Disclaimer: I do not own the guys; I just tend to play with them a bit…
Dedication: To many of my friend's that inspire and sometimes push me to write…THANK YOU ALL!
Warnings: This one may be a bit dark at times and some scenes of torture lie ahead…The views of this story are in no way reflected by the author!
A/N: This one is drawing to a close, just a few more chapters, I want to thank ALL of you that have been reading and reviewing through out. Feedback is important to a writer. Special thanks go out to my partner in writing, Brook, with out her, I may not even be writing right now, so thank you!
No Turning Back
Chapter Twenty
The car ride to the hospital was nerve racking for little Billy. He sat in Dobey's car, in the front seat, between the large black man and Andrews himself as they followed the two ambulances carrying Starsky and Hutch. The child's heart raced, his eyes wide with fear, as the blond cop recounted 'his' version of events. Andrews proceeded to tell Captain Dobey how he had followed Starsky from the bar in the city, to their location, he hid out in the woods until he felt the coast was clear, and assisted both Starsky and Hutch in their escape.
The three of them made it to the woods when Hutch had gone ahead to seek help, leaving Starsky, Billy and Andrews behind. The overly intuitive officer heard an oncoming car approaching as he hid in the bushes, watching as Montag attacked both Billy and Starsky before shooting Hutch, fatally from what the younger cop could tell. They were both aware that Hutch was still alive, but not for long, Andrews thought to himself sinisterly. After Andrews completed his tall tale, Dobey tilted his head, leaning it towards the young witness between them.
"Is that how it went down, son?" he asked, his voice hinted the slightest growl in relief at finding his two detectives, both men to which he had become very fond of, perhaps too fond given his position as their superior.
Billy looked straight ahead, out the windshield of the car, he felt Andrews knee pressing against his threateningly as he stammered, swallowing hard, "Y…yes…sir…that's just how it happened." he stuttered as Dobey looked back at the tail lights of the ambulance in front of him. "He…he saved our lives…"
"Well Andrews, I don't know how to thank you enough for what you've done for them and for my department. I know you and Detective Starsky had your personal problems, but I see you were able to put them aside and do what was right and I commend you for that." Dobey poured compliments on the deceitful officer.
"No need to thank me Captain, I was just doing my job." He replied, "M'sure he woulda done the same." All three of them rode the remainder of the trip in silence, each pondering their own personal demons and fears.
oooooOOOOOooooo
Once the had arrived at the hospital there was a mass of activity as both ambulance doors were thrown wide open, Hutch's unconscious body lifted out of the back of the first one, the white from the sheets of the gurney only made his pale features more exaggerated. There was one orderly on each side of him, one pushing the apparatus, the other holding the glass IV bottle high in the air as he rushed along side of the gurney.
The shorter, darker orderly was shouting statistics at the doctor who had rushed out to meet the group.
"BP 100/50, pulse 45 and thready, respirations 14. Bullet wound upper left chest area, pupils equal and reactive." He spewed almost too fast for Dobey to comprehend or absorb the gravity of what was being said.
Starsky's ambulance and gurney followed closely, with two more orderlies going through the same motions.
"BP 130/80, pulse 68, respiration 20…" the man in the pure white uniform continued his oration as the burst through the emergency room doors, disappearing behind them as they swung closed.
Dobey made his way to the nurse's station, bellying up to the counter and taking two clipboards, one for each patient that was about to be admitted, grabbing them he turned, nearly stepping on Billy who seemed to be joined at the hip, and right under his foot. He looked around the waiting room and found two empty chairs side by side, pointing in that direction and ushering his young friend to take a seat as the large man barely fit in one of the small chairs himself. He began the arduous task of filling out the patient information sheets for both detectives, something that he was completely capable of doing, knowing them almost as well as they knew each other.
Dobey began filling out the patient history forms, a chill running up his back as he was suddenly aware of Andrews' absence. He looked around the room, stood and made his way to the large glass doors that led the way outside. Pushing the door open, he stuck his head out and peered around, finding no sign of the man. Turning and stepping back into the waiting room, he nearly stepped on Billy again the boys eyes were wide, the fear and uncertainty that radiated from them bore deeply in to the black man's soul and heightened his alert as his cop instinct kicked in.
"Is there something you wanna tell me son?" Dobey asked, his gruff exterior softening as he attempted to approach the boy as more of a trusted father figure then a threateningly tough police Captain.
"It di'nt happen that way." Billy said, his gaze never shifting from Dobey's stoic stare.
"What didn't happen?" Dobey prodded the boy to continue.
"That cop…he didn't save us…he's the one that shot Hutch." Billy spat out with very little emotion whatsoever.
Dobey took note of the child's lack of emotion, noting that either he was making it up, or maybe he had seen so many terrible things in his young life, that he was almost 'used' to the horrors that a child this age should have never been exposed to.
"Son, that's a serious allegation you're making there." The large man tipped his head, looking at the boy through his brow.
"I know it is sir, but it's true…he shot Hutch and he hurt the other one. I saw him. Then he shot and killed that guy in the woods. They were in it together; I don't know why he did that, I haven't figured that out yet." Billy explained as he turned and headed back towards their seats. "But I'm still working on that one. I've seen him around before, at the camp where they kept all of us. Sometimes he'd come dressed up like a cop, other times he was just in regular clothes. He always met with Kiles…and now both of them are gone…and that worries me."
