Chapter 22

David Starsky awoke slowly from the dream he was having. In the dream he was standing in an alleyway. The ground was littered with garbage and there was the rank, acrid smell of decaying food in the air. At the side of the alleyway was an iron fire escape and two steps at its base and as Starsky watched his dream unfold, he saw himself as if he was a spectator, collapsing down onto one of those steps clutching at his belly. Immediately the man who called himself Hutch was at his side, pulling him forwards into an embrace until his head fell against Hutch's chest. It was not the embrace of a lover nor even the casual touch of a friend. The embrace held more emotion than words could ever express and as Starsky watched his dream end, he thought he saw a single tear leave Hutch's eye and work its lonely way down the blond's face.

The dream changed until Starsky was standing at the mouth of another alleyway, this time with a gun in his hand. The hunk of metal felt heavy and reassuring in his grip and Starsky clung to it as though his life depended on it. Men were chasing him -bad men and they had Hutch and himself cornered. He needed to escape and he needed to fire his gun on order to do that. It was then that he heard the voices around him and consciousness chose that moment to intervene.

'I told you to back off man.' Hutch's voice held an edge of temper that seemed out of place in Starsky's dream.

'Why? Is he your bitch? Don't you wanna share his ass with us? We'll treat him real kind, won't we Esteban?' It was another, unfamiliar voice, heavily accented and close enough for Starsky to smell tostadas in the air. The brunet grasped the metal of the gun harder and opened his eyes a fraction to find that in reality the "gun" was the iron bar of a barred cage. He was lying on the floor, his side against the bars and Hutch was kneeling at his other side, putting his body between Starsky and the two huge men who shared the cell with them.

'I told ya to back off, so back off. You want a piece of him, then you have to come through me' Hutch growled again

Groggily Starsky attempted to sit up, using the bars of the cell for leverage. He managed to achieve the correct position although the fire in his crotch had now turned his flesh into molten lava and there was a fresh coating of blood on his already encrusted shorts. For a second Starsky thought that maybe the men had already had a piece of him and then he remembered the moment in Freiberger's office when the younger officer had driven his knee into Starsky's balls and the world had winked out.

The curly headed man groaned and leaned heavily against the iron bars, his eyes closed as he dealt with the pains assaulting his senses. He felt, rather than saw a movement and suddenly there was a sound of flesh meeting flesh. Starsky looked up just in time to see that one of the big men – he looked Mexican – had tried to get closer to Starsky and Hutch had punched him in the face.

As Starsky looked on like a spectator at a boxing match, the other Mexican came to join his friend in the fight. Man #1 swung a fist at Hutch who caught it in his hand and used the momentum of the blow to swing his opponent around to cannon into man #2. Man #1's body sent the two of them reeling away to crash against the bars, both men surprised that the blond had such quick reactions. There was a moment of stunned silence. As the Mexicans stood at the far side of the cell, Hutch turned to Starsky and squatted down by the side of the brunet. Hutch's nose was bleeding and there was a cut above the blond's right eye allowing blood to trickle down the side of his face and drip from his chin onto his tee shirt. Obviously this was not the first time their cell mates had tried to get closely acquainted with the brunet.

'Welcome to the Hilton' Hutch muttered dryly as he continued to keep one eye on the two muttering Mexicans.

'You could've asked for the executive suite' Starsky mumbled quietly.

Hutch snickered. 'This is the executive suite. How're ya feeling buddy?'

Starsky avoided Hutch's piercing crystal blue eyes. The blond's gaze was disconcerting. There was so much compassion and need in those eyes that it made Starsky hurt more than his abused family jewels. 'M good.'

'Like hell you are. It must hurt like hell. Can you keep awake for a while? Those goons just don't give up. For some reason they seem to think I'm gonna pimp you out.'

'Imagine that!' Starsky muttered. 'I can keep awake. Looks to me like you need some rest. Why are we here?'

'Sheriff Freiberger's revenge. I dunno Starsk.' Hutch wiped at the blood dripping from the cut of his forehead with his forearm and sank back to sit beside the brunet with his back against the bars, his eyes never leaving the two sulking Mexicans opposite.

'Why did you do it?' Starsky asked softly, his own eyes fixed on the ground in front of him.

'What?'

'Why'd ya fight 'em off?'

Hutch sighed, closed his eyes, and let his head fall back until it was resting against the cool metal of the bars. There was a tired resignation in his voice as though he knew that Starsky was no easy fix. 'It's what we do' he said in a strained voice.

'I don't get it.'

'I know you don't buddy. Right now I don't get it either. I don't know how I can make you believe me when I say we're cops, we're partners and we have been for going on 6 years. Those guys who took us Starsk, those guys who put us in their hospital…. They aren't the good guys. We are. We're the good guys and somehow you've gotta believe me. You are Dave Starsky. Ethan Quade doesn't exist except in your head.

'He feels real to me' Starsky said. 'I don't know a Dave Starsky. To me he's the fiction, just like you are. I don't know a Ken Hutchinson. In my world you're Ray Hunt, you killed my baby brother.'

Hutch shifted position so that he could look Starsky in the eye. 'Is that what you still believe Starsk? Is it?'

The brunet looked away. 'I don't know what to believe any more. A doctor comes an' tells me about a family that I have. He tells me that my brother was killed by a man and that he can get me within killing distance of that man. He tells me my name; my life, coz I have no memories of my own and he gives me back an identity. Then you come along and you aren't the kinda guy I thought you were and however hard I want to kill my brother's murderer, I can't. You won't let me.'

'You tried' Hutch said, with feeling.

For the first time Starsky turned and looked, really looked into Hutch's eyes. 'I tried but I couldn't. Every time I had the chance something inside me stopped me from taking that final step.'

