Chapter 11

A Change of Plans

Starsky kept his eyes closed as he heard Ray and Andy moving around the campsite. They were arguing about the firewood they had collected the night before. It appeared that they didn't like being made to look like fools. Starsky hid his grin. He knew Johnny was awake too because he heard him chuckle. Starsky turned to face Johnny and opened one eye very slowly. Johnny had done the same thing and they knew that whatever happened, they were in it together.

Starsky heard footsteps coming toward him and he shut his eye. He felt the cold water as Ray poured it down his head. "What the hell!" He yelled as he shook the water off.

"It's time to wake up." He heard Ray say.

"I'm awake, geez. You didn't have to do that. A simple breakfast in bed would have done." Starsky was never one to pass up an opportunity to be as sarcastic as he could when it came to dealing with the bad guys. A trait Hutch told him several times was going to get them both killed one day. "Johnny, wake up before they drown you too."

"I'm awake, Starsky." Johnny opened his eyes and saw a very wet, very angry Starsky. Johnny remembered what Starsky had told him about playing a part and doing whatever they could to get on their captor's nerves in a subtle way. He looked at Ray and said, "Just for that, you get to get to cook breakfast this morning. But judging from your firewood gathering fiasco, I doubt you can cook." Johnny looked at Starsky who winked at him and nodded. Johnny thought Starsky's right, this is fun.

Ray kicked Johnny's leg for that last remark. It hurt like hell but Johnny didn't react to the pain. He didn't want Ray to know he hurt him. Ray threw the canteens at Starsky's feet and walked behind him. He cut the ropes and said, "You get the water and I'll be watching you so don't try anything cute."

Starsky wanted to respond with his usual line of, Hutch is cute, I'm careful. But he couldn't. Not without knowing if Hutch was even alive. He didn't move right away. He sat there, with his eyes closed, concentrating. He took a couple of deep breaths and blocked out everything and everyone around him. Johnny saw a smile come across Starsky's face. Starsky stood up and said, "I'll be right back, Johnny." Ray pointed the gun at Starsky as he watched him fill the canteens.

While Ray was watching Starsky fill the canteens, Andy pointed a gun and Johnny and untied him. "You, wise guy, cook breakfast."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Johnny stood up slowly and opened the backpack.

"Don't worry there's nothing in there that you can use against us. I found that other pig's gun last night."

Johnny hated the use of the word pig to describe police officers. It was disrespectful and he shuddered. He turned around and said, "His name is Hutch. Kenneth Hutchinson and he's twice the man you'll ever be and so is Starsky. If anyone is a pig around here, it's you!" Johnny's face was red with anger. He pulled out the container of oatmeal and set it on a rock next to the fire circle. He picked up a piece of wood and angrily threw it on the fire.

Starsky came back with the canteens and Johnny emptied one of them into the pan to cook the oatmeal. Starsky couldn't help but notice Johnny's angry look and wondered if he had done something to make him mad. Starsky stood next to him and whispered, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Johnny was putting the oatmeal in the pan. "Mad at you…what makes you think…!" Johnny realized he was a little louder than he wanted to be and lowered his voice. "I'm sorry, Starsky. I'm not mad at you." He glared at Andy.

Starsky looked at Andy. "Hey, he's the only one who can get us out of here. I wouldn't be making him mad if I were you."

Andy pointed his gun at Starsky, "You think I care if I piss him off? Guess again."

"Just forget it, Starsky. Here, breakfast is ready. Johnny shoved a bowl at Ray then one at Andy."

He dished up another bowl and handed it to Starsky. "What'd he say to get you so upset?"

"Just forget it. I'm sorry. I won't lose control again."

"I'll be disappointed if you don't." Starsky grinned and sat down.

After they had finished breakfast and packed things away, Andy said, "There's been a change of plans."

"A what?" Starsky asked.

"We decided that we want to go to the west side of the mountain instead of the east side."

