Chapter 3

Starsky walked to the end of pier where, not long ago, he described the prettiest sunset he had ever seen to Hutch who had been temporarily blinded. He put his hands on the railing and crossed his legs as he looked out at the ocean. It is beautiful, Hutch, he thought. He closed his eyes and smelled the salt in the air. He heard a seagull flying overhead and he also heard a noise that sounded like someone coming up behind him. He reached for his gun as he turned around but the man already had a gun pointed at him. "Don't be stupid. You'll never make it, cop," the man said as he reached inside Starsky's jacket and took his gun and handcuffs.

Starsky slowly put his hands up. "Okay, what do you want?"

"To make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Starsky stared at the man so he could remember every detail of every feature and characteristic the man had. He also made a mental note that he was wearing blue jeans, a raggedy brown t-shirt, no socks, and torn brown tennis shoes.

"The deals not with me. I'm going to take you to someone else, Lieutenant Starsky."

"Can I put my hands down now? They're gettin' kinda tired."

"Yeah, sure," the man said. He moved his gun indicating for Starsky to walk back down the pier, "just don't try anything stupid."

"No way. My rule is; the man with gun makes the rules. Right now that's you, so lead on." Starsky walked in front and the man remained a few feet behind him. Starsky didn't have a choice but to do as he was told. "I like to know who's kidnapping me, what's your name?"

"You're not being kidnapped. I told you; I'm taking you to meet someone. But if you must know, I'm Andy."

"I usually shake hands with people when I first meet them, but in this case I think I'll pass. I just hope you don't have a light trigger finger, 'cause I don't plan on doing anythin' to make you use it."

"I've got my orders, and as long as you don't try to make a run for it, I ain't gonna shoot ya."

"Well, that's a small comfort."

Andy handcuffed Starsky before making him get in the passenger seat. He drove about a mile when he pulled the car over and put a black hood over Starsky's head so he couldn't see where he was being taken. Starsky protested but Andy just laughed at him and told him to remember who had the gun.

Starsky thought he wouldn't be able to tell where he was being taken until he remembered what he learned about using his other senses when Hutch was blind. He smelled the air and could still smell the salt from the ocean in it. He sat quietly so he could focus. He could smell the fish stand that he knew was at the corner of Ocean Avenue and Marina Drive. He remembered feeling the car make a right turn, then a left. He felt Andy make two more left turns and he could smell the fish stand again as well as the salt from the ocean in the air. He was driving around in circles to confuse Starsky. Starsky also heard the noise of people laughing. He knew he was still by the boardwalk near the pier. Andy took another right turn and stopped the car. Starsky knew exactly where he was without being able to see. He allowed himself a small grin under the hood. He was proud of his accomplishment. He was hoping he would live long enough to tell someone.

Andy got out and went around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. "Come on, get out."

Starsky stumbled out of the car. He didn't like being blindfolded but he really didn't like being handcuffed and blindfolded. "Just don't run me into anything."

Andy led Starsky inside and sat him in a hard wooden chair. Suddenly, Starsky could see a bright light, even through the hood over his eyes. Andy removed the hood and Starsky squinted and turned his head away from the light. He heard a voice, "Sorry about the bright lights, Lieutenant."

"It's okay. Whatdaya want?"

"I have a proposition for you."

"What kind of proposition?"

"One I think you'll like. How would like to show up your ex-partner?"

"Love too. You tell me how and we got a deal."

"Let's just say, I'll give you some information from time to time on certain activities in exchange for a little…let's say, breathing room."

"So, if I understand you right, my men get to make more arrests than Hutch's and you get to… let's say, operate freely."

"It gets even better than that. The arrests your men will make will be in his territory."

Starsky's voice perked up, "I do like the sound of that. I've been wanting to beat Hutch…I mean Hutchinson at his own game. He started this competition between us and I'm gonna win it. If that means letting you have a little, as you put it, 'breathing room,' I can deal with that." He squirmed in his chair trying to get comfortable. "I guess I should ask first, what is it you do? I mean if it's just a little dope being sold that's okay but I'm into killing or anything heavy."

