Donald Blake was known in the drugs world for holding meetings in the weirdest of places. Sometimes he'd arrange to meet in the back of an amusement park, sometimes the non fiction section of a library. It had been these weird meeting places that had contributed to his arrest with Jane, but he continued to use them. He would tell people it was his quirk and that all good dealers needed them.
Hutch knew about Donald's quirks, but he also knew that the dealer spent most of his time in an empty bus station waiting room. Hutch had never been able to prove it when Donald was first busted, but he knew that this was where he hid the drugs, he just never found out where.
Getting out of the car swiftly Hutch took in his surroundings before he shut the door. He still felt wound up over the argument with Alan, but now was not the time to dwell on it. He had to close this case and Donald was the key, he knew it.
The bus station had been abandoned years ago after a fire and was now a place where kids came to skateboard. Luckily the place was empty of kids, but Hutch had a sense that he was not alone. He walked away from his car slowly, sweeping his eyes over the area.
He reached the main door that was falling off it's hinges and paused in the doorway.
The waiting room smelled of urine and there was graffiti all over the walls.
"Admiring the view"
Hutch spun around, his hand going straight for his weapon, but he relaxed a little when he saw Donald standing a few feet behind him.
"Donald Blake," Hutch stated.
"Yes, that's me. Can I help you in anyway, Detective Hutchinson?"
"You remember me" Hutch took his hand way from his weapon, but he remained on edge, ready to jump for it if he needed to.
"Of course. May I ask if I have done something or if this is a social call?"
Hutch instantly didn't like the casual way Donald was speaking.
"I just have a few questions to ask" Hutch said calmly "Do you know of a man named Michael Briggs" Hutch noticed the slight lose of colour from Donald's face and wasn't surprised when he bowed his head.
"No, I've…never heard of him. Should I?"
"I think you should. He was a drugs dealer, like yourself. Apparently he was taking clients away from you. I'd say that's a good reason to kill him"
"You have no proof" The words were out of his mouth before he could think. All the casualness had gone and Hutch could see the man for what he was, a scared child. He was barely over 25.
"If you did do it, you'd better admit to it now. Things will go easier for you"
Donald appeared to build back enough confidence to smile slightly, but Hutch could see it was an act; there was still fear in the kid's eyes.
"I have nothing to confess, you can't trick me into admitting something I didn't do"
Hutch took a step closer to Donald, who shrunk a little bit away.
"Well, if you want to play it that way, I'll just have to go back to the station, collect all the officers I can and tare this place apart until we find what we need to put you away" He kept his voice low, but firm. Donald started sweating and his eyes darted about.
"Do you want to admit anything?" Hutch asked. Donald slowly turned his back, but all of a sudden he reached into his pocket to draw out a gun, but Hutch recognised the action and jumped at the man, grabbing his hand.
Donald brought his other hand up to hit Hutch round the head, but the detective blocked that with his other arm. With both hands keeping Donald's arms away from him, it was a battle of strength between the two men. Donald had the youthful energy to his advantage, but not Hutch's years of experience.
It was Hutch who got the advantage after a few minutes, managing to squeeze Donald's fingers hard enough to force him to drop the gun.
With the gun out of his hands Donald began to thrash around like a mad man, bringing his knee up to land it in Hutch's stomach. The detective managed to stay on his feet and keep the grip on Donald's other arm, but the wind was knocked out of him. Donald tried following it up with another, but Hutch reacted first, letting go of his arm to thump his fist into Donald's face.
"Hutch" Alan's voice came from behind. Hutch briefly glanced over his shoulder to see Alan stood by a car, holding his gun in his shaking hands.
The distraction was enough to give Donald the chance to get a hand around Hutch's throat.
Alan almost jumped at the sight of seeing his 'partner' in such a hold, but his trembling legs routed him to the spot. He held his gun up higher and aimed it at Donald, but he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He took a moment to calm himself, but the sight of Hutch's face turning slightly blue as his throat was slowly being crushed just raised his anxiety level. He took his aim again, made sure it was as accurate as possible and fired.
The discharge made him jump and at that moment he realised he had closed his eyes. Looking back at the scene before him he saw Donald had turned at the same moment Alan had fired and now he stood looking over Hutch, who was lying on the ground.
There was a moment of silence as Alan stared at the blood he could see forming under Hutch's body. He was frozen at the sight, giving Donald the chance to pick up his own gun and point it at Alan.
"Not a good cop are you" Donald said, the feel of his gun giving him back his confidence. Alan just stared at Hutch, his gun trembling so much it was a wonder it hadn't fallen to the ground.
"Now I'm getting out of here and you are not stopping me or else I'll shoot you, understand?" Donald walked sideways away from both officers, but keeping his gun on Alan.
"I c-c-can't let y-you…go" Alan said pulling his attention away from Hutch and on to Donald.
