Love Hurts
Disclaimer: This is done strictly for fun and not for profit, although tips are greatly appreciated.
Author's Note: Thanks to my friends in the fandom, especially my muse Brook, and my writing sisters Janet, and Shawne, it is only a matter of time before our family begins to grow. Love you guys! This one is for you, and by the way, special thanks to Janet for letting me write this one and naming it for me.
Chapter Fourteen
Hutch pulled up to the back of Huggy's bar, shutting down the labored engine of his Ford LTD and climbing out of the vehicle. The tall blond made his way to the kitchen entrance in the alley, peeking in the small window in the portal and furrowing his brow.
The lights were on inside, yet no one should have been there, it was long after closing time. Hutch paused for a moment, looking around the back of the building cautiously, before trying the door. He was slightly startled to find it unlocked as he turned the handle slowly, opening it silently. His right hand fished inside his jacket, retrieving his large weapon, getting it ready if the need arose.
Dipping his head in the door, he looked around the room, seeing it was clear, and entering, holding his weapon in front of him, pointing it at the ceiling.
Quietly, he made his way through the kitchen, hearing noises coming from the bar area, he planted his back against the wall, next to the aluminum swinging partition, separating the two rooms.
For a brief second, he thought about returning to his car and calling for back up, but doing so could result in tipping off the intruder, and them fleeing the scene while he was in the alley, so he decided against it, and chose to take his chances with whatever was in the other room.
Hutch slowly made his way through the door and into the bar area, he heard a commotion, like something being dropped just around the particle board partition on the far side of the room.
Pointing his weapon down in front of him, he made his way in that direction, seeing the shadow of a small person passing through the cramped space.
"Freeze! Police!" Hutch shouted out as he saw the person's halt all movement, standing up straight.
The Nordic detective made his way to the suspect, holding his weapon firmly in place, trained on his subjects form. As Hutch made his way around the partition, he made out the silhouette of a petite female with dark hair.
"Turn around!" he commanded as the woman slowly raised her hands in the air, turning to her right until she faced the detective completely.
"Ellen?" Hutch was surprised to see Huggy's employee there after hours, "What are you doing here?" he asked, his brow furrowing inquisitively.
"Hutch? I guess I could ask you the same thing…" she spoke softly, "I forgot my purse, I came back to get it, what about you? What brings you here in the wee hours of the morning?"
Feeling the immediate threat gone, Hutch lowered his weapon, "I just left the Huggy at the hospital, thought I would come back here and see if I could find out what happened to him." Hutch answered as Ellen lowered her hands to her side, a look of shock washing over her face.
"Huggy? Hosptial?" She exclaimed, "Hutch, what's going on? What happened to Huggy? He was fine when I left. I don't understand?" Her questions came in quick succession.
Hutch pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to shut out the pounding stress headache that was hammering away in his brain. Now he not only had to worry about his partner, but he now had to look into what was going on with Huggy and who was after him.
"Did Huggy say anything last night? Did anyone call him, anything unusual happen?" Hutch asked.
"No…nothing. He was fine when I left, he even let me go home early, it was just him and Diana that were there. Business was slow, so I got sent home." She explained, her face wrenched with mock worry, "I just don't understand the Hutch, who would do something like this to him?"
"I dunno Ellen, but I intend to find out." Hutch vowed as his eyes scanned the bar, "Listen, I am going to look around, see if anything is out of place."
"Sure, of course…is there anything I can do?" She offered willingly.
"Yeah," Hutch looked at her firmly, "stay out of my way." He answered sharply, regretting the words the moment they left his lips, feeling the weight of exhaustion as stress, not meaning to take it out on the person standing before him. "Look Ellen, m'sorry. I am just really busy, and really tired. If you don't mind, I think it would be best if you went on home, I will lock up when I leave." The blond stated as he put a hand on her arm, pulling her towards the door.
"Sure think Hutch, whatever you say." She agreed as she walked through the tables, and to the door, leaving Hutch standing in the middle of the room, looking around as if he was waiting for something to pop out at him, to answer all the questions running through his mind.
Ellen looked back one more time, Hutch didn't see her though, his face was pointed in the other direction. An evil grin washed across her face as she exited the building. Hutch made his way to the kitchen, scanning the entire place, looking for clues.
He looked in the sink, under the counters, around the stove.
Nothing.
He walked back towards the large dining room, looking under the bar, and around the service area.
Nothing.
He made his way up towards the pool tables, still searching for something, anything, but finding nothing.