"I'm glad we have an understanding. You should know that you and your ex-partner are in the middle of turf war. That's why I want to give you information on what's going down in his area."

"I get it. You're fighting over Big John's area. I'm down for that. I won't give you any trouble. It doesn't matter to me who takes over. I take it you already have the dock and warehouse district and are trying to take over the bus and train stations, only someone's in your way? And you wouldn't mind if I found out just who that might be and get them out of your way, right?"

"I knew you would figure that out all by yourself."

"Just so I don't accidently arrest the wrong person, what's your name?"

"All in good time, Lieutenant, all in good time. I want to make sure I can trust you first."

"Oh, you can trust me on this all right. Like I said, I want to make Hutchinson look bad."

"Good, you'll be receiving further instructions, for now keep Manning and Forrest away from the fish market."

"The one on Ocean Avenue?"

"That's the one."

"Fish market off limits, got it. Now, Fellas, I can't just ignore my area completely, you've got to help me out a little here."

"We got that covered. Like I said, you'll be receiving more instructions."

"Just one more question. Just so I'm clear on what's expected, what happens when I do get this someone out of your way? What will you expect from me?"

"Only that you let me operate and I will continue to share some valuable information with you. Is there anything else you need cleared up?"

"No, that about does it."

"Andy."

Starsky felt the sharp pain of a needle going in his left arm. "Hey, that wasn't necessary. I…" He slumped over in his chair unconscious before he could say anything else.

"Do you think he's on the level?" Andy asked his boss.

"The word on the streets is that Starsky here is so mad at his ex-partner he'll do anything to make him look bad. Yeah, he's on the level. That's one pissed off cop we got in our pocket," was the reply Andy received from his boss. "By the time I finally get the bus and train stations, he'll be in so deep he won't have a choice but to stay in our pocket."

When Starsky woke up, he was in his own bed. He was beginning to think it was a bad dream until he saw a manila envelope on his night stand. It didn't take long for him to realize his head was pounding and his vision was blurry. He rolled over and looked at the clock on his night stand. He could barely make out the red fuzzy numbers but he was able to finally focus enough to see it was 8:00. He looked at the window and saw the sun but didn't know if the sun was setting or rising. He sat on the edge of the bed until the room stopped spinning. He stumbled out of bed and turned the TV on. The show that was on was some evangelist. Starsky was surprised it was Sunday. He had slept all through Saturday. He heard his stomach growl he looked down at it and said, "Just hold on will, ya. I've got more important things to do first." It growled again. "Yeah, okay." He noticed that he was still fully dressed in the same pair of jeans and red long-sleeved shirt he had on when he left the station Friday night. Starsky grabbed the envelope and headed toward the kitchen. He held the envelope in his mouth as he opened the refrigerator and took out a slice of three-day old pizza. He turned the oven on and tossed the pizza on the top rack. He looked down at his growling stomach, "It's cookin'. Stop it." He sat on the couch and opened the envelope. "What do we have here?" He said out loud as he opened the envelope and read the information on the neatly-typed single piece of paper. It stated that a shipment would be arriving on Wednesday at the old train station on Railroad Lane. It was Starsky's job to make sure the police intercepted the shipment. The letter gave very detailed information about the shipment. There would be a delivery truck arriving at 0200 and the goods were to be loaded onto a pickup truck. If Starsky did as he was instructed, he would receive information on more shipments due to arrive in Hutch's area. "Okay, I'll have my men there. That ex-partner, ex-friend of mine will look like a fool. He'll wish he had stayed on the streets with me," Starsky said out loud. He went back into the kitchen and removed the pizza from the oven and turned the oven off. He sat down and ate the half cold pizza.

Starsky needed to work out the details of the arrests he was going to have his men make on Wednesday, and to do that, he needed to tweak their schedules. He would come up with some excuse as to why he was sending his men to the train station at 0200. He took a shower and went to the station.

He had worked a lot of weekends, so it wasn't unusual for him to be at the station on a weekend. "Mornin', Lieutenant." Mantle said as Starsky walked past him on the way to his office.

Starsky mumbled a weak, "Mornin,'" back as he closed the door to his office.