Chapter 15

The blinds across the window gave a zebra effect to the large corner office occupied by the single man. That man had been tidying his paperwork up and preparing to go home – a place he hadn't been for just over a month now. Tiredly Dr Isaac massaged the muscles at the back of his neck, rotating it luxuriously to get rid of the knot of muscle that had resided there since the project began. Isaac leaned back in his black leather swivel chair and thought about his two "patients". He'd patched them up as well as he was able, a task made easier because both David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson had been in superb physical shape…..before their "accident".

When they had been brought into the facility (which was in fact a full floor of Da Luca's new office block converted into a hospital wing) Isaac had been a little stunned at how badly hurt both detectives had been. His remit had been to continue the brainwashing treatment he'd used at the Casa in the desert to turn one man against the other. He had not prepared himself for the poor shape both men were in when they were delivered to him. He had had strong words with Mr Lake who had in turn had strong words back. In effect Lake told Isaac that they were not medical patients in the true sense of the word and that any injuries they'd incurred in getting to the facility were legitimate. These were men Mr Da Luca wanted out of the way and whilst it seemed a waste of the doctor's time to heal them and work on their minds just to have them destroy each other, that was not Isaac's concern.

So Doctor Isaac operated, put the men back together again and under normal circumstances would have been happy at the ensuing results. Physically both Starsky and Hutch were well on the road to full fitness – a testament to Isaac's skill and the cops' fitness levels. Mentally both men were screwed.

Sighing deeply Isaac reached for the two detectives files and opened them at the final treatment pages, checking on the drugs pages so that he could catalogue the results later. He read the results soundlessly.

David Starsky.

Admitted August 12th.

Condition – sucking injury to chest, four broken ribs, broken ankle, ruptured spleen.

Recovery – over a period of eighteen days post operatively. Usual drugs given. Oxycontin and Oxynorm for pain. Penicillin IV for infection. Regular doses of Regulon for mental state.

On discharge

Regulon given orally – 300mg three times daily for 21 days. Final dosage of 3000mg Intramuscularly before discharge. Usual sound and light memory treatment whilst sleeping.

Ken Hutchinson

Admitted August 12th

Condition – dislocation and fracture to right elbow. Two broken ribs, severe concussion and possible skull fracture, bruises and contusions.

Recovery – over a period of fifteen days post operatively. X-rays for skull fracture proved inconclusive. Dislocation and fracture of elbow reduced under general anaesthetic. Oxycontin and Oxynorm for pain. Penicillin IV for infection. Regular doses of Regulon for mental state.

On discharge

This patient was particularly resistant to mind control techniques and required treatment in the sound room. Regulon given orally – 300mg three times daily for 21 days. Final dosage of 300mg Intramuscularly before discharge. Usual sound and light memory treatment whilst sleeping.

Isaac was about to close the folders and file them away when something about that last paragraph alerted him. He read it again. "Final dosage of 300mg Intramuscularly before discharge. Usual sound and light memory treatment whilst sleeping." Final dose of 300mg, not 3000mg! Fuck! The blond one, the one that had fought the brainwashing process all the way through hadn't had sufficient final dose!

Isaac's mouth went dry and his hand started to shake against the wood of the table. He'd seen what Mr Lake and Mr Da Luca could do to those who failed them. The previous doctor – the one in charge at the Casa in the desert had been found by the Bay City police hanging from a meat hook in a processing plant. His tongue had been cut out, his eyes were gone and the hook from which he was hanging had been inserted through the under part of his chin. The coroner had reported that all the injuries, including the meat hook had been inflicted whilst the victim was alive.

Isaac staggered to his private bathroom, closed the door and leaned over the pan, heaving until he had nothing left in his stomach. He sat by the white porcelain panting as he wiped his mouth and tried to compose his thoughts and slowly an idea formed in his head.

Getting up shakily, Isaac walked back into his office and took Hutch's file again. All the final notes had been written by one of the orderlies who had looked after the two detectives. Maybe….just maybe he could get away with this. The doctor wiped his sweating hands down the sides of his trousers, picked up Hutch's and Starsky's files and headed out and along the corridor to the largest office down at the end. He stopped outside the door, took a deep breath and knocked, waiting until Mr Lakes issued the command to come in.

Carefully and unsure whether his knocking knees were registering beneath his trousers, Doctor Isaac walked across the deep pile burgundy carpet to the desk used by Mr Lake. He stopped in front of the desk and waited patiently until Lake looked up.

'Well?' Lake asked.

'I was um…..well I was reviewing the files before they were filed away' Isaac stammered, laying Hutch's file down on the desk in front of Lake.

'Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like what you have to tell me Doctor?'

Isaac let out a dramatic sigh. 'I did everything I could, but I really shouldn't have left the final injections to Nurse Williams. He's a good nurse but he's sloppy and…'

'And what?' lake asked sharply.

'And I'm afraid there has been a mistake.'

Lake placed his pen down on the table with precision and sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers as he looked over them at Isaac. 'What kind of mistake?'

'I wrote both subjects up for a final dose of 3000mg of Regulon and one of them get only ten percent of that amount.'

'Do I need to ask which one?'

Doctor Isaac swallowed hard. 'If it had been Starsky this wouldn't be too much of a problem. His experiences at the hands of the Viet Cong and his susceptibility to the drug meant he was an ideal subject for Regulon. He took the drug and the conditioning well but as you know we had a certain amount of…trouble with Hutchinson.'

