Chapter 14
The following couple of days were pretty tense. The FBI agents and Singleton spent most of the time with Starsky and Hutch at Hutch's. None of them wanted to just sit around and wait, but they didn't have much of a choice. Starsky was glad Hutch had the time to rest and heal a little before the big bust. He was able to get him to take his pain pills and was feeling a little better. Starsky and Hutch decided not to go to the station and interrogate Blinn. They were worried it would draw Monroe's suspicion. By the time they made the arrests at the docks, they would have enough to put Monroe away for a long time without letting Blinn make any kind of deal.
Captain Dobey was kept apprised of everything that they were doing and Huggy had his ears open as always. It was decided that Starsky and Hutch's teams would be in on the arrests. They would need a lot of fire power at the docks. To keep everyone safe, Dobey waited until an hour before they were to move into position to tell them anything.
Starsky and Hutch positioned their teams in place well ahead of the time the shipment was expected. They didn't want to risk any of Monroe's men seeing them. The men had been placed around the docks in various disguises. Some were dressed like bums looking for glass bottles to turn in for money and were going through trash cans, others were just walking around appearing as if they were enjoying the scenery, still others were well hidden out of site in abandoned warehouses.
Farmer told Singleton, when they were at The Pits, the heroin was going to arrive at 2100 on a medium-sized boat. It was then going to be loaded onto a tractor trailer and taken just outside the city limits to be cut and then redistributed to his dealers on the streets. It was a dark night. The sky was overcast and the moon was barely visible, making it perfect for a drug run. Precisely at 2100, a boat pulled up to the dock and a tractor trailer drove up. Starsky and Hutch checked on their men and made sure they were all in position. Everyone was ready for the raid as soon as the goods were being transferred from the ship to the truck. Singleton was standing next to Hutch and a few of his men in the back of one of the buildings out of sight. Starsky was on the side of the building on Hutch's right. He couldn't see Hutch but he could see the boat. The two FBI agents, Tillman and Fairbanks, were on the backside of the building on Hutch's left. They couldn't see Starsky or his men but they could see Hutch and his men.
Farmer was driving the truck and Monroe was in the passenger seat. When Farmer got out, Singleton sensed something just wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something in the way Farmer was moving that told him something was terribly wrong. "Hutch, tell everyone to stand down," Singleton whispered.
Hutch didn't hesitate. He picked up his walkie talkie and quickly said, "All units stand down. Don't move."
The men did as they were ordered. Conner was digging through a trash can, picked up an empty Coke bottle and put it in his big over-sized coat pocket. The other men that were in the area continued walking around like they had been.
Starsky pushed the talk button on his walkie talkie, "What's wrong?"
Singleton reached for the walkie talkie and Hutch handed it to him, "I'm not sure, but I know my partner well enough to know we need to back off." There was a sense of urgency in Singleton's voice.
Everyone watched as Farmer went to the back of the truck and looked like he was going to open the back but stopped. Singleton moved a little closer to Farmer and saw the worried look on his face. Farmer saw the men from the boat getting closer. Monroe hit Farmer on the back of the head with the end of his gun. Farmer fell on the ground. Monroe unlocked the doors to the back of the truck and swung them open. Then Monroe ducked under the truck.
Singleton saw Tillman raise his gun and instead of pointing it at the truck, he was aiming at Hutch. He quickly pushed Hutch down yelling, "get down!" A shot was heard and Singleton fell on the ground covered in blood. Hutch looked around and noticed the shot didn't come from the truck. A second shot was fired and missed Hutch but a piece of the cinder block building flew into several pieces. Hutch realized the shots were coming from Tillman and Fairbanks' direction. He saw Tillman and Fairbanks aiming at him and his men. Hutch yelled, "Get back!" to his men. Fairbanks aimed and hit Hutch as he bent down to move Singleton out of the line of fire and was hit in the leg. He dropped the walkie talkie.
Katrina Gomez was nearest Hutch and she pulled him out of the line of fire. Her partner, Brandon Miller, grabbed Singleton and moved him. Hutch's other men started returning fire. Gomez picked up the walkie talkie and said, "It's a set-up. Hutch and Singleton are down!"
