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Disclaimer: I make no money from this. Starsky and Hutch do not belong to me, I just borrow them, and promise to return them in the same condition I found them in. My characters do belong to me, and I can use them as I see fit, until they start fighting back.

Author's Note: There will be some h/c in this chapter, but much more in the upcoming ones. I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it…

Warning: There may be some graphic explanations of torture to follow.

Chapter 6

They bumps in the road jarred him awake. The pain he felt shooting through his head, made him wish he was still out of it. He blinked his eyes several times as his surroundings swirled and came slowly into focus. He could see Sandy lying on the floor of the van next to him. Her eyes were open, but she didn't seem to be focused on anything, and she wasn't moving. This made him very uneasy.

"Hey?" He managed to whisper. She turned her stare to him. He swallowed hard. "You okay?" She didn't answer.

The van hit another dip in the road causing their heads to bounce on the steel floor. Starsky grimaced in pain, but Sandy didn't seem to be phased. Starsky could tell this vehicle was in serious need of some new shocks. He felt the ingredients of his dinner rising in his throat, burning as he fought to return them to his stomach, where they belonged. His hands and feet being bound together, made it impossible for him to attempt to get into a comfortable position. He brought his shoulder under him so he was lying on his side, facing Sandy.

"Sandy, answer me, are you okay?" He asked quietly.

She acknowledged his question with a subtle nod of her head, but no words were spoken.

"Don't do anything to make them mad." Her eyes were locked on his. "We're gonna be fine. 'Kay? Just stay with me." He pled with her.

One tear fell from her eye and across the bridge of her nose. He saw the fear in her eyes even though she refused show it. He felt a hand on his head, placed gently above his injury. It was her hand, she had reached over and was rubbing his temple carefully. He could tell his hair was matted with dried blood.

The look in her eyes seemed to turn from fear to sorrow, and concern. He almost hated this look more. The vehicle took a hard right turn, causing Starsky to roll back onto his stomach. He had no way of preventing it. Bringing up his knees, he rolled onto his side and then onto his back, looking at the roof of the paneled van he was in. The throbbing in his head consumed his thoughts for a moment. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push it away.

"Good, you're awake! I'd hate for you to miss all the fun." He heard Ricky address him.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Starsky retorted in his usual defiant tone.

He felt the large knuckles of Ricky's fist slam into the side of his jaw, immediately tasting the blood pooling inside his mouth. He turned his head away from Sandy and spat the red contents from his mouth onto the floor of the van, pleasing Ricky with the sight. He could hear the sounds of approval coming from Tommy in the front seat, as he heard Sandy gasp.

"From here on out, anything you do or say, she pays for." Ricky threatened pointing to Sandy. "Got it?"

He reluctantly nodded his head. He knew he was going to have to bite his tongue pretty hard, to avoid causing Sandy any mishaps. Starsky felt that they may hurt her anyways, but he didn't want to be the cause of any of it. He had to figure out a way to get them out of this before any more harm came to the duo.

XXXX

Hutch pulled up in front of Huggy's place screeching to a halt. There were already several police cars on scene, he felt the lump in his throat swell. He quickly jumped out of his car and ran up the stairs to his friend's apartment, taking them three at a time. He rushed through the front door, finding Huggy sitting on his couch, being questioned by Officer Hamilton.

"I told you, I don't know who they were." Huggy was apparently irritated at having to repeat himself, he was pressing an ice pack to the back of his head trying to lessen the size of the lump he had received.

"Huggy? You okay?" Hutch addressed the frightened man on the couch.

Huggy immediately rose from the couch and took a few steps to meet the blond detective. "Hutch, they got Starsky…They took him an' Sandy…"

Hutch felt his heart join the lump in his throat. "Who got 'em, Huggy?" He asked.

"Martins an' his men." He answered.

"Huggy, start at the beginning, tell me what happened."

Huggy gave the blond detective a recap of the evenings events. Unfortunately, he could only give a description of the common colored paneled van and the direction it was heading. There was no license plate or identifying marks to provide extra help, and they had at least a ten minute head start. The officers on scene wasted no time in putting out an APB on the van.

"Hutch, I couldn't do anything, man. I'm sorry!" He apologized to Hutch, unnecessarily. Truth was, Hutch never, for one minute, thought any of this was Huggy's fault. He put a reassuring hand on the mans' shoulder, squeezing tightly.

"I think you should have the paramedics look at your head, buddy." Hutch advised him, but Huggy refused. He had been hurt worse than this and still avoided having doctor's check him out.

"Whatya gonna do, Hutch?" Huggy inquired.

"I'm gonna find my partner, that's what I'm gonna do." He stated with a clear sound of determination in his voice.

XXXX

He wasn't sure how long they'd been driving when the van finally came to a stop. During the trip, Starsky did his best to keep an eye on Sandy. She had hardly moved, with the exception of a couple of times that a bump or a sharp corner jostled her into an uncomfortable position, she remained stationary.

As the side door of the van opened, Sandy's eyes locked on Starsky's. The look of intense fear returning.

"We're gonna make it, stay with me, Sandy." Starsky reinforced his words of encouragement. He hoped she believed him. He felt the need to give her hope, sensing her resigning to the feeling of impending doom, and he thought she was giving up. He need her to fight, mentally, and if the time comes, physically as well.

