All usual disclaimers apply, I don't own the rights, I don't get money and this is for entertainment only. Please excuse any errors, they are entirely mine. The prison in this story does not exist. This story contains foul words, violence and torture. If that bothers you, please read no further.

CHAIN GANG

by: Starsky's Strut

Repay kindness with kindness and evil with justice... Confucius

Chapter 1

The first man that died that night was an accident in the sense that he had not started out with the idea of murdering someone, at least not at that moment. This was not his first killing or even his second. He had been only trying to stop an escape, but, one thing had led to another and now two men were dead. The dead men were the dregs of society. Lowest of the low. They had been convicted pedophiles, child pornographers and now they were dead.

No one would mourn their passing. No one would know where the bodies were. No one would even be looking. The man placed the bodies in a ravine at the base of a rock slide. He loosened the pile of rocks and soon the bodies were buried under several feet of rocks and dirt. Satisfied, he brushed out his foot prints with a branch and headed back to the van.

He carefully removed the magnetic signs from the white van's doors and threw them in the back. He would need them again later. He drove back to the road and carefully brushed out the tire tracks. He then headed back the fifty miles to Las Vegas. He needed to find two live men to replace the dead ones.

Starsky and Hutch had flown to Las Vegas for a much needed vacation. Two weeks of nothing but fun, gambling, women and more fun. They had checked into their rooms to drop their bags off and were now out on the town for a night of gambling.

"Craps, Hutsch, how can you posshibly play a game called craps?" Starsky yawned and looked at his watch, 2:43 a.m. Man! Where did the time go?

"Easy, just watsch me! Here, blow on thesh for luck" Hutch shoved the dice under Starsky's nose.

"Hutsch, yer drunk" Starsky shook his head, feeling a little woozy himself. "Ya gotta get shum lady to blow on 'em" He reconsidered, "Then again, whish your luck whish women, or maybe lack of luck whish women..." He hiccupped and lost his train of thought.

"Just throw the damn dice already" The man on the other side of Hutch hollered.

"Yeah, come on, we ain't got all night" Another player chimed in.

"Alright, here goesh nothshing" Hutch rolled the dice after Starsky blew on them.

"Lucky seven, we have a winner!" The stickman said. "Three hundred dollars is the pay out" He pushed the pile of chips over to Hutch.

"Lesh, go Hutsch!" Starsky grabbed Hutch's arm. "Come on! I think we should shop... uh, stop, for the night ~hiccup~ this is only our first day ~hic~ h-here ~cup~ we gotta pace ourshelves or we wont have anyshing left for th' ladies" ~hiccup~

Hutch looked longingly at the craps table but collected his chips and pocketed them. He snagged his drink and followed his friend through the crowd.

Hutch bumped into Starsky's back when he stopped suddenly. ~hiccup~

"Well, fancy meeting you two here!" Said the man that had stepped into Starsky's path "You do remember me? Don't you?"

The pair looked at the man through alcohol blurred eyes. They looked at each other then back at the man. ~hiccup~

"I'm Roy, Roy Palmer" He supplied helpfully. Roy stuck out his hand and he smiled broadly at the pair.

Hutch returned the smile and automatically shook the proffered hand. "Helloo Ray! Nice ta see ya again" He gave Starsky a 'who is this guy?' look. Starsky shrugged back.

"Roy. You two smell much better this time around! Heh, Heh" Roy laughed. He grabbed Starsky's hand and shook it, too. "So, how've you boys been?"

"Can't ~hiccup~ complain ~hiccup~" Starsky squinted at Roy. Palmer... Palmer... why did that name sound familiar? His alcohol addled brain wasn't functioning ~hiccup~ as it should.

"Hey, can I buy you two a drink?" Roy grinned at them.

Hutch lifted his glass and found nothing but ice. One more for the road, at someone else's expense? Why not? The guy seemed nice enough and he did seem to know them. He looked at Starsky and nodded.

Starsky shrugged and nodded back at Hutch ~hiccup~ another drink should get rid of these ~hiccup~ hiccups. He thought "Sshure ~hiccup~ Ray"

"Roy" The man corrected.

~hiccup~ "Roy" Starsky smiled amiably at Roy, still not quite placing the man.

It was crowed at the bar, it being Saturday night, well, technically Sunday morning now. They elbowed their way up to the crowed bar. Roy edged in and ordered the drinks.

After paying for them, he handed the drinks to Starsky and Hutch. Talking was impossible over the din so they drank up without talking. Starsky gulped his down to stop his hiccupping.

If possible, Roy's smile widened. "Well, guys I just wanted to apologize to you both" Roy hollered above the din.

"HUH?" Hutch put his hand to his ear and looked at Roy. Voices and music were drowning out what Roy was saying to them.

"WHAT?" Starsky tilted his head towards Roy trying to catch what the man was saying.

"I said, I wanted to apologize to you two" Roy said it louder.

"Sorry! We can't hear you!" Hutch hollered back.

Roy waved his hand to indicate that they should just finish their drinks.

"Hey, let's go outside!" Roy shouted after the glasses were emptied and he motioned towards an exit.

Starsky and Hutch nodded. All three left the Casino. Once outside Roy walked back towards the well lit parking lot. Starsky and Hutch followed. They had to go outside and cut through the parking lot to get to their hotel anyway.

"Ahh, this is better! I said that I wanted to apologize to you two"

"What for?" Starsky asked. His eyes crossed for a second. He shook his head to uncross them.

"Oh, well, it has been about a year now, hasn't it? Remember, you came to my town smelling of skunk and I mistakenly arrested you for armed robbery?" He smiled encouragingly at them. He then went on to remind them of the story and when he ended it, simply said "I just wanted to say I'm sorry" He gave them a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, ha! Remmember that Starsk?" Hutch tapped Starsky's arm with the back of his hand "Yeah, Roy, appolic, apple, heh, heh, apologee accepted!" Hutch thought Man, drunk I so am!

Starsky's eyes crossed again "Yeah, yeah, I remember... damn skunk" It was getting hard to focus. But on the up side, his hiccups were gone. He offered Roy a woozy smile. "No p-problemmm, Raay" He suddenly felt as if someone tilted the planet on him so he stepped sideways to catch himself.

"Hey, Sstarrsk? You okay?" Hutch reached out a hand to steady his friend. A wave of dizziness hit him. "Wha...? Whash?" Hutch cleared his throat and tried again "What's g-going onnn?" He felt as if he were moving in slow motion.

Starsky fell to the pavement, face first.

Hutch moved towards his friend, he lost his balance and went to his knees. He looked up at Roy and tried to focus "H-help Starskyyy" He implored. Hutch's eyes grew heavy "H-help..." He lifted his hand to Roy, who merely stepped back away from Hutch.

Hutch managed to lift his head and looked into Roy's eyes and was suddenly filled with dread, for Roy's open, friendly smile had turned into something that chilled his blood. Hutch felt massive fear, adrenalin surged through his veins and he nearly made it to his feet before he collapsed, completely unconscious, next to Starsky.

Roy looked carefully about the parking lot. Good, no one about. He opened the van's side door and muscled the limp bodies of Starsky and Hutch inside. What he needed to do next should be done in a much less public area. He climbed into the van and drove off. An unconscious Starsky was lying on top of a magnetic sign that read 'Arizona Corrections Department'.

Roy was happy. Things couldn't have turned out better. He had gone into the casino to find replacements and wonder of wonders he had spotted these two fools. These two had messed up his life and because of them; he had had to resign his post at the police station were he had worked. Now it was payback time. And payback was gonna be hell on both of them.

He glanced over the seat at the rectangular window that separated the driver's compartment from the rest of the van, two of Bay City's 'Finest' lay on the floor of the van. Finest, my ass! Roy thought. It had been ridiculously easy to slip the drug into their drinks. The pair were trusting fools to have accepted those drinks and for following him to the lot. He drove to an alley that he had scouted out earlier and set himself to his tasks.

Roy pulled out the folders of the two now dead convicts and proceeded to make careful alterations to the documents, changing hair and eye color, heights and weights. He found that both officers had their police badges and photo IDs on them. That's handy'Roy thought. He removed the photos and affixed them to the spot where the criminals' photos had been.

He then got out some ink and replaced the finger print cards for the criminals' with new cards that had Starsky's and Hutch's prints on them. The badges would be disposed of later. These documents would not hold up to close scrutiny, but once at the prison facility, he would have time to doctor the records so that they would be indistinguishable from the real ones.

