Hutch grasped the telephone tightly in his hand, beads of perspiration starting to trickle slowly down the sides of his handsome face as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line.
Twenty minutes ago he had been cruising the streets as he had done for the past 2 days looking for clues as to where his partner and the woman had gone. He'd checked any known associates of the Flint family, but had come up with nothing. He'd checked every snitch that he and Starsky had started to use but again drew a blank and even Huggy bear had no information for him. The Diabolos had a fearsome reputation and no-one wanted to have their name associated with grassing them up. It was as though Starsky and Eleni had disappeared off the face of the earth. And meanwhile, the Judge who was due to hear the trial of the four gang members in custody was quietly confident that whatever happened, there would be a conviction.
After the last telephone call almost 4 days ago, the security detail surrounding those men had been doubled and they'd been moved maximum security for their own protection and so that the trial would still go ahead. Hutch had pleaded with Dobey to reconsider, but although the rookie detective desperately wanted his curly headed partner back, deep down he knew that his Captain was right and that to bargain with the Diabolos would send out the wrong message to every goon and whippo in the city. So he hung tight, cruised the streets some more, and hoped against hope that his partner would be ok.
Sleepless nights had been followed by gruelling days as Hutch's imagination ran riot. He knew just a little about Starsky's past life, specifically the trauma he'd faced after getting back from 'Nam. In all their time at the Academy and then the times they'd kept in touch while they were in uniform, Hutch had had nothing but admiration for the dark haired guy. And truth to tell, he was still beating himself up about the fact that it should have been him on duty that night. As for the woman, she was a royal pain in the ass, and now, it seemed, dangerous too.
Deep down, Hutch wanted to ride off into the sunset and set about his own crusade to find Starsky. In the short time they'd worked the streets together they'd begun to build up a rapport which transcended mere colleagues. They were close. In the couple of months they'd been partnered, they had a better relationship with each other than some of the older detectives who'd been partnered for years. The core of the matter was Hutch wanted Starsky back with a need that burned at his soul. Not just because a friends life was on the line, but more because he couldn't now contemplate riding with any other man.
And then, twenty minutes ago, he received an urgent patch through from Dobey saying that the same guy had been on the phone and they wanted to speak to Hutch. He would ring back. Hutch had slammed the mars light on his car and floored the gas pedal and had arrived back at the Metro with five minutes to spare. Those five minutes had been the longest of his life as he sat and waited with Dobey in the little office for the telephone to ring. During that time, Dobey had regarded the anxious blond with some sympathy. Hutch looked all in and was most definitely on the edge. Each small noise, each rattle of a typewriter key or thud of cup on a desktop made him jump and his fingers were constantly knotting and unknotting in front of him.
There was deathly silence in the small office. Both Dobey and Hutch were lost in their own thoughts and neither felt in the mood for conversation. The 4 day deadline was upon them and the Metro had stuck to its guns – no trade, no negotiations. The trial would go on and the men would not be released. Starsky was on his own and Hutch hated it.
At precisely noon, the ringing of the telephone shattered the silence. Both men looked up, neither wanting to lift the receiver, neither wanting to be the one to bear witness to the brunet's fate. It rang once, twice and as it rang a third time, Hutch sprang up and grasped it, his knuckles white.
'Hutchinson'.
'Ah Detective. And how are you?' the same silky voice asked him down the phone.
'Peachy. Where's my partner?'
'All in good time, Detective. More to the point, where are our men? Your time is up and so far as I can tell, they still seem to be in jail. Why is that? Don't you value Detective Starsky's life?'
'Just tell me where he is. You didn't ring up for a friendly chat. Your goons are still safe, but they ain't gonna be released any time soon. But there's still a way to resolve this. We…'
'There's no other way than to do the exchange' the voice cut Hutch off mid sentence. 'I gave you a deadline, it's passed an' I don't see our men'.
Hutch breathed deep, trying to calm himself. What was he supposed to say? The powers that be had decreed that they wouldn't negotiate, and yet they weren't the ones who now had to deal with the hostage takers, they were still sat in their sanitised ivory towers.
'They aren't here. We don't negotiate. But if you tell me where to get my partner, safe and sound, we can salvage something from this'.
'Shut the fuck up! You're like a parrot, repeating the party line over and over again. There's nothing to salvage 'cept your partner's dead body'.
Hutch winced at the words as though they were blows and his heart picked up it's hammering, staccato beat. The blond. saw Dobey's face, impassively watching the young detective as a trickle of sweat ran into one crystal blue eye and stung him.
