Part 3 – Chapter 40

Hutch and Beth waited for a while with Starsky, ensuring that he was calm and asleep. The brunet twitched and sighed, his body obviously still trying to carry out Edgar Fisher's commands even while his mind shut down completely, but the curly haired man remained asleep, drugged to the hilt and probably incapable of walking even if he'd been conscious. Hutch still had the curly head cradled on his lap and absently, he carded his fingers through the springy hair, allowing each curl to embrace his finger in turn, Beth watched him for a while admiring the love and trust both men shared, but finally she patted Hutch gently on the arm.

'We need to talk' she whispered.

The blond nodded and with great care, he shuffled out from beneath his partner and laid Starsky's head down on the soft padded floor of the cell. He stood stiffly and regarded the brunet sadly. Starsky looked small and forlorn curled up on the floor, but the room was warm and he was safe and with a sigh, Hutch followed Beth outside. They clicked the door shit and Beth apologetically locked it behind her. They went into her small office and she poured two cups of coffee from the percolator on the sideboard. They sat down wearily.

'What was that all about?' Hutch asked. 'He seemed almost normal. How come?'

'I can only assume that the drugs were too powerful. They overwrote the conditioning Edgar imposed on him and allowed Starsky's mind to come through. At least you have your answers, and the truth.'

'Uh huh, but we can't exactly whack Starsk up like that to put him on the witness stand can we? I mean he can't live his life drugged to the eyeballs' Hutch said bitterly.

'No, but it has given me an idea. It's radical and I don't think you're going to like it, but I'm fairly certain it would work. We'd need Dave's consent though.'

'And that idea would be….?'

'We shock him. Electro shock therapy. Now I've seen what the drugs can do, in sufficient quantity, I'm pretty sure that E.S.T. would work' Beth said slowly, knowing the reaction she'd get from the blond. She wasn't mistaken,

'You mean electrocute him? No way. There's got to be another solution. E.S.T. is barbaric!'

'Not now it isn't. He'd be unconscious and he wouldn't even be aware of what was going on. More to the point, I'm pretty sure it would be a one hit wonder – a bit like shocking a heart to get it beating normally again' Beth said gently.

'You're sure it'd work?' Hutch asked sceptically.

'As sure as I can be with anything to do with the mind. Psychiatry isn't a precise science, but in my opinion I'd say we'd have a 90 percent chance of it working.'

The blond pursed his lips. 'Then I guess that's the way to go.'

'Well I can schedule him for the treatment in a couple of hours' Beth said, getting up to go to the phone. Hutch stopped her, his face thoughtful.

'Hold one a minute. There's a couple of things I'm thinking here.'

'Like?'

'Well first off, if it doesn't work, we only have the drugs to fall back on, and we need as much information as possible before the trial. I'd like it better if I could try to talk to Starsk at least once before the treatment. Is that possible?'

The woman nodded. 'I guess so. I could give him a large dose of the Thorazine as he's waking up. That'd put him out again, but you'd probably get five minutes of sense but of him before he wouldn't be able to fight it any longer.'

'Five minutes? Not a lot of time, but it should be enough. The other thing on my mind is this. We know we have the possibility of a cure and we know we can get some sense out of Starsk when he's out of his head on the Thorazine. But Edgar Fisher doesn't know that.'

Beth raised her eyebrows. 'No. Where are you going with this?'

'Well if we delay Starsky's treatment, put him back in his room and wait, Edgar is going to want to know why Starsk hasn't got the tapes for him. He's gonna want to make contact again, and I have the feeling Fisher aint a patient man. If we can get that contact on video tape, we've got the case sewn up.'

The woman looked thoughtful. 'Well we have CCTV installed in all the rooms, but the cameras aren't turned on as a matter of course. We use them more for patients with sleep disorders so that we can monitor them, and always with their permission. I guess we could use that.'

'Fine. We take Starsky back to his room and wait. With any luck, and if my hunch is right, we won't have to wait long before Fisher is ringing again to find out what went wrong.'

Beth put her hand on Hutch's arm. 'You know what you're asking, don't you. You told me about the fourth audio tape and the test Edgar used to see if Dave was completely under? Are you sure you want to put him through that again – and on video rather than audio?'

Hutch paled and his voice softened. 'If I could think of any other way, I'd take it, but what do you think? Can you come up with a better solution?'

Beth shook her head. 'No, not really. Let me get the CCTV switched on and I'll ask Gus and Derek to move Dave back to his room. After that, we wait huh?'

The blond nodded. 'Yeah, after that, we wait.'

True to her word, Beth set everything in place and the two of them moved across the hallway back to the dark, quiet room with the bank of televisions across one wall. Most were switched off, their screens showing blank grey, but one flared to life as the door to Starsky's room opened and a gurney was pushed through bearing the chocolate curled cop. Hutch watched as the two orderlies put the brunet carefully onto the bed, still fully clothed. They pulled a single throw over him, checked he was ok and then left, locking the door behind them. Starsky lay still where they'd placed him, the strong sedative still in his bloodstream allowing him at least a small time of rest and relaxation.

In the observation room, Hutch too dozed, his body and mind exhausted from the chasing down and back up the mountain and the emotion of seeing his partner once more under Fisher's spell. Beside the flaxen haired cop, Beth sat and watched and sipped at large amounts of coffee. Long hours in internship and in other hospitals had moulded her body and mind so that she could remain alert for 36 hours at a stretch if needs be, although fortunately she didn't have to do that bone crushing schedule too much any more.

