do the job of protecting his back.”

At those words, Bodie’s head shot up, a questioning frown lurking on his face, “Why shouldn’t he be able to, after all he’s been trained by CI5?”

“Yeah, I know, but he seems a bit too eager to please, both Cowley and Doyle. Sometimes being too gung ho, doesn’t get you killed, but it doesn’t help your partner.”

Silence reigned in the apartment for several seconds then Murphy stood up as he began to clear away the remains of the clutter from the food. Bodie stopped him by saying, “You don’t have to do that, Murph. Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it. I hope you don’t mind if I call you once in awhile . . . you know just to find out how everything is going.”

The insecurity in Bodie’s voice was readily apparent to Murphy, as he nodded while
moving towards the door. “That’s great, love to hear from you, and, of course, share all this new found wealth that is on display.” Murphy stopped and stared at his friend; his perception of the man’s unhappiness hidden. He knew he shouldn’t, but he had to ask, “Have you tried to talk to Ray in the past couple of months?”

Bodie stared at the taller man, admiring his audacity. For just a moment, he felt his anger growing so quickly that he was preparing to retaliate when he realized that Murph had his best interests at heart so all he said was, “Good night, Murph.”

William Bodie stood staring at the trash from the food that he and Murphy had eaten. All his life, he had been trained to keep a clean and neat domicile, whether it was in the jungle, in the barracks, or in a flat, but, at this moment, he could not face one more moment of regimen, of military routine, so he left the clutter there to pick up tomorrow. Right now he had a lot of thinking to do about the ever widening abyss that was opening before him.

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Autumn came and went. Jase had kept Bodie busy with various trips abroad in which his language expertise was needed. He had also become a valuable consultant on various types of security. At first, Jase seemed to want to flaunt the fact that SAVING LIVES had former CI5 agents working there, but Bodie quickly scotched that idea much to Jase’s dismay. He had teasingly said in front of some other employees, “What’s the good of having a CI5 agent in your stable if you can’t broadcast it?”

The other agents laughed at the small joke, but Bodie was not happy to hear Jase’s use of the government organization in that manner. Bodie tried several times to speak to Jase about his lack of discretion when mentioning CI5, but each time Jase seemed to shove the idea aside, much like he shoved the discussion of Bodie’s partnership into the background.

Finally, after almost six months, Bodie came up for his first review. This was a real stepping stone to further advancement. As the two men sat across from each other in Jase’s office, the ambience was comfortable and professional. It was obvious that Jase was pleased with Bodie’s capabilities because he scored him at the highest levels in all the major categories, but yet there seemed to be something missing, and Bodie wanted to know what it was.

“Jase, thanks so much for the great marks I got on my report.”

“Don’t thank just me. There were quite a few others who signed off on this document. You’ll make a fine security agent.”

“But,” Bodie questioned.

Jase leaned his head sideways much as he had done in Jordan when he was trying to convey something to Bodie that was very difficult to deal with. “Bodie, you and I have been friends for more than 15 years, and even closer than that physically, which makes me wonder.”

“Wonder what, Jase?”

“Well, I hate to be crude, but what would it take to get you in my bed again?”

For a moment there was utter silence that was cold as an ice house. Deep blue eyes stared into Jase’s brown eyes, locking their stares together until the brown eyes dropped.

Bodie was trying to hold back his anger and hurt. So this was what it was all about. He should have known. Jase Stephens never did anything without thinking out the percentages, the dangers, and the profits, and in this case the rewards: Bodie’s arse available whenever he wanted and in return for a partnership!

Clearing his throat, Bodie enunciated clearly, “I thought I had made it plain that that was over. We were good with each other once. You made life more bearable in Jordan and the other little hell holes we worked in, but I do not want to have sex with you, just to keep my job or get a promotion.”

Clearly Jase had misjudged his friend’s thinking, but it also irritated him that he had done so much for Bodie in recent months and the man seemed to be totally ungrateful. Jase’s previously controlled temper which hovered just below furious made him bold and careless. The last time that he had dealt with his friend, William Bodie had been a nineteen year old relatively-new recruit who was open to new experiences, new ideas, training, and most importantly how to get along and move up in the rough world of mercenaries.

Maybe he thinks that since he was CI5, he doesn’t have to cut a deal with anyone. I’ll bet he was more than just a partner with that sex-pot Doyle. Now there’s a man who fills his jeans like a wet dream!