"Ah, isn't that sweet!" Ricky sneered sarcastically, as he jumped out of the van and reached back, grabbing Starsky by the underarm and dragging him to the door. Tommy snatched the detective under the opposite arm and both men hauled him out of the van backwards. He kept his eyes locked on Sandy who was beginning to sit up, preparing herself for the transfer. He winked at her as they drug him away to a nearby tree, dropping him to the ground. He couldn't help but let out a gasp, as the air was temporarily knocked out of him.

From where he was laying he could see a house, several hundred yards away. It was two-story, white with blue trim and a large porch off the front door. He scanned the area and saw no other houses or people in sight. It looked like they were on their own.

Tommy reached down and grabbed the detective firmly by the collar and jerked him into a sitting position, placing his back against the tree for support. "You're not gonna want to miss this." He told Starsky.

Joey Martins had come around to the side of the vehicle, he stood on the side bumper and reached in, grabbing a fistful of Sandy's beautiful brown hair. He roughly pulled her out of the van as she inadvertently let out a squeal of pain. Her hands reflexively grabbed his wrist trying to get him to let up. He tossed her out of the van, releasing her hair, throwing her to the ground.

She laid still, afraid to move. "Get up!" Martins commanded.

Sandy slowly attempted to stand, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. Just when she was up of the ground high enough, Martins planted a size 10 shoe to her side forcefully, causing her to be cast sideways, back on the ground.

"You bastard!" Starsky screamed, which earned him a punch to his temple that had previous been injured at Huggy's place. A bright flash of pain shot through Starsky's head, blinding him. When his vision cleared, he saw Sandy, on her side, lifting her head, vomiting, while gasping for air.

"Welcome home, honey!" Joey said as he bent down and grabbed her by her hair again and pulled her to her feet. She was still heaving, but her stomach contents had already been drained. He took her chin in the palm of his hand and squeezed tightly, tilting her head towards him, drawing her close. His mouth was inches from her face. She could feel the heat of his breath on her face as he spoke. "I don't understand why you had to go an' talk to this fine officer here, you knew that'd piss me off." He increased the pressure on her face. She let out a squeak. "You know what happens when I get pissed off!"

"Don't do it, Joey. She didn't tell us anything." Starsky tried unsuccessfully to convince the sick man.

"I don't recall anyone askin' you any questions, pig!" Ricky said as he bent down and landed one solid punch to Starsky's mid section, causing him to fall forward as the air he held in his lungs escaped. He coughed as he fought to breath again.

"Let's get them in the house, that way we can have all the fun we want an' we don't have to worry 'bout no one drivin' up." Martins instructed the two burly men.

Ricky and Tommy quickly grabbed their charge and began dragging him towards the house with Joey and Sandy right behind them.

As soon as they were through the front door, Starsky was tossed onto the living room floor. Tommy quickly headed to the dark brick fireplace and started to build a fire. Sandy was brought into the room and shoved onto the large, over stuffed couch.

Within minutes the fire in the fireplace was raging. Tommy took the log poker off the iron tool tree on the hearth and placed it in the hottest part of the fire, looking back at Sandy, smiling.

Starsky got a sick feeling in his gut as he watched Tommy twirl the iron poker around in the flames.

"Either one of you ever wonder what it feels like to be branded, like cattle?" Tommy asked just to add to the tension.

The dark haired detective looked at Tommy than over at Sandy, who had slid off the couch and was sitting on the floor near him, wide-eyed. He wanted to keep them from hurting her, but he was in no position to physically help her.

"Yeah, I was always a little curious 'bout that." He said, thinking that would bring Tommy's attention to him and off of Sandy.

The barbaric man turned away from the fireplace, holding the iron poker out in front of him and waving it back and forth. Starsky's eye grew large as he saw the red glow emitting from the tip of the rod. He knew this was going to hurt like crazy. Tommy took a step towards the two captives, grinning wildly.

Starsky closed his eyes as Tommy lowered the 'weapon', fully expecting to feel the searing pain as the poker touched his body. Instead, he heard Sandy scream and the sizzling of her flesh as he opened his eyes. The fair-haired brute was standing over Sandy with the tip of the instrument pressed firmly into Sandy's bare upper left arm.

The brunet detective tried to kick at the monster, but couldn't get much force with both legs trussed together, and the position he was in.

"You son of a bitch!" He cursed. Sandy was panting heavily, but other than the initial scream, she made little noise.

"You're tough." Tommy said, impressed with her self control. He pulled the poker away from her arm enjoying the damage it inflicted. There was no blood, the heat cauterizing her wound immediately. "But by the time we're done with you, you'll be begging us to kill you!"

She was biting her swollen bottom lip to keep from screaming out. Water dripped from her eyes, yet she wasn't crying. Starsky was looking at her intently, his stomach jumping to his throat in an all too familiar occurrence.

Tommy returned to the fireplace putting the poker back on the tree stand where it belonged, and joining Ricky and Joey in the kitchen.

Starsky rolled onto his side to face Sandy, she wouldn't look him. She kept staring at the dirty carpet.

"Sandy?" He said gently. No answer. "Sandy, look at me."

She slowly raised her eyes to meet his. "You alright?" She was holding her arm just below the burn, squeezing tightly and rocking back and forth, trying to get the stinging to subside.

"Yeah." She gasped, trying again to catch her breath.

"God, I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything." He apologized.

She just stared at him, furrowing her brow. Why was he sorry? She thought to herself. After all, it was her fault he was here in the first place. She shook her head, he made no sense to her.

To Be Continued