Hi All,

Sorry this chapter took so long. Note to self – NEVER do two chapter stories at the same time. I know, I know, some of you warned me. (Sigh) You were right. Anyway, this chapter might be a little slow; I had to do some setting up for the rest of the story… sorry!

Many thanks to the readers and reviews… THANKS!

And my thanks and very big hugs go out to the Usual Suspects!

Chapter 4

John Colby looked through the brush on the other side of the plane to Hutchinson. His one-time friend. He had used his friendship against his two former friends in order to obtain his goal. Starsky and Hutchinson had testified against him and he had been sent to prison. But they, like he, had only been doing their job. He understood. He didn't like it, but he understood.

Until that day on the beach, he had succeeded in every assignation assignment that he had ever been given. He was clean, he was efficient, he enjoyed what he did and he was very, very good at his chosen profession. With that one exception, it had been the only time he had ever failed.

This was his chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the mob. It had taken over a year to escape from prison and the only way he could accomplish that had been with the help from the Manahan syndicate. He now owed Manahan a favor. And he meant to pay it back, the sooner, the better, for he hated owing anyone anything.

Colby ground his teeth together. He had been convicted and thrown into San Quentin, just like he was some common criminal, but he wasn't, and it didn't the other inmates long to figure that out. They also found out that messing with him was a good way to end up dead. Though no one could prove it was him that had done it or how he had managed to make a few kills in the big house. He made his point and was left alone.

Manahan had contacted him while he was in San Quentin and requested the elimination of two minor squealers who had pled down their cases for easier time. He did as requested and by doing so, he had partially redeemed himself in the eyes of syndicate.

When Manahan's inside FBI man, Hank Ruth, had told him of the plan for the decoys and the three modes of transport that would be used to get Mallard to the courthouse to testify, Colby had accepted the job… he didn't really have a choice, but it didn't matter, he was finally going to get back to the thing he did best, killing people.

His father had always told him that a man should do what they're good at. It just so happened that he was good at hunting people down and killing them. And people actually paid him to do that. It was really quite funny, when you thought about it. Most people were stuck in their boring lives, doing boring jobs and hating every moment of it. Not him. His life was a joy; he was good at what he did, liked what he did and got paid for it. Most people were just not that lucky.

But that had all ended that windy day down on the beach. Colby returned his attention to Hutch. He remembered the fight that he had there on the beach with his blond friend. He had lost; it galled him. That job had been business. But that had all changed now. For now it was personal.

When he had learned that Starsky and Hutchinson were both on this assignment, he had been thrilled. He was finally going to get his chance at revenge and he was going to extract it a little bit at a time to make up for the time he had spent in prison. A smile played across his lips as he watched Hutch look around the meadow that he had landed them in.

He thought back to the days at the academy when the three of them had been called "The Corsican Brothers" He snorted. 'What a crock'. It had always been Starsky and Hutch; they didn't really need anyone else. They had liked him well enough to include him, but that was all it was. That was all it had ever been.

That was one very small reason he had left the academy, that and he had learned what he had needed to learn from the academy. He had already known what he wanted to do with his life and it had nothing to do with upholding the law and everything to do with understanding police procedures. It would make his chosen line of work a just a little easier. A sound interrupted his line of thought and he turned and watched FBI Agent Hank Ruth approach.

"I don't think this is going to work. We should just kill him now, there's no way he with accept you not being around, he'll know something is up. You can't fool him." Agent Ruth watched the detective stand up and lean against a tree, holding one hand to his head as if he were trying to keep it on his shoulders.

"I did before. Hell, I even had them find me my target for me" Colby replied evenly.

"And it backfired. I still say we kill him now. He will not be easy to control. From what his profile said among other things, that he's pretty good at camping and living off the land. Other campers might see him or he could escape. We can't allow that to happen." The Fed kept one eye on the cop and the other on Colby, not trusting either of them.

"What other campers? I choose this place specifically for its remoteness" Colby needed to keep the Fed on his side, at least for now. "Look, I've thought about it and I've changed my mind. You're right; Hutchinson won't buy into my making myself scarce, at least not for long. He'll know something's up. And as for anyone seeing us, I wouldn't bet on it. It's only you, me and him out here"

"It had better be" Hank hissed angrily.

"I don't think he'll be escaping. I have a plan" Colby began to walk around the plane towards Hutch.

Hank kept pace with the hit man, keeping his eyes on the man's face to gauge his intent. It was difficult; Colby wasn't easy to read, "It had better be good"

"Oh, it is"

The Fed barely controlled his shudder as he watched a smile slither across the hit man's face.