Dobey sat in his chair, inhaling deeply, completely blown away by the very adult conversation this pre teen and he were having. He set the clipboard down in the empty seat next to him as he focused his attention on the young man.
"Billy, do you really mean what you're saying? You understand what it means to lie don't you?" Dobey asked the child, thinking about his own kids at home, his heart aching for the boy.
"Yes sir, and I don't lie…unless I have to an' right now, I don't have to." Billy looked up at Captain Dobey. He spoke with an eerie conviction as he stared at him. "You see, I don't have any reason to make this up. If that cop did help us, don't you think I would want to tell you that? He hurt them, and he killed the other guy, he said he was the one that called the cops, and then just shot Mr. Montag in the head and then he dropped dead. The only thing I could figure out is that he wanted you to think he was helping, so he could get back here and get away before you figured it out, or before those two cops told you the truth. I don't think he was expecting wither of them to live."
Dobey looked up, his eyes wide, his heart skipping several beats. He looked around, he realized that he hadn't seen Andrews since they all got out of the cars back at the hospital. He stood and rushed towards the nurse's station as he reached over the tall counter picking up the receiver of the phone, pressing it to his ear and dialing several numbers.
"Dispatch, this is Captain Dobey, I want you to contact Officer Raymond T. Andrews, try his radio, his home, his parents. Tell him to contact me here at Bay City Memorial, if you can't track him down, or he doesn't check in with in the next hour, I want an APB put out on him. I want him considered armed and dangerous, you got that!" Dobey spat into the phone before pausing briefly for confirmation that the receiver understood, and then he hung out the phone, lifting his hand to his temple, rubbing it with his pudgy finger, trying to stop the incessant pounding that was trying to break through his skull.
"You gonna find him Sir?" Dobey opened his tightly shut eyes to see Billy looking at him inquisitively.
"You bet I am son, you bet I am." He vowed as the two of them returned to the chairs against the wall and Dobey continued to fill out the admittance papers for his two finest officers. Billy sat there quietly, not wanting to interrupt the man, but not wanting to be far away from him either. He was another one of the few adults that made him feel safe.
oooooOOOOOooooo
Hours passed, hours that seemed like days as Dobey and Billy sat in virtual silence, each pondering their own thoughts and queries. A doctor, clad in his thigh length white coat, burst through the swinging doors, his boisterous voice calling out.
"Who's with Detectives Hutchinson and Starsky?"
Dobey and Billy popped up from their chairs like Jack-in-the-boxes, springing from their metal tin.
"That would be us." Dobey stated as he approached the doctor, his eyes wide in anticipation. "Are they gonna be okay."
"I'm Doctor Miller, let's step over here and talk, shall we?" The tall man waved his hand in front of him, guiding the two towards the far wall, more secluded from the other patients and loved ones patiently waiting their turn.
Dobey's heart raced slightly, knowing that it usually wasn't a good sign when they are ushered away from other speculative glares, that is was for good reason.
"Detective Starsky is gonna be just fine, we had to splint his ankle, it is severely sprained, and even though the x-rays are negative, there is a slight possibility of a hairline fracture that we just couldn't pick up on. Detective Starsky also suffers from a pretty substantial concussion, four broken ribs, we are lucky that he didn't puncture a lung. That, coupled with some suspected temporary nerve damage due to the electric shock therapy he received is going to hinder his healing slightly, but we expect him to make a full recovery. It will take some time though; I think that his physical injuries may heal long before his mental ones do."
"What about Detective Hutchinson?" Dobey inquired, noticing the change in the doctor's demeanor.
"We took him straight into surgery, the bullet lodged with in inches of his heart, just to the upper chest area." He pointed to his own chest to explain the injury. "It tore some of his pectoral muscle an embedded itself in the Sternocostal Head of Pectoral Major, just up and to the left of the heart. Removing the bullet caused some damage to that muscle which we were able to repair. The only danger he is in right now is the onset of infection which is a risk following any type of major surgery. We will start him on an antibiotic therapy, strictly for preventative measures, and once we feel he's ready, we'll begin a regiment of physical therapy, to help him regain strength and mobility. If all goes well, he should regain most if not all of his range of motion from prior to the shooting."
Dobey sighed in relief, just knowing that for the moment, both os his men were out of immediate danger, and now would be able to concentrate on recovery, caused the black man to reach in his breast pocket and retrieve a handkerchief, wiping his sweaty brow before returning it to its proper place.
"Thank you Doc, thank you so much for taking care of both of them. When will I be able to see them?" He asked.
"Once we get them set up in recovery, and settled, I will have the charge nurse come and get you." He promised as they shook hands and the doctor turned on his heels and exited the waiting room.
Dobey took a moment to compose himself before talking to his small friend. "You hear that son?" he asked turning around to face Billy. "They're both gonna be…" Dobey's words dropped off sharply as he noticed that his small friend was gone, vanished, he scanned the waiting room, but found no sign of him.
To Be Continued…