Those were Jase’s thoughts when he made the biggest miscalculation of his life as he said, “Yeah, but I bet you didn’t hesitate to have sex with that curly haired, walking wet dream, did you?”

For a moment, Jase thought that Bodie wouldn’t be able to control his anger. Bodie had thrown back the chair as he stood almost nose to nose with Jase even though the older man was still seated at his desk, faintly cowering in the depths of the thick cushions, but after several seconds, Jase noticed that Bodie seemed to recover himself even though his whole demeanour became even more menacing.

Then standing almost at attention, Bodie said in a very controlled voice, “You don’t have the right to question my behaviour except as it deals with my job. It’s none of your business. I’ve already told you that I took this job for one reason and one reason only, and if you want more from me than that, you can have my resignation . . . NOW.”

Jase hastily beat a retreat from his abrasive words, “Bodie, Bodie, I’m sorry. You’re right I have no right to question your life outside of this office. I made a mistake, please forgive me. Put it down to 15 years of missing you and being stupid at the same time. Of course, you are in line to be a partner, with no strings attached.”

Bodie backed up, stood briefly at ease, looking at the man he thought he had known, and then turned the large chair upright. His demeanour still showed the fury that ran through his body, but he was totally under control. Sitting back down, he asked, “Is there anything else you would like to discuss, because, if there isn’t, I have several appointments waiting.”

Jase seemed to give a sign of relief that the erupting volcano that had almost blown its top off had been derailed. Jase had learned a valuable lesson: he was going to have to handle his old friend much more carefully in the near future. “No, I don’t think so, but I would appreciate it if you would keep me updated on the McKinsey case. He’s an old friend, and I like to keep a personal eye on all of his needs.”

Bodie gave a shallow smile, his eyes hardening slightly. I’ll just bet you do. “That’s fine, I’m seeing him tomorrow to give him a further update about the conference. I’ll update you after that.”

“Great!” Jase stood at that point so Bodie took it as a sign of dismissal. Quite frankly, he was relieved, because this behaviour by Jase had become a red flag in his relationship with this organization, and maybe, just maybe, he had made a major mistake. Definitely, the thought of a partnership had become less attractive.

The next several days demonstrated that Jase had seemed to have learned his lesson, he was total business whenever Bodie came to him to discuss the McKinsey case or any other individual, but something had been lost, at least it seemed that way to Bodie, but he wasn’t sure if Jase saw it that way.

Jase’s crude question brought other incidents to mind for Bodie. In Jordan, the two men had been fighting for their lives, and the small comfort their bodies could give to each other was important, but now while they were still engaged in a dangerous business, it wasn’t the same, and the fact that Jase seemed to think that they could take up where they had left off fifteen years before was faintly offensive.

Bodie’s sense of commitment had always been a problem, and entering into any type of commitment, even a business one, did not sit well with the ex-merc, but Bodie had given up CI5 and Ray Doyle to try and change his life. Maybe, this experiment with commitment would work, he had told himself, but it appeared he had allowed himself to be fooled once again. Only one relationship in his entire life had seemed to make him content, and he had thrown that away. Perhaps, he deserved to spend the rest of his life . . . lonely. One thing that Bodie had quickly learned . . . to his obvious dismay: Jase could not be trusted.

Nevertheless, Bodie continued to do his security job and do it very well. His training in the military and in CI5 had worked to his benefit. He was known as a man who did not suffer fools gladly, but could be counted to get results. As usual, however, he remained a loner and thanks to Jase’s earlier boasts about bringing a CI5 man on board, Bodie was looked upon with suspicion and a minimum of trust.

Bodie had become used to the men making small snide remarks behind his back, but after having left CI5 almost nine months before, he had pretty much assumed that the office scuttlebutt about his background had died to a dull roar. Therefore, as he was walking past a group of agents, he ignored them as usual until he heard the phrase, “Well, I guess those CI5 agents aren’t so great after all; think of it two CI5 men dead and another serious. I guess even they can’t walk on water, if they would walk into an ambush like that.”

Bodie badly wanted to approach the men and demand any more information they had, but he didn’t get along with them so they would probably just clam up. Fortunately, another of the agents in the tight little group took up the story.

“I’ve haven’t heard much about it. When did this happen?”

“Two days ago and I’m not sure that you would hear much since there is a D-Notice issued for it.”

“Well then how did you hear about it? Jase told me. You know he’s real close with the bigwigs that govern our lives, and he found out from one of them.”

“And, what’d he do, call you into his office to give you the personal low down?”