"You really think you can shoot me with those trembling hands, you'd be lucky to graze me" Alan used everything he had to stop his hands from shaking, but it didn't work. His hands wouldn't do what he told them to, but he kept the gun on Donald. He slowly pulled back the trigger, but it wasn't his gun he heard discharge. For a second he feared Donald had fired, but he swept his eyes over his body and found no wound. He looked back at Donald and found him lying on the ground, clutching his shoulder.
Alan looked back at Hutch who was looking over at the fallen man, his gun still aimed at him.
"Alan" He said his voice quivering in pain "Call the police and an ambulance…Now" Alan didn't wait to be asked twice, he ran back to his car to do just as he was told.
They stopped outside the door, neither one of them wanting to go inside, neither one of them wanting to be the one to tell the injured officer what had happened.
"Do you think we should tell him now?" Huggy asked the Captain. "Shouldn't we wait until we know what happened" Dobey sighed. He had just entered the hospital on his way to visit Starsky for a moment when he'd received the call that Hutch had been shot while trying to apprehend a suspect. He had planned to go back to the station, but he wanted to be at the hospital when Hutch arrived so he could assess how bad it was.
"I don't think it makes much of a difference when he's told, but it would be better to wait until we know the extent of Hutch's injuries" He a hand over his tired face. "Besides, he's probably asleep anyway"
"No, he ain't" Came a quiet voice from inside the room. Dobey pushed open the door to find Starsky gazing at him. "You know the doors around here aren't sound proof" Dobey entered the room leaving Huggy outside.
"How are you feeling, son?" Dobey asked with the best smile he could fake.
"What happened to Hutch?" Starsky asked in return. Dobey looked down at the shiny floor and bit the inside of his lip.
"We don't know. The ambulance hasn't arrived yet. All we know is…he was shot"
Starsky wrestled with the sheet trying to throw it off, but Dobey grabbed his hand.
"Starsky, you are not getting out of bed," He said firmly. "That's an order"
"I need to be there when they bring him in" He said firmly as he fought against Dobey's restraining hands with no success. Even though Dobey was trying to be gentle so not to cause Starsky anymore pain he still managed to out match Starsky's strength.
"If you don't stay down I'll have someone restrain you then you'll never get to see Hutch" That did it. Starsky stopped struggling and went limp in Dobey's arms.
"I need to be there, please," Starsky begged, not caring how pathetic he sounded. Dobey had to look away at that point, if he hadn't he would have given in.
"I know you do, but you can't in your condition, you'll have to wait until we get confirmation on his condition" Starsky turned his head away, so he was staring at the window.
"You'll let me know the minute you hear anything right" He said firmly. Dobey nodded.
"You have my word" He released the young man from his grip and straightened out his sleeves. "You need your rest. I'll be back later" With that he turned and walked towards the door. He paused for a moment to look back at the man in the bed, but he was still staring at the window lost in his own world of worry. Dobey sighed and left.
Now that he was alone Starsky looked back at the door, he could just about hear Dobey's departing footsteps, along with Huggy's. He waited a moment longer, before he pulled back the covers and carefully swung his legs over the bed. It wasn't an easy task since every movement sent waves of pain through his chest and back. He sat on the edge of the bed, breathing harshly, and waited for the pain to ease. It never did. He almost collapsed back on the bed, but the thought of Hutch lying hurt in a speeding ambulance was enough to force him up onto his feet.
Unfortunately his legs turned to jelly and he nearly fell to his knees, but he grabbed the bedside table for support. He managed to keep himself on his feet, but he wasn't sure if he could move away from the bed. Every breath felt like he was inhaling millions of tiny needles.
The first step he took away from the bed was agonising and small. With each step he felt the strength in his legs fade away, but he managed to make it to the wall, where he had to stop. He leaned against it for support and tried to get his breathing under control.
"You can do this" His mind told him.
"Oh sure" He panted.
Leaning against the wall for support he edged his way forwards, towards the door. It was not easy, his legs wanted to fold up and collapse, but wouldn't let them. He used most of his strength to keep himself standing while he used the rest to keep him going.
By the time he reached the door, his weak legs came as a secondary concern compared to his aching chest and abdomen. Every movement he made pulled on the incisions and he thought it was a miracle he hadn't split his stitches.
Slowly he poked his head round the door and looked both ways. He found one nurse with her back to him and another nurse right down the other end of the corridor. His bedroom was luckily right next to the elevator, but what was a couple of steps to a normal person was a marathon to Starsky.
Using the door frame for support he moved out of his room, into the corridor and still using the wall to lean against, made his way very slowly towards the elevator.
With every step he took he could feel his strength rush away from him, slowing him down further, until he got a few feet from his door and had to stop. His legs refused to let him go even one step further and the pain in his chest was getting worse by the minute.
On top of those major concerns his head was starting to spin from being up right too long with hardly any energy. He closed his eyes for what he expected to be just a brief moment to get rid of the spinning sensation, but he couldn't open them again.
The pain squeezed the breath out of him and his world started to spin out of control and before he could think of anything to do to fix his problems he blacked out
TBC
(Last Chapter to arrive soon)