Part 2
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When the alarm rang, Ray Doyle was already out of bed. In fact, he had got up almost an hour before, the call of nature waking him, his fears for what today might bring, had kept him awake. Knowing that he would not get anymore sleep, Doyle decided to shower, eat, and get to CI5 well before his partner. It was a good thing that they weren’t driving together today because Doyle intended to confront his sometime bed partner and always work partner and find out what was going on. Was Bodie serious about this bird?
Ray Doyle could tell his handsome partner a lot about being serious and thinking this might be the one. Doyle’s nine day romance with Ann Holly was still a sore point with Bodie. In the near five years that the two men had worked together, Doyle’s romantic fling with Ann Holly had been one of the times that they had not been in sync. Only after the whole thing was over did Doyle finally analyse his partner’s motivations.
In many ways the fiasco had been partly Bodie’s fault. Why had 3.7 even gone to Cowley to announce that Doyle was getting serious about a certain Ann Holly, who also happened to be the daughter of the prime suspect in a smuggling case? Doyle’s epiphany that Bodie’s investigation into Ann Holly and her relationship to an active CI5 operation was much like Doyle’s investigation of Marikka Schumann. Doyle hadn’t liked doing it, but the curly haired 4.5 had never given Bodie the benefit of the doubt and assume that Bodie might also have disliked the repulsive task.
In fact, it seemed like, at the time, that Bodie was pushing Doyle into thinking along the lines of marriage, and yet, knowing Bodie’s feelings about commitment, why should Bodie be pushing Doyle towards something that, at the time, he himself wasn’t sure about? Everything seemed to be happening so fast. Maybe Ann Holly was the person for him, but a week’s acquaintance now seemed like an amazingly short time to risk jumping into the abyss of a lifelong commitment.
Ray Doyle knew William Bodie better than anybody, including Cowley, but there were days that Doyle felt completely lost in his relationship with his friend. It felt like the two men were struggling against a dark tide of who knew what obstacles. Today, however, Doyle hoped he would get some answers.
Arriving in the parking area of CI5, Doyle stopped his white Escort in one of the few places near the building. As he locked the car, however, he noticed that Bodie’s car was already there. The thought that Bodie would have arrived more than 30 minutes early was mind blowing. Walking towards the entrance of headquarters of CI5, Doyle was almost swept away by the battering ram of his partner’s body as the tall, muscular agent rushed towards his car.
“Bodie, what’s up? We called out or something?”
Even though Bodie was travelling at the speed of sound to his car, his perception had registered the seductive walk of his handsome partner. Bodie knew that if he slowed down at all, he would fall into Doyle’s clutches and that was something he did not want to do. He had lucked out when he had got to work early and seen that the assignment board and realized the possibilities of changing his assignment. After talking to Cowley, he had to move fast because he had to pick up his target at Heathrow in less than an hour. This was the perfect excuse to avoid the skinny golli and Bodie took complete advantage of it.
Rushing to his car, Bodie shouted back as his voice faded in the roar of the Capri’s motor, “Got to babysit, see you later!”
Ray stood there staring as the Capri launched itself into supersonic speeds and headed wherever. Instead of pacifying Doyle’s thoughts that Bodie was just acting strangely, this scenario made him even more wary of his partner’s motives. What was going on? Every action the handsome ex-merc took seemed to speak volumes about the necessity for getting away from Doyle. Entering the building, Doyle went to the assignment board to discover the duties of his partner for the day. His emotions were feeling the effects of the abrasive treatment they had been enduring for the last several weeks. CI5 work was difficult enough, but being out of tune with Bodie made the whole effort seem worse than mucking through a swamp.
Discovering that he was scheduled for file duty for the day added insult to injury so Doyle decided to impart some of his golden words of wisdom to Cowley, just to make sure that the man really knew how his operative felt.
Marching to Betty’s desk, Doyle was on the simmer but the pressure was on and it would not take long to bring him to the boil. Therefore, when he was admitted to Cowley’s inner sanctum after waiting more than a half hour, Doyle was ready to let loose.
“Sir, why is Bodie off on a baby . . . escort job, and I have to do files? Neither of us is recovering from an injury. This is a waste of good manpower.” After the words floated out into the air, the curly haired man realized how insubordinate they sounded, but he wasn’t prepared to back down.
