Thanks to Janet and P5 for the kind reviews on the last chapter! And thanks again to everyone who already read and reviewed.

***

Chapter 10

Gary and Liam had returned to their room, and Liam watched as Gary busily prepared something on the table. Hutch was laid out on the floor, unconscious.

"They made us read this book once. In school," Gary began conversationally. "They could make this guy believe anything they wanted in the end. First they hurt him, then they put him in a room with the thing that scared him most, and tried to get him to say things that weren't true. He wouldn't at first, but eventually he'd say whatever they wanted, in order to make them stop."

"What was he scared of?" asked Liam, interested.

"Rats."

Liam shivered and made a disgusted face. "I hate rats."

"I always wanted to see if it worked," Gary continued. "Who better to try it on than him?" Gary was now preparing something for his experiment; a drug that was a mixture of sedative and something to make Hutchinson's mind more susceptible to anything they might suggest.

Liam gave his brother an evil grin. "So what do you think he's scared of the most?"

"Well, let's think about his history, and make an educated guess. It's a toss-up between needles, or someone killing his partner. Maybe it's both." Gary's voice had taken on the tone of a teacher, although he smirked as he spoke.

"Well, we don't have his partner," Liam said, confused.

Gary smiled slowly at his brother. "Yeah, but he doesn't know that, does he?"

An even wider evil grin spread across Liam's face. "You're right." He looked at the needle held by his brother, and partner in crime, and pointed to it in wonder. "So that stuff should make him believe whatever we tell him?"

"It should help. We'll have to give him some convincing, to back up what we say, but it should be easy to get him to believe it. First we'll try and convince him we've got Starsky," Gary decided, making Liam laugh, "then we'll see what we can make him believe."

"This is gonna be fun," Liam decided, staring at Hutch with an eager expression on his face.

"Yeah, we'll make him pay and have some fun. Good, eh?" Gary looked at his younger brother affectionately. "But we can't do anything unless he's awake." Gary went over to Hutch, knelt next to him, and slapped at his face. "Wake up pig. Got a surprise for you."

Hutch woke up slowly, squinting his eyes shut again as he registered the headache. It wasn't the type of headache he was used to from being hit over the head, and he suspected drugs. There was a strange taste in his mouth and he was thirsty, but he suspected he had got into some trouble with these men, and he wouldn't be able to improve his situation any time soon.

"Starsk?" he tried. His voice was quiet.

Gary winked at Liam, then turned back to Hutch.

"Your partner can't join you right now. I'm afraid it's just us."

Hutch pushed himself partly upright, squeezing his eyes shut as his head pounded again, then tried again, focusing on the two men in front of him. Both were relatively young, and looked alike, with dark hair and medium heights, although one appeared some years older than the other. "What have you done to him?" His voice was stronger this time.

"Can't tell you yet," Gary told Hutch, hearing Liam cackle at that.

Cold dread swept through Hutch. Who knew what these men had done to Starsky while he had been unconscious? And with Starsky already injured, too. And now, there was the question of what they planned to do to him. These were obviously some criminals he had offended at some point during his police career, although he could no longer keep track of all the enemies he and Starsky had made.

Gary poked his foot into Hutch's side, bringing him back to his current situation. "Hey cop, this is gonna be easier if you just do what we tell you."

"And if you don't, we'll make you do it anyway!" Liam added from his position on the other side of the room, unable to control his enthusiasm.

"Quiet, Liam," Gary ordered, and his brother fell silent.

Hutch's anger grew, and hoping to take his captors by surprise, he quickly staggered to his feet and lunged at Gary. Gary was surprised for a second, before he quickly reacted and slammed a fist into Hutch. Hutch dropped back to his knees, trying to breathe, and Gary nodded at Liam, who brought a needle over to his brother.

Hutch spotted it and tried to fight against it, but Gary and Liam both held him down, as Gary injected the drug into him, and watched him slowly fall back to the ground, unconscious.

"I didn't want to have to use that yet," Gary commented calmly. "Maybe he'll be calmer the next time he wakes up."

***

Starsky awoke to the same headache Hutch had experienced. He opened his eyes slowly, and immediately shut them again as he saw the bright morning sunlight slicing through the room.

"Hutch?" he tried calling his partner, but on receiving no answer, he cautiously opened his eyes again to scan the room, with his hand carefully in front of his face blocking out the worst of the sun. Hutch wasn't in his bed, although he had been at some point; the bedclothes were untidy and trailing onto the floor. Starsky's gaze moved to the bathroom, but the door was open and no sound came from within. Starsky tried to look at his watch, but the numbers blurred senselessly, and he gave up.

Deciding Hutch had probably gone to call Dobey again, Starsky gave in to the headache and lay back down, closing his eyes. Completely without meaning to, he soon fell back asleep.

***

Hutch woke again some hours later, to an even worse headache than before, although he now remembered what had caused it. He also noted that his hands were now tied behind him. Carefully opening his eyes, and noticing with relief that the room's curtains were closed, he looked around for his captors, and spotted them on the other side of the room. They were deep in conversation, and didn't appear to have noticed he was awake.

Ever-so-slowly, he began edging upwards, when he suddenly caught a word of the conversation and froze, listening. Even though his brain wasn't operating to its usual standard, he was positive Gary had just said 'Starsky'.

Gary, who had his back to Hutch but was perfectly aware that he was awake, winked at Liam and continued his pre-planned speech. "If he admits to doing it, we'll let Starsky go."

Alarmed at this mention of Starsky, Hutch thought hard, confused. Admits to doing what? Deciding to drop the pretense and reveal that he was awake, in the hope of finding out more information, he addressed Gary. "What have you done with Starsky?"

Gary turned around, pretending to be surprised. "You're awake."

"Answer my damn question," Hutch ordered.

Gary shook his head. "Not telling you."

"Well what do you want with us?" Hutch demanded, his tone becoming more impatient.

"Simple," Gary told him, smiling coldly, "revenge."

***

TBC

(I promise, in the next chapter Starsky wakes up properly!)