XXXX

Starsky had climbed back into the now beat up Ford car that he had driven to the courthouse and grabbed the mike. "Dispatch, patch me through to Huggy Bear" He sat in the driver's seat and turned the ignition, the car was moving by the time the dispatcher responded.

Forty-five minutes later he pulled into the Bay City Airport. He drove the car across the tarmac to one of the older hangers on the far end of the airport. Starsky exited the smoking, dying car and looked at it for a second before heading into hanger twenty-seven.

"Baron! Yo! Black Baron! Where are you?" Starsky trotted into the hanger, scanning the area as he went, looking for the person he needed to see. He peered under and around several airplanes as he went deeper in the hanger bay. "Baron!"

"Over here, Mr. Starsky!" The large black man stepped out from behind his beat-up old plane. Grease stains spotted his clothing and a greasy patch ran across his forehead. "Huggy said it was urgent" he wiped his hands on a rag that he pulled from his pocket.

"It is. Hutch's plane disappeared" Starsky had that sick feeling in his stomach as he said it. It had been nearly four hours since this nightmare had begun. He glanced at his watch; make that nearly five hours now. He looked up and eyed the Baron.

"Crashed?" A single black brow rose as he eyed the detective. Externally, his demeanor was upbeat and usually excessively jovial. But a plane crash was every pilots fear.

"Don't know. All I know is it's gone. No one has a clue where to look. I figure you might have some ideas. So, ya got any?" He watched the Baron closely to judge him. It wasn't personal, but with Hutch's life possibly on the line, he wasn't taking any chances.

"Huh, I'm a pilot so that means that I know how to find a missing plane… right. What about all those FBI guys that you where with? Don't they know anything?" The Baron tossed the greasy rag in the general direction of his plane.

"How did you know that?" The detective's full attention was brought to bear on the Baron. He trusted this man, the battle at that desert castle had more then proven this man to Starsky, but he still need to know how the Baron had found out about the plan to get Mallard to the courthouse.

The Baron moved over to a bench and sat down "It's been on the streets for days. I'm surprised that you're just finding out now. I thought you two always had your ears to the streets," He shrugged "guess not. So, what do you need from me?"

"Fly me to the airport that Hutch and I left from. They'll have flight information and should be able to tell us when they lost track of the plane and hopefully where the last transmission came from. That should narrow things down a bit" The curly haired detective leaned against the bench. "I hope"

"That would narrow things down a bit. Let me finalize a few things and we can take off" the Baron stood up and headed to the hanger's phone to call the control tower.

"Wait, don't you have to file a flight plan or something?" As much as he wanted to get to Hutch, Starsky wanted to put off flying for as long as he could. The last time he had flown with the Baron had been quite scary and he was not eager to repeat it just this instant.

"I've already did that, right after Huggy called me. I just need to find out when we can take off. It shouldn't be long," The Baron laughed as he watch the detective pale. God he loved to fly and any excuse was a good one. He continued to chuckle as he picked up the phone "Hey, this is the Baron…yeah, I own N63230… stop laughing… she'll make it off the ground-"

Starsky cringed and quit listening, turning his attention out the bay door to the outside. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. At least the weather was good for flying. The Baron would be flying at about two thousand feet or so. He gulped. Way too high for comfort.

But he didn't have a choice. To get to the other airport fast, they had to fly. If Hutch was hurt, every minute wasted meant the longer he might have to suffer… Starsky cut off that thought. No sense in thinking that way, it would only cloud things for him and he needed a very clear head. He changed his line of thought. If anyone could get themselves out of that kind of mess, it was Hutch.

"Mr. Starsky, are you ready?" The Baron hung up the receiver.

"As I'll ever be" Starsky muttered, then louder "Yep, let's go" he headed for the rickety old plane. A cold sweat broke out over his body and he heart began to beat faster. He knew that soon he was going to be thousands of feet in the air, with nothing but some flimsy metal under his feet. He hid his apprehension as best he could.

"Hey, Mr. Starsky, why aren't the cops and feds looking?" The Baron walked past the detective on his way to the plane. He walked around it, giving it a brief once over before preparing to take off.

"They are, but I just can't sit around waiting for them to find anything. I have to look… I have to find Hutch. It's my fault he was on that flight in the first place," He did not elaborate.

The Baron merely 'tisked' then chuckled as he climbed into the plane and waited for the detective to follow suit. In short order, the Baron taxied out onto the tarmac and waited for clearance to take off. When clearance was given, he taxied down the runway.

Starsky's fingers dug into the seat and quivered with the grip he was exerting on them. But they had none of the problems they had had when Terry Nash was with them.