Cowley removed his horn-rimmed glasses, staring calmly at the man who was questioning his reasoning for what seemed the thousandth time, then he spoke, “Sit down, Doyle.”
Doyle seemed ready to refuse then realized that he had pushed Cowley as far as he could and if he didn’t sit, he might be facing suspension.
Cowley waited until Doyle was seated then looked piercingly at the young man. “I will ignore your insubordination, Doyle because quite frankly I am puzzled as well. Bodie was here even before I entered the building. He mentioned that he had heard that Ali Ben Hassam was arriving today and that his usual escort was unavailable. He promptly offered to escort the man for the day and as long as he was needed. I did not
ask him to do so, he volunteered.”
Doyle sat there even more puzzled. If there was one kind of duty that Bodie hated, it was anything to do with surveillance or escorting visiting VIPs. What was going on? Bodie would rather run around covering the tail of some official than work with his partner? Had Bodie been hit over the head once too often or was he suffering from very early senility?
Noticing Doyle’s face, Cowley could easily read the concern and confusion that lurked behind the green eyes. 4.5 and 3.7 were his best operatives. Their partnership had become legendary. Cowley’s desire to find the perfect partner for the footloose Bodie had worked well. Bodie would stay with CI5 as long as Doyle stayed . . . well at least he’d thought so, until this morning. Wondering what Doyle knew about this whole situation, Cowley put down his glasses, wiped his tired eyes, and then stared at the man who could hardly stop fidgeting.
“4.5, is there something wrong?”
Doyle’s ability to stonewall was of the highest calibre, but his weak spot was William Bodie, and his concern about the man was quite obvious, that made him vulnerable and Cowley decided to go in for the kill.
“Doyle, are you aware that Bodie’s present contract with CI5 will expire in exactly four months?”
Doyle frowned not exactly seeing what this had to do with anything until he suddenly sat up straight, his handsome face a picture of fear and anger. “What are you saying, sir? Has Bodie told you that he is not renewing his contract?”
Cowley shook his head, “No, I didn’t say that, but as he was leaving today, he stood at the door and looked extremely pensive, while reminding ME that the contract for his services only had four months to go. In the past few years, he has always signed his contract early, I just wondered if he had said something to you?”
Doyle stood, not really even aware of Cowley anymore; his concern and thoughts were entirely on his partner. As he wandered towards the door, he seemed to wake up from his confusion, and mumbled to his boss, “No, no, he hasn’t said a thing to me, but he bloody well will, if I have anything to say about it.”
Leaving the office without realizing his use of profanity in front of his conservative boss, Doyle headed towards the filing room. At least, this kind of work had regular hours so that he would be able to leave on time. That was good because he had every intention of confronting one William Andrew Philip Bodie and finding out what were his partner’s plans and just exactly what technique he would use to break Bodie’s neck if the dumb crud was really thinking about leaving.
Working in files was always a long day, but Doyle’s mind was in such a state of confusion that the minutes somehow disappeared. If Bodie was on escort duty, he would be twelve hours on and twelve off so Doyle could go to Bodie’s flat and confront the moron who was playing fast and loose with their lives. Why hadn’t Bodie talked to him, if he was dissatisfied with something? Was he dissatisfied with the partnership or what? Doyle had to know.
It wouldn’t do to go storming in so Doyle decided to get some takeaway and some liquid refreshment from a nearby off license. Doyle knew he could charm his partner into telling him, and if he couldn’t then there were always more persuasive ways.
Kicking at the door to Bodie’s flat, Doyle barely managed to hang onto his sacks of Chinese food. He had purchased sweet and sour shrimp, moo goo gai pan, some dim sum that both men enjoyed as well as the Chinese spare ribs that always seemed to send Bodie in to a romantic mood.
He had been lucky that he had got into the building without buzzing Bodie’s flat. A little old lady, who was leaving at the time of Doyle’s arrival, had obviously thought him to be a delivery person from some restaurant and had thoughtfully opened the door for him. Of course, it had helped immeasurably when Doyle poured on his considerable amount of charm.