“Nah, nothing like that, he made me wait in his outer office while he was on the phone. These little pink ear holes can pick up a voice at 100 yards so I listened to his conversation.”

“You’ll get your severance papers if you get caught listening in.”

“Well, he shouldn’t talk so loud besides no body was in the outer office but me.”

“Well, what else did he say?”

“He seemed to be almost laughing about something, but I couldn’t tell what. That’s why I didn’t really know what was going on until I heard him mention some terrorists and some poor kid they hanged.”

At that point, someone threw in the observation that all terrorists ought to be hanged as well, then the group seemed to be breaking off, but Bodie was long gone by that time because as soon as he heard that Jase had known about the ambush two days before, he rushed to his former partner’s office and burst in, completely ignoring the efforts of Stephens’ secretary to stop him.

Jase read the look on Bodie’s face and immediately dismissed the minion who was grovelling as his every word. Since the conversation several months ago, Jase had played it very low key with Bodie. The Bodie standing there in the dark blue, perfectly tailored suit was not the young ruffian he had known in Jordan. This Bodie had a mind of his own, and since he had turned down Jase’s proposal of sex, Jase was no longer sure if he really wanted Bodie on his team, but the man had been doing an excellent job and was a real asset, at least in business, if not in bed.

Offering Bodie a drink which the tall, dark-haired quickly declined, Jase asked, “What’s the matter, Bodie? Has one of the cases gone south?”

“No, I want to know what you know about the recent death of two CI5 agents and an injury to another due to terrorists.”

Now Jase leaned back in his chair, looking extremely bored, his face screwed up into a grimace and then a look of confusion as he replied, “Why should I know anything?”

“Because I heard that you’ve been spreading it around for the last couple of days, and you haven’t said a thing to me?”

“Why should I? You’re no longer with CI5, your focus should be on your job and this company, not those elite policemen who don’t always work wonders.”

“I’m not interested in debatin’ CI5’s value with you. Do you know the names of the agents that were killed or the one injured?”

Oh, so that’s it. He’s been with us for nine months and it’s still CI5 that worries him, or is it that sweet hunk of meat, Ray Doyle?

“Bodie, can I offer you a word of friendly advice. You don’t work for CI5 anymore; it would be in your best interest to be more interested in SAVING LIVES and its personnel than what is in the past, don’t you think?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve been carrying my weight, and doing my job, but when I hear that some CI5 agents have been killed, I can’t forget that I might know them, and you should have been aware of that. It wouldn’t have hurt you to mention it to me since you’d know that CI5 is still a concern of mine.”

Jase’s brown eyes narrowed into malevolent slits as he asked, “Is it CI5 or Ray Doyle that you’re interested in?”

Bodie stood up straight, rigid in his fury, “This isn’t the time to talk about that, just tell me if you heard the names of the three agents who were involved?”

“As a matter of fact, my informant didn’t know too many details, but just something about a man named Cookie or Cook or something like that and that your FORMER partner was somehow involved, but he didn’t know how.”

Jase stopped there looking up at the tall man. Jase’s handsome features were distorted by the smugness that revealed his less than sincere sympathy for what had happened. Bodie reacted immediately. Without saying another word, he raced out of the door to find a phone. He would call Murphy and find out what his curly-haired ex-partner had got himself into now.

Two hours later he had still not reached Murphy or Cowley. The operator was new to CI5 and was not at all impressed with the fact that she was talking to the legendary 3.7. She would neither confirm nor deny any rumours about an ambush that had injured CI5 operatives. The best that Bodie could do was obtain her promise to tell Murphy to call the former CI5 agent.

The next several hours were the longest that Bodie had had to endure except for the time that he waited to find out if Doyle would live after hours of surgery to remove two slugs from Mayli’s gun. He kept telling himself that there was no proof that Doyle was injured, but he did recognize the name, Cook. Doyle had recruited him into CI5, and even if Doyle wasn’t hurt, he would be alone and having to deal with the death of his friend.

Since the hour was nearing the time that he went home, Bodie was debating whether to stay at the office or go home to await further word. Fortunately, the phone rang at that point and Bodie had it in his hands in less than one second. He heard the familiar sound of his friend, Murphy. Bodie had known Murphy for most of the five years that he had been with CI5, he could hear the exhaustion and tension in his voice.

Into the stillness, Bodie heard, “Bodie, are you there?”

Realizing that he had been lost in thought, Bodie recovered enough to reply, “Yeah, I’m here. What’s happened? I heard there was an ambush; is Ra . . . everybody all right?”