She checked constantly on the monitor, watching the brunet, who turned several times during the night, but otherwise remained asleep, and it wasn't until the monitor showed that sunlight was streaming through his window that things started to happen.

Beth nudged Hutch awake and switched on the audio and the video buttons at the same time, starting the recording as the telephone rang on the nightstand next to Starsky's bed. Groggily, the brunet came awake and paused a minute, obviously wondering how he'd got back into his bedroom before his hand reached out and he took the phone.

From their watch room on the next floor, Hutch and Beth could hear and see clearly what was going on and Hutch stiffened as he heard the conversation.

'H'llo?' Starsky's voice was thick with sleep and as he spoke, he sat up on the edge of the bed, side on to the camera and ran his fingers through his hair.

Beth had also had a small microphone placed into the receiver of the phone and now she turned up the volume, Edgar Fisher's vice sounding tinny down the line.

'Where were you David? I missed you last night. Where are my tapes?'

'I um….I… I couldn't get out' Starsky said defensively.

'Couldn't? Or wouldn't? Aren't you my friend any more David? Don't you want to play our games?'

'No…. couldn't get away. They stopped me' the brunet's voice seemed lost and zoned and his profile on the camera showed him to be staring into space, no discernable animation in his features.

'David, I think you've forgotten your promise to me. You know I need to know you'll obey me, don't you?'

'Yeah…'

'Do you want me to test you again, David? I think I should, just to be sure.'

'No….'m sorry. I will get 'em. I just…'

'David listen to my voice. Listen only to my voice and I want you to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?'

Starsky's voice faded until he was merely parroting what he'd been told. 'Yeah….only what you say….'

In the small observation room, Hutch sat forward on his chair, his face close to the glass and his body so stiff it hurt. This was it. This was the crucial test and the one that would put Fisher away for the rest of his natural life. Fisher's voice was continuing.

'I've missed this David. And I've missed my tapes. I used to listen to you on the tape, at night when I was in my bed. Do you know your voice becomes so husky when you need release? It's so damned attractive David. I missed that. The younger boys weren't like that. They never lasted as long as you. I want to hear you do it again David. I want you to make love to yourself for me. Will you do that?'

'No, I… I don't…'

'David, listen to me. Only to my voice. I'm impressed that even now you can question me, but remember the pain David. Remember how it hurts when you remember, or when you disobey. Do you like the pain?'

'No….hurts….. don't wanna disobey' Starsky's voice said thickly.

'Good, so now you're going to unzip your pants David and you're going to stroke yourself. You're going to make love to yourself just for me, and you're going to plead with me to let yourhave release.'

The picture on the screen showed the brunet's left hand working at his zip and Hutch lurched to his feet. Beth held him back.

Ken, I know this is tough for you, but this is the evidence you want. With this you can put Fisher away for life. You have to let this conclude. This will be the last time ever Fisher will be able to get t Dave, I promise.'

I can't watch this. It's like he's rapin' him right in front of my eyes. I've gotta do somethin'.'

'And if you storm in there now. Fisher is going to know that you're on to him, isn't he?' Beth said reasonably.

The blond sat back down, his eyes drawn to the television screen despite himself. It was like watching some sickening porn movie except the star was his partner and best friend and as he watched, Hutch too felt as if he was violating Starsky in some way.

Fisher's voice was still sounding down the phone.

'That's so good David. I can hear your pain. I can hear you're so close. Tell me David. Tell me how you feel.'

'I need to cum. I need to….God, hurts…. I need….'

'Soon David, soon I'll let you release, but consider this a punishment for not following my orders. You won't disobey me again will you David?'

'No. Please lemme… I need to….'

On the screen, it was obvious what Starsky was doing, although thankfully the camera wasn't placed in front of him, giving him a small measure of decency.

'Ok David. You can come for me now. You've done well' Fisher said, as Starsky threw his head back and moaned, his body shuddering. Hutch swallowed down the bile rising in his throat and would have run from the room had it not been so urgent to get the full episode down on tape.

Both Beth and Hutch could hear Starsky's ragged breaths, but now Fisher was continuing and Beth turned the volume up more to catch every word.

'That was so good David. Thank you. And now your final instructions. I still want my tapes and I still need you to get them. Today, you will find some way to go back down into the city. You'll go to the metro and you'll get the tapes for me and return to the clinic. Tonight at 10:00 o'clock I will meet you in the pool house in the grounds and you'll hand them over. Is that clear?'

Starsky was still panting from his exertions but they could see him nodding. 'Tapes….10:00 in the pool house. Bring tapes…..yeah.'

'And David, this time you won't fail me huh? This time, if you fail me, it'll be the last time. Is that clear?'

'Yeah….last time…..won't fail.'

'Good. Now David, sleep and when you wake you'll feel rested but without any memory of this call. Three. Two, one and sleep.'

On the screen, Starsky barely had time to replace the receiver before he slumped back onto the bed, dead to the world.

In the small room, Beth and Hutch let out a collective sigh. 'We got it. Now we can treat Starsk and nail Fisher. We got a busy 24 hours!' Hutch said, pulling Beth to him and kissing her.