Now Doyle stood in front of his partner’s door, using his foot as a battering ram. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. At least when he had had to buzz through, it gave the horny ex-merc a bit of warning if there was a bird on board.
After waiting several minutes, the door opened carefully to a sight that instantly gave Doyle an erection. There was William Bodie standing there with only a robe on, barefoot, with the deep V- neckline of the robe open almost to the navel. Doyle had never seen Bodie looking quite so dissolute. What could Bodie have been doing in the time since he had left escort duty and this moment?
Bodie’s face looked puffy and exhausted, and his blue eyes seemed slightly glazed over. “Doyle, what you want, it’s 2.00am in the morning.”
Doyle tried to enter the flat but was stopped by the strong, hard body of his best friend. “You must really have tied one on, Bodie. It’s 8.00 in the pm. I brought you dinner figuring you might need some decent food after working a 12 hour shift.”
Instead of seeing pleasure in Bodie’s eyes when he stared at the food, Doyle saw the handsome face turn green. Quickly his partner turned around and headed for the loo. Realizing that the food would not be consumed immediately, Doyle took the time to put the recently purchased Chinese goodies away for a time when Bodie felt better.
Hearing a sound behind him, Doyle turned swiftly while ready to comment on his efforts to preserve the food. He stopped, however, as he quickly realized that the man standing behind him in another robe - - in fact, one that Doyle often wore when he stayed with Bodie, was not his partner.
The man was tall, sandy-haired, with darkest brown eyes that Doyle had ever seen. He was so dumbfounded by the scene that he was unable to say anything. The man obviously wasn’t so reticent as he said in a perfectly pitched voice, “You must be Ray Doyle? I’m Jase Stephens . . . a very old friend of Bodie’s.”
If Doyle had tried to count his thoughts at that moment, he would have been forced to stop as something like 10,000. The images were running so fast through his mind that they made him dizzy. The only image that stood out, however, was the one of an incredibly handsome man coming out of Bodie’s bedroom with Bodie’s robe on and both men looking like they were either ill or satiated.
Doyle continued to move his mouth much like his beloved angelfish of moggy demise so many years ago while Jase took control of the situation. Holding out his hand, Jase said, “Please forgive Bodie, he’s feeling a bit under the weather. Apparently, Ali Ben Hassam does not keep to all the Muslim rules of behaviour and insisted that Bodie join him. When Bodie called me to pick him up, we had a bit of an “accident” in the car and so, you see me after I’ve freshened up.”
Doyle didn’t quite know what to say. His temper was about two points from exploding, but he was trying. Why did Bodie call this man and not his own partner or a taxi, and WHY would Bodie be ill, he could hold his liquor better than anyone he knew. Had Hassam doctored the drinks? “I would like to see Bodie.”
Doyle headed towards the small loo, but quickly felt a powerful hand on his wrist. “I wouldn’t if I were you. It would only embarrass Bodie and it’s not worth that.”
Doyle pulled his arm away rapidly, turning to prepare to breach the ramparts of the loo when Bodie appeared looking less than well. Doyle took a step back as he perceived his partner’s extreme paleness. “You okay, mate?”
The blue eyes rimmed in red, looked at the smaller man. A hoarse whisper came forth, “Do I look like I’m okay? Ray, I need some time to recover. I got to be back on duty in about eight hours and I really need to kip.”
“Why didn’t you call me, if you were feelin’ so rotten?”
“You were working, besides what could you have done?”
Staring with the coldest green eyes that had ever penetrated his partner’s barriers, Doyle whispered in a voice meant only for the ears of the ex-merc, “The same thing he did, I suppose.” Doyle began to back off, obviously reading something in the scenario that was playing out before him: Bodie became ill while doing his duty; Bodie called Jase for help, Bodie hadn’t even thought of his partner; Jase was running around naked in Bodie’s bathrobe. What more evidence did he need?
Somehow Doyle managed to keep his composure, but he was unable to totally keep his hurt from Bodie’s perceptive stare. About to say something to Bodie, Doyle’s superb peripheral vision spotted the smug look on Jase’s face and closed his mouth. Without further delay, Doyle opened the door and made good his escape from Bodie’s flat where he had had such good times with the flat’s occupant.