Roy then pulled out their wallets and removed the cash, which he kept, along with the chips from the Casino. He took Starsky's pinky ring and watch as well has Hutch's old pocket watch. Souvenirs, he thought.

He removed the credit cards from their wallets. He carefully wiped his prints off the credit cards. He then found a homeless bum and without waking him, placed one of Hutchinson's credit cards in his pocket. He found another bum a few blocks away and placed one of Starsky's credit cards in his pocket. Roy grinned widely to himself. Those bums were gonna think it was Christmas when they found those cards.

The rest of the cards he burned. He didn't want any more credit cards out there. Those bums would use those credit cards and if anyone should look at the paper trail, it would appear that Starsky and Hutch were still moving around Las Vegas. That should help to slow up any search for the pair.

He undressed the pair and placed them in prison orange jumpsuits. He then shackled them hand and foot. Roy checked the area around the van. There was no one in sight. He took the magnetic signs and put them back on the doors of the van. He then changed back into his prison guard uniform.

He again took careful stock of his surroundings. More then an hour had gone by since he had drugged the pair. He was going to be several hours late getting back to the facility. He had already called and lied about having van trouble. With the long lonely stretches of road in Nevada, it would be readily believed that it had taken hours for help to arrive.

He pulled out onto the street and pointed the van towards Arizona and while in route, disposed of their clothing and badges. Once those last items were gone, so was any immediate evidence of their former standing in society. No one would believe Starsky and Hutch when they would protest and say that they didn't belong in prison. As a guard, Roy had heard that claim far too many times from some of the inmates. He grinned. Yep. Paybacks were most definitely gonna be hell.

Chapter 2

After driving for several hours, Roy pulled over to stretch his legs and check on his prisoners. It was full daylight now and the arid country was just beginning to heat up. Thank God for air conditioning He took a leak behind the van and opened the side door to have a look at his new prisoners.

The smell of vomit nearly overwhelmed him. "Whew! Good God! Why is it that just about every time I see you two, you stink?!" He looked in on the pair. Both seemed to be unconscious but he got in to check their pulses anyway. Starsky had vomited and it pooled near his face. Roy held his breath and quickly checked his carotid artery. It was a requirement as a prison guard to know some basic first aid. Good, still beating

He was relieved; he didn't relish the thought of showing up at the facility with a dead prisoner. He was also glad that he had placed them chest down to prevent them from choking on their own vomit. This was something that he had learned from experience. He got out some rags and sopped up the mess. Gross! He wiped off Starsky's face and hair as well.

He quickly checked Hutchinson as well. The beating in Hutchinson's neck was slow but steady. Gotta start calling them by their new names he made a mental note to himself. He would be in deep shit if he fucked up and called them by their real names.

He wondered if he had given them too much of the drug. The drugs didn't come with instructions on how much to give. So he had just guessed.

Then again, the pair had been drinking. He vaguely remembered something about depressants and alcohol not going together. He usually used the drug on women. Of course, he never hung around until they woke up, so he wasn't sure how long it would take for the drug to wear off. He was kinda pissed at himself for not thinking to use the drug on the original prisoners. Sure would have saved him this headache he had now.

He sat in the doorway of the van contemplating his next move. He idolly ran his hand through Hutch's hair. Like corn silk, hmm A thought skittered through his head. What would he look like bald? The thought tickled him. Both of them bald. It would help disguise them and alter their appearance dramatically, as well as be pretty fucking funny. Well, at least to me He chuckled. Best do it now while they were still out. He got out his shaving kit and scissors and set to work.

Minutes later, Roy was done. He looked at them and burst out laughing. Bald as eggs! A pair of Telly Savalas's, minus the lollypops, from that stupid TV cop show "Kojak". Oh yeah, they are gonna be so pissed! He decided right then he would keep their hair short. At least until the heat died down from the search that would be conducted for the pair. Though, from experience, Roy knew the focus of the search would largely be conducted in Bay City and Las Vegas.

Still chuckling, Roy got back into the driver's seat and continued with the long drive. As he drove he began to think about what else he could do to them. So many things! And such happy thoughts these things gave him. He could hardly wait to start. It would be fun to be brutal, then throw in a little mind game or two; give them some hope and then smash those hopes like mashed potatoes.

He began to recite their new names and information about the original criminals so that it would come natural to him by the time they reached the prison. Gary Mitch Harold, 32, dark blue eyes, dark brown hair, 5 counts of child pornography, petty theft and a few other more minor crimes. Samuel James Jones 31, light blue eyes, blond hair, 8 counts of child molestation, 5 counts of child pornography. No other known crimes.

"Woo boy, they are gonna love you two in prison! And maybe in more ways then one!" Roy burst out laughing again. Gotta stop doing that, people will think I'm nuts' He wiped his eyes and continued to chuckle.

Starsky slowly regained consciousness. He faded in and out several times before he fully faded in. And promptly wished he had not. He tried to move his hands to sit up, but found that they were secured behind his back. "What the hell...?" Well, that's what he thought he'd said, but what had come out sounded more like "wodahell?"

His foggy brain informed him, amid the hammer and thongs that were steadily being banged in his skull that his lower legs were secured as well. This was not good. He further noticed that he was on the floor of a van. The last time that had happened was when he had been kidnapped by cultists. He shuddered.

His fuzzy, hung over and drugged brain struggled to work. What was missing? "HUUUUTCH!" It was reflex to shout his friend's name. He should known better, for now his captors must know he was awake. Dammit! He lifted his head to look about "Aaah! God DAMMIT! That hurts!"

Looking about, he saw an orange blur, the blur's back was to him and the hands were cuffed behind his back. He focused and then saw a bald head; the person's face was turned away from him. "Hey! Hey mister!" Starsky called. He raised his head gingerly. "Hey!"

He rolled closer to the person, noting while doing so his mouth had a vile bile taste. "Yuck!" Talking was like breathing to Starsky. He just couldn't help it, couldn't keep his mouth shut. It had gotten him into trouble before and would most likely get him into trouble again.

He struggled to get to his knees. This was nearly impossible to do in a moving vehicle and being bound as he was, but Starsky managed, after losing his balance several times.

"Hey, MISTER! Uff!" He lost his balance and fell on top of the bound man.

"Ugh. Since when am I a 'Mister' to you Starsk?" Hutch muttered. "And get off me, ya big lug, you're heavy" It hurt to talk. Hurt to think. Vomit started to work its vile way up his throat. He swallowed hard, forcing it back down -- barely.

"Oh my GOD! Hutch! Your hair is gone!" Starsky decided he hated the new look. He struggled to move off his friend. He finally made it and leaned up against the side one of the hard metal bench seats in the van, he moved his legs out in front of him which gave him a little more stability.

Hutch turned his head carefully to the side that Starsky was on. "Whaddya mean my hair is -- Starsky! Your hair is gone too!" It was bizarre. He had never imagined what Starsky would look like with out hair. He didn't like it. Not one bit. His head began to throb in earnest. He lay his head back down and closed his eyes.

"Hutch?" Starsky knew that look. Hutch was in pain. Starsky watched as Hutch paled even more than usual. "Hey" He searched Hutch's light blue eyes and saw his own fears reflected there. "Can ya sit up? Huh?" He willed his friend to give it a shot. Sometimes it helped to sit up when sick to your stomach.

Hutch breathed through his nose a few times, fighting nausea. "Try" was all he could manage for words. He maneuvered around, trying to get his balance in the moving van. His stomach cramped and twisted. Hutch panted a bit to relieve the pain. Sweat beaded on his upper lip and he swallowed hard.

"Hutch, Hey Hutch, come on, take it easy" Words were all Starsky had to offer, bound as he was. It frustrated him to no end that he could do nothing else. Dammit! He watched in dismay as his friend went from white, to gray and then green in the face as he struggled not to vomit. "Just let it go, Hutch, maybe you'll feel better"

Hutch swallowed and squeezed his eyes closed, fighting the waves of nausea. Needing contact with his friend, he wiggled over to Starsky and placed his head on Starsky's outstretched legs. "Ugh, no, not here"

Starsky had enough. "Hold on Hutch, I gonna make some noise and get 'em to pull over"

Hutch cringed. He knew the volume of Starsky's voice. He prayed he could hold the contents of his stomach until their captor or captors came back to check on them. If they came back

"HEY! HELLOOO? PULL OVER!" Starsky yelled. He banged his handcuffed wrists against the metal bench. ~BAM! BAM!~ "HEY! HELP! You've got a sick man back here!" He kept this up for several minutes. All the while watching Hutch battle his insistent stomach for control and losing ground.

