Part V

Hutch felt himself being drug further out of the van.

"Come on, Hutchinson. Let's get this over with. This part won't be pleasant for either of us, but pretty soon, you won't have to worry about it any longer."

It would be so much easier for Hutch to try and reason with this guy if he could just finish remembering who exactly he was. Partner... damn. A name would have been nice, might have hit a chord of humanity stronger, but he'd just have to fake it. He could feel the time running out.

"You don't have to do this. Would your partner have wanted this?"

The dragging stopped for a moment and everything was still. Then, with a sudden jerk, Hutch felt himself falling. The jarring from hitting the ground made him grey out briefly. When his head started to clear again, he started to try and speak only to feel cloth being jerked between his teeth and then tied painfully tight behind his head.

"That's enough of that. Although you were quite right. He wouldn't have approved. He was my conscience in many ways. But there has to be balance. Everything slips into chaos if there isn't balance. My partner was very big on things being fair. Hated it, absolutely hated it, when anyone used that old saying 'life isn't fair' around him. You know what he'd say? He'd say 'that's part of what our job is, Don, to make sure that life is fair.' So while he wouldn't approve at all of what I'm doing, I do think he'd approve of the fairness of it."

The man began dragging him into some sort of building while he was still talking. That was when everything clicked into place finally. Don. Don Bambrick. He'd gone to the memorial for the man's partner after... after Prudholm killed him. Hutch was now ignoring his head pain and fighting as hard as he was able, trying to free a wrist, a leg, anything.

This situation was nothing like any scenario for dying he'd ever had in his head either. Dying while protecting a civilian or Starsk? Hutch could have handled that. One of the bad guys getting the drop on him or getting lucky? That would suck, of course, but that came with the territory of choosing to be a cop. You couldn't shy away from the job just because you might get hurt. But this? Dying at the hands of one of the guys that's on the same side? A guy who obviously was badly in need of serious help after the trauma of losing his own partner? All wrong.

The worst part of this was Hutch knew without a doubt how this was going to affect Starsky. He'd been there with him the last time. And this time he wouldn't be there to try and talk sense into that thick skull. Long stays in the hospital in the past - either there because of his injuries or because of Starsky's - had led to his thoughts on dying. There had many numerous occasions in his past where he wouldn't have fought to live. Things weren't like that for him now. Death didn't scare him, but he preferred to live. He had things to live for. His job, his plants, his friends and Starsky. Starsky, the guy with the goofy grin that was his partner, best friend and brother in everything but DNA all rolled into one package. Starsky, the guy that was going to blame himself for all of this if Hutch couldn't figure out a way to live through it.

Bambrick stopped and then lowered him to the floor almost gently. Hutch could feel slickness around his own wrists now from blood, but it wasn't helping him slip the cuffs. With more time, maybe he could but time was not on his side. He cursed himself for not being able to place the man fast enough, he cursed the gag for preventing him from trying to talk the man out of this.

Then Hutch's abdomen seemed on fire and the pain in his head was eclipsed by a greater one. Not the first time he'd been shot so he knew what had happened, but he couldn't recall hearing the gun going off.

He barely registered the footsteps coming nearer. The voice speaking was the same, but slightly different somehow. Not as mechanical.

"I'm usually a better shot than that. I... didn't want you to have to suffer. But he didn't die immediately either... so..."

The gag was interfering with Hutch's ability to breathe now. Bambrick noticed that and bent to remove it before resting his hand briefly on the blond hair, now somewhat matted with blood and dirt.

"Relax if you can. Stop fighting it. It's almost over."