'What does that tell you Starsk? Just take a step back and listen to your feelings. I told you we were more than friends' Hutch said softly.

'Friends? I dunno. I dunno anything any more. The line they gave me in hospital was so real. They said I was Army. I can feel that. It seems so right. Now you tell me I'm a cop and you're my partner but I don't get any feel from that at all. I don't have memories of you or bein' a cop or any of that shit. What am I supposed to think huh? Who am I supposed to trust. And don't come that "me and you" shit coz I'm way past the shmaltz.'

Hutch sighed. For one agonising moment he thought that Starsky's memories were returning. For the first time in a long time he'd seen the softer, friendlier side of the brunet and hope had sprung up in his chest. Now he felt as though a pail of iced water had been thrown over him. What he took to be the return of memories was just more confusion heaped on Starsky's head and he knew it was no use forcing the issue. Whether Starsky was "himself" or not, Hutch knew the more he pushed the brunet the more Starsky would dig his heels in.

Without another word, the blond pulled himself up using the bars for support and yelled at the closed door opposite. 'Hey Sheriff! I have the right to a phone call. I wanna make it now.'

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'What do you mean they escaped?'

'I mean that two of your goons are in my clinic right now having their heads fixed. It took them a day to find their radio and ask for help in getting of the island. Meanwhile Starsky and Hutch are gone.'

'Shit' Mr Lake looked across the mahogany topped desk at Dr Isaac who returned his gaze balefully. Both men knew the cost of failing Mr Da Luca. Both men had seen the horror and heard the final screams of the men who were wedged into brand new freeway bridge works while the hot cement was poured around them so that it filled their eyes and ears and finally closed in over the tops of their heads.

'Shit is right. You trusted those men. Your words to me were "we'll never see Starsky and Hutch alive again". So much for your idea. What do we do now?'

Mr Lake put down the brochure of the mansion house he had picked out in Brooklyn. The palace had five bedrooms, five bathrooms, six acres of prime land and a view of the bridge. He sighed deeply, knowing that his plans of a secure and comfortable future were washing away like a wave through grains of sand.

'You seem to have all the big ideas' he told Isaac bitterly. 'Maybe your plans will work better than mine.'

'Well at least I don't rely on men whose education stopped at the first grade.'

'Fine. Tell me your plan or we both end up in the bay wearing concrete overshoes.'

Isaac smiled grimly. 'I plan to live a long and happy retirement. What Mr Da Luca doesn't know won't hurt him. For the moment we have the luxury of time on our side. I've been studying their files again and I think I may have something.'

Lake sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. 'Wanna share?'

'Starsky is ex army. He had a tour in 'Nam and for a while he was the guest of the Viet Cong – four months in fact before he was rescued. They didn't treat him too well according to the army notes I managed to get a hold of. It took another nine months of therapy to get him back on his feet. The Viet Cong used mind control on him as well as physical abuse and whilst he was recovering he became dependant on one of his doctors.'

'A real bad ass soldier huh?'

'Like you say. So we use that to our advantage. Hutchinson was nowhere near as compliant as Starsky when they were at the clinic. If anyone has broken the conditioning it'll be the blond one. Even if Hutchinson has convinced Starsky that he is who he is, it'd be the work of an hour or so to get Starsky's conditioning back on track.'

'Great. So?' Lake still looked as though he needed to be convinced.

'So I know where Starsky lives. Sooner or later he's gonna go home and when he does….. Well I haven't made a house call in years, but I could make an exception in this case.'

Mr Lake sat forwards in his chair. 'Can you really make this work?' he asked. 'Cos this isn't just your ass on the line. I want a long and happy retirement too.'

Dr Isaac snickered grimly. 'If you don't get one, it won't be for the want of trying. Give me another 48 hours. If Mr Da Luca asks, it's your job to stall him. Leave the technical stuff to me huh.'

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The glowing yellow button on the telephone winked mockingly at Harold Dobey and then the phone rang and he jumped.

Almost angrily the big black man reached for the receiver. 'Dobey.'

Minnie's voice sounded down the line, excitement and anticipation colouring her usually calm voice. 'Phone call for you Captain. It's um…. It's Hutch. They're fine! They're ok!'

Dobey's eyebrows shot up and he spilled the coffee from the cup he'd been holding. Frantically he dabbed at the scalding hot fluid with his hanky. 'Well put him through, don't keep the man waiting' he blustered, trying hard to keep a professional attitude. A moment later a familiar voice sounded down the line.

'Cap'n?'

'Hutchinson! What the fuck? Where are you? Where the hell have you been? Is Starsky there?'

'It's a long story Cap but both me and Starsk are here…..kinda. We're at the Sheriff's office in Rock Ridge, about 70 miles south of Bay City. Can you send a car for us?'

'I can do better than that! I can…..' Dobey's voice died as he thought of the visit he'd had from the Feds only two days ago. The suits had told him that they were officially treating Starsky and Hutchinson's disappearance as suspicious and they had grounds to believe that both officers were connected to the sudden death of one Joe Durniak. However hard Dobey had tried to convince them otherwise, the two Feds had left the captain in no doubt that if seen, both Starsky and his partner would be arrested on sight.

'Don't ask questions now but I'm gonna ask Huggy Bear to come get you' Dobey said,

'Huggy?' Hutch's voice held more questions than could be put into words. Usually Dobey despised Huggy like nothing else and it was a huge surprise that the Captain should send the barman rather patrolmen.

'What's goin' on?' Hutch asked.

'Nothin' for you to worry about. Just sit tight till Huggy gets there huh? And Hutchinson?'

'Yeah?'

'It's good to hear your voice again' Dobey said softly. The phone went dead and Hutch was left holding the receiver and wondering about the conversation he'd just had.