Chapter 9

It was three in the morning and Hutch was standing in his boss's bedroom, listening to him snore. He wasn't without justification for breaking into Dobey's house, but he was a little worried about the actual moment when he had to wake him. It had been a long time since he affected a break-in, and since he wanted to ask Dobey something, he thought he'd do it in person. Now that he was here, he wasn't so sure it was a good idea. But the upside was, Jones was right; it was like riding a bike.

He crept over to the bed and knelt down. He placed his gloved hand over the sleeping man's mouth and whispered, "Don't be alarmed, Captain."

Dobey's eyes flew open and in the dim light he focused on the stranger before him.

Hutch whispered, "Captain, it's me, Hutch."

It took a second to register what he heard, and another second to recognize the figure. He nodded his head and Hutch released his grip.

Dobey whispered, "What the hell are you doing, Hutchinson!"

"Shhhh—you'll wake up your wife. C'mon."

Dobey threw off the covers and pulled on a bathrobe. He padded out of his bedroom and down the stairs in pursuit of his subordinate. He caught up with him in the library. "What do you think you're doing, Hutchinson!"

"I wanted to find out what the agents are up to?"

"So you break into MY HOUSE!" Dobey regretted it as soon as he said it.

"I'm sorry, Captain," Hutch mumbled.

Dobey studied the tall man who didn't look so blond tonight. He was dressed all in black; black jeans, black sweatshirt, black gloves, black knit cap, and black tennis shoes. He even had some sort of black smudge marks covering the shiny areas of his face. Easing off, Dobey opened a cabinet door and pulled out two tumblers and a bottle. He poured a little into each glass and handed one to Hutch, noticing the slightest bit of trembling when he took it. "They spent the day setting up surveillance equipment. They have cameras on the interior and exterior of the hotel. They were none too happy about you giving Green and Phillips the slip, either. And, by the way, they made it clear that if you're caught, you're on your own."

Hutch swallowed the entire shot in one gulp and took a deep breath as it burned going down. His nervous energy prevented him from sitting and he paced around the perimeter of the room several times before Dobey stopped him. "Hutchinson, I don't know if what they said you did as a kid is true or not, but if you don't want to go through with this, you don't have to."

Hutch stopped long enough to stare out the blackened window into the darkness of the night. Finally, he said, "It's true, Captain." He wanted to explain himself—he needed to explain himself, like he did to Starsky. But no more words followed. Deep down, he respected Captain Dobey too much to lay out his sordid past. There was only one thing to do: he had to wipe out his past. But the big twenty million dollar question was: how?

Hutch put the glass on the table and turned to face his captain, "Are you okay with what you need to do?"

Dobey nodded his head, remembering the costume he was to wear. "Yeah. Huggy Bear, Starsky and I have it all figured out. You just take care of yourself."

Hutch nodded and went to leave. As he got to the door, he turned and said, "I'm sorry for breaking into your home."

Dobey shrugged, "Just gives me a reason to install that security system that Edith has been wanting. I think you just made one lady very happy."