Bodie was in no condition to follow his obviously angry and hurt friend, but once again Jase intervened, “I wouldn’t go too far, if I were you, especially not in that robe. The threads are barely keepin’ it together as it is.”
Bodie realized in that moment how confused and out of it he was. Jase was right; he was wearing the oldest and scroungiest robe that he had. Normally he would never have thought of doing that, so he must really be less than focused. Looking at the closed door once more, he wondered what Doyle was thinking. He hadn’t meant to hurt his friend, but Doyle might as well face the possibility of Bodie’s leaving. After all it wasn’t every day that a kid from the docklands of Liverpool got a chance to be a partner in an up and coming security firm. Sighing in exhaustion, Bodie collapsed on his settee.
“Don’t worry, mate. You’ll talk to him tomorrow or the next day and straighten this all out. In the meantime, you want me to infiltrate Hassam’s boudoir and find out what game he’s playing?”
A bleary eyed Bodie looked at his friend for a long moment, convinced that the man would do exactly that. Wouldn’t George love that? Finally he replied, “No, thanks. I’m not 100 per cent sure that he did anything to the drinks. He’s legendary for the combinations that he puts together. Maybe I’m just getting old and can’t take the mixed drinks life anymore.”
“YOU, getting old? No way. Wouldn’t want you if you were over the hill. Now let’s get you to bed if you really have to go see Hassam again in just a few hours.”
With Jase’s help, Bodie made it in to the bedroom, removed his robe and fell into bed. Jase left quietly expecting Bodie to immediately go to sleep, but the ex-merc suddenly was wide awake. Two things were bothering him: 1) what was he going to do about Doyle? And 2) what did Jase mean about not wanting him if he was too old?
As he finally faded into sleep the images of Doyle’s sad face rotated with Jase’s smug smile.
Six hours later, Bodie woke with a start, his heart and mind filled with the terror of a gun stoppage and Doyle caught in the centre of the sniper’s sight. A shot rang out as Doyle collapsed down the side of the water tower. Bodie rushed to Doyle’s side, hearing him whisper, “Thanks.” Then, Bodie ran over to check on the obviously dead man. When he turned the body over, the stranger was wearing Jase’s face.
Bodie stood in the shower until all the heat ran out, fixed himself some toast, and headed out to his next twelve hour shift.
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After another three weeks, Bodie began to wonder why Jase was still hanging around. It was true that he was setting up an office in London in one of the posher neighbourhoods, but why was he still “courting” Bodie. Bodie had promised Jase that he would let him know his decision, but the man was still there.
On the other hand, Doyle was not. It seemed as if every solo or alternate partnership that Cowley could find was given to Doyle. Maybe Cowley was trying to prepare Doyle for losing his partner when the remaining months of the contract were up. Bodie’s mind was in turmoil. He wanted to talk to Doyle, but the comfortable chats in the pub after work, or double dating with two birds, or settling down after a particularly difficult job for some sex were all gone. Doyle came and went, and Bodie just waited.
Waited until a professional thief named Sammy got himself killed and the partners were sent out to meet Marge. Marge was one in a million, and she fell hard for Ray Doyle. Bodie couldn’t really blame her, but he wasn’t especially thrilled with being called a lout or being totally ignored while Marge cuddled up to the scrawny, sexy golli.
Bodie still remembered the night the two of them were expected to sneak in and find which one of two men supplied heroin. The image of Doyle dressed all in tight black still caused him to lose his breath. The man was simply gorgeous. His touched his groin in remembrance of Doyle naked beneath him. The very scent of Doyle made Bodie’s body react. It was so good to be close to Doyle after so many weeks of being separated. Unfortunately the closeness was over so quickly and the only result was Truitt and Bladon were dead, and another heroin dealer would be deported.
Bodie began to count down the days. He looked at the calendar and circled the day that his contract would be up. He had approximately three months to decide and he figured that he really needed to let Cowley know before the last minute, but how could he tell Cowley without talking to Ray first?