The Baron explained that there were two fewer people on the plane, so the load was lighter. The Baron kept it to himself that he just plain loved to mess with the people that he flew with. It was great fun to watch them shiver and shake and doubt his talent as a pilot. This flight would be no different.

XXXX

After another harrowing flight with the Baron, Starsky was ready to sign off of flying for the rest of his life. Some people said it got easier with each flight. Some people were crazy too, like the Baron. A hell of a fighter and a great man to have on you team, but as a pilot, he left a great deal to be desired. It had been all Starsky could do NOT to kiss the ground when they landed.

"What did you find out?" he asked the Baron as the man exited the pilots' lounge.

"Well, from what I can figure," The Baron pulled out and map and placed it on an available table and he pointed to a spot on the map. "This is the fight path" He used a thumbtack, a piece of string and a pen and drew a quarter circle on the map.

Starsky nodded "Okay, got it"

"The signal was lost somewhere around here," The Baron pointed at the line he had just drawn, following the small arch with his finger.

"That doesn't look too bad" Starsky perused the map.

"And we have this area to search" The Baron moved his finger to encompass nearly the whole map.

"That's bad"

"Well Mr. Starsky, any ideas on how to narrow it down?" the Baron pulled up a chair and sat down to study the map some more. His last outing with Mr. Starsky and Mr. Hutchinson had been most entertaining. He hoped this time would be as well. He had one hell of a story to tell his grandkids, two great stories would be even better. That's if he ever got married and had kids. That was one adventure he had yet to undertake. He laughed again. Huggy was right. Mr. Starsky and Mr. Hutchinson always seemed to have interesting things happening to them.

Starsky reached a foot out behind him and snagged a chair leg with his toes and he pulled it up to the table, sitting down when the chair was close enough. "Well, for starter, we don't need to search where the others are looking, that's for sure"

"Yes sir" the Baron agreed amiably.

Starsky smiled briefly at the Baron. Some military habits were hard to break. He still would stand at 'parade rest' on occasion (usually while standing in front of Dobey, or a handful of others that he respected). And if Hutch occasionally got to being too bossy, Starsky would salute him, just to remind the blond he didn't like being bossed around any better then Hutch did. That never failed in getting the blond to snort and roll his eyes.

Starsky stared at the map 'c'mon Hutch, where are you? I gotta find you and apologize for that stupid coin thing. Just a little hint buddy, that's all I need'

XXXX

Somewhere deep in the woods…

Hutch pushed himself away from the tree he had been leaning against for support. He had to move or he might stiffen up and he had to know how badly he was hurt. If he couldn't keep up, the Fed and Colby might just change their minds and kill him now.

The woods stopped spinning several minutes ago, so that was good. His mouth was dry and he carefully knelt down and looked in the backpack for water. He found a bottle and drank some slowly, knowing if he drank it too quickly he could start to vomit again. He had already done that and he knew he could dehydrate quickly if he didn't keep it under control.

Hutch was well aware that his survival would count on keeping himself rested, hydrated, warm and fed. With these two killers, those four things were very likely to be difficult to do. He spared a look at the plane. He could see the men standing on the other side of it, apparently talking.

He shook his head. Bad idea, for his headache renewed its attack on him. He ignored it as best he could, for he had to thing of a way to get out of this predicament. It was unlikely that Colby would keep to his plan of staying away from Hutch. He didn't know what Colby was thinking when he said that. Christ, there was only three of them and Hutch knew that John would see clear through any 'I don't remember you act' that he might try. They had known each other too well back at the academy. Hutch sighed; he would just have to cooperate with these two until he could get away from them.

He stood back up and kicked the ground in his frustration and noticed for the first time how dry the grass was. He reached up and broke off a small branch and looked at it. It too was quite dry. He'd have to warn them about building any fires in this place. It was a tinderbox, just waiting to burn.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the men approaching. This could not be good. Colby was showing his face already, it meant he had changed his plans already. Definitely not a good sign.

XXXX

"Here" Starsky stabbed at a spot on the map with his finger.

The Baron scrutinized the map and scratched his head "Why there?"

"Because if figures" Starsky was resigned.

The Baron raised an eyebrow and shot him a questioning look "And just how does it figure?"

"This whole thing started because I don't like to fly" Starsky stood up and paced away from the little table. He paced back "That's how Hutch ended up on that plane in the first place… anyway, I don't like camping, so it figures that I would end up in the woods looking for him" Starsky patted the Baron's arm then made his way towards the tarmac.

The Black Baron threw back his head and laughed. He grabbed the map and followed the detective. Yep, it was going to be an adventure all right.

TBC