"You morons, you had us walking all day yesterday in the opposite direction. Now we have to backtrack." Johnny said. Johnny lied. He just wanted an excuse to stay in the area.

Ray walked over to Johnny and slugged him hard enough to make him take two steps back and double over. Starsky made a step toward Ray but Ray pulled the hammer back on the gun and said, "I wouldn't advise it."

Starsky helped Johnny stand up straight. "Are you okay?" Johnny nodded. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Ray help up a compass. Johnny glanced at Starsky and shrugged. They both knew they couldn't lie about which direction they were going. There would be no going in circles. Ray pointed to his left and said, "West is that way, gentlemen."

"Well if you know where to go you girls don't need us anymore. We'll just be heading back now," Starsky said. Johnny thought Starsky was gonna get it for sure.

"You made us a deal, pig," Andy looked at Johnny, "And you're going to stick to it."

Starsky didn't say anything. He took a couple of steps and bent down to tie his shoes. He didn't really need to tie his shoe. He watched Ray and Andy and when they looked away he pulled a one of the cards out of his back pocket. He scratched a big W on the front of it with his thumbnail. He knew it was a long shot but if someone saw it, they would know they were heading west and not east like he told Chris. He stood up and caught up with Johnny. Ray and Andy walked behind like they had done the previous day. They also took turns holding a gun on Starsky and Johnny.

They had been walking about two hours when the terrain became rougher. The woods were thicker and there were steep areas. It was slow going. They stopped for lunch which consisted of canned chicken on crackers. Johnny said that they would lose the stream pretty soon and they should drink as much water as they could then fill the canteens again. He wasn't sure when they would find another stream.

Starsky was hoping to hear helicopters, but he didn't. He wasn't sure if Chris made it back or not. "I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to that boy," Starsky whispered to Johnny.

"Starsky, I think you did the best thing you could have done. I'm glad he got away and I know Roy is too. He's a smart kid. I'll bet he made it back to the ranger station a long time ago."

"I sure hope so."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Johnny."

"This morning when you smiled, what were you smiling at?"

"This may sound strange, but I felt Hutch. I know he's still alive. I don't know how I know, but he is."

"Really? That's good. I totally know what you mean. Roy was trapped once and I just knew where he was. I couldn't explain it, I just knew."

"Same thing. Johnny, how are we doing on food?"

"Well, you know I snuck some stuff into Roy's pack. We still have a little oatmeal, peanut butter and crackers, that along with the canned meat we have, and other stuff, we should make it a couple more days. I think it would be a good idea if we could do some fishing. Besides, fishing will take up a lot of time. Especially if these clowns can't fish, which I'm betting they can't."

"Yeah, but I can't either."

"It's not that hard. I can make you look like a pro. Wanna give it a shot? We do have the equipment for it."

"Sure. And hey, after that kick you got this morning, I was thinking maybe we should cut back…"

"No. I'm going to make them look like fools every chance I get. You're right, Starsky. I gotta admit I kinda like it, and it throws them off a little too."

Starsky patted him on the shoulder. "If you ever want to stop fighting fires and run into burning buildings, I think you'll have an excellent career in the police department."

"I think I'll take bandages over bullets any day, my friend."

"I don't know. I don't think I could run into a burning building."

"Yeah, but people don't try to kill us either."

"I see your point."

Johnny stopped. He turned around and looked at Ray and Andy. "We need to stop here for the night. We need to try to catch some fish before we lose the stream. Now, I don't expect you two morons to know how to fish…" Ray put his gun in his waistband and started toward Johnny but Starsky pushed him down. Starsky was about to reach for the gun when Andy fired a shot not two inches away from him. Starsky stopped fighting and stood back up. Andy threw the pack on the ground at Johnny's feet. Starsky whispered, "Feel better?"

"Yep," Johnny said as he dug out the folding fishing pole he had packed. He opened a small tin can and pulled out a lure.

"Good. Let's show these clowns how to fish."

