Lure

Part I

Starsky had trotted off to the mens room and just about the second he was out of sight, Starsky's date leaned over the table slightly and practically hissed at Hutch.

"Why don't you take the hint and leave, Kenneth?"

She just got a cold stare from him and no verbal comeback.

It was very nearly too much. It had been an absolutely hellish past three days with nuts seeming to be coming out of the woodwork. First, someone had taken potshots at them when they'd gotten out at an abandoned building for a call - which turned out to be fake. Then yesterday, someone tried to run them off the road. If that hadn't been enough, this morning, he'd found the air had been let out on all four tires of his faithful old car. Huggy was trying to find out what the word on the street was, but so far, he'd come up dry. So what better way to end his week than being stuck with the snake queen? Hutch could easily think of a dozen or more places that he'd rather be.

Still, Starsky had invited him. Said they both needed to catch their breath and he had been pestering Hutch to meet 'Tabby' for a couple of weeks now. He could do this for Starsky. Fake smile plastered firmly in place, he endured her words that switched to not-terribly subtle glares when Starsky made it back to the table. He wasn't going to sully the word lady by applying it to this woman, but he had to figure that she was a lot pleasanter to Starsky than she was to him. Truthfully, it would have been hard for her to behave worse. At least she was saving her dirty looks at him for when she thought Starsky wasn't looking.

"Starsk - you so owe me for this."

For his part, Starsky kept looking at his date as if she'd been replaced by an evil twin. Tabitha - Tabby for short - had been an absolute blast to be around all month and now that he finally got an opportunity to introduce her to his partner, she was acting like he had tricked her into visiting the dentist. Did she and Hutch already know each other? He couldn't think of any other reason for the seemingly instant bad blood. He even thought he'd seen her glaring at Hutch from the corner of his eye.

A waiter coming over to their table was a welcome diversion.

"Pardon me, gentlemen. There is a Mister Bear on the phone that would like to speak with one of you?"

Hutch jumped at the chance to get away from the table. His eagerness confirmed to Starsky that what he'd thought he'd seen wasn't just his imagination.

"I'll take it. Be right back, Starsk."

"Don't hurry on our account."

Starsky winced when Tabby said that. Those words could have been playful and teasing, but not with the tone she'd used. He waited until Hutch had left the area to call her on it.

"What is with you tonight? I've never seen you be so deliberately rude to anyone."

"I prefer two person dates, David. You know that old saying about three being a crowd? Well, I hate crowds. Come on - let's go somewhere else for a drink."

"Are you nuts? I specifically invited you here to meet him."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? He's my partner."

"Does that mean he has to approve of who you date?"

"No. Of course not."

"So what's the big deal? Let's just go. He'll undersand we have better things to do."

Near the entrance to the restaurant, Hutch was pointed over to the phone, rubbing his forehead with his left hand as he picked up the handset in his right.

"Hello?"

"Is this Detective Kenneth Hutchinson?"

Hutch stopped rubbing his forehead in mid-movement. Whoever this was, it wasn't Huggy Bear.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Doesn't matter. Listen very carefully. Your partner, David Starsky is wearing a blue shirt and is currently in an argument with a curly haired blonde. He's also in the cross-hairs of my rifle."

His breath caught in his throat, but Hutch swallowed hard and managed to speak.

"What do you want?"

"Very simple. You will not try to signal or communicate with your partner in any way. Look to your left. There is a hallway. See the door at the end of it?"

"I do."

"You will hang up the phone and walk through that door without stopping to speak with anyone. Once through the door, you will put your hands on top of your head with your fingers interlaced, close your eyes and you will remain that way until told otherwise. Any deviation from these instructions and the woman will have to see if the cleaners can get Starsky's blood out of her dress. Understood?"

"Understood."

"The clock is ticking, Hutchinson."

Feeling as if he was inside of a room that was closing in on him, Hutch hung up the phone, took a deep breath and headed for the rear door. There was no choice in the matter - no way to relay any information without getting Starsky killed. Opening the door, he stepped out into the alleyway and slowly put his hands on top of his head. The harder part was closing his eyes and keeping them shut when every fiber of his being was telling him not to. He nearly jumped out of his skin when another voice spoke up near him.

"My partner still has the rifle aimed. Down on your knees."

Hutch did as he was told, grimacing as he felt his handcuffs being pulled out. He hated being cuffed - especially with his own gear and he knew that's what was coming. He wasn't disappointed. A hand pressed against the back of his head then and Hutch could feel something being unrolled - taken around his head and over his eyes, over and over.

Another new voice. This one female and nervous sounding.

"I don't get it. I thought you were going to get Starsky tonight."

"You've got a head, Angel. Use it for something other than slapping makeup on. You're thinking like the others. Sure, Starsky was an option, but it really didn't matter which of them took that phone call. So long as we got one of them."

There was the sound of ripping tape and Hutch reflexively tried to avoid it before a hand grabbed his chin to hold him still. The tape was pressed tightly over his lips then smoothed down roughly.

"I still don't figure it. Don't you need both to collect?"

Whoever the man was, he sighed.

"The bounty is for both of them alive, babycakes. You want the right prey, you use the right lure. Having Starsky in our gunsights got us Hutchinson. Now having Hutchinson will get us Starsky."