He heard a noise coming from the back of the building, a crashing noise, sounded like trash cans that had tumbled over. He rushed through the dining room, through the kitchen and to the back door, hitting it hard as he anticipated it to fly open. He was shocked when the door didn't budge, it was locked. Hitting it a couple more times just to make sure, he fished in his jacket pocket for the keys.
Inhaling deeply, the smell hit his senses strongly. He sniffed a couple more times, looking around the room, trying to find where the smell was coming from. His eyes widened in shock and surprise as he realized what the familiar scent was.
SMOKE!
He quickly inserted the key into the door, turning it as smoke began to fill the room. The key turned but the door still would not open. Panic began to sit in as he looked around, surprised at how quickly the room was being filled with dark gray and thick black smoke.
Draping his arm across his nose and mouth, he ducked as he made his way back to the dining room and towards the front door, finding it filled with smoke as well, flames raging out of control up the walls.
His lungs burned, his eyes stung as he blinked harder, trying to get the tears to wash the smoke from them. The coughing was shallow at first, becoming deeper and more painful with every passing second.
He finally made his way to the front door, finding it locked as well, the heat from this room stronger then the kitchen, he chose to make his way to the back room, trying to stay clear from the fire that was spreading quickly.
00000
Starsky woke with a start, Hutch's image flashing through his mind, gasping for air. Immediately he recalled his dire situation as he looked to his right, seeing the big black dog, eyeing him ferociously.
Breathing heavily, he allowed his head to relax back against the pillow; his tall blond friend's face in his mind, his stomach knotting, a feeling of dread and fear overwhelming him.
He tried desperately but couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, deep down inside, something just wasn't right. He attempted to focus his energy and concentration on pulling on his restraints, ever so slightly as to not alarm the vicious black dog beside him. His wrists were raw from the strain he was putting on them. Even though he couldn't see it, he could tell that he had abrasions around both hands from the force he had been exerting trying to fold and squeeze his hand through the fairly snug cuffs.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Diablo twitch, the dog's eagle eyes trained on him, as Starsky noted the dog's ears twitch, indicating that something caused the dog to become more alert.
The brunet relaxed, stopped all movement, not wanting a repeat of what had happened earlier. His eyes scanned what he could see of the ceiling in the room, odd things catching his eyes, the water stain in the lower right hand corner, the crack in the upper left. He realized that if he had to spend too much time in this predicament, he may just die of boredom.
He heard a noise coming from some other area of the house, the jingling of keys, stuff being dropped, and heavy footsteps coming his way.
He inhaled sharply, trying to mentally and physically prepare himself for whatever was about to come. The door to the room that held him jiggled, the knob turning, slowly opening.
The dog immediately looked towards the action, as Starsky strained his neck to look in that direction. A part of him had hoped to see his tall blond partner burst through the door to rescue him and he was slightly disappointed to see Ellen enter the room.
"Hi honey, I'm home, did you miss me?" She asked cheerfully, eerily cheerfully.
"T'rrific," he mumbled as she moved towards his side, carrying a grease stained bag.
Starsky smelled the distinct smell of one of Huggy's specials, and if his nose wasn't deceiving him, possibly an order of fries to boot.
At that moment, he realized how hungry he was. Ellen set the bag down on the nightstand, barking a command at the dog and moving the animal to the hallway where she ordered it so sit and stand watch from there.
"Um listen Ellen, I really need to take a whiz, how about uncuffing me and letting me take a quick trip to the john?" Starsky asked, swallow hard, trying to fight the urge to release his bladder as he lay there, restrained to the bed.
Ellen sauntered to his side, sitting next to him, "I fully expected to come back and find that you had soiled yourself," she taunted him; "You really have been a good boy Dave."
The woman leaned over her captive, one hand stretching to his opposite side, straddling his body with hers. "I guess I owe you some kind of reward," she hissed as she reached in her coat pocket and pulled out a set of keys.
"Well, it sure would be the highlight of my day, that's for sure." He quipped as she reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out a gun that the brunet quickly recognized as his own.
"Diablo!" She called out as the dog obeyed immediately taking a place beside her.
Starsky knew the dog was there and set to attack should he even make the slightest move towards her.
"Imagine my surprise when I found out you were packin'." She teased him, reaching up and setting the keys in the palm of his open hand, watching and enjoying the confused look on his face. "Let's see how bad you really have to go, and how good you are at working under pressure."
