FAULT LINE- PART 3

CHAPTER 19

AFTERSHOCK

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH

Tonight would be the last mission at enemy headquarters. Joey stood before his collection of guns and rifles. He caressed each one. The feel of the metal reminded him of each kill. He heard pleas for mercy as each spy saw their own deaths. Now, tonight, it would all be complete. But these guns wouldn't be his choice of destruction. It had to be more complete. He opened the drawer under the rifles and let out a whoop of satisfaction. A grenade. He picked up one of the round, solid objects and tenderly held it before him.

This was perfect. The only way to stop the spies was with this. Complete destruction. The only way to stop the growth was to destroy the root.

He was ready. He needed to accomplish his mission. He was ready to die in order to carry out his orders. His will had been taken over by the demands of his duty. The pain in his leg, his hunger, his feelings, no longer mattered. He was ready to sacrifice himself for his country.

He continued to repeat his name, rank and serial number. He sat on the bed with the grenade in his hand.

Name, rank and serial number. Nobody would get any more than that. Name, rank and serial number.

------

Evening finally arrived. Four people particularly were very relieved that there was now something concrete to do. Joey had decided to stick with Kira for the evening. He knew she was the ring leader. He was pleasantly surprised that his plan seemed to be going so easily. Usually Kira was off dancing somewhere but tonight she seemed anxious to be with him. He could keep his eye on her and be sure she was with him when the time came for redemption.

Kira herself was just bored. Now that her two lovers had abandoned her, all she had was Joey. He was no fun. He kept talking about Viet Nam and his disability. Yeah, she still had a job to do but god, did it have to be so clinical? She tried to pay attention to Joey but she also kept an eye out for David and Hutch. At least they had kept away from her. She didn't think she could put up with their smug attitudes.

Starsky had gotten to the club before Hutch. He stood off to the side, trying to get his bearings. He felt out of sync and wished he could have talked to Hutch earlier. But after he left Minnie, he went home and had a great nap. He was so tired by the time he got home and he knew that if he didn't get some sleep, his shift at the club would only be torture. Now as he watched the dancers, he felt ready to find this sucker and stop any more murders. He saw Susan and went to punch in his time with her and led her onto the dance floor. Kira forgotten, Starsky really enjoyed the easy mood with Susan.

Hutch walked into the club, leary of what the atmosphere might be like. He saw Starsky with Susan. He stood and watched as Starsky led Susan around the dance floor. For the first time since they had become involved with the case, he saw Starsky really let loose. His body moved to the music and he guided his partner with grace and tempo. Hutch kept Starsky in his line of vision until the couple had moved closer to where Hutch stood. Without breaking his rhythm, Starsky smiled a wide, inviting grin and winked at Hutch.

Just then, Hutch heard Chenille yell out to him. He turned around and Chenille had the phone in her hand and waved it in his direction. Hutch watched once more as Starsky and Susan glided over the dance floor. He let out a small sigh and shook his head.

He reached for the phone and had to shout over the noise to hear the caller on the phone.

"What? Who? Oh, sorry. Speak up will ya? -- oh yeah? Good job. What? Not yet. Don't make a move yet. Thanks."

Hutch slammed the phone down and looked for Starsky. He caught the other man's attention and waved him over. He continued huddling near Chenille but moved back toward the wall when Starsky joined him.

There was no time to reflect on their fight earlier that day. Only the locked blue eyes held the promise of understanding.

Hutch reached over to Starsky to pull him closer so he could be heard above the music and noise.

"Starsky, that was the crime lab. That piece of rubber they found at the last murder scene? It's a piece of rubber, well worn, like on the bottom of a shopping cart. A shopping cart was outside Arlene's house remember?"

Starsky nodded his head but tapped Hutch on the shoulder, anxious to intervene with his own thoughts.

"Hutch, but maybe, could it have been like from off a cane? Look over there with Kira. Joey uses a cane. We know he was in Viet Nam."

Starsky swallowed as he glanced in their direction. He pushed down any thought other than the case. He could deal with personal crap later.