Starsky and his men had heard the shots and ran around to where Hutch and his men were. Starsky heard Gomez' voice on the walkie talkie again, "Tillman and Fairbanks are shooting at us!"
Starsky yelled into the walkie talkie, "Everyone move in, move in." Starsky saw Tillman and Fairbanks running toward the truck and taking careful aim, he shot Tillman then he shot Fairbanks. Both men hit the ground. Everyone was shooting and bullets were flying everywhere. The air was filling with the smell of gunpowder.
Gomez and Miller found an open door and moved Hutch and Singleton to safety. Hutch said he was all right and would take care of Singleton. Gomez handed Hutch back his walkie talkie and left to join the others in the battle. Hutch looked at Singleton and saw he was bleeding from the right flank area, was unconscious and but still breathing. Hutch removed his jacket and put it under Singleton's head. Then he took off Singleton's shirt so he could see the extent of the damage. Singleton was bleeding pretty badly so Hutch used the shirt and applied pressure to Singleton's wound. The bleeding slowed down. "You saved my life. Hang in there," Hutch said as he was working on Singleton, disregarding his own leg wound.
Farmer was starting to come around. His head hurt and his vision was blurry but he was alert and oriented enough to know what was going on. He opened his eyes slowly one at a time. Starsky saw Monroe about five feet away from Farmer hiding under the truck aiming at Farmer. Starsky slowly squeezed the trigger after taking careful aim, killing Monroe instantly. Farmer gave Starsky a thumbs-up sign to let him know that he was unharmed and quickly scooted under the truck hoping the rest of Monroe's men wouldn't see him. He was able to take a couple of them out before a bullet grazed him on the side of the head and he passed out.
Starsky saw Manning and Forrest get shot and he moved them out of the danger zone with the help of Conner and his partner. Manning had been shot in the back and Forrest was hit in the arm. He knew Hutch had been shot, but his first duty was to stop the threat or more men would be injured.
One of Hutch's men made it to one of the cars and radioed for ambulances and backup. Dobey sent every available squad car to the docks. He also notified the fire department and had several ambulances on the way within a minute of the call.
The shooting seemed to last forever. In actuality, it lasted less than ten minutes. The clouds started slowly moving away and the glow of the full moon was now providing enough light that Starsky could see a lot of Monroe's men dropping their guns and putting their hands in the air. He let the men make the arrest and started searching for Hutch. He ran into Gomez and she told him where Hutch was.
Starsky went through the small door and although the room was dark, he saw Hutch passed out leaning against the wall with Singleton lying next to him with his head in Hutch's lap. Both were covered in blood. Starsky ran to Hutch and gently tapped the side of his face, "Hutch, come on, Hutch wake up for me."
"Starsk," was Hutch's weak reply.
"Come on, Buddy, wake up."
Hutch nodded his head and opened his eyes, "I'm okay, Starsk. Singleton saved my life. He jumped in front of me when he saw Tillman shooting at us."
"Gomez said you were hit."
"I was? Where?"
Starsky noticed Hutch was looking very pale and he started looking at him from head-to-toe. He carefully moved Singleton's head onto Hutch's wadded up jacket. He took off his own jacket and covered Singleton up with it. Starsky saw blood pooling under Hutch's right leg. "I think I found it. Hutch, can you move your right leg?"
Hutch's grimaced from the pain when he moved. "Yep, that's it." He started leaning to his right. Starsky thought he was going to pass out.
Starsky steadied him, "You'll be okay, Buddy. Help's on the way." Starsky took a knife out of his pocket and proceeded to cut Hutch's pants so he could get a better look at the wound. Hutch had been shot in the lower leg and was still bleeding. Starsky cut the pants from the knee down into strips and used them as bandages. He managed to stop the bleeding.
Farmer came in the room and Starsky pointed his gun at him out of reflex. He saw who it was, "Sorry. Just jumpy I guess."
Farmer sat next to Singleton, "Is he…" He couldn't bear to ask if his partner was dead.
"No. He's alive," Starsky said.
"What about Hutch?"
"I'm alive too, thanks to him. Your partner saved my life."
"That makes us about even then, yours saved mine," Farmer said he looked at Singleton's wound. "Come on Singleton wake up. I didn't come all this way to watch you sleep."
Hutch saw blood streaming down the side of Farmer's face. "Hey, you okay?"