Roy heard the pounding and the hollering. He had been waiting for it. He knew Starsky -- correction -- Harold -- was worried about Hutch/Jones. He also figured he knew the cause. Nausea. He chuckled and checked the highway. No one about. Let the games begin! He thought and started to swerve the van back and forth.

Hutch held on as long as he could, then lost the battle and the contents of his stomach, all over poor Starsky's legs. "S-sorry... ugh... sorry Starsk... I couldn't..." He fought another wave of queasiness.

"S'okay Hutch, s'not your fault" He soothed. Starsky glared at the divider that separated him from the bastard driving the van. That son of a bitch is in deep, deep shit! Starsky raged silently.

Finally, the van slowed and pulled off the road. Starsky heard the driver's door open and close and shortly afterwards the side door slid open. He stared in stunned disbelief. "Roy? What the hell...?"

"Well hello boys! Aww, ain't that sweet? You got your little friend's head in your lap" Roy gave them a smarmy smile "I know that little drug I give ya has a side effect of some short term memory loss, which is one of the reasons I use it." He reached in and patted Hutch's leg.

"Don't touch him!" Starsky snarled.

"Tut, tut, you can't talk to me like that, Mr. Harold. That's your name now, you know. And this" He patted Hutch's leg again, Hutch weakly pulled his legs back away from him. Roy chuckled "This is Mr. Jones"

"Roy, you crazy fuck, ain't nobody gonna believe that crock of shit!" Starsky glared at Roy.

"I'm afraid they will. You see, you two are a couple of real bad apples. Yep, Blondie, or should I say baldy, here, well he's in for child molestation, 8 counts and 5 counts child pornography and you, Mr. Harold, are in for 5 counts of child porn and some other lesser charges. Yep, you two are gonna be real popular at the facility."

Starsky and Hutch stared in appalled silence at Roy. They took in the guard uniform that Roy had on. It sunk in just what kind of trouble they were in. Prison orange jumpsuits, prison guard uniform. The realization slid like ice cubes down their spines.

"Being detectives, you may already have figured out that you're on your way to prison. You're destination is an experimental facility for rehabilitating the more difficult members of the prison population. We affectionately call it 'Boot Camp'" He grinned at the pair. "Inmates however call it 'Camp Hell'"

"Why?" Hutch croaked out "What did we ever do to you?"

"You crossed me! Did you think that I would let you get away with that? Did you?!" He smacked Hutch on the leg. "HUH?"

"Hey! Stop doin' that!" Starsky snapped "You screwed up, YOU, not us! All we did was point it out that--"

"SHUT UP!" Roy leaned over and backhanded Starsky across the face.

Hutch saw his chance and kicked Roy in the ribs with both feet. Roy flew backwards with the force of the blow and rolled out of the van.

Roy lay on the ground for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath. His lip was cut and he wiped the blood off.

Inside the van, Starsky was trying to maneuver his way to the door, poor Hutch was dry heaving uncontrollably and was unable to do anything more at the moment. Starsky made it to his feet and was confronted with the business end of Roy's gun.

"I have had enough of you two!" Roy glowered at Starsky "I was gonna let you out to take a leak, but now, now you can just piss in your pants." He shoved Starsky backwards; he tripped over Hutch and went down. "'cause I ain't lettin' either of you out now 'til we get to Boot Camp"

Roy grabbed the collar of Starsky's jumpsuit and wrestled him onto the metal bench and secured his handcuffs to a sturdy ring that was welded there. He repeated the process with Hutch.

"Have a fun rest of the trip, boys" And with that, Roy slammed the van door closed.

"Well, that went well" Starsky quipped.

Hutch lifted his aching head and merely looked at his friend, at a loss for words.

Chapter 3

Hutch thought about the predicament that he and Starsky were in. It would be bad enough to be sent to jail as a cop, but as a pedophile, child molester? Shit. Even the prison guards would be out to get them. They would be marked men.

And they weren't even guilty. They shouldn't even be in this situation. They were supposed to be in Las Vegas on vacation. Having fun, having women and gambling.

The most gut twisting thing was that no one would even know that they were missing for two weeks. A lot could happen in two weeks. They could very easily be dead in two weeks.

He really didn't want to think about having to go to prison. But he couldn't help but think, under the best of circumstances, even if they're being missing was noticed immediately, no one knew where they would be. Hell, he didn't even know. Crazy Roy certainly had not mentioned it. Were they still even in Nevada? It was still going to take a while for someone to piece everything together.

Experimental Facility. That was another thing that struck fear in him. What kind of experiments did they conduct? Where was this place? How long would it take them to reach their destination? So many questions and no answers. His shoulders dropped and the furrow in his brow deepened.

"Hey, Hutch!" Starsky was deeply concerned about Hutch. His posture and attitude was almost one of defeat. "C'mon, partner, talk to me" Starsky waited. "Hey?"

Hutch looked up. "You do know how bad this is, don't ya, Starsk? No one's gonna report us missing for two weeks... two whole, long weeks" He dropped his head to his chest. "No one is gonna even start looking--"

"Hutch, nah, it won't be two weeks! Remember, I always call Ma every Friday--"

"Starsk, that's still six days away! And then they will wait for twenty-four hours after that, so that's still one week. Seven days BEFORE anyone even starts to look--"

"So?" Starsky cut him off "We can hold on for that long, easy. Besides, we haven't even gotten to this Boot Camp place. Maybe we can convince someone to help us. That will be your job, ya know, you bein' a silver tongued devil and all." He winked "So, let's don't give up before we even try!"

Hutch lifted his head and looked at Starsky "Yeah, you're right Starsk, I just..." He trailed off. "We were on vacation and now... now..." He sighed.

"Yeah, I know, it ain't fair. But we'll deal with it. At least we're together. We can watch out for each other, like always, 'kay?" Starsky made eye contact with Hutch "Hey, how long does it take for hair to grow out?"

"What?!" Hutch looked at him, confused. "Why'd ya wanna to know that?"

"With the glare shinin' off that chrome dome of yours, I can't hardly look directly at ya" Starsky snickered.

"Ha! Ya better hope ya never go bald as an old man, Starsk, you've got one ugly head!" Hutch chuckled. He allowed himself to be talked out of his gloom. He could always count on good ol' Starsk to cheer him up.

"So? It goes with this ugly mug of mine!" Starsky grinned. Hutch was bantering now, that was always a good sign. They were in a real fix and it would be far better to as positive about it as possible. It would be tough, but do able.

That was one thing he learned in Vietnam. Negative thinking people generally did not last long in tense situations. They had a tendency to give up, die, the old 'self fulfilling prophecy' thing.

And he wasn't gonna let that happen to his best friend. No way, no how. Now if he could just get rid of this hangover, headache and dry mouth, life would be just peachy. Oh yeah, and the going to jail thing, yep, he could live without that too.

Hutch felt better already. Starsky was right, at least they were together and together they would think of something. They always did. Hutch held on to that thought.

Roy clutched the steering wheel. He was seething in anger. He had almost let them get the better of him. That was what happened to the other two prisoners.

He had let them get him so mad... Well, it was their own damn fault. If they hadn't tried to escape. He would not have had to kill them. It was all their fault. If people would just do what he told them to, when he told them to do it, well life would just be a lot simpler. But NOOO.

Then there were these two. When Hutchinson had kicked him in the ribs he had nearly lost it. Had nearly pulled the trigger when Starsky/Harold had poked his head out the van door. So easy. Just a little squeeze. BLAM! Over. Sta--HAROLD would be dead. Just like the original. But, he could wait. They would have to die at some point. When? That was the big question.

He rubbed his sore ribs. Hutch/Jones, would have made a mule proud with that kick of his. Roy was sure that at least one of his ribs was cracked. Well, Mr. Jones would just get a little extra attention from yours truly, Roy thought, a little extra something for Blondie. He would find Hutch/JONES'S buttons and then he would start pushing them.

Starsky and Hutch had tried playing some games, like they would do on stakeouts but for some reason, they just felt really odd about it in this situation. Besides, on a stakeout, there were lots of things to look at. Here was just a reinforced van interior and them. And the burning need to urinate.

"Hutch, I gotta go!" Starsky whined. Crossing his legs just wasn't doing the trick anymore.