'Don't! No, we can talk. There must be something. Maybe we can delay the trial, get your men lawyers….' Hutch tried desperately.
'Enough Hutchinson. Enough talking. The time for talking is done. You didn't do what we wanted, so now you suffer the consequences'.
Hutch gripped the phone even tighter. 'No, listen you bastard, just…'
His words were shut off as he heard his partner's voice in the background. There was a commotion and Hutch could hear that Starsky was shouting, although he couldn't tell exactly what he was saying. There was confusion and what sounded like a struggle with footsteps shuffling on the ground and the blond could almost see the struggle thatwas taking place wherever they were holding his partner. And then Hutch's heart lurched into his mouth. There were more shouts, more sounds of struggling and then an ear battering silence as he heard a shot ring out, a scream, and then another shot.
The voice came back onto the telephone.
'Too late Hutchinson. You can collect the body now. You'll find him out at Citrus Ridge. Get there soon, the sun's gonna start dryin' his body out pretty soon'. The phone went dead and there was dead silence in the small office, the clock in the corner ticking obscenely loudly and marking the seconds after the brunet's death.
'They shot him! I can't….Oh my God, they shot him' Hutch stumbled backwards and almost fell into the chair as Dobey came around the table to rest a fatherly hand on the blond's shoulder. The Captain too was visibly shaken.
'Hutch. C'mon now. We did….you did everything you could. We just um… we just…' Dobey's voice fizzled out into nothingness as he absorbed the enormity of what had happened. The big black man sighed, trying to get his emotions under control. He coughed, clearing his throat which seemed to be clogged with a huge obstruction. 'We need to get up to Citrus Ridge to see what's really happened'.
Hutch turned a pale face up to his Captain. 'They shot him….that's what really happened. I can't believe it. They just….I couldn't do nothing and they just shot him. I heard him scream and the bastards shot him... twice' the blond's voice rambled on. Dobey recognised the signs of shock, Hutch's shoulders trembling violently beneath his grip. He patted the young man's shoulder and got a cup of water from the dispenser. He handed it to Hutch who took it with a shaking hand.
'We need to tell IA' Dobey said gruffly. 'We need to notify the authorities and um… his Mom'. Dobey's voice cracked and he ran his large white hanky over his face. 'Where've I heard the name before? Citrus Ridge…'
'Cowboy films' the shaken blond cop replied, his voice a monotone. He continued to stare at the floor, but a deep anger was growing inside him. It was fine for Dobey to start looking at the mechanics. Great! Tell IA, but while the mountains of paperwork were being filled in, Hutch needed to be doing something. And doing something translated in the blond head to going east to pick up Starsky's body and avenge him. Eleni Flint and her henchmen were history. He'd arrest them if he could, or he'd kill them where they stood. But somehow, some way, he was going to get even.
Dobey looked surprised at the answer he'd received. 'Huh?'
'Citrus ridge - They used to film cowboy films there. It's that place that was set up like a real Wild West town. Been deserted for a couple of years now. The film makers just stopped usin' it. Too expensive I guess'.
'Do you know where it is?'
Hutch sighed. 'Kinda. I once took Van's nephew there for a treat. Its up on the edge of the Mojave. Maybe 2 hours east of here'.
'Ok, well at least I know where to send the um…'.
'What about his Mom? Are you gonna tell her that her eldest son is dead?' Hutch asked, anger shining in his crystal blue eyes. 'I don't know how you can be so calm. A damned good detective….my partner has just been killed in cold blood an' all you can think about is telling IA an' getting a meat wagon up there? Jeez, Cap'n, feel the love in this room!
Dobey's face turned angry. Despite the fact that Hutch was young and in shock, the veteran Captain was hurting too. 'Now listen here Hutchinson! D'ya think I don't care? I was fond of him too ya know. But procedures have to be followed. An' right now I have to act as his Captain and not some soapy kid, ok?'
Hutch stood, his boss' words adding fuel to the rage simmering inside him. 'No, not Ok' he said, his temper finally overflowing. His face reddened and there was a fine white line around his lips. His hands still shook, but this time with anger. 'I'm not just gonna sit around here and act like some pet dog just died. This is a man we're talking about. A damned good man. My partner…my…brother, an' if you're just gonna calmly sit down and fill in all your fuckin' forms, fine. But I need to do something to stop those flakes from doing anything like this ever again'. He made for the door, his long legs propelling him across the room in two strides.
'Hutchinson, where are you going?' Dobey thundered.
'You know damned well where I'm going. I'm going to get him back, whatever condition he's in' and with that, Hutch flung open the door and slammed it behind him, leaving his Captain looking on in stunned silence.