"Starsky, I know what you're thinking. He was in some kind of special weapons division over there. Buddy, I think we just found our killer. Look, we need to go real slow here. Get some of these people out of here as carefully as possible. We don't want to alert Joey yet."

Starsky moved among the patrons, calmly asking them to leave due to a problem with the lighting. He kept moving them out, thanking each person as they complied. Hutch moved in the other direction, keeping Kira and Joey in sight. He wishd he could distract Kira and get her away from Joey but she was too engrossed in entertaining him to give Hutch any notice.

Suddenly, Joey looked away from Kira and froze. He noticed that people were leaving and that two men seemed to be in charge. At the same time he felt Kira's hand on his arm. He looked down and back at her. He was confused and anxious.

"Joey, just relax now. Everything's gonna be alright. But you have to trust me. I've got a gun pointed at your belly. Just stand up real slow"

Kira had seen Hutch prowling deliberately. Her instincts told her that Joey was their target. Hutch never took his eyes off her and she saw Starsky leading some of the patrons out the door.

Hutch was moving closer to them with Starsky close behind. Kira tried to convince Joey to just give up.

"C'mon Joey. Do yourself a favor and just end all this right now. Make it clean and maybe we can---"

Kira never got another word out as Joey stood up and grabbed her. He positioned her in front of him and started walking toward the dance floor.

Kira continued trying to speak quietly to Joey. The music hadn't stopped so it was still noisy. She wanted him to hear her words, not be confused by the action.

He reached in his pocket with his free hand and pulled out the grenade. He shoved it in front of Kira and her eyes grew wide. She was afraid now more than ever. She gave up the idea of stomping on his foot. She was afraid any movement on her part would cause him to release the pin and drop the grenade.

By this time the music had stopped and most of the patrons were gone. Hutch still moved slowly toward them. Kira lost track of Starsky. Good boy, Kira thought. She tried keeping Joey's attention directed at Hutch. She knew the plan now. Starsky would try to catch them from behind but he would never see the grenade. Hutch wouldn't have time to warn him.

With one last effort she twisted out of Joey's hold, pushed him into Hutch and fell to the ground. She only hoped her improvised decision would work.

Joey pulled the pin but his hand shook. He released the grenade too early and it flew in the air. Just like an unforgettable football play, Starsky lunged for the bomb. As it landed in his hand, he heard Hutch's voice. With the grenade now primed, Starsky knew he only had a minute before it would exlode. Starsky forced his body in the direction of Hutch's voice and pitched the bomb to Hutch. He grabbed it and made a mad dash to the window and flung it through the glass.

The scene was set for the final act. Starsky found himself nearest to Kira so out of pure instinct, he covered her with his body as they landed on the ground. Hutch had Joey by the arm and covered him as the two of them fell from the force of the explosion.

Bits of ceiling tile, dust and glass flew around and on top of them. The explosion wiped out any other noises from the club. By the time the explosion died away and the debris stopped falling, it had grown quiet.

Starsky looked up to find Hutch huddled over Joey. But Hutch sought out Starsky and their glance explained it all. They both looked on in disbelief as Kira pulled herself out of Starsky's grasp and slid over to Joey. By this time he was mumbling his name, rank and serial number. He had a vacant look in his eyes. He did not have any memory of where he was or what had happened. He just kept hugging his middle and crying out his name, rank and serial number.

Kira wrapped her arms around Joey's shoulders and pulled him closer. She crooned to him. Tried to calm him with her words. Much like she would sooth a crying infant.

Over her head, Starsky and Hutch made complete eye contact. Hutch saw understanding, sadness and hurt register in Starsky's face. In that instant, both men knew that Kira no longer mattered. She had already moved on to someone who needed her. But Joey was incapable of knowing that. Perhaps they were the perfect couple.

Starsky brushed the debris from his jacket as he watched Kira. He understood that he meant nothing more to her. The knowledge hurt. The dust that still clung to his jacket weighed him down. He flicked at more of the dirt and suddenly realized that he had the power to rid himself of Kira. He continued slapping the debris off his body, seeing his need and desire for her fade away.