"Stop thinking about it" Hutch had his eyes closed. He was trying to do deep breathing exercises. Which were nearly impossible with Starsky breaking his concentration every five seconds. Not That he blamed Starsky. He had to go too. Badly. Don't think about it, just breathe, in... out... in... out--

"Huuuuutchh! How much looongerrrrrr?" Starsky whined through gritted teeth.

"I have no idea, Starsk, no idea at all" It must suck to have the bladder of a five year old, Hutch thought.

"Starsk, please, just try the deep breathing? Please? It really helps." Hutch was trying to convince himself as well as his friend. God, my head hurts. I got that fuzzy hang-over tongue, dry-as-the-Mohave-desert thirst and a full freaking bladder... Shit! Now he's got me thinkin' about it. Hutch mentally groaned.

"Aw, hell! I'll try anything!" Starsky snapped. "Gimme some directions here, c'mon, hurry!"

Finally! "Okay, close your eyes and inhale" Hutch took a breath as well and held it.

"Got it, inhale! Now what?"

"Starsky, ya can't talk and hold your breath"

"I do it at the morgue"

"What? How...? Never mind, umm, right... Can we get back to the breathing exercise?"

"What's stoppin' ya? Inhale! Got it"

"Now HOLD your breath"

"Holding, got it" Starsky gritted his teeth and tightened his crossed legs, God, I gotta pee, bad, hold it, hold it

"STARSKY!"

"WHAT?! I'm trying to hold my breath here!" That ain't all I'm holding...

"You can't hold your breath and talk at the same time! Dammit! It's impossible! Now close your mouth and your eyes -- NO PEEKING!--"

"I AM NOT PEEING!"

"I SAID PEEK-ING not PEE- ING, DAMMIT!" Hutch snapped.

"OKAY! Inhale; hold breath, eyes closed... Now what?"

"RELAX!" Hutch bellowed.

"Hutch, I can't relax with ya yelling at me like that" Starsky pouted.

"I'M NOT YELLING"

"Um, okay, hollering" Geez, what a grouch!

"I'm not hollering!" Hutch said through gritted teeth.

"Are too" Starsky frowned.

"Oh, no Starsk, you are not, repeat, not going to get me into a childish argument with you" His right arm tugged ineffectively at the cuffs. If he could have, Hutch would have shaken his index finger in his friend's face.

Starsky grinned widely and arched an eye brow at Hutch "Too late!"

Hutch opened his mouth and promptly closed it. Starsky was right. "Dammit!" He admitted defeat with a grin, which faded nearly as quickly as it had started as he felt the van slow and then stop.

They both tensed up. Play time was over. They heard the driver's door open and close. They looked over at the sliding door waiting for it to open. Several long minutes passed before the side door slid open.

Roy poked his head in the van. "Hi guys!" He made his voice as cheery as possible to put them at ease. Just looking at Starsky and Hutch irritated him. They were so confident. So in control... So bald. He had to chuckle at that. Not so in control now, were they?

"We're gonna take a little break now. You must be so tired, after sitting on your ass for the last few hours." Roy smiled at the pair.

Hutch looked at Starsky and they began to communicate silently. They conveyed their fear and growing dread. Then they conveyed their willingness to help each other as much as possible. And it only took a heartbeat to do all that.

Roy felt something in the air. He didn't like it. The duo had exchanged a quick look and were again focused on him. A united front. He made up his mind and stepped up into the van.

He pulled his billy club from the ring on his belt and stood there, lightly smacking the palm of his left hand with the club. Down the club would go, he would grab it with his left for a few seconds, then twist the club, release it and start all over again.

"Jones, you kicked me before, you're not allowed to accost a guard" Smack, twist, release, lift "It's gonna cost ya" He faked a jab at Hutch, then whirled around and cracked Starsky in the ribs.

"NOOO!" Hutch tried to stand but his cuffed wrists stayed firmly clipped to the ring behind him. Sitting was his only option.

Starsky "uffed" loudly as the club caused the air in his lungs to be harshly expelled. Pain radiated around his ribcage. He gritted his teeth and glared up at Roy.

Roy looked back at Hutch "You see Jones, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" Smack, twist, release, lift "You kicked me. I hit him. Oh, wait, you used both feet..." Smack, twist, release, lift. Roy turned to hit Starsky again.

Starsky kicked at Roy's legs with his shackled feet and managed to connect with Roy's right leg.

Roy staggered a bit, caught himself then stood up. "That is the last time that will happen" Roy ground out as he pulled out his service revolver and pointed it at Hutch. He looked at Starsky "Do you understand me?"

Starsky nodded.

"I'm sorry Mr. Harold, I didn't hear you"

"Yeah, I understand"

"Again, nicer this time" Roy squeezed the trigger slightly.

"Yes, sir, I understand you" Starsky dropped his eyes Better then you know He didn't want to give into Roy's demands but there was no other way to keep Hutch from being shot before his eyes.

"Good boy Mr. Harold. Now, the same goes for you, whatever you do, I will punish Jones for it. Do you understand, Mr. Harold?"

"I understand, sir"

"Mr. Jones?" Roy looked over at Hutch.

"Yes, sir, I understand you" Hutch whispered.

"Very good, I see we finally understand each other" Smack, twist, release, lift. "Now, where was I before all this unpleasantness started? Oh, yes... I remember"

Smack

Twist

Release

Lift

Chapter 4

Roy paused for a moment and looked at his prisoners. Once more, he felt something in the air, and noticed that the two men were looking at each other again. A volume of information that he could not understand flowed between the men. There was a... connection of some sort between the two, something honest and good. It made Roy want to break something.

Roy then applied his billy club with the diligence and easy of someone who takes pride in their handy work. He whacked Hutch/Jones across his right shin with the club, in payback for the kick Starsky had given him. He reveled in the cry of pain he elicited from Hutch. He stood there for a moment, soaking it in.

Pain rocketed through Hutch. He hoped his leg wasn't broken. He clenched his teeth and rode the wave of pain to its peak and slid down the other side of it to the dull, throbbing ache that now resided in his leg.

Starsky couldn't take it any longer "Stop it Roy! Dammit! What'sa matter with ya anyway? Can't ya take on someone who ain't handcuffed and shackled? Huh?! Afraid to fight someone on an even playin' field? C'mon, let me go! I'll take ya on with both hands behind my back!"

Starsky was growing more frantic with each passing second as he tugged at his cuffed hands in a vain attempt to free himself; to help his friend, to stop the pain, to do something. He kept up his useless struggle even when Roy turned back towards him.

Smack, twist, release, lift, Roy eyed Starsky/Harold and merely smiled at him as he cracked the club against Starsky's ribcage. He stopped for a moment, contemplating his next move. Smack, twist, release, lift

Starsky gasped with pain. His ribs ached and burned. He closed his eyes and panted through the worst of it.

Roy mentally tallied up the score. Yes, all grievances were paid in full, for now.

Roy knew he had to prepare for his return to Boot Camp, there were just a few finishing touches left to make everything perfect. He put his club back on his belt loop and turned to Hutch and made a fist with his right hand and swung at Hutch's face.

Hutch instinctively moved his head out of the way and there was a dull metallic bang as Roy's knuckles hit the van's reinforced interior.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Roy bellowed in pain. He sucked on his injured knuckles and favored Hutch with a dirty look.

Hutch felt his stomach knot up, he knew what was coming I'm sorry Starsk he said with his eyes to his friend. He watched as Starsky gave him a barely perceptible nod. Hutch closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to watch Starsky get hit on his account.

Starsky merely held his head up and took the blow. He wanted to make a smartass retort to Roy but refrained to keep Roy from hitting Hutch in retaliation. Not that it made much of a difference; Roy turned around and slapped Hutch across the face anyway.

"That should do it for now" Roy nodded. He sat down next to Starsky on the hard metal bench and put his arm around Starsky like they were old chums and gave him a one-armed hug. "Whew, I don't know about you two, but I'm tired."

Starsky curled his lip is distaste at Roy "Git away from me" Starsky leaned away from Roy as far as his bound hands would let him.

Roy removed his arm from Starsky's shoulders then took his club off its ring and whacked himself in the face with it -- hard. Blood ran from his now split lip. He let it flow and made no attempt to stop it. It dribbled down the front of his uniform.

The duo stared at Roy in stunned and disgusted amazement. They exchanged a 'What-the-fuck?' look. They thought they had seen everything. But Roy had just raised the bar. They watched as Roy suddenly tensed up and glared in turn at the two detectives.

They were doing 'it' again, whatever it was. Roy was determined to find out what it was and make them stop. But that could wait while, for now he had other business to attend to.

