AN UNEASY ALLIANCE

Chapter 6

Hutch backed up toward the structure where he'd first watched the gang. From there he'd been able to spot Starsky but now, he didn't see any sign of his partner. However he noticed a port-o-john at the crest of the hill and a figure attached to the facility. That had to be the work of his partner.

Hutch stood with his hand shading his eyes and was more concerned with the fate of his friend and not on his immediate surroundings. Suddenly, he felt a large hand encircle his throat and a knife at the side of his neck. He smelled booze and stale breath. He flinched as the knife bit, sinking slightly, denting his skin. He stood still. His eyes moved to his right, trying to see where Bradley was.

But the man with the knife pulled Hutch backwards. They were now shielded by the building. The gang member outweighed him by at least fifty pounds and shoved Hutch face first into the wooden structure.

"You ain't welcome here pig. Take this message back with you." The man hissed, his sour smell spread through Hutch's nostrils, making him nauseous.

"Throw the gun to your side." When Hutch hesitated, his captor shoved the knife in a bit deeper, his voice a harsh whisper in the blonde's ear. "Do it, pretty boy!"

Hutch complied, swallowing thickly.

The gun plopped in the dirt. His attacker held him against the splintered wood with one beefy, muscular hand. Without warning, he shoved the knife aiming for his back. Hutch grunted in pain as he received a booted kick to his back and then another to his stomach as he dropped to the ground, his arms hugging his middle. Just as he fell on his side, a shot rang out. The man with the knife didn't have time to react as the bullet sliced through his belly, dropping him to the dirt.

Instinctively, Hutch had flattened to the ground when he heard the gun fire. At first he wasn't sure where the shot had come from but then he heard Jerome yelling, so Hutch struggled to his knees, feeling dizzy.

He pressed his fingers against his neck, satisfied that it wasn't a life threatening injury. But the wound to his back hurt like hell.

Jerome reached the prone body, holding his gun at the victim until he was satisfied that he was helpless. By this time, Bradley joined them and kneeled beside Hutch, checking out his wounds. Sirens screeched in the distance until two black and white units and an ambulance pulled to a stop. Quickly, the medics joined Hutch, checking him further even though the injured man at first ignored the attention.

"Just let me go. I gotta find Starsky. Did you see him?" He didn't protest when hands grabbed at his jacket, sliding his arms out of the sleeves. But as the wound to his back was exposed to the air, Hutch sucked in his breath. He tried focusing on the horizon instead of the probing hands that inspected his injuries. He pulled away from the medics and tried to stand.

"Sir, remain still. I need to see how deep this wound is." The ambulance worker put a gauze pad against the injury to help stop the bleeding, but Hutch didn't seem to hear the command not to move.

Hutch struggled to his feet. He fought against the pain, nausea and the people who surrounded him in order to go after his partner. Just as he got to his feet, he spotted someone in the distance running toward a larger building beside the school. It wasn't Starsky but now Hutch was sure that his partner was in danger.

He shrugged off all the concerns about himself including those trying to help him and stalked off toward the building in the distance.

Meanwhile, Ronnie was having his own thrilling, scary experience. One that he wouldn't soon forget.

Ronnie never had a chance to play on the swings. No sooner had he gotten to the school playground than he saw The Blades. He wasn't about to miss an opportunity to see this group in action so he ran over closer to the run down school and hid behind a dumpster. It wasn't long before the other gang showed up. He watched as the boys circled each other and called out derogatory names and threats. Ronnie cringed as he watched the attacks begin. There were no guns but knives cut into skin and a few boys fell to the ground. Then, more trouble seemed to erupt as a red car pulled up on the street. He realized those were the same men who had interrupted his activity earlier in the day. Mesmerized, the boy stayed put as the two approached the fight which was already in progress.

He was fascinated; they were so cool and confident. He knew that some kids thought all adults and most cops were control freaks and didn't trust them but he wanted to believe that adults had the ability to make things better.

The guy wearing jeans acted like a tiger, studying the surroundings and waiting for a chance to strike. When the men took off in different directions, Ronnie decided to follow the dark-haired man. The knife fight continued but a few members backed away once they saw that cops had showed up. The boy quickly ran up the hill toward the maintenance building and found a hiding place where he could watch what would happen next.

He saw Starsky fight off a larger man than himself. He easily attached handcuffs to the guy and dragged him to a port-o- john. Ronnie laughed as he saw the otherwise scary looking dude dangling from the outhouse door. He heard him swearing and threatening the police officer. As for Starsky, he just seemed to focus on his surroundings and went about the business of stopping the violence.

Looking back toward the street, the boy heard a gun shot. He wanted to yell out to the dark-haired man, but didn't want to give himself away nor did he want to distract Starsky from his own struggle.

However, the dark- haired man was already busy with his own fight. Starsky had heard the gun fire and once the man he was fighting was secure, stopped long enough to glance in the direction of the gun shot. He couldn't see what was happening so he forced the ugly possible scenario out of his mind and concentrated on what was in front of him.

Once he heard the gun shot Ronnie hunkered closer against the dumpster, too afraid to move. Suddenly, two members of The Blades stopped about ten feet from where he hid. They stopped long enough to discuss that they wanted to go after the cop.

"I wanna get that bastard. He's the one that chained Lenny to that out- house. No one treats us like that and gets away with it." Diaz Ramada cleaned the blade of his knife against his pants, stroking it gently afterwards. He continued with his description of how he wanted Starsky to pay.

"I'm gonna slice the fucker from his neck down to his nuts!" His evil voice made Ronnie want to throw up.

"He went over there." Pointing to the hill behind the maintenance building, the second man pulled out a small pistol from under his pant leg.

"I'll stop him with this, wait and see!" They shared a laugh between them which made the young boy cover his mouth rather than let out the fear that threatened to give away his hiding place.

Diaz snarled a response, vowing to rescue one of their own.

"Alonzo ran back up there, that's where the pig went. We gotta save our brother Blade from that cop." He spat and they made some sort of fist bump together then ran in the direction they'd indicated.

Ronnie let out a ragged breath. He was really scared but somehow, he had to help the guy with the dark hair. He crawled out from his hiding place and saw that down by the fence, the blond man had everything under control. There were several bodies lying on the ground. He saw the blond man looking in his direction but didn't wait to find out if he'd been spotted. He made a bee line toward the back of the school where he was certain he'd find the cop.