Loading more than one chapter to make it up to you for being so patient, Still not up to par

CHAPTER 8

Hutch cautiously pulled his rental car up in front of the non-descript abandoned house on the lower east side. The entire neighborhood was made up of similarly abandoned homes that were falling into neglect and disrepair. An ambulance with two paramedics inside pulled up behind him. Hutch had called them before leaving to come to this place where Durniak had told him he would find his missing partner. Hutch spoke to the paramedics briefly, telling them to stay in the ambulance until he made sure Starsky was actually inside the house. Hutch had a walkie-talkie that he would use to call them into the house as soon as he assessed the situation.

Hutch slowly walked up to the rickety front porch and stepped up to the front door. When he tried the door, he found it unlocked. Drawing his gun from beneath his jacket, he held it at the ready as he carefully pushed open the door and stepped into the house. There was a musty, unused smell in the air easily identified with an abandoned dwelling. The floor plan of the house included an upstairs and a basement. Hutch decided to start searching on the second floor and work his way down.

He climbed the stairway to the upper level, his eyes scanning his surroundings intently, alert for any signs of trouble or an unexpected ambush. Upstairs he found two bedrooms and a bath, all unused and vacant. From the dust on the floor, it was obviously that nobody had been in that part of the house for quite some time. Slowly, Hutch made his way back down the stairs.

The lower level of the house contained a living room and a kitchen. Both showed evidence of recent use by someone but there was still no sign of his missing partner. The only place left to check was the basement. As soon as Hutch opened the door that led down into the darkness of the cellar, an overwhelming smell drifted up and assaulted his senses. It was actually a sickening combination of odors: mold, stale sweat, blood, urine, vomit, feces, and decay. Hutch hesitated momentarily, his heart pounding with fear at what he would find at the bottom of those steps. His hand fumbled for a light switch, finally finding one on the left hand side of the door. A dim light came on at the bottom of the steps, leaving the far corners of the room draped in deep shadows.

Breathing through his mouth, Hutch slowly walked down the steps. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his eyes swept across the room, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gloom and darkness. Off to the left of the staircase, he could make out a form that looked suspiciously like a body lying on the floor, curled up tightly in a fetal position. As he moved closer to the silent huddled form, he felt his heart pounding harder and his mouth went dry.

The crumbled body lying on the ground bore little resemblance to Starsky, the only thing familiar about the battered body was the chocolate colored curls that hung dirty and tangled around the battered, sunken face. "Starsky!" Hutch cried out, putting his gun back into his shoulder harness so he could reach out to touch the body lying before him. Severe weight loss accented every bone under the tightly drawn, heavily bruised skin. Skin that was frighteningly cold to the touch. The battered body bore obvious signs of severe physical abuse and torture over a prolonged period of time. Besides the severe weight loss, the body bore open sores, cuts, burns, welts and lacerations in varying degrees of healing. The eyes were half-open, lifeless and unresponsive.

As Hutch knelt down beside the broken body, a faint fluttering in the frail chest and the faint whisper of breath against Hutch's cheek were the only visible signs that Starsky was still alive. Death was already tightening its grip on the damaged body, demanding the final victory. Frantically, Hutch dug the walkie-talkie out of his jacket and pressed the transmit button "I FOUND HIM! GET DOWN HERE NOW! WE'RE IN THE BASEMENT!" He yelled into the transmitter to the paramedics waiting outside.

Without waiting for a reply, he dropped the walkie-talkie to the ground at his feet and gently eased Starsky's head and shoulders into his lap. "Hang on, Buddy….it's me…Hutch." He said in a soft, soothing voice "You're gonna be okay…you're safe now. Just hang on a little bit longer…just a little longer." He felt the tears burning his own eyes as he tried to choke back the lump in his throat. There was no response from the body lying before him.

Hutch heard the rapid footsteps coming down the steps behind him and then the paramedics were there. Hutch barely noticed as they quickly accessed Starsky's condition and did what they could to prepare him for transport to the nearest hospital. They started two IVs immediately before gently lifting him onto the portable stretcher they had brought with them. They didn't need to tell Hutch that Starsky was already in the process of dying and that time was of the essence. He stumbled up the steps beside them, clutching Starsky's left hand tightly in his own, praying for another miracle like the one that had saved his life after Gunther's assassination attempt.