"Now, I'm going to tell you what your new full names are and what you are in for. If asked, you will tell them exactly what I will be telling you. And remember whoever disobeys, the other one pays. Got it?"

They reluctantly nodded.

Roy then gave them the information. And they recited out loud what they were told.

"Now, remember the rules boys, you disobey, the other one pays" He exited the van "We'll be at Boot Camp in twenty minutes" he then blew them a kiss as he slid the door shut.

They heard him open the driver's door and then they were moving again.

"Hey Hutch"

"What?"

"I don't have to go any more"

"Me neither"

Needing comfort after their harrowing experience, they stretched their legs out and touched the only way they could, with their shackled legs.

"How's the leg, Hutch?"

"I don't think its broken, hurts though. How're the ribs?"

"They just need a little barbeque sauce" Starsky smirked through the pain, trying not to laugh at his own silly joke; it would just aggravate the pain that had taken up residence in his ribs. "Ya got any bright ideas, Blintz?" He closed his eyes briefly Please have some ideas

"Aside from avoiding pissing Mr. Psychotic off? None whatsoever"

"Hey, Hutch"

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry"

"Ha! What else it new?" Hutch snorted, but it sounded forced to Starsky.

The van pulled to a halt once more, but this time they heard a flurry of activity and several different voices. The van door opened once more and they noticed a hot dry air as it blew into the van. They also got a glimpse on the prison compound, what little they saw didn't look any different then the one located just outside of Bay City.

"Welcome to Boot Camp!" A cheery voice called out and a man in a guard uniform and mirror sun glasses poked his head in the door "I'm Will, I'll be your tour guide!" He smiled at the pair.

They heard guffaws of others from somewhere in the background "Hey Will, that gets funnier every time you tell it!" someone shouted. Then they heard "Whoa! What the hell happened to your face Roy?!"

"Silly me" Roy pointed to Starsky and Hutch "they told me that they had to take a leak, so I let them out and, well, they jumped me and tried to escape. One of them got me pretty good in the face... Well, as you can see, I got my licks in on them"

"Jesus Christ, Roy! How many times have I told you that you can't coddle the prisoners? You can't give them an inch! You're just too nice of a guy, ya know? I don't think you're really cut out for this kind of work." Officer Will Gardner carped.

"Yeah, you might be right" Roy shook his head apologetically "but, I got bills to pay, I just bought that new truck... well you know how it goes."

"Yeah, yeah, tell me about it. Well, let's get these two processed and you can tell us all about your little adventure"

"Okay, hey, they never did get to take a leak, and it's been hours, and we should probably let them go..." Roy trailed off.

"There you go again, Roy" Will clapped Roy on the shoulder "being too nice again. Why don't you head over to the infirmary and get checked out?"

"You sure you'll be okay?" Roy was the very picture of concern.

"No problem! I got plenty of help here, go on now!" Will waved Roy off.

Starsky and Hutch exchanged a look of incredulity. God help them if Roy was the 'nice' one of the guards.

They went through the very humiliating process of being stripped searched and they were finally then given leave use the toilet, deloused and then allowed to use the showers. The whole time they were watched. It made their flesh crawl but there were no other options.

They were then issued new prison uniforms; blue jeans and a light blue denim shirt with their inmate number sewn across the left side of the chest. They were then lead to a cell. They requested to go to the infirmary to have their injuries looked at and were told that the nurse had just departed for the day.

Just outside the cell, they were released from the handcuffs. Then, unceremoniously, they were shoved in. Solid concrete wall surrounded them on three sides. The cell itself was very small. The attending guards then departed, leaving the two alone. There were no other inmates in any of the other four cells in this area.

Starsky looked about "Good thing neither of us is claustrophobic, this room is so small, we'll have ta go outside to change our minds" He sat down on the edge of the lower bunk bed, gingerly holding onto his ribs as he did so. He put his head in his hands and released a gusty sigh.

Hutch sat down beside his friend. He was exhausted. The drug induced sleep that had been forced on Starsky and himself had not been the kind of restful sleep that they had needed. He leaned his back against the wall and sighed. He hoped that they would have some time to rest before anything else happened. But first he'd have to have a look at Starsky's ribs.

"C'mon Starsk, let me have a look at your ribs" Hutch rested his hand gently on the back of Starsky's neck.

"Yes, mom" He grinned at Hutch. He opened his shirt and Hutch hissed in sympathy at the large bruises that the club had caused.

"That crazy... ya think any of 'em are broken?" Hutch gently moved his fingers over the slanted bruises that clearly outlined where the club had struck.

"Ow! Careful! No, just really sore"

"They should be wrapped, to protect 'em" Hutch cast about and his eyes settled on the sheet from the bed above them. Without hesitation, he pulled it down and carefully ripped along the edge giving it about a four inch width. He then had Starsky exhale as forcefully as he could and Hutch carefully wrapped the makeshift bandage around Starsky's ribs.

"Better?" He said softly as he met his friend's dark blue eyes.

"Yes, mom" Starsky grinned at him.

Hutch's eyes then drifted to the new bruise on Starsky's cheek, just below his left eye. "Starsk, I'm really sorry about you getting hit on my account, I shouldn't have flinched" He reached out and gently touched it for a moment.

Starsky sighed "Hutch, forget about it, I already have. Roy is nuts. You are not responsible for his actions."

"Still--"

"Drop it, okay? Now, let me have a look at your leg. I noticed you can barely put any weight on it."

Hutch sat down and eased his pant leg up to expose the damaged shin.

"Wow! Bet that smarts!" The shin in question was very swollen and quite red. Starsky didn't think that there was much of anything he could do for it. He didn't have any ice to reduce the swelling and nothing to splint it with.

Starsky then got the feeling that they were being watched. He flicked a look at Hutch, and they turned to look at the new comer.

Just outside of the cell was a smallish guard. The man was somewhere in his forties, his shoulders were stooped and his graying hair was greasy. "Hi! I'm Officer Randal Waters" he indicated towards Hutch's exposed leg "Don't let me stop you, I like to watch" He chuckled. He looked disappointed and stopped when the pair simply stared at him.

Starsky rolled his eyes at Hutch and shook his head. He turned his attention back to Randal "Could ya get some ice for my friend's leg? Bandages, splint and maybe some aspirin?"

"You wanna hear a joke?"

"Not unless you can get us some of those medical supplies"

The man continued as though Starsky had said yes "It's so hot in Arizona that when a dog chases a cat, they both walk!" He laughed.

The pair simply stared at him.

Randal tried again "It's so hot in Arizona that both taps give hot water"

Hutch looked at Starsky "Do you think he's here to torture us?"

"Yep, and its working"

"It's so hot in Arizona--"

"Uh, Randal, could you get some medical supplies?"

"Nope, infirmary's closed until tomorrow. It's so hot in Arizona that your car overheats before you drive it!" He grinned at the pair.

"How 'bout some ice? Could you please get us some ice?" Hutch tried to keep his tone pleasant. It might be worth listening to a few more dumb jokes if they could get some ice. Then again, maybe his leg didn't hurt that bad...

"Sure, I can do that! I'll be right back!" Officer Randal left.

Starsky shook his head "This place has more nuts than a peanut plant"

"Starsk, I hate to tell you this but the peanut isn't a nut. It's a legume."

"What's a legume?"

"A bean"

"You're kiddin'?"

"Nope"

"Then why is it called a peanut?"

"Probably because no one would want to eat something called a pea-legume" Hutch deadpanned.

"No one but you, Blintz!" Starsky grinned.

Hutch smiled back at him.

"Sounds like you two ladies are having a really swell time" Roy said sarcastically. "Just like a couple of little girls on a sleep-over. You better get your rest. You will need to be ready to work tomorrow." He smiled evilly at them; he then called out "Randal!"

"Yeah Roy?"

"No ice for these two"

Chapter 5

Monday

"Well, well, what's this?" Roy looked at what remained of the damaged sheet that Hutch had used to bind Starsky's ribs with. "Destruction on prison property, that's one demerit. You get ten demerits and you get 'posted'. And I strongly expect that you will get posted by the end of the week." Roy grinned.

"What's posted?" Hutch asked apprehensively.

Randal peered at them from the side of the cell "Its when--"

"SHUT UP!" Roy cuffed Randal upside the head.

"Ouch! Gees, Roy you didn't have to hit me so hard" Randal rubbed his head.

