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Blood, Sweat, and Tears

by dnjlwilson

Chapter 3

He woke to a hot white pain in his side. He struggled to move his arms to fight the unseen enemy but couldn't. A heavy weight held him still. The pain grew more intense and he felt blackness closing in. "No!" he yelled, trying to drive it away.

"It's okay." Mama Jade's quiet voice broke through the fog that surrounded him. "I'm having trouble with this bullet."

"What?" Starsky yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Mama Jade's helpin' you." Moses said. "I'm helpin' her." he added, proudly.

"You're crazy!" Starsky again yelled. "Get Hutch!" he screamed.

"Calm down." Mama Jade replied. "You're not helpin' me at all."

"You shouldn't be doin' this! Let me up." Starsky pleaded.

"You're in no shape to go anywhere." she told him. "Now be still or you're gonna bleed to death."

"Just get Hutch. He'll take care of me." Starsky almost cried. The pain and shock took over all of his emotions. Blood loss rendered him nearly helpless. He couldn't get up if he tried. "You don't know what you're doin'."

"Son, I've dug out more bullets than I can count. And I've nursed more than one man back to health. Now be still!" Mama Jade shouted.

"Let me go!" Starsky struggled against Moses, trying to break free of the man's strong embrace.

"Moses, go ahead." Mama Jade nodded.

"But..." Moses started to reply.

"It's for his own good. He'll be okay." she assured him.

"Okay." he said quietly.

Moses then raised his large right hand and swung hard, connecting with Starsky's jaw, stealing his consciousness immedietly. Starsky lay still, no longer struggling or yelling.

"Now." Mama Jade said, patting Moses on the shoulder. "Shoulda done that in the very beginning. My job will be much easier." She then continued her task of removing the bullet from her very compliant patient.

She was so focused on her work, she didn't see the tears in the large man's eyes or the gentle strokes he gave the injured man as he tenderly touched his face.

"I'm sorry I hurt you." Moses said quietly as he turned and walked out of the room.

The search for Starsky had begun in earnest as nearly fifty men were brought in to search for clues. Kimbrough's body had been taken to the coroner and Mason and his men were taken downtown to the lockup.

Hutch had hit walls on every idea he came up with so he decided to talk to Mason. After all, Mason could only gain from helping him and Hutch had nothing to lose by talking to Mason.

Mason was brought to the interrogation room, cuffed securely. He looked at Hutch and immedietly knew he had something to bargin with. Smiling, he said, "You must be that cop's partner. I heard about you."

Moving toward Mason swiftly, stopping only inches from his face, Hutch visibly snarled. "Mason, what you didn't hear, and what you should probably know, is that I will not hesitate to take any action I need to take to get what I want from you."

Not at all affected by the venomous tone, Mason laughed. "You tryin' to scare me, Pig?"

With lightening speed, Hutch grabbed Mason by the throat and shoved him against the wall. Holding him up by an arm at his throat, Hutch crowded as close as he could, this time, nose to nose with Mason.

"Look, you son of a bitch, they tell me my partner's probably dead, and I don't care about much else if he is. So if I kill you right now, it won't mean shit to me! If you've got something to tell me, you better say it fast!"

Visibly shaken and struggling for breath, Mason croaked out, "Okay, okay! I'll tell you what I know, buy you're not gonna like it."

Backing away from Mason, Hutch replied, "Just tell me." Dread made his stomach clinch as he feared what Mason had to say, but he had to know.

Mason hit the floor on his hands and knees, gasping for air. "Give me a minute, will you?"

Hutch reached down and grabbed Mason by the arms and bodily snatched him up to his feet. "Starsky may not have a minute! Now talk to me!"

"I didn't shoot him!" Mason blurted out. "I blew that loud mouth away, I admit it. But I didn't do the other one. I kinda liked him." Seeing the effect his words had on the tall cop, he continued. "I know my guys hit him twice. But he took off runnin' and firin' his gun. That's the last I saw of him before you guys came chargin' in. I swear!"

All the rage suddenly left Hutch as he visibly slumped and dropped down into a chair. "I believe you." he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Staring out, looking at nothing, Hutch said to the guard, "Get him out of here."

As Mason was led to the door, he turned toward Hutch and said remorsefully, "Hey, for what it's worth, I hope you find him."

Hutch never acknowledged Mason's words. The door closed and he was left alone in the small room. Focusing once again, he looked around and said, "How many times have we been in here messing with some guy's head? Oh, Starsk."

Hutch dropped his head down on the table, nearly collapsing with fatigue and hopelessness. Tears came, unchecked, and his shoulders shook with sobs he couldn't control.

"This shouldn't have happened!" he said angrily.

A small glimmer of hope crept across his mind as he realized he believed Starsky was still alive. Somehow he knew he was, he would know, deep inside, if Starsky was dead. Their connection was that strong.

"I'm gonna find you, Buddy, so help me God. Now matter where you are!"

Mama Jade finished cleaning the blood from her hands and looked at the young man. "How did this happen to you?" she said to him, not really expecting an answer from her unconscious patient. "I wonder who you are."

She walked over to the man and began searching his pockets. His front pockets held a set of keys, two pieces of gum, fifty-two cents in change, and an odd coin. It had what looked like the back of a quarter on both sides. "You're a strange one." she said, smiling.

Reaching into his back pockets carefully, she pulled out his wallet. "This will tell me what I want to know." Opening the wallet, she froze, her blood running cold. It held a badge. A cop's badge. The identification picture matched her patient's face. Old wounds were opened and bitterness and hatred clouded her vision.

Reading his name, she lost her breath. "Detective David Michael Starsky. This is unbelievable! I've got his partner. He will have to come to me!"

Walking, seemingly in a trance, to the picture on the well used dresser, she gently picked it up and clutched it to her breast. Tears streamed down her face as she said out loud to the memory that haunted her, "Baby, Mama's gonna get that man now. He'll be sorry he ever heard of you. I knew someday I would get even with him."

Mama Jade then collapsed into the chair in the corner of the room and laughed and cried at the same time.

tbc