Chapter 10

Starsky yelled again for Traff to run although his voice didn't carry as far this time. He was desperate for his friend to get away, maybe out of the bedroom window. It made no sense to have come all this way just to have the flakes nail him now. The centre of his body where Marion had kicked him throbbed mercilessly and set his teeth on edge each time he moved his body and he felt as though his guts were about to fall out, but he concentrated on remaining conscious and wondered what was happening in the bedroom. There was silence from the other room, which seemed to incense Ramon who looked as though he expected shouts and shots and when none were forthcoming he grabbed a handful of curly hair and drove the muzzle of his gun into the brunet's back.

'Tell your friend to get out here now' he growled.

'Fuck you' the brunet spat out, his hot temper finally getting the better of him.

The man at his back shook him bodily and for a fourth time cuffed him around the head with the butt of his gun. Starsky grunted but clamped his lips shut, refusing to make more sound. Blood droplets flew through the air as Starsky's head was snapped sideways by the blow and as Ramon grabbed his neck he yelped despite himself, feeling his precarious hold on consciousness slipping away. He breathed deeply and shook his head to clear it, but he remained braced on his hands and knees on the floor, needing time to gather his senses and decide what to do next.

'Yo Soldier. Ya wanna see your friend alive, you'll get your "know all" ass out here now, ya hear?' Ramon shouted towards the door. 'Or are ya so chicken you're gonna let him die just to save your own skin?'

'No. Traff, get 'way' Starsky tried to shout but as he tried to get himself upright he saw the soldier at the door of the bedroom, Marion's gun in his hand. 'Shit, Traff, nooooo' he mumbled.

It was a standoff. Ramon had his gun pushed into the cop's back. Traff had Marion's gun aimed levelly at Ramon. Something had to give and with lightening speed, Ramon fired his gun into the floor by the side of Starsky's knee. The noise deafened the brunet and ricocheted around the room and sent splinters of wood flying in all directions. One large one lodged deeply in his thigh making the cop hiss in pain again and Ramon returned the red hot muzzle of the gun to it's original position in the brunet's back, the hot metal sizzling as it hit thin tee shirt and then flesh. The cop groaned and tried to arch his back away from the heat and at that point he heard a dull thud. He groaned again as he looked at Traff's gun on the floor between them, the soldier standing with his hands raised and cursed.

'No more. The gun's down' Traff said quietly. 'Enough'.

'So you finally decided to show yourself' Ramon said as Enrico charged in through the front door, alerted by the sound of the gunshot.

'Trouble?' he asked.

'Not now. I got it covered. Where were you man? Go find Marion. She's in there' Ramon nodded at the bedroom behind Traff. Enrico pushed past him, stooping to pick up the gun from the floor and headed into the room behind the soldier. He emerged a second later.

'She's on the floor. Out cold' he announced.

Ramon snorted. 'Stupid little bitch. Couldn't even finish a simple job like this. All she had to do was play nursemaid. Finish her, we don't need her no more' he ordered.

Traff tried to stand in his way as Enrico tried to get into the bedroom again, but the goon pushed him out of the way and a moment later a single shot rang out. Traff's eyes closed in sick dismay. He'd only known the woman a short time and didn't particularly like her, but a life was a life and he hated to see it wasted.

'You cold hearted bastard' the soldier snapped.

'Don't need your comments. Shuddup and walk over here, nice and slow, hands where I can see 'em. This was all your fault anyway'.

The dark haired soldier walked slowly forward, his right hand in the air and his left, injured arm clutched to his chest. There was a red bloom of blood seeping through his tee shirt and the bandages and he could feel the steady throb of pain starting up again. As he past Starsky he winced at the bloody cuts on the curly head and the large wooden splinter protruding from the cop's leg.

'Gimme your hand' Ramon said, fishing for a pair of police issue handcuffs from his back pocket. As Traff obeyed, he snicked one of the metal bracelets on his right wrist and hauled Starsky to his feet as he closed the other metal cuff around the cop's left wrist. The brunet swayed, balanced on his one good leg and dizzy after the blows to the head. But he managed to look up and lock eyes with his friend. The look asked if the soldier was ok and the returned gaze confirmed.

Enrico emerged from the bedroom, Marion's gun pushed into the back of his waistband and he stood waiting for orders. Obviously not one for forward thinking he looked expectantly at Ramon, who sighed as though sick of telling his sidekick what action to take next. 'Get the fuckin' car. As soon as I've dealt with these two we take off right? It'll just look like they got sick of that bitch's moanin' ways and there was an argument. Once they're dead I take the cuffs off. See? Told ya it'd be simple'.

Enrico nodded wordlessly and headed for the door as Ramon looked at the two cuffed men.

'It won't make any difference what you do to us. The trial's still gonna go on' Traff tried to reason tiredly. He used all his training. Get their attention, keep eye contact. Make them believe you have as much right to be there as they have.

Ramon stared him down, his eyes full of contempt. 'Not without its star witness it won't. And even if it did, everyone knows that without your evidence there'd never be a conviction. Whichever way you look at it, we've won. We got to you and now you'll never see the inside of that courtroom'.

'So why kill us? Why not just leave us here? We'd never get down the mountain in time and there's no phone line' the soldier pushed.

Ramon grinned. 'What? And spoil my fun? Killin' you is my reward for chasin' you and that fuckin' blond cop half way round the state'.

