CHAPTER 10

Hutch slammed the door in frustration as he stormed out of Captain Dobey's office. The other officers present in the squad room tactfully avoided glancing at the furious blond as he stomped out of the room. They had all heard the raised voices from behind the Captain's closed door and knew that Hutch's anger stemmed from no new leads on his partner's disappearance.

Hutch's anger had cooled somewhat by the time he reached his car. Digging his keys out of his jeans, he unlocked the door and slid beneath the wheel. He stuck the key in the ignition then hesitated before starting the engine. He took several deep breaths and exhaled slowly to calm himself.

"Damn it, Starsk," he muttered under his breath "Where are you?"

With a heavy sigh, he turned the key and pulled into the street merging easily with the late afternoon traffic. He drove to The Pits and parked on the street in front of the building. With heavy steps, he walked into the bar and sat on an empty stool at the end of the bar.

Huggy's head waitress, Diana, noticed him immediately and flashed him a warm smile as she walked over to greet him. Her white tee shirt stretched tight across her ample bosom and her short skirt barely covered all the essential parts. It was the standard uniform for all of Huggy's female employees and it definitely helped to generate generous tips.

"Hi, handsome," Diana said in a deep throaty voice "What can I get ya?"

"I'll take a beer and a chef's salad with ranch dressing on the side. And could you tell Huggy that I'm here?"

"You bet, Sugar. Huggy's in the office. I'll let him know you're here." She filled a frosty mug with beer and sat it on the bar in front of him. Then she turned, pausing at the pass through window to give the chef Hutch's order before continuing on through the swinging doors at the far end of the bar.

Hutch took a long swallow of his beer, savoring the chill of the frosty brew as it slid down his throat. Starsky had been missing for four days and the minutes kept slipping away with no new leads. Hutch was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. He'd had very little sleep, spending every waking minute spent trying to find his missing partner. Any real rest was out of the question until he did.

He looked up as Huggy came through the swinging doors at the end of the bar and sauntered down the aisle towards him. Today he was dressed more conservative than usual in a pair of white pants with an electric blue silk shirt

"Hutch, my man," he greeted the weary detective "No offense, but you look like something the cat chewed up and spit out about two days ago."

"I feel like it," Hutch said with a grunt. There was a slight lull in their conversation when Diana appeared with Hutch's food. As she walked away, Hutch looked at his old friend and said, "I don't know what to do, Hug…I'm running out of places to look."

"Sounds like you need some sleep, my friend," Huggy pointed out "But, I know that's out of the question as long as your better half is in the wind." He leaned in closer "How's his mama holding up?"

"She's doing better than I am," Hutch admitted with a rueful smile. "The only thing we know for sure is that we think whoever has him is the same shooter that killed his dad twenty years ago."

"Yeah, I heard that. Word on the streets is that little Mo Mo lit out and ain't comin' back cause he got himself caught up in something he didn't plan on."

"Yeah, I heard that too. What about the driver? Any news on him"

"Nothing definite, but there's a rumor in the air that he is no longer with us if you catch my drift."

"Yeah, that seems to be this guy's M.O. Leave no witnesses behind…including a kid that saw your face twenty years ago."

"Man, he must be one heavy dude to come after Curly for something he saw when he was a kid."

"Yeah, and Starsky didn't even remember a lot about that day until he started having nightmares after Jim Tanner was murdered." Hutch took a few bites of his salad then pushed the plate away. Although he knew he should eat to keep up his strength, his appetite was non-existent.

"You're gonna find him in time," Huggy said confidently. He had seen his two friends through similar situations more times then he cared to remember and somehow they always seemed to prevail. He refused to believe that this time would be any different.

"I hope you're right, Hug." Hutch said. He dug some money out of his pocket and laid it on the bar for his uneaten meal. As he slid off the stool, Huggy reached out and grasped his shoulder in a gesture of comradely. The two men locked eyes, an unspoken message passing between them. It was nothing like the unspoken communication that Starsky and Hutch shared but the message was clear. Hutch smiled, grateful for a friend like Huggy that he could turn to at times like this.

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Cold, darkness, and pain, sensations blending together in his mind. Starsky was too tired to open his eyes. His stomach cramped with hunger and his mouth was dry since he couldn't breath freely through his nose. After breaking his nose and kicking him around a bit, his captor had resorted to taunting Starsky with his plans for him while Starsky drifted between a state of awareness and unconsciousness.

The sound of a low howl in the distance startled Starsky and his eyes snapped open. Confused and disoriented, it took him a few minutes to orient himself to his surroundings. He was no longer in the darkened room with the concrete floor, but lying on his side outside. The landscape around him was barren and dry. It took a moment for him to realize that he must be somewhere in the desert.

It was dark and the sky overhead was overcast hiding the moon. As he shifted position, a sharp pain in chest almost doubled him over and his left hip screamed in agony. Obviously his captor had beaten him again at some point, breaking some ribs and damaging his hip to incapacitate him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his erratic breathing. It appeared that his captor had decided to abandon him in the desert, leaving him to die a miserable, debilitating death. He knew that the greatest threat besides thirst was the extremes in temperature. At night it could get bitterly cold and during the day the temperatures were well over a hundred degrees.

Even in his semi-comatose state, Starsky knew that it was vital to find some sort of shelter. Forcing his eyes open again, he peered into the darkness. In the distance to his left, he could see the silhouette of a group of cactus and some tumbleweeds. Since that appeared to be his only option, he reached out with his right hand and began to slowly and painfully drag himself in that direction. It was slow going, a few inches at a time, with frequent breaks to catch his breath and get control over the pain that wracked his body relentlessly. Dawn was breaking over the horizon when he finally reached his destination. He collapsed in an exhausted heap even as his consciousness slipped away.

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Hutch awoke with a start, sitting upright in the chair at the kitchen table where he had fallen asleep. His heart was pounding frantically in his chest and his breathing was rapid and erratic. He swallowed the panic that crept up his throat as he struggled to control the sudden fear that overwhelmed him. Somehow, he instinctively knew that Starsky was in some kind of immediate danger and that time was running out. Hutch had to find him and he had to find him soon or it would be too late.