The op had gone horribly wrong. There were more goons than the three CI5 men had expected, and heavily 'tooled up'. But the gang didn't have it all their own way. They were being slowly backed into a corner. Suddenly and out of nowhere a car roared into view. Recognising the driver, the gang headed towards it and scrambled in. The CI5 team retreated quickly to their own car. The chase was on.
They tried to block off the CI5 agents, but Doyle was good and twisted and turned. Havers, sat next to him, aiming for the tyres. But the opposition were also well trained and evaded the bullets - until one careful aim got the driver. The car veered off and crashed into the side of the building. In a second Doyle was off after the other vehicle. It wasn't long before he forced it off the road. The pair jumped out of their car and were onto the gang in a moment, their guns trained. The bad guys knew when the game was up. These agents didn't make empty threats. Reluctantly the villains surrendered. As the three were dragged out of the car and the cuffs clicked into place, it was Havers who noticed first.
"Er, Ray. Where's Bodie?"
Doyle looked round in shock. In all the excitement, Doyle assumed that Bodie had got in the back with them. He looked round desperately, still with a prisoner in his grip, sprawled against the bonnet. Havers' anxious look was returned.
...
Bodie was in an underground tunnel. The water was rising and the current was ferocious. He was alone, in pain, and terrified. The only thing keeping him in position were the handcuffs chaining him to a link in the wall. God knows how long he'd been there. But one thing he was sure of – he would die, and die alone. After an eternity he heard splashing – it was a different sound to the lapping of the water against the walls. But he could see nothing in the pitch darkness. He thought he heard a voice, but reckoned he was hallucinating as the sound bounced and distorted into an eventual silence. The water was up to his chest now and he could no longer feel his lower regions. But that was a good thing. He knew he'd broken his right leg and God knows what else when a car had deliberately run him down and darkness had overtaken him. When he'd woken up – the cold water thankfully had revived him before he drowned - he had found himself chained in this underground hell and left to die. He heard the sound again. It was definitely a voice and, now he could hear it more clearly, it was a voice calling his name. He yelled into the darkness, throwing his voice in the direction of where he thought the sound was coming from. The voice became louder and clearer. Bodie stretched his free arm towards the sound, scything his hand through the water in the hope of touching something; someone. It seemed that his rescuer had the same idea. Now the voice was closer, much closer, he was sure it was Ray. He called out his friend's name and was relieved to hear a response. After several sweeps he thought his frozen fingers brushed against something, but he couldn't be sure. The voice was getting closer. Bodie felt that he must be able to touch his friend by now. And then suddenly a hand was clamped on his arm.
"Ray. Ray thank God it's you."
Doyle fairly climbed up Bodie's arm and soon realised that his other arm was pinned against the wall. He explored blindly until he felt hard metal digging into his friend's swollen skin. He then fished in his back pocket for his penknife.
"Hold your breath, Sunshine!"
The familiar old joke had Bodie grinning like a Cheshire cat. He knew he was close to hysteria, but he held himself firmly in check, breathing deeply, breathing in the scent of rescue. He didn't trust his voice right now, so he kept mute while his mate did the hard work. Doyle didn't think he would be able to get the ring off the wall. After all, it had probably been there since Victoria was on the throne, but he had to try at something. Bodie had noticed that the water was receding. It was now down to his waist. He wasn't sure if Doyle had noticed this in his rush to get here.
"Are you okay?" Bodie heard the anxiety in his friend's voice as he frantically picked away at the brickwork. "I thought you were in the back with us … Havers … I couldn't see you …"
"For God's sake, Doyle. Stop whining and get on with it."
There was some silent scratching for a while. Even in the darkness, Bodie could feel the tenseness in the air. He knew Doyle was blaming himself for this. "Look, I wasn't fast enough to get in the car. Ok?" Bodie didn't like voicing his 'weakness' (as he saw it) but he needed to ease his mate's fears. "You and Havers were off like a pair of bloody gazelles. Before I knew it a car came out of nowhere and bam." Before Doyle could say anything, Bodie continued more quietly, "I know my right leg is bust and I don't know what else is going on. Fortunate, I guess, but I can't feel anything."
Doyle knew - hoped he knew - what Bodie meant. The water was freezing. He was losing feeling in his limbs himself. "Why did they drag you down here? Cowley's had the whole of CI5 out looking for you - including Betty and his aunty!"