"Apparently, I did. Let's go Randal" Roy pushed Randal ahead of him. "Better get your beauty rest ladies, you're gonna need it" He called back to them, saying the last in a sing-song voice. A dull metallic thud echoed throughout the room after they exited.

Starsky and Hutch exchanged a look.

"Terrific" Starsky stood up and punched the wall in frustration "something to look forward to"

"Okay, ideas... we need to try to contact Dobey, so, any chance at a phone, take it. Damn! I forgot, the call would probably go through a switchboard of some sort and there is also a number needed to get an outside line... A phone book would be helpful for getting the number for the local police or the good old stand by of dialing zero" Hutch stretched out his injured leg, the damn thing ached.

Starsky paced the small confines of the cell "It's a cinch that we can't talk to the guards, couldn't hurt to try though, ya never know, especially when it becomes public that we're missing. Maybe the nurse... if they let us go to the infirmary tomorrow. And I think we should keep our heads down and stay out of trouble as much as possible."

Hutch nodded.

Starsky sat back down next to Hutch "The inmates, well, if word doesn't get out what we are in for, we should be okay, but I got me a feelin' ol' Roy will be sure to pass the word along." He ran his hand over his bare head. He really missed his hair.

Hutch looked at Starsky "That would be in keeping with his personality. We will have to keep our eyes peeled on for any type of attack. I would also have to guess that we are in some sort of seclusion area. Probably because of the pedophile status of the poor bastards we replaced."

"You're probably right 'bout that" Starsky yawned "I'm beat. Gotta get some zees" His jaw popped with his next yawn.

"Me too, hey, I get to be on top"

"What?" Starsky slid a what-did-you-just-say look at Hutch.

"Top bunk. I get to be on top" Hutch batted his eyes innocently at Starsky.

"Uh huh, I got my eyes on ya, Blintz, keep your distance" He crossed his arms over his chest, still looking at his friend.

Hutch snorted "Well, if it makes you feel better, you can be on top tomorrow"

"Top bunk ya mean" Starsky arched an eyebrow up. It wouldn't happen; he wasn't really fond of heights anyway.

"What else would I mean?" Hutch replied innocently, as he smiled to himself over his little joke. Then he climbed up and lay down on the upper bunk and released an exhausted sigh. His lids drifted closed.

"Uh huh" Starsky eased down to his least sore side and dug his head into the pillow and was asleep just that quick.

They managed to sleep very soundly the rest of Sunday after noon and into Monday morning when they were awakened by someone banging on the cell door. No one had bothered them, or fed them, for that matter. Thank goodness that the cell had a toilet and small sink.

"Rise and shine, up and at 'em, let's go, let's go! We ain't got all day!" A guard called out as he banged on the cell's bars with his night stick.

"Five more minutes, ma" Starsky mumbled into his pillow.

Hutch wiped his hands down his face and stifled a yawn. "What time is it?"

"Five a.m., you got five minutes to do whatever, then I'll be back, you'll need to be ready to leave your cell by then." The guard replied. He then turned and left.

Hutch hopped off the top bunk, landing solidly on his left foot, he caught his balance on the bunk and hissed with pain at the jarring of his injured right leg. He had fallen asleep with his cloths and shoes still on. His shoulders, wrists and ankles were stiff from being restrained for so many hours on Sunday. He wasn't surprised to find them bruised and slightly swollen.

He then sat down on the edge of the bottom bunk and gently shook Starsky's shoulder "C'mon partner, wake up, time for school"

"Don't wanna go school" Starsky pulled his pillow over his head and burrowed deep.

"Starsk, get up" Hutch pulled the sheet off of him. Starsky had slept in his cloths as well.

"Wha...?" Starsky yawned hugely. "What time is it?" He pulled up his sleeve and looked at the spot where his watch used to be and saw his injured wrist. Everything came flooding back to him. "Aw, shit" Everything ached. He bit back a groan. Hutch gave him a look of commiseration.

The guard returned after five minutes and took them to the infirmary.

The nurse was older and seemed to be bored with her job. She did a very perfunctory exam and gave Hutch an ice pack for his leg and rewrapped Starsky's ribs. Some ointment and bandages was provided for their chafed and bruised wrists and ankles. She handed them a couple of aspirins a piece and pronounced them as "fit for duty". She turned back to her paperwork.

The guard then led them to the large common lunch room. The room was fairly quiet save for the soft clanking of metal plates and spoons (no forks or knives, they could be used as weapons) there must be some type of 'no talking rule' for no one spoke, though a lot of hand signals were flashed.

Starsky and Hutch noticed that they were on the receiving end of a lot of stares as well; mostly curiosity, but they got some glares as well. They followed suit with the quiet meal and gathered as much information as they could. They would discuss it later. Also surprisingly, there were not as many inmates in the common as the partners thought that there would be. The prison must be a fairly small one.

About a half hour later and much to their dismay, they were separated for chore duty.

Starsky was assigned mop detail along with toilet scrubbing duties. You really didn't know how much you used your rib, back and shoulder muscles until you had to mop something. All three groups protested mightily. Fit for work, my ass He thought sourly. The long halls of the cell block he was assigned were devoid of any life but him. Starsky sighed heavily and paced himself; there was a lot to do. So, to entertain himself he started to sing 'Jail House Rock'

Hutch was given kitchen duties, specifically, dishwashing. He worked steadily but kept one eye on the three others that were also on kitchen detail. It was nearly noon when his cop's instincts started sending him little warnings about them. He could sense them moving about the room, which was hazy and muggy from all the combination of hot water and the heat of the ovens.

Hutch felt like a wildebeest being stalked by lions. He could feel their predatory eyes watching him constantly, looking for an opening for the attack. They moved and shifted about him, pretending to work. Hutch found a rolling pin and kept it near as he worked and pretended not to notice them. He had tried talking to them earlier, to no avail. In his mind, he called them Huey, Dewy and Louie.

The three inmates took turns watching the fresh meat. Their prey was vigilant and wary. This one would not be so easy, but they would try. And why not? There was nothing more for them to loose, their freedom was a distant memory. And there was something for them to gain, a little pleasure, a change of pace... they moved in closer, Dewy took position near the door to watch for interruptions.

Hutch sensed them closing in and reached under the towel that he used to cover the rolling pin with. In his hand he kept hold of the soapy wash cloth, to throw in someone's face. The soap would hopefully get in the eyes of his attacker and slow him down.

Quicker then a lion spots a limp, they were on him. Louie feigned an attack on his left and Hutch swung the soap laden washcloth. Bulls eye Hutch crowed mentally. He grabbed the rolling pin in his right hand and swung at Huey's head.

Huey ducked and punched Hutch in the ribs. It was a solid hit, but Hutch managed to whack Huey with the rolling pin in the down stroke of his swing. He connected firmly with Huey's back, causing the man to go down.

Louie moved in as Huey was floored by the blow. Louie had soap in his eyes from the wash cloth so he lunged at Hutch in an attempt to get him in a bear-hug. Hutch jumped back and brought the rolling pin up like a baseball bat and swung for the bleachers at Louie's head. Huey, down, but not out, kicked out and connected soundly with Hutch's already injured right leg.

Hutch bellowed with pain and staggered back and into Dewy's reach. Dewy quit his observation post and waded into the fray. He grabbed Hutch in a full nelson. Hutch's arms were rendered useless and with the right amount of force applied, his neck could easily be broken. Having been a wrestler in college, he knew he had almost no chance of escaping the hold. Less of one in these circumstances since he was out numbered, but Hutch was no quitter and though it hurt, he kicked his right foot out as Louie came at him again.

Louie caught Hutch's right foot and twisted. Hutch howled in pain and inadvertently dropped his rolling pin. "Gotcha" Louie crowed.

"Ya know, for a man who likes to molester little kids, ya fight pretty good" Dewy commented dryly. He gave Hutch a merciless squeeze that threatened to snap his neck.

"I am not a child molester" Hutch gritted out. The pain in his leg was nearly overwhelming and a gray haze was forming along the outer edges of his vision.

"The way I heared it, you've been thrown in here for child molestering, Jones, now, from what I understand, there is probably a whole passel of kids out there that you molestered that no body knows 'bout or didn't want no body to know 'bout" Louie gave him a savage grin. "Ever bin molestered yourself, Jones?" Louie's massive paw moved down past his victim's belt line.

SHIT, Jones, that's right! Roy must have told these three Neanderthals his lie. If I don't play along, Starsky will pay... oh, God, help me Hutch gulped hard. If he argued with the ghastly trio, told them who he really was, it would get back to Roy. Starsky would then have to pay. The choice he had to make was easy. He would do whatever it took to protect Starsky. Even this. Oh God oh God oh God

Roy looked in through the kitchen window at the scene and smiled. Perfect.