'And you're telling me what?' Lake was sitting forwards again and his face had turned ugly and dangerous.

'It was Hutchinson who received the smaller final dose' Isaac said in a rush. 'I can't apologise enough although I did write them up for the same amount, I assure you.'

Lake sighed deeply again. 'Then we have two questions. Who caused the problem and what do we do about it? Mr Da Luca is not a patient man Doctor. If he finds out that you've been wasting his time…..'

'Williams. It was Williams' fault. He obviously didn't read my notes properly and he didn't get the dosage checked. If anyone's to blame it's Nurse Williams' Isaac stammered.

'Then get him in here.'

Isaac tried to stall. While not wanting to take the blame himself, he wasn't enough of a bastard to want any harm to come to the nurse who had worked with him for the past six months. 'Let me deal with him Mr Lake. I'll make sure he knows the error of his ways.'

But Lake shook his head. 'Get him in here now. I just want a word with him.'

Isaac nodded and used the telephone on Lake's desk to page the nurse. Two minutes later Williams knocked on the door and entered when Lake told him to. The large male nurse walked into the office and stood with his legs parted and his hands folded in the small of his back like a good ex-Army nurse should do. Sensibly he said nothing.

'You gave Starsky and Hutch their last injections of Regulon?' Lake asked.

Williams nodded. 'Just like it said in the notes Sir.'

A gun shot blasted the room even though the muzzle of Lake's gun wore a silencer. Williams' face registered shock as a third eye appeared in the middle of his head. Nothing happened for an eternity and then Williams' body crumpled and fell where it had stood at the opposite side of the desk from Lake. Mr Lake calmly thumbed the safety back onto his gun and put it back into the drawer. He pushed a button on his intercom and asked for a cleaner and when a large man in a blue overall appeared he grunted. 'Get this piece of shit out of my office.'

The cleaner made no comment. Instead he took a hold of the body by its arms and dragged it across the floor, the heels of Williams' shoes leaving grooves through the deep pile of the carpet.

Calmly Lake looked back at the doctor whose face had gone several shades whiter. Isaac shook visibly now and it took him a moment to regain some of his composure. 'What?' he asked, registering that Lake had been talking to him.

'I said that that's one question answered. Now what do we do about Starsky and above all Hutchinson?'

Isaac tried to get his brain back into gear. 'Starsky should be fine. If I'd told him he was married to the Queen of England he'd have believed it before he left. As for Hutchinson…..'

'Is the boat still standing by?' Lake asked.

'Yeah. I mean they were told to go back onto the island after three days to see what progress had been made. I'd assumed that by the way they'd been primed, they'd have killed each other by then.'

'Then we get a message to the men on the boat to go in early. It's a shame to spoil the fun but I think we need to finish them once and for all. Don't you?'

'Right! I mean, yes, certainly. I'll go and send the message now.' Isaac walked to the door and as his hand reached for the handle Lake cleared his throat.

'Don't let me down again Doctor. There are only so many little people I can kill before I have to face the fact of who is really to blame.'

Isaac nodded once, escaped from the office and headed for the nearest bathroom to empty the rest of the contents of his stomach down the pan.

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On the island Ethan Quade/David Starsky was having problems of his own. He'd managed to preserve an air of bravado while Hunt had been around. He'd been pleased that he'd managed to get in two strikes at Hunt's most sensitive places but the position he found himself tied in, his existing injuries and the new ones incurred when he fell into Hunt's pit had taken away his last reserves of energy.

The brunet hung by his wrists from the tree, his weight taken by his bonds as he'd slumped forwards semi-conscious. It had confused the hell out of him to have Hunt yell and run off as he did. Quade had been waiting for the final stroke. In a way he would have welcomed it because he was heartily sick of the pains wracking his body. His chest and back were on fire and his ankle had swollen to twice its normal size again. Coupled with that, the cuts he'd got from the coral reef on his way in were in danger of becoming infected and had taken on an unhealthy red warmth but it was the centre of his body that hurt him the most.

Quade forced his eyes open again and looked at the blood soaked jeans. Flies had started to gather, attracted by the smell of his blood and he twitched his hips to make them leave. They did for a moment but then settled back down to their feast. The splinter still stuck out obscenely from his jeans although Quade couldn't tell whether it has pierced his scrotum or his cock. Whichever, the would continued to bleed freely and whenever he moved – or even breathed – the wound sent out huge electric shocks of pain that overwrote the dull ache in his groin.

The bound man let out a pitiful groan. He had reached the end of his reserves. He'd come to the island to kill Hunt and yet now all Quade wanted was to lie down, sleep and free himself from his pain. Small shivers wracked his body and he felt nauseous probably from loss of blood. Great, if the bastard leaves me here long enough I'll just bleed to death.

Quades chin rested on his chest. It set up another ache in his ribs but right now, the brunet was too far gone to care. He closed his eyes again. I failed ya Chris. I'm sorry Bro.

For a moment there was silence in the small clearing. The birds started to sing again and they were lulling Quade into a deeper state of sleep when suddenly he felt something else across his lower legs.

Quade opened his eyes and looked up quickly just in time to see something slither up the side of his body. Obviously it wasn't only the flies that seemed to be attracted to his blood and as his eyes widened in horror, Quade saw the forked tongue and the small black eyes of the snake as it started to slither up and over his hip.