Doyle and Havers had had to wait until back up had arrived before they could relinquish their prisoners and go back to look for Bodie. They found the villains' car still bashed into the wall, the occupants long gone. But there was blood on backseat, indicating that at least one of them was hurt. It didn't take long to find them, wandering and dazed. Havers had noticed a set of skid marks near the baling shed. They knew it wasn't their tyres. They hadn't been that way. There must have been a third car - the one that hit Bodie. They'd had time, while CI5 and their comrades were playing dodgems, to gather Bodie and dump him down the nearest manhole, using Bodie's own handcuffs against him to ensure that he stayed down there. If only CI5 had known that, they wouldn't have all spent nearly five hours looking for him.
Doyle was cutting his hand and fingers in his desperation to get the ring off the wall. Having a go at the cuffs themselves was a non-starter. Even if he'd known that these manacles belonged to Bodie himself, Doyle didn't have a key on him. Eventually the ring fell away from the old, crumbling brickwork.
"There are you are. Phase One complete. Don't go away."
Doyle wriggled passed his partner. He felt his way blindly along the brickwork. Like Bodie, he had realised that the water was receding, but he didn't want to stay here for the rest of the night waiting for the tide to go out completely. He tried his R/T without much hope. As he expected, there was no signal down here. He gave that up quickly and, after not too far, found what he was looking for – hoping against hope for. His hand slid from the rough brickwork to the slick surface of something metallic. He had come across these bars before in his frantic search along the tunnels. He reached up blindly to see if there was another metal bar. There was. It was a ladder.
"Bodie, we've got ourselves a route out of here," he called out, his voice echoing into the darkness. Before his friend could respond, he continued, "I'll see how far the ladder goes and if we can get out that way."
Doyle was like a rat up a drainpipe. It wasn't too far to the top. Doyle banged his head on something very hard. He reached up with one hand, the other still clutching the rung of the ladder, and pushed. At first nothing moved but Doyle managed to get the back of his body against the roof, pushing and pushing with all his weight. Eventually there was movement. It was, as he suspected, a manhole cover. After some grunting and heaving, the thing lifted and Doyle shoved sideways, almost overbalancing. There was little difference between the darkness of the tunnels and the darkness outside. But the damp, fresh air was wonderful indeed. Doyle scurried back down the ladder quickly and splashed about for his mate. Bodie didn't seem to have moved from his original spot.
"Okay buddy let's see what you can do."
Bodie leaned heavily on his friend and between them they splashed towards the ladder. Doyle pressed Bodie's hands onto the first rung and shoved him from behind.
"Can't feel either of my legs. I know one's gone, but the other doesn't seem to be working much either."
Doyle tried to keep calm for both of them. He slid his hand down his partner's good leg and bent the knee pushing it, underwater, onto the first rung. He gave Bodie a shove upwards with his shoulder. His mate tried, and succeeded, to straighten the leg. He reached for the next rung up and dragged his body upwards, trailing his broken dead leg behind him. Doyle again bent the good leg and found a ring for Bodie to get a purchase on. Again he shoved Bodie from behind to persuade the leg to straighten. It was a slow and awkward business but Bodie was beginning to get a little feeling back as the exercise warmed him up. Doyle was just two rungs below his mate, and shoving his backside upwards, bending and straightening the good leg, placing it on the next upward rung. It was slow, slow business but Doyle sensed an urgency and optimism in his mate. Help had arrived and Bodie was seizing it with both hands. Eventually Bodie got to the top rung and hauled himself onto the tarmac. Doyle was only moments behind him. He knew he would have to get Bodie quickly off the road if they weren't to get run over. He dragged his friend to the pavement, mindful of the broken leg.
"How are you doing, Sunshine?"
Bodie took a few moments to reply. "Alive, thanks to you."
Doyle heard the shakiness in Bodie's voice. He'd been very, very frightened and very alone. Shock was setting in. Doyle dragged his wet jacket across Bodie's broad shoulders.
"How did you find me?"
"All in good time, Bodie. Let's get you home first."
Doyle tried his R/T again and was relieved that he got a crackly line in return. He gave a short account of his adventures and that 3.7 was alive and not exactly well, but at least alive. There was audible relief at the other end and an ambulance was hurried to the scene. Doyle turned to his partner to inform him that help was on its way. Bodie closed his eyes and just nodded, not trusting his voice. Help had been a long time coming.