Murphy released a sigh, his voice shaking with obvious grief, “No, not everybody’s all right. We lost Cookie, and Reynolds and Allison are so badly wounded we don’t know if they’ll make it.”

Bodie sighed quietly, but Murphy could still hear it over the phone. “How’s Doyle taking it?”

For a moment, Murphy hesitated then replied, “Not good. You know he was close to Cookie, recruiting him like he did. He gave himself the job of telling June, and to put in frankly, it did not go very well. June really laid a number on Ray. I couldn’t really get him to talk about it, but when he came back to headquarters after the visit, his eyes were red, and his skin was as pale and sickly looking as I’ve ever seen it.”

“Where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

“YOU’RE HIS PARTNER, YOU SHOULD KNOW!”

“Calm down, Bodie, I’m not his partner remember I told you he’s sort-of-partnered with that new guy, Percival Coltrane. I tried to talk to Ray, but he looked so out of it, I don’t know where he went to.”

“Well, where’s Coltrane; is he with Ray? What do ya mean, he’s sort of Doyle’s partner?”

“Not likely, after Doyle almost took his head off in a recent training exercise. It took both Towser and Macklin to pull that scrawny guy off of poor Coltrane.”

“Why did Ray do that?”

“Don’t really know, but somebody said that Coltrane was complaining afterwards that he and Doyle seemed to be working together so great that while they were practicing, Coltrane mentioned that he had talked to Cowley about making Doyle his permanent partner. All of a sudden Doyle went off his nutter and started wiping up the mat with the new man.”

Bodie closed his eyes, seeing the slender, athletic body of Ray Doyle taking after the new agent. The kid was lucky he was alive. Suddenly, he had a headache and didn’t want to talk to Murphy anymore, but he had to ask, “So Doyle is home?”

“I guess he is; he’s on suspension for taking out after Coltrane. I tried to call him, and even went over to his flat, but he’s not answering his buzzer. I’m not even sure if he would answer his R/T right now.”

“Okay, Murph thanks for callin’ and lettin’ me know. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”

Bodie put down the phone and stared at the floor for several minutes then he looked up and unseeingly let his eyes wander around his office. His thoughts were so loud in his head that they seemed to be shouting at him, It is all your fault. You ran out on Doyle just as you’ve run out at every commitment in your life, and look what it’s done to you and even more importantly to Doyle. It’s your fault, now do something about it.

With those thoughts in his mind, Bodie stood up and wandered over to the huge windows that allowed him to look out at London, You’ve done some pretty stupid things in your lifetime, Bodie mate, but this is the biggest. Look at this place, you don’t belong here. Ray Doyle is the most important person in your life and your world, what are you going to do to help him?

Releasing the tie that was suddenly strangling him, Bodie looked around and then began to neatly organize the cases that he was responsible for. Putting them in the pretentious brief case that he had purchased nine months ago, he headed towards Jase’s office.

After hearing the brief knock, Jase yelled, “Come,” expecting to see a very different person, Jase was surprised that it was Bodie and he was seething. Jase knew that Bodie had come to do battle, but he wasn’t sure what for this time.

Bodie threw the case files on Jase’s desk, and glowered at his former friend with a facial expression that said he was an afternoon thunderstorm coming in to break over Jase’s head. “Why did you let me think that Ray was involved in the ambush, that he might have been wounded?”

“I didn’t; I told you that I had heard he had been involved in some way, but I didn’t know how.”

Bodie frowned, since he just knew that Jase had meant to upset Bodie with the thought that Ray might have been killed, and even worse Bodie hadn’t been there, but he said nothing, just frowned some more.

Jase couldn’t figure out what the big deal was, but he thought he knew a way to divert Bodie’s obvious anger so he blurted out without really thinking, “I’m glad you’re here. Sit down because I want to talk to you about how well you’ve done with us, and about making you a full partner.”

Bodie suddenly rose to his feet even though he had just sat down. Shoving his face in Jase’s, he bellowed, “I don’t want to be your partner; I had the best partner in the world, and I let him down and ran away like I always do. Here are my case files; I’m resigning as of this moment. So you can take your so-called partnership and shove IT wherever is most uncomfortable.”

With those words Bodie turned and stormed out of the office, not even hearing Jase’s yells of derision at the audacity of his former employee. Bodie had already decided he would go see Doyle, but first he had something else to do.

End of Part 6

Part Seven