The pretty waitress stood up and moved to the foot of the bed, "Before you start, let me untie your legs, then I will move to Diablo's side, only then should you attempt to unlock yourself if you know what is good for you."
She undid the ropes that bound his ankles to the foot of the bed, allowing him some freedom although he dared not move until she gave him the all clear. He knew that the dog was expertly trained and if the right command was given it would probably kill him.
Ellen cocked Starsky's gun and backing away, and taking her place next to the large black dog that never took its eyes off of the officer. The woman placed her hand on the dogs head.
"Ok, go ahead, but move very slowly, no quick movements, no loud noises and Diablo will leave you alone."
Starsky was left there to either uncuff himself or wet his pants. Fortunately this was not the first time the curly haired detective had had to utilize his escape skills to get himself out of a hairy situation.
Starsky used his skills to quickly undo his cuffs, his wrists stinging and burning from the raw skin that surrounded both of them. Once both hands were free the detective looked over at Ellen, standing there staring at him, and waited for her to give the okay for him to proceed.
"You're pretty good at maneuvering those cuffs officer," she said seductively, "now go ahead and get up slowly, head straight to the bathroom, and whatever you do, DO NOT look at the dog in the eyes." She ordered him.
Starsky's eyes nervously darted towards the animal and then back to the woman standing next to it. His muscles ached from being in one position for so long and not being able to flex or utilize them. He slowly sat up in the bed, out of the corner of his eye he noticed the dog flinch and tried hard to ignore it. His upper thigh muscle throbbed and stung from his earlier injury, he felt the wound stretch and once again begin to ooze. Still keeping his gaze fixed on the attractive but crazy woman, he allowed his legs to slide to the side and off of the bed, both feet touching the ground as he slid his butt closer to the side.
"Fido there gonna stay cool?" Starsky asked his voice steady. He had to fight to keep it from shaking. He knew the animal could sense his fear and wanted to stay as calm as possible.
"He's cool if you are," she answered, raising his gun and pointing it at his head.
"Yeah, as if the killer dog wasn't stressful enough," he mumbled as he stood up, the muscles in his legs nearly buckling as the screamed in protest.
"Let's hurry up, shall we, I've got something important to tell you." She told him as Starsky headed towards the bathroom.
"Great, I can hardly wait…" he replied as he crossed through the doorway, his left arm reaching for the door.
"Nope, I don't think so," she snapped, "the door stays open lover.
"Whatever you say, you got the gun…" the brunet shot back, "…and the fucking dog." He said under his breath, but just loud enough for her to hear him as he disappeared into the room.
Ellen heard every noise as her victim relieved himself and then flushed the toilet. She could even hear him zipping up his jeans and then he reappeared in the doorway.
"Back on the bed," she waived the gun at him as Starsky looked down at the dog, avoiding eye contact, and then back at her with the gun. Reluctantly he knew that it was best if he just did what he was told, and wait…either for a better opening, or for Hutch to find him.
He made his way back to the bed, sitting down on its edge and looking at her for directions.
"Lie back, and cuff 'em," she instructed him.
For a brief moment Starsky thought this may have been the opportunity he had waited for, if he did this just right, and if she didn't notice, he maybe able to secure the cuffs loosely enough so he would be able to slip out of them, only problem now was the damn dog.
The brunet did as he was told, and when Ellen heard the familiar clink of the locking cuffs, she placed the gun in her waist band and walked to the end of the bed, picking up the ropes.
"Spread him!" She commanded with a smile on her face, "I've always wanted to say that you know…" she mused as she went to task securing his ankles back to the footboard. "You know Dave, m'gonna make you love me, one of these days you'll see, that I just want what is best for you, that's all. I am doing this for you." She surmised as she continued to fasten his ties, binding them tightly, causing him to wince in discomfort.
"Yeah, I can see that Ellen." He answered. "You spend time in the Navy? I mean the way you tie those knots and all."
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I had the best evening." She orated as she moved to the head of the bed, reaching over him, her breasts in his face as she grabbed the cuffs, squeezing them tightly, making it impossible for him to wiggle out of them at a later time.
"I saw your partner tonight," she informed him.
"Hutch?" he whispered.
"Well of course Hutch, how many partners do you have?" she mocked.
"Where was he, I mean what was he doing, when you saw him?" The excitement was clear in the brunets voice.
"Burning to death," she smiled viciously as she walked towards the dog, leading him out of the room and back to the hallway.
To Be Continued….