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ci5hq2019-04-27 12:06 pm
byslantedlight.livejournal.com) wrote in ci5hq2019-04-27 12:06 pm
Pros Novel Read-Along - Painted Angels by Angelfish - Chapter Five
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firlefanzineChapter Five
Chapter Five
There has been a bomb explosion, and like the other emergency services, Bodie and Doyle, now working together as a team, responded. On arrival, however, Doyle remained by the car, too scared to go any further, while Bodie ran straight into the cloud of smoke to help.
Eventually Doyle screws up his courage and joins Bodie, who is assessing what seems to be a detonator. Doyle recognises it as a specific Irish terrorist group, and Bodie immediately knows who he's talking about. They realise that there's a second device nearby, ready to go off when the emergency services have arrived. They find it, and Doyle uses his penknife to cut the wires - a mad guess between red or blue, because it could be either - and saves the situation.
Even as they're laughing in relief, however, one of the first bomb's victims staggers into them and collapses. They're badly burned and blinded, and asking for Richard. Bodie recoils but Doyle pretends to be Richard as comfort as the man dies in his arms.
The next thing Doyle knows is that he's sitting on a wall outside a church with Bodie, though he can't remember getting there. Bodie is rubbing his back, then "tangles... fingers into his hair, carressing" and explains that the first time in such a situation is the worst, and he'll be okay. Doyle points out that he doesn't ever want to be "okay" with this situation, and begins to feel guilty about not having been able to stop it. He knows London so well, he should have seen some sign. Bodie rejects this - "Jesus Christ, Doyle. You'll sink both of us."
Doyle realises he's been in shock, recovers, and just as he's getting up spots a priest helping the victims. He's not impressed - "Oh great... God's here." Bodie's puzzled by this, and Doyle realises that the priest is giving first aid, not the last rites. As he watches the priest, however, and then hears his voice, Doyle realises that he's familiar. ""Gabriel. Gabe!" and begins to walk into the crowd."
So - what did you think?
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Yes! Exactly! That's what they've been trained to do!
this musing about heaven and hell - at this wrong moment, when there is real hell around him
Yes, that too. Although I think the bit you quote below isn't so much him musing as the author telling us what his life has been like. But still... It's too much hesitation, too much cowering, when he should be getting on with his job.
Love the bomb defusing scene - now that I can just picture! *g*
and the moment he sees Gabe. All his professionalism is forgotten, and he acts like the heroine in a regency novel.
Hmmn, I don't know about this, I actually didn't have a problem with him here. His professionalism has taken a hit anyway when he's reacted so strongly about the man dying in his arms (which I have no problem with - there's professionalism and then there's being a robot, and I don't think there's many trained professionals who wouldn't be affected by what happened then), and he's just about to head back in to help again when he sees Gabe. As long as he doesn't just vanish from the job entirely, I'm okay with this bit...
reading Kate MacLean - you don't like these guys, you don't even know them
Ah, now we disagree over Kate MacLean too, I seem to remember... I adore her Pros stories! *g* And I'm also never thrown out of them by the sort of inconsistencies we see from Angelfish here...
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...As long as he doesn't just vanish from the job entirely, I'm okay with this bit..."
But he does! He could have come back later, after the event, to look for Gabe. Now that he knows where he probably works. But no! Without thinking he "...and begins to walk into the crowd."
That's a very stupid thing to do at that moment!
"...Ah, now we disagree over Kate MacLean too, I seem to remember... I adore her Pros stories!"
Well, then we should put her on the list for the next Novel Read-Along! :-)
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No, it makes absolute sense to me that he walks towards Gabe at the end of this chapter (But he does! had better not be a spoiler, btw!). He's not leaving the site of the bombing, and just abandoning everything, but he has just seen someone who's absolutely tied up with a major trauma in his life. I don't think it's a conscious decision on Doyle's part at all, and I don't blame him either - if I suddenly saw someone I'd loved and lost years ago, and not been able to find since, then I'd probably drop everything to follow them too! And to be fair, he doesn't know that Gabe works at the nearby church, he could just have been passing when the bomb went off, he could have been visiting it, etc.
That's a very stupid thing to do at that moment!
Why?! Why is it "stupid"?
We've got the next novel-read-along story lined up, but we can put Maclean on the list for another time! *g*
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It is absolutely nonprofessional. It's a very critical situation, and every helping hand is needed - and this CI5 man walks away to follow some ghost from his past...
"...but he has just seen someone who's absolutely tied up with a major trauma in his life. I don't think it's a conscious decision on Doyle's part at all,... "
Oh, come on! Even worse! He's not some butcher or school teacher, or whatever. If he can't handle his past - at such moments -, he's in the wrong job!
And I'd like to see Cowley's reaction if he knew! ;-)
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Okay, so you're saying unprofessional (an assessment of the situation) - "stupid" is just a person insult with an ambiguous basis!
I still disagree though - it's not as if Doyle's been slacking (if we ignore the un-Doyle-like behaviour of not running straight in like Bodie did). The reason they're sitting on the wall in the first place is that they worked out who planted the bomb, worked out that there was a second bomb, found it, defused it with seconds to spare, and were just recovering from that when a victim so badly burned that he's blind and his nerves are no longer working, literally falls onto them. Doyle offers what comfort he can, but the man still dies in his arms. I think any professional, no matter how experienced, would be excused for taking whatever kind of break they need in order to keep their sanity. Professionals and the emergency services are trained and experienced, but they're also still people.
And as I said before, there's a limit at this stage to how much they can personally do. Yes, they can jump in and help triage any victims who haven't been given attention yet, but to be honest I'm surprised that Gabe is finding bodies out in the open like that to deal with, because as Doyle notes at the start of the chapter, the emergency services were already there when Bodie and Doyle arrived - "no need for Bodie to run straight in". So there'd be police and other CI5 agents and first responders already on the scene, plus ambulances and medics, plus apparently unhurt passers-by like Gabe. If there was no need for Bodie to run right in as soon as they got there, then twenty or so minutes later there are going to be even more people there to help, and even less need for the lads to wade in. So I reckon they're due a breather, myself!
I reckon Cowley would have recalled them once they'd found the second bomb - and sent them off to chase down Christy McMahon... *g*
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I think I know that song!
Stupid Cupid you're a real mean guy
I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly
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But not bad! :-)
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I hope you can see it too.
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