Ignoring his rental car, Hutch climbed into the back of the ambulance with one of the paramedics for the trip to the hospital. Now that they were out of the basement and in the bright light inside the ambulance, Hutch noticed the gray pallor to Starsky's skin and the blue coloring around his lips and the beds of his fingernails. He could also hear the rattle deep inside of Starsky's chest with each slow gasp of breath that he took. The death rattle that meant his lungs were filling with fluid, slowly squeezing the air out of his body. Silently, Hutch repeated the prayers he had learned in childhood to a god that he was no longer sure he believed in. Begging for Starsky's life to be spared one more time.

At the emergency entrance to the hospital, the paramedics rushed Starsky inside with Hutch following close behind. As they went through the swinging doors into the inner sanctum of the emergency room, a nurse stepped in front of Hutch, blocking his way. "I'm sorry, sir." She said "You can't go back there. You'll have to wait out here."

"I'm a cop! He's my partner!" Hutch snapped, trying to brush past her to follow his partner.

"I don't care who you are." The nurse said firmly, gently blocking his way. "You can't go in there. Go guard the waiting room."

Hutch sighed deeply and turned aside, knowing it was no use arguing. He couldn't afford to get kicked out of the hospital for making a scene. This wasn't Bay City. He didn't have any authority here. Dejectedly, he walked over to the waiting area and slumped down on one of the hard plastic seats. He knew that he should call Rachel and tell her that he had found Starsky but he wanted to wait until he knew exactly what kind of condition Starsky was in first. Hutch knew that Starsky may not make it, he was already knocking on heaven's door. Whoever had done this to him had wanted to make him suffer as much as humanly possible until death became a blessing that he would embrace with open arms. And they had taken six months of hell to do that.

Hutch leaned his head back against the wall and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. He was beyond exhaustion, physically, emotionally and mentally. He was barely holding on to his own sanity. The events of the past six months had taken their toll on him, leaving him an empty shell of a man who was almost beyond hope. The only thing that was keeping him from going over the edge was knowing that Starsky was still alive, at least for the moment.

Finally, Hutch shoved himself to his feet and walked over to a bank of telephones. Digging some change out of his pocket, he dialed the operator and put in a call to Captain Dobey in Bay City. When Dobey's gruff voice came on the line, Hutch said, "I found him."

"Starsky? Is he still alive?" Dobey asked in a concerned voice

"Barely." Hutch said, his voice almost breaking under the strain "I don't know if he's gonna make it this time, Captain…."

"You just hang in there, Hutchinson. We're all praying….for both of you." Dobey said solemnly. "Take as much time as you need…just keep me posted on his condition."

"I will. Thanks, Cap." Hutch said, hanging up without any further conversation with his superior. He hesitated again and then dug some more change out of his pocket. He decided to call Rachel after all. Starsky was still her son. She had the right to be here too. Taking a deep breath, he dropped the coins in the slot and dialed her phone number.

"Hello?" she answered breathlessly on the first ring

"I found him." Hutch told her "We're at Cedars."

"How bad is it?" Rachel asked, struggling to keep her own emotions under control.

"It's bad, Rachel….it's really bad. I don't know if I found him in time or not."

Hutch told her, his own voice shaking with emotion.

"I'm on my way." Rachel said, quickly hanging up before Hutch could object.

Hutch hung up the receiver and slowly made his way back over to the uncomfortable seats along the wall. The nurse behind the reception desk glanced at the tall blond warily. She could see the stress and strain on his face and the dejected slump of his shoulders. She'd seen the same reaction far too many times during her career as family members and friends waited anxiously for news about a loved one who was somewhere behind those swinging doors fighting for their lives. But there was something different about this man. She could feel his pain surrounding him like a glove and see it reflected deep in the depths of his ice blue eyes. It was so palpable that she felt a shiver run down her spine. For his sake, she hoped that whoever he was waiting for news on was going to make it. Sighing softly, she turned back to her own duties.