Roy continued to watch through the window for a little while that's enough for now, don't want things to go too far, too soon He was about to radio for assistance when his coworker, Will Gardner turned the corner.

"Will, thank God! Come help! There's a fight in the kitchen!"

Starsky arrived at the lunch room at noon and waited as long as he dared for Hutch to show up. Forty-five minutes later, he still waited. Finally a guard told him to get back to work. "Hey, I was supposed to meet my friend here, could you please check on him for me?"

The guard gave a heavy 'why me' sigh "What's his name? If I hear anything, I'll let you know"

"Hu-- uh, Samuel Jones" Dammit, almost slipped up! "By the way, what's your name?"

"Joe, and if I hear anything... Hey, you know, he might have had to eat earlier" The guy look so concerned that Joe almost felt sorry for him.

"Yeah, maybe" I doubt it "Thank you, Joe" Starsky left the lunchroom, his tray of food untouched. If he didn't hear back from the guard, he'd go looking around for himself.

The trio broke away from their victim immediately upon the arrival of the two guards. They stepped back from the man they knew as Jones and he fell to the ground.

Will shook his head and radioed for assistance.

Roy hurried over to Hutch "Easy, there now, you're safe" He patted Hutch's shoulder "Can you get up?"

Hutch lifted his head and glared at Roy. His false concern grated on Hutch's nerves. There was so much he wanted to say and do to this foul, sorry excuse for a human being. Roy was behind this. He knew it.

Roy helped Hutch to his feet "Well, let's get you to the infirmary" He eased Hutch's arm over his shoulder and put his arm around Hutch to assist him.

"Get away from me!" Hutch whispered savagely and attempted pull away from Roy.

"Stop it or your little friend pays" Roy whispered back with a fake smile plastered on his face "Play along, like a good puppy"

Hutch swallowed hard as the bile rose in his throat and reluctantly permitted the touch as Roy assisted him down the corridors to the infirmary. His leg ached fiercely

"I thought you should know the reason you were attacked is because your little buddy was mouthing off to me earlier. He can't seem to remember the rules. I have eyes and ears everywhere, remember that"

"I don't believe you. Starsky would NEVER do that to me" Hutch snarled at Roy.

"Tut, tut, you mean Harold, don't you? Now you see, I have to go punish Mr. Harold, I'm sure he'll thank you for it" He gave a very put upon sigh.

"NO!"

"Too late now, what's done is done, can't take it back" Roy shrugged "Unless..."

Hutch didn't want to ask, but he didn't want Starsky to be punished again on his account. That had already happened on the van ride here. "Unless what?" Hutch closed his eyes, dreading the response that Roy would give.

"Tell them the disturbance was your fault. That you caused it"

"But--"

"No buts. Do it or your friend pays"

Hutch dropped his head in defeat. "Alright, I'll tell them it was my fault"

"Good dog" Roy smiled "Ah, here's the infirmary... in you go" He patted Hutch gently on the shoulder after walking him to a cot. "See you later! Hope you feel better. Now, I've gotta go write my report on this incident" He gave Hutch a cheery wave and left.

As Roy walked down the corridor to the guard office, he smiled and could barely contain his laughter. Phase one was underway: Break up the friendship.

Starsky puttered around, pretending to mop the hallways, impatiently waiting for Joe the guard to bring him news. He was about to start looking for himself when Joe turned the corner. He dropped his mop and ran to the guard.

"Your friend is in the infirmary" Joe held up his hand "He's ok, a little beat up, but ok"

"I gotta see him! What happened? Who attacked him?" Starsky circled the guard firing his questions as rapidly as a semiautomatic gun at Joe.

"Whoa! Slow down! Just follow me... Hey! Wait up!" Joe had to run to catch up with the worried inmate.

Beyond a few pleasantries, Hutch refused to talk to Starsky while they were in the infirmary. Starsky understood, there were too many people about and he still had to finish mopping that damn hallway. After assuring himself that Hutch would be okay, Starsky went back to mopping and toilet scrubbing.

Later, Starsky went eagerly to his cell having finally finished his mopping. "Honey! I'm home!" He called brightly.

"Shut up, Starsk, I'm in no mood here"

"Hey, babe, 'm sorry" Starsky looked up at his friend; Hutch lay on his bunk in their cell. Hutch's back was to him as he lay on the upper bunk on the lumpy prison cot. "Wanna tell me what happened today?"

"No"

"Too bad, spill it" Starsky stepped up on his bunk to get the extra height he needed to get closer Hutch. "Somethin' happened, ya got hurt" He gently rubbed Hutch's back "I'm here, c'mon babe, tell me..." He soothed as he continued to rub gently for a while until Hutch turned to face him.

Hutch turned over. He had had several hours to think about what to tell Starsky. Or not tell Starsky. "I got into a fight, okay? We both knew it could happen. It did. The guys knew what I, or rather, Jones, was in for, so they attacked me. I fought them and then a guard came by and stopped it." He sighed. The attack hadn't gone on long enough for anything besides some groping to occur. He mentally shuttered.

He hated to lie to Starsky, but his friend would go ballistic if he knew the truth. He would tell him the whole truth later, when they were rescued. He just had to hold on until Saturday, Sunday at the latest. He prayed that Starsky's mom would miss her son's Friday call home and report the problem to Dobey. He prayed he could deal with whatever that sick bastard Roy dished out until then.

Starsky knew Hutch was leaving something out. He wasn't sure what it was, but he could guess. "So, how do the other guys look now?"

"A little uglier now then they did before" Hutch turned back over.

"Ha! I'll just bet they do. Good for you!" Starsky rubbed Hutch's back until his breathing evened out into a sleep pattern. He then sat down on his own bunk to ponder what Hutch hadn't said.

Chapter 6

In the darkness, Roy watched the detectives. Their reunion in the cell did not go as he expected it to. He had thought that they would be at each other's throats by now. But they weren't. He had wanted to see them fight, but they didn't.

What the hell was wrong with them? Instead of fighting, what did they do? One gave the other a fucking back rub! Where was the hollering and the hitting? Others he had done this to had been accusing each other of getting them into trouble by now. Not these two.

He had felt it again; that weird thing that they did. He wasn't sure if they even knew what they did, though it really didn't matter to him if they were aware of it or not. And now, somehow, it seemed even stronger then before... He didn't want it stronger. He wanted it gone. Maybe he should separate them... Nah, he'd give it one more day and then see about changing his plans.

Roy grinned to himself. Hutchinson seemed quite loyal to his partner. Just how much would he take? How far could he push Hutchinson before he wouldn't comply with Roy's dictates? Those were questions he wanted the answers to. He carefully, quietly, slipped out of the seclusion block; he had plans to make.

Tuesday

Starsky had been dozing lightly when something roused him, Hutch? There it was again, another soft sound, a groan. Yep, Hutch Starsky rubbed his sleep laden eyes; he was ever in tune to his friend's needs, especially when Hutch was hurting. And though he dozed, Starsky had been listening for any sound his friend might make.

Hutch groaned again, a little louder this time. Starsky rolled out of bed and stepped up onto his bunk and looked at Hutch's face for a moment. Pain had etched itself there. It could not be a restful sleep. He watched as the vertical ridge between Hutch's eyebrows deepened.

He debated on whether to wake Hutch or wait for him to wake up on his own. The decision was made for him when Hutch lifted his head and blinked sleepily at him.

Hutch jerked back, startled "Christ, Starsk, your mug is not what I wanna see first thing when I wake up" He wiped his hand down his face and stifled a yawn.

"Hey partner, how're ya feelin' this mornin'?"

"Just fine"

"Uh huh. Ya don't sound fine. You've been groanin' in your sleep, what's wrong?"

Hutch looked off to the side for a moment and debated on whether to lie or just tell Starsky the truth. He looked back, Starsky looked determined... better tell him the truth then "it's my leg"

"Lemme have a look" He gently lifted the blanket up from over Hutch's legs and inhaled sharply at the sight of Hutch's right leg. The leg from the knee down was swollen to nearly twice the size of the left one. "Oh Damn"

"It doesn't hurt that bad"

"Sure it don't" The shin was black and blue from where Roy had hit him and there was a newer mark where Louie had kicked Hutch yesterday. "Don't go nowhere" Starsky stepped down and pulled his pillow case off and went to the tiny sink to run some cold water on it. Starsky waited a bit, the water didn't cool down. "Shit"

"What's wrong?"