At the mention of Hutch's name Starsky looked up sharply. 'Blond? Leave my partner outa this'.

'Too late for that'.

'What the hell have you done?' the brunet demanded. 'If you've laid one finger on him I'll…..'

'Oh believe me, it was more'n one finger. He was quite resistant. It wasn't till we started on the black guy that he finally caved in. Otherwise we'd never have found ya'.

'What black guy?' the cop snapped with a sinking heart. He knew of only two black guys – Dobey and Huggy. And he wouldn't want either of them to be involved.

'Skinny runt. Bled like a stuck pig. We had fun with him. He didn't last too long'.

Starsky surged forward and it was only the cuff linking him to Traff that held him back. 'You killed Huggy? And Hutch. What did you do to him?'

The goon snickered. 'They were both pretty bad when we left, but when Blondie told us where you were, we didn't stop to check if they were still breathin'. By the looks of 'em, I'd say they'd either be in ICU or the morgue. They enjoyed joinin' in the game'.

'Is that what this is to ya? A game?' Starsky yelled, his friends arm on his shoulder the only think stopping him from launching himself bodily at Ramon, gun or no gun. His head ached viciously, his leg and the centre of his body throbbed and now his heart was in his mouth at the thoughts of what had happened to his two friends back in the city. He wanted this over with one way or the other and at that moment he didn't particularly care how.

'Oh please! He grassed on ya. Couple've good whacks round the head an' he was almost pleading with me to let him tell you where you were'.

'Hutch'd never do that. Not unless you'd got some hold over him, like Huggy'.

'Was that his name? Couldn't tell what he was called coz of all the screamin'. But we shut him up. 'I'd love to stop and continue this friendly conversation, but I gotta run. Things to do, places to be ya know? It's been great – really' Ramon added sarcastically.

Outside, the men heard a car start a little way off and Ramon licked his lips in anticipation. Traff took hold of Starsky's hand and squeezed it. The meaning was clear. Keep your cool. Keep your wits about you and the minute we have a chance we go for it. Starsky returned the pressure. Ok, agreed – and soon, please.

The goon started to back up towards the door leaving the two men facing him and cuffed together. Slowly and almost imperceptibly Traff and Starsky started to edge forward, following Roman's tracks. The gun never wavered from its target and outside the car had started to make it's way down the track, but still there was no get out. Still they couldn't find a way to escape and they looked around desperately.

Ramon was almost at the door now and both men knew that once out in the open, the man would fire and they'd have no chance of escape. The situation called for drastic action. Starsky answered the sudden pressure on his hand again and as Ramon took one more step backwards the two cuffed guys surged forward, heads down as they ran straight at the stunned flake. In the second it took to register that his two targets had turned the tables and had actually started to attack him, Ramon stumbled backwards and the gun in his hand discharged once skywards. Traff and Starsky launched themselves bodily one either side of him, using their cuffed hands as a kind of lasso and targeting Ramon's throat. With a rough shout the gun toting goon fell backwards, the two men landing with yelps to either side of him and as Starsky reached for the flake's gun hand to knock the weapon from his grip, they both started to strangle Ramon with the chain of the cuffs, driving the cold metal deep into the flesh of his throat.

The goon gurgled in his throat as the pressure continued and beneath the soldier and cop Ramon's body thrashed ineffectually on the steps, his head down and his body slipping further down the wooden steps. Traff gasped and strangled down a scream as his shoulder hit the handrail but kept up the pressure with his right hand while Starsky repeatedly knocked Ramon's right hand against the wooden steps until the flake relinquished hold of the weapon and it clattered to the ground.

Although both men were panting and hurting from their wounds, neither let up on the assault on Ramon's throat and eventually after a couple of hundred years, large brown eyes rolled up into his head and their would-be attacker lay quiet and still.

Removing their hands from his throat, both men struggled to get to their knees on the steps, panting hard. Traff groaned as he tried to use his injured left arm to lever himself upwards and would have fallen had it not been for Starsky catching him and holding him up. In the darkness they could hear Enrico shouting for Ramon to come to get in the car and as quickly as they could Starsky stopped and retrieved the gun and both men ran for the cover of the trees, unsure whether Ramon was dead or not.

With the cuffs keeping them together the going would have been difficult enough, but with Traff suffering from the effects of the bullet wound in his shoulder and Starsky limping heavily from the large splinter in his leg their going was far from speedy. As they gained the tree line around the perimeter of the cabin, they stopped and looked back, seeing the car slither to a stop and Enrico get out, running towards the body of his boss, lying immobile in the stark headlights of the car.

'We need to put some distance between us' Traff said with conviction but Starsky seemed rooted to the spot. 'Curly? C'mon Chief, we gotta go'.

'Hutch. They killed Hutch' the brunet whispered, his eyes holding a far away look.

'They didn't say that. They said they had fun with him, that's not the same thing. He was getting' at you buddy. C'mon, we gotta run'.

'Huh?' the cop seemed dazed.

'Curly, I know you're hurtin' buddy but….we'll have time for that later. It's tough, but we need to get goin'. C'mon, half an hour and then we stop huh?'

The brunet shook himself. 'Yeah, get away….right' and without a backwards glance, he set off limping heavily and still with an arm around Traff to support his friend as they cannoned between the trees over the uneven ground.