Bodie knew his relationship with Ray had gone from bad to worse as he plunged his fist into Doyle’s stomach. It was true that he was trying to keep Doyle out of his fight with King Billy, but slugging your partner was not the way to promote better feelings, especially since the tension between the two men was at an all time high as Bodie kept messing up Crane’s drills and exercises. Doyle had, somehow, managed to keep his temper, but when King Billy’s mob had tried to ride him into the ground during the bike race, the Doyle temper had burst forth.
As the two men watched Kate Ross and Cowley leave the impromptu bike races, Bodie realized that there was the distinct possibility that Doyle would return to the city and demand that Cowley re-assign him to a new partner. The fact that Jase had been out of the city for the last few weeks had not helped. Doyle had virtually said nothing about the incident in Bodie’s flat, but the time was coming for the molten temper that was Ray Doyle to explode with such a force that it would make Krakatoa look miniscule.
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For the next two weeks the two men were assigned as partners which added to the tension. Terrorists such as the Dreisinger gang were popping up all over the place, and Cowley needed his top two agents to deal with their target, whatever it was. When it was almost all over, Bodie found himself beaten, captured, and wearing 15 pounds of explosives on his chest. It could have ended right there with Werner Dreisinger pushing the trigger in the last few seconds of his life, but once again the skinny body and superb running legs of Ray Doyle headed off a fleeing Bodie and removed the bomb.
In the moments after they left the scene, neither man spoke about Doyle’s efforts to save his partner’s life. In the past five years, both men had saved each other’s life numerous times, but this time seemed more poignant, somehow. Doyle could not get over the fact that Bodie ran away to avoid killing his partner and Cowley, but Bodie was truly shaken with the knowledge that Doyle had risked his life to run after him and maybe, just maybe be able to get the bomb off in time.
Their relationship had been laid bare for both men to see. Each man had always known that they would give their life, in a second, to save the other, but this time Doyle had actually almost done it. The man who had become such a stranger in the past few months had not hesitated to demonstrate the ultimate loyalty to his partner, and yet, Bodie was thinking of leaving him and that loyalty behind.
Jase and Bodie were eating in a very expensive restaurant. Bodie was enjoying the food enormously, and Jase’s conversation was witty and entertaining, but suddenly, Bodie’s heart ached for the simple evenings that he and Doyle often put together with just a take away, a match, and some quiet music. Where had that all gone to and whose fault was it that it was gone?
Bodie’s mind wandered back to the long months that both men had endured after Doyle’s shooting. The sheer hatred that Bodie felt towards May Li had mutated into a constant ache and need to see his partner fully recovered, or, at least, capable of returning to full status with CI5. He knew that he had to have Doyle return as his back up. Nothing and no one else would do. The thousands of cheese and pickle sarnies that he had fixed while sitting with Doyle while he recovered made the dishes that he was now eating seem like so many ashes. Why was Bodie really contemplating leaving CI5 and Doyle?
Jase had held his tongue during the long weeks since he had returned from a business trip to France. His security firm was expanding so much that he now had offices in five countries, and Jase was still intent on having Bodie become his partner. In just a few weeks the two men could be partners, sharing their lives, ruling a domain that was both profitable and prestigious.
Strangely enough, Jase had not even pushed the physical side of their relationship and Bodie had done nothing to show that he was interesting in continuing with that side of the relationship. In fact, Bodie had not even dated many women in the past several months. His mind was so confused about his future without the possibility of Doyle being in it, that the very thought of women occupying his bed, was not up for contemplation.
Bodie made up his mind. He had to confront Doyle; he had to talk to him about his plans. Of course, that meant that Bodie had to actually know what his plans were. Every time he was with Jase, the man’s charisma seemed to push Bodie towards accepting the job and getting away from that black hole that seemed to be lurking in the way of committing himself to Doyle. Certainly he was more than half way there with the friendship and partnership that had become so important to him, but he could not force himself to go farther.
He had partly committed himself in the past: names such as Dulchone, Marikka, and Jimmy Keller readily came to mind and even more quickly they threw the dangers of commitment back in the ex-merc’s face. Bodie knew that he could walk away from Jase and his partnership whenever he had to, but could he walk away from Doyle and the most satisfying life that he had lead in his very traumatic life?
Looking at Jase across the table, Bodie resolved that he had to talk with Doyle before going any further with Jase’s proposal.
End of Part 2
Part Three