NEW BEGINNINGS.
I watch Bodie with a mixture of mild concern and excitement. I fancy he is going to be my most challenging of agents and, consequently, one of my best.
I have gathered all my newly trained recruits together in the Conference Room of C.I.5's headquarters to reveal to them who I have paired them with. Bodie has already made his feelings known to me that he is not happy with this. A lone agent was what he wanted to be and now, as I read out the dwindling list of names, he eyes the remaining men with wonder.
"JOHNSON AND WILLLIAMS."
Frozen faced Bodie prowles the edges of the room like a stalking cat, the only agent who had not engaged in conversation and speculation with his fellow operatives. He has no preference, I know he has not made much of an effort to get to know any of them. His aloofness has not endeared him to any of them either. I fear my own relationship with him is going to be a somewhat turbulent one to say the least. I am his boss and will not therefore be extending the hand of friendship. I would hope however that we could foster a mutual respect and an understanding of our roles and positions within the organisation.
"MATHERSON AND KING."
I had thought my deliberation on finding a good match for this man would be a long and hard process but one person immediately stood out as the ideal candidate. He is a little on the emotional side but that's a good thing in my book and it should compliment Bodie's harder, sometimes seemingly uncaring attitude. Doyle is exceptionally loyal and honest, two qualities I hold in high regard. He has also proved himself to be solid, reliable and methodical. I could not wish for a better man in my unit and I can only hope that Bodie will come to realise what an assest this man will prove to be to him.
"HANSON AND BROWN."
Bodie drifts reluctantly towards the front of the room to stand outside the circle of the remaining men. He catches my eye for an instant with a defiant stare as if he's trying to punish me in some way. Well, if he doesn't like it he can leave. I don't want any man who isn't one hundred percent committed to me and my organisation and all it is to stand for.
"BODIE AND….DOYLE AND MILLER AND WOOD."
If there is the imperceptible dropping of the shoulders and a lowering of the head in disappointment from Doyle then it is only fleeting. I know he will meet the challenge head on and rise to it.
"That's all gentlemen."I tell them. "You are dismissed for the rest of the day. I'll see you here at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning."
I take a few steps back as the newly formed partnerships begin to slip casually from the room. Bodie continues to engage my curiosity and, as suspected, Doyle has accepted the situation with cheerful good grace.
"Pub?" I can detect in his asking that he is fully expecting to be knocked back. He is not to be disappointed.
"I have to be somewhere." Bodie replies, curtly.
"Fair enough." Doyle's response is as equally clipped and he turns on his heels to begin to disappear among the departing throng. But then…
"Doyle?"
As Doyle turns back I hear from Bodie, "Maybe I've got time for one."
For the first time their eyes meet fully and, maybe too, for the first time do I detect something of a quiet acceptance passing between them.
I smile contentedly as I watch the pair start to leave but then Bodie hangs back for a second and turns to look at me.
"Care to join us, Sir?"
For a moment this unexpected invitation leaves me speechless. "Why Bodie, I would like that very much indeed. Thank you. Though I feel I must warn you I am not a beer man. I'm rather partial to a pure malt scotch."
"I didn't say I was buying, Sir." There is the faint trace of a smile on his face.
"No, you didn't did you?" I mirror his smile and his eyes hold mine before I come to stand between him and Doyle."But you're going to." I rest my arms around the shoulders of what are to become my two best men. Time, I think, to congratulate myself on a job well done. Time for a pure malt scotch.