Johnny put the fishing pole together and attached a lure to the line. He handed the pole to Starsky. He put together the other pole he had brought and handed it to Ray. "Wanna give it a shot?"

"Sure. I bet I can out fish the two of you." Ray snatched the pole from Johnny. Andy stared at them.

"You wanna bet. Okay, we'll bet. If I catch more fish than you do; you let us go. And if you catch more fish we won't get you lost," Starsky said.

Andy cleared his throat. "You already made me a promise and if I believe for one minute that you're not going to honor that promise I'll shoot the both of you right now and leave you hear to rot."

Starsky shrugged and said, "Relax, Andy. I'm just funnin' with Ray here. How 'bout the loser has to cook?"

"I don't know, Starsky. I don't think I want them cooking anything for me. I'll cook. Let's just go."

"Ray, I have a question for you." Starsky said. Ray just cast his line into the water and looked at Starsky. "If you and Andy don't know anything about camping, why did you come up here?"

"Don't worry about why we're here, or how we got here," Ray said. Starsky looked at Johnny who was sitting on a large rock on the bank by the stream watching them fish and shrugged his shoulders.

Ray watched as Starsky caught one fish after the other one. Ray didn't have so much as a nibble. Andy was watching from a safe distance; the gun was always in his hand. "Try moving downstream a little," Johnny told him. Ray walked far enough away that he couldn't hear Starsky and Johnny talking and tossed the line in the water.

Starsky saw Johnny hiding a grin. "What's so funny?"

"He won't catch anything."

"Oh yeah, why?"

"Because I didn't put a lure on the line. He's fishing with a weight."

Starsky snorted and grinned himself. "Gage, you're catching onto this pretty fast."

"Hey, you got another one, pull it in."

Starsky pulled the fish in and laughed as he saw the disgusted look on Ray's face. Johnny looked at Ray and laughed too. "I think Starsky's caught enough fish for the night and then some."

Ray and Andy made Johnny and Starsky gather all the firewood. Seems they didn't like being laughed at the previous night. Starsky wanted to show off and started the fire himself. What Ray and Andy didn't see was the lighter he used to start it. Johnny blocked their view as Starsky quickly lit the fire.

Starsky cleaned up after dinner. He sat with Johnny by the fire. It was going to be a cold night and neither of them was looking forward to being tied up all night. "They're going to be looking for us in the wrong place aren't they?"

Starsky nodded his head, "Fraid so."

"Starsky, do you think they will be searching at night? The helicopters, I mean. Will they be up?"

"If Dobey has anything to do with it, they won't stop searching for us until they find us."

Johnny looked at the night's sky. "I have an idea." Johnny stood up and added more wood to the fire.

Starsky caught on to what Johnny wanted to do. If there was a helicopter in the area they would see the fire if it was big enough. He started looking for more wood to add the fire. "Hey, what are you two up to?" Andy said.

"Who? Us?" Starsky pointed at himself and Johnny. "We're not up to anything. It's going to get cold tonight and we want a fire that's going to last all night."

"That's not all," Johnny said. "We're deep in the woods now and we need a fire big enough to scare away the bears."

"Bears! There are no bears around here, you're…you're just tryin' to scare us," Ray said stumbling over his words.

"Believe me or not, I don't care. I'm going to make one big fire to be on the safe side." He threw another log on the fire followed by Starsky.

The fire was much larger than a simple campfire now. Johnny hoped it would be enough to be seen. When it was as big as they could safely make it, Starsky suggested they get ready for bed. Starsky asked if one of the tents could be laid out on the ground under them so they wouldn't be directly on the cold ground. Johnny went into a long spiel about the dangers of hypothermia and how some people have hallucinations and an altered level of consciousness. Andy was tired of hearing about it so he decided to cut the tent and put some of it on the ground for them to sit on. He wrapped Starsky and Johnny up with other sections of the canvas tent. That was okay with Starsky because he would at least be warm. Johnny didn't protest either.