Hutch was lost so deeply in his own thoughts that he didn't notice when Rachel came rushing into the emergency room. Sinking into the chair beside him, she gently reached out and touched his shoulder. Hutch jerked, turning startled eyes to her face. He relaxed when he realized she was there. Without even thinking about it, Rachel wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her comforting embrace. Hutch buried his face against her shoulder, finally giving in to the raging emotions inside of him. Rachel stroked his hair and whispered soothing nonsense words into his ear as the tall blond began to cry silently against her shoulder as the stress of the past few days combined with the pain of the past six months, finally overwhelmed him and he allowed himself to break down in her tender embrace.

Almost eight hours passed before a doctor finally came into the waiting room and said loudly "Is there anyone here for David Starsky?"

"Right here." Hutch said immediately, bounding to his feet and crossing the room to meet the doctor half way. "I'm his partner, Ken Hutchinson and this is his mother, Rachel Starsky."

"I'm Doctor Parton. Why don't we step into my office so we can talk privately?" the doctor said solemnly, gesturing towards a hallway to his left.

"Is he still alive?" Hutch demanded, needing to know the answer before he went with the doctor to his office.

"Let's go to my office and talk there." The doctor said firmly, leading the way to a office at the end of the hallway. Rachel and Hutch followed him silently, worried about whatever news he was about to tell them, knowing in their hearts that it wouldn't be good.

Once they were in the office and the door was closed securely behind them, Hutch turned to the doctor again and demanded "Is he still alive or not?"

"He's alive but we had to put him on total life support." The doctor said ominously, as he took a seat behind his desk. He gestured for Hutch and Rachel to sit down. Once they were seated, the doctor sighed softly and said "I don't know what the hell happened to him but it obvious that's he's been severely abused and tortured over a long period of time. He was in the process of dying when he was brought in here….it's a miracle that he's even still alive."

"It's a long story, doc." Hutch said grimly without going into any further details about what had happened to Starsky. "He's a cop and this is someone's way of getting even with him."

"Well, they did a pretty good job of that." The doctor said dryly "He was so weak we almost lost him three times during surgery. His organs were already starting to shut down. If you'd brought him in here even a few minutes later, he wouldn't have made it….he was that close to death when he came in here." The doctor paused and looked at Hutch and Rachel questioningly "I saw the scars on his chest and abdomen. He's been this close to death before, hasn't he?"

"Yes. Eighteen months ago." Hutch replied, "He took three slugs to his chest and belly. He suffered massive damage."

"I saw evidence of some of the previous damage to his internal organs during surgery. I have to be honest with you….I can't make any promises. We could still lose him. He's very weak and he's not breathing on his own. He's severely underweight, severely dehydrated and some of his injuries are seriously infected. That infection has gone into his blood stream and that alone is a life threatening condition. Combined with his overall physical condition, the various injuries he's suffered, the damage his body had been subjected too, his chances of survival are very poor."

"But as long as he's alive….there's still a chance….isn't there?" Rachel asked with a sob in her voice.

"His condition is extremely critical and his body is so weak that he needs the machines right now just to keep him alive. I've had him put into a medically induced coma to keep him still and give his body time to rest and to start healing. We are pushing fluids as quickly as possible and trying to bring the infection under control. We treated the various injuries as best we could and at the moment, all we can do is wait. The next seventy-two hours are critical. If he makes that long, he might have a fighting chance. There is evidence of some old fractures that were never treated that will have to be addressed at some point but that's going to have to wait until he's a lot stronger than he is right now."

"Can we see him?" Hutch asked anxiously, trying to absorb everything the doctor had just told them.

"He's still in recovery. As soon as he's settled into the I.C.U., I'll have a nurse come and get you. You'll be able to see him for a few minutes, then I suggest you both go home and get some rest."

Hutch nodded and helped Rachel to her feet. They left the office and went back to the waiting area to continue their lonely vigil. Starsky's fate once more lay in God's