Farmer reached his hand up and wiped the blood off his face and looked at it in his hand. He rubbed the blood off his hands onto his jeans, "I'm fine." He put Singleton's head on his lap. "He's the only partner I've ever had. We've been partners for five years now. Come on Singleton, wake up. I can't lose you now."
"He'll be okay," Starsky said softly, looking at Hutch's wound again. "Hutch, I've gotta go a minute. I'll be right back."
"Just don't go far, Partner," he answered weakly.
Starsky patted Hutch on the shoulder and stood up. He exited the room. He wanted to check on the rest of the men. As their lieutenant, he was in charge of the scene until help arrived. He didn't have to tell Hutch where he was going, Hutch already knew.
Starsky saw Mitch Davis working with Stan Mantle to help Davis' partner, Mike Anderson, who was limping. Starsky ran over to them, "What happened?"
"I'm okay, Lieutenant. I twisted my ankle."
"I think he broke it, Sir. Can you make him go to the hospital?" Davis asked. Starsky could tell he was worried about his partner.
"Yes, I can," Starsky looked at Anderson, "That's an order. Davis, you make sure he follows it."
"I will, Sir."
"Is anyone else hurt? I know about Manning and Forrest."
"O'Brien is over there," Mantle pointed toward the truck, "with Blanks, Lieutenant. He was shot in the arm but it doesn't look too bad."
"Thanks," Starsky patted Mantle on the arm as he headed toward Blanks. He took a minute to survey the whole scene. Several of the officers had Monroe's men in custody. They were seated against the wall of one of the buildings. He saw Pete Parks and Malone among them. Other officers were helping the wounded assailants. He was proud of how they were all working as one team, doing everything that needed to be done. This is how it's supposed to be. Great job, guys, he thought to himself. He watched Gomez put a jacket over the face of Tillman and move to assist Fairbanks. He walked to her location and squatted next to Fairbanks. "Why? Just tell me why."
Fairbanks was bleeding badly from a chest wound and was very short of breath as he spoke, "Monroe. He ordered us to take out you and Hutchinson."
"You worked for Monroe, why?" Starsky tried not to sound angry. He wanted to understand what possessed two FBI agents to work for someone like Monroe.
"I guess it doesn't matter now. Tillman's dead and I know I'm not going to make it. It was all about money. He promised us money and a position in his organization when he took over Big John's turf. He was going after Marsolenni next. We were going to be big in the organization."
"Were' is right," Starsky said as he watched Fairbanks take his last breath. Starsky placed his hand on Fairbank's face, closing the dead man's eyes. He glanced up at Gomez, "You okay?"
"Yes, Sir. I'm fine."
Starsky and Gomez heard the approaching sirens and from the sound of it, Starsky knew Dobey sent everyone he could. It didn't take long for the paramedics to triage the wounded and get them on the way to the area hospitals. Starsky saw Hutch just before he was loaded into the ambulance and was told he would be going to Bay City General along with Singleton. Farmer needed to be checked out too and he rode in the same ambulance as Anderson. Conner was going to be taken to Community Hospital along with Steve Reynolds who had been shot in the leg. Manning and Forrest were also going to Community Hospital.
Dobey stepped out of the car and surveyed the situation. He saw Starsky in full command mode, checking on everyone, giving orders and making sure the injured were taken care of. He was proud of him and allowed a brief look of that pride to show on his face. He walked over to Starsky and put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Starsky, I heard Hutch was hit."
"Yes, Cap'n he was. He's going to be fine, took one in the leg. Singleton's pretty bad though. Blanks was hit in the shoulder, Reynolds was shot in the leg and Anderson may have a broken ankle. Farmer's probably going to need stitches. Manning was shot in the back and Forrest took one in the arm." He stopped to take in a breath and wipe the sweat off his forehead.
"You did a good job tonight, Starsky. I'm proud of you."
"It wasn't me, Cap'n. It was them." He pointed at the men and woman under his and Hutch's command.
Captain Dobey nodded and said, "I'll take over now. Go. Go check on your partner."
"One more thing, Captain." Starsky pointed to the bodies of the FBI agents, "Tillman and Fairbanks were working for Monroe all along. They shot Hutch and Singleton." Dobey nodded as Starsky walked away.