Part III
It seemed to be dark when Hutch woke up and his head was killing him. His mental alarms were all going off, but he wasn't quite sure why yet. The first clue came when he tried to bring up a hand to his head and couldn't. He knew something was definitely wrong then, but it still took a couple of minutes for it to penetrate his throbbing skull that he was on his side with his wrists handcuffed behind him. Attempting to move the rest of him told him that his ankles were bound as well.
As he began to be able to think a little again, he started to take stock. He could feel something was over his eyes now. Blindfold, so it might not actually be dark where he was. Movement? Definitely. He was in some sort of vehicle and the vibrations indicated they were traveling over some relatively smooth surface, most likely a paved road. Hutch guessed from the empty space around his body that he must be in the back of a van or delivery truck.
Whatever he was lying in the back of, it hit a hard bump or a pothole and the bounce he took made Hutch feel like his head was going to explode. He was just as glad he hadn't eaten lunch yet or he'd have lost it then. Concentration wasn't easy in his head's current condition, but he tried to think back. He needed to remember what happened. More importantly, he needed to figure a way out. Whatever was going on, he doubted his end destination was going to be a pleasant one.
The officer had come into The Pits. Hutch had gone out with him, climbed into the passenger seat and they had headed off in his squad car to go check on Starsky. But something had been wrong... the radio. That was it. His thoughts had been so centered on worrying about Starsky that he hadn't noticed the silence at first. Then it dawned on him that the car was too quiet - no radio chatter. He'd leaned over to look and saw that the radio wasn't just turned down, it was turned off. It was at just about that same moment that the blow had connected with the left side of his head, slamming him hard into the passenger door window. While he was reeling from that, the hand had gone behind his head and then slammed him into the dashboard. That had to have knocked him out because that was all he could recall before waking up here. Whatever and wherever here was. But why had the officer gotten so violent and done this? Hutch didn't know the man really, though he knew that he'd seen him around the precinct. There was another memory attached to the man as well, but he couldn't get around the ache in his brain well enough to grasp it.
A sudden turn followed by braking sent Hutch skidding into the sidewall with no way to prevent it or soften the blow. This time, it felt like his head really had exploded and he ended up dry heaving as uncontrollable nausea hit.
A metallic sliding sound registered. The cargo area door must have been opened. He could feel fresher air on his face and that helped a little with his nausea. The air was cooling something on his face as well and it dimly registered on him that he must be bleeding.
"Well, so you decided to wake, did you? Sorry. It really would have been much better for you if you'd just stayed out until this was all over. Guess you're as hard-headed as your partner though. I really should have expected that."
The word 'partner' penetrated the brain fog from the pain. No - Starsky couldn't be in here with him. Hutch was positive he'd have known it if Starsky was that close.
"Starsky? What have you done to my partner?"
The unseen hands grabbed Hutch by his plaid flannel over shirt and drug him over to the door.
"Nothing yet, Hutchinson. Actually, I had originally planned to kill Starsky, but the longer I thought about it, the more wrong that felt. Killing is too quick for him. He needs to suffer the same way that I suffered. Oh, this is nothing against you personally, by the way. Really, you were very considerate of me the one time that we spoke."
Hutch was still trying to piece things together, but every time his head was jostled, everything broke apart again. The man's voice almost made the connection to the elusive memory, but it was still just out of reach. Then he took a breath and Hutch asked the question he wasn't sure he wanted an answer to.
"What is it that you're planning on doing?"
"Very simple and fitting really, though unfortunately, I doubt that you'll be able to see it that way. It was because of Starsky that I lost my partner. The only truly fair thing is for him to lose his partner too."
The voice belonged to someone who was calm, controlled and, Hutch was sure, quite insane.