"Looks like Randal wasn't joking, the damn water won't get colder"

"It's the tap with the little 'C' on in"

"I do know which is which, Hutch" Starsky said, exasperated.

"Not 'which is which', it's hot and cold, unless you're in Mexico, in which case it would be 'C' and 'F'"

"Okay, I'll bite; 'C' is for 'cold', so 'F' must be 'hot', right?"

"No, 'C' is for caliente, which is hot; 'F' is for frio, which is cold"

"Clientele?"

"No, not clientele, cal-i-en-te, caliente, hot"

"Oh, of course, makes perfect sense" Starsky rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the water ain't coolin' off. Ya think ya can wait a bit and go to the infirmary?"

"I don't think we have any choice, Starsk" He dreaded the morning, for it likely meant his return to the kitchens and Huey, Dewy and Louie, unless they reassigned him after yesterday's unpleasantness. Hutch shuddered.

"What's wrong?" Starsky looked over his shoulder in time to see his friend shudder.

"Nothin'"

"Right, too bad I don't believe you"

"Look, I just was thinking how much it's gonna hurt to stand on, okay?" Hutch had to divert Starsky from questioning him too closely about this. He didn't want him to know what really happened yesterday. He didn't really want to remember what had happened to him. "I wonder... what time is it? It's so dark in here, no windows or clocks in this area, it's kinda depressing"

"Yeah, almost like bein' in some kinda prison or somethin'" Starsky said dryly.

"Hardy har, har, you are sooo funny" Hutch sat up and eased his legs over the edge of the upper bunk; he gritted his teeth as the movement jarred his leg.

"Hey! Let me help you down, before you hurt yourself, Blintz" Starsky offered his shoulder for Hutch to steady himself on.

Hutch eased off the bunk and Starsky slowed his descent, but Hutch still lost his balance while trying to land on his good leg, Starsky caught him and broke his fall.

"Aw, ain't it cute, the ladies are hugging"

"Don't get dressed on my account" Randal chimed in.

Starsky grabbed up their clothes as they were both in their under shorts. Hutch pulled a sheet over his lap and Starsky pulled his jeans on quickly. When done, he held the sheet in front of Hutch who, after some struggling, managed to maneuver his pants on over his injured leg and get himself covered. Starsky settled Hutch on the lower bunk and the pair glared at Roy who was leaning against the cell front, watching them.

"Tut, tut, girls, remember the rules..." He waggled his index finger back and forth at them.

Starsky and Hutch exchanged a look.

They were doing it again. Roy felt his blood begin to boil and had to calm himself. Best not to let them know that he knew what they were doing, at least not yet...

"What time is it?" Hutch broke the silence, not liking the look that had crossed Roy's face a moment ago.

"It's morning, that's all you need to know. Now, turn around and put your hands behind your backs, no funny stuff"

"Hu-- uh, Sam can't stand, his leg is really sore"

"Did I ask you about the condition of your cell mate?" Roy bit out.

"No... sir" Starsky could barely contain his disdain for Roy.

"Good, because I don't care what he can and can not do. What he will do is obey"

"He's sitting right here and he can hear you" Hutch snapped oh shit! He carefully got to his feet and flicked an apologetic glance at Starsky. Starsky gave a slight accepting nod.

Roy ground his teeth together in irritation and unlocked the cell door and waited for Hutchinson to assume the position.

Hutch leaned his shoulder against the top bunk to balance himself on his left foot, and then put his hands in the small of his back.

"Randal, cuff 'em"

Randal complied. "You're in for it now, Honey Dip" Randal whispered to Hutch after he had handcuffed him. "You too, Chocolate Chip" He snapped the cuffs on Starsky.

Hutch glared at Randal from over his shoulder. Starsky added his glare as well. Randal scuttled backwards and moved behind Roy.

"Come on out of there, now!" Roy commanded.

Hutch turned carefully around and hopped out of the cell; he leaned against the cell door and looked back at Starsky, who gave him a slight nod of encouragement.

Roy ran forward past Hutch and slammed into Starsky, knocking him to the floor "STOP IT!"

Starsky hit the ground hard, unable to break his fall due to the cuffs. Panting with pain from his jarred ribs, befuddled he gasped "Stop what?"

"You know what! You both know WHAT! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!" Roy's face was nearly maroon in color. "GET THE HELL UP" He kicked Starsky in the side.

Starsky slowly and carefully got to his feet. Roy grabbed him by the elbow and shoved him out the cell door. He maintained his hold once Starsky was outside.

"Take him to the infirmary and stay with him" He barked at Randal "You're comin' with me!" He tugged on Starsky's arm.

Starsky looked over his shoulder at Hutch, who was looking back at him. He gave Hutch and little smile of encouragement.

Roy took advantage of this momentary distraction and tripped Starsky, who went down hard "GET THE HELL UP! You fucking klutz!" God damn it! He had to get them to stop it; it was making him positively crazy. He grabbed Starsky by the shirt collar and hauled him to his feet. "C'mon Gary, you've got work to do" He maintained his grip on Starsky's collar, forcing him to walk hunched over as he hustled him out the door.

Hutch watched with dismay as his friend was dragged off.

Randal took Hutch to the infirmary. He hated that he had to have Randal's help to get there. The irritating guard babbled on and on about everything that popped into his little mind. Hutch tuned him out. He was too concerned about Starsky.

Why did he have to open his big mouth like that? Why couldn't he just keep it shut? No, he had to just keep getting Starsky into trouble, no, more then in trouble, in danger. Roy was far more unstable then he originally thought.

Hutch mulled over the morning's proceedings. Roy had slammed into Starsky when he had looked at him... Could it be that Roy hated it when they looked at each other? Could Roy sense their friendship? Could that be part of what made Roy so crazy whenever he was around them? None of it made sense... but then, Roy was certifiable... who could really know what would set him off?

"Hey Liz, I got a return customer for you" Randal called out once they arrived in the infirmary.

The nurse looked up at Hutch and Randal and rolled her eyes. God, I hate working when I'm at work she thought as she reluctantly put down her crocheting. "What's wrong with you now?"

Your overwhelming sympathy simply astounds me Hutch forced a smile "It's my leg, its swollen--"

"Set him down on the bed in the last room on the right" Nurse Liz cut him off and went to a freezer and retrieved several bags of ice which she placed around his leg. She handed him a couple of aspirin then she went back to crocheting.

Randal sat down on the chair next to Hutch's bed "Arizona is so hot, birds have to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground"

"And so it begins again" Hutch sighed; he then remembered that Starsky was stuck with Roy. He swallowed hard. He didn't have it so bad after all.

Randal just loved having a captive audience "It's so hot in Arizona, farmers feed chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying their eggs hard-boiled"

Roy let go of Starsky after getting him out of the seclusion block and released him from the handcuffs. Starsky followed him until they got to a familiar hallway "Here you go Gary, start mopping" He shoved the mop and pail into Starsky's hands.

"Um, I mopped this hall yesterday... sir"

"So? Mop it again" Roy had to calm himself down, he had overreacted earlier. He was in control. Smack, twist, release, lift, the soothing feel of his nightstick did much to calm him. He liked his billy club; it was good for close work in confined spaces, like the van or a cell. But, in the roomier areas, the nightstick gave him a little extra distance from his target. Smack, twist, release, lift, he watched Mr. Harold closely.

Starsky's stomach rumbled, he rubbed it absently I guess breakfast is out of the question He sighed.

Roy grinned, walked to the end of the hall, pulled out a folding chair and sat down to watch Starsky work. Smack, twist, release, lift

"Terrific, an audience" He eyed Roy for a moment. Roy was fiddling with the nightstick again. He rubbed his aching ribs again. He went to fill the pail and started mopping.

It grated on Starsky's nerves to yield to Roy's dictates, but what choice did he have? None, not yet anyway, soon though. That reminded him of Huggy's Mouse Downs and 'Soon Henry', the mouse that he had bid on. Well, another quiet day with a mop, what fun. When will we get outta here? Soon, Starsky, soon. He chuckled to himself.

He started to sing the Johnny Cash song 'Folsom Prison Blues' "...Well, I'm stuck in Folsom prison and time keeps draggin' on..."

Randal sat with the man he knew as Sam Jones. It was nearly noon he was getting hungry. "Hey Sam, you hungry?" Randal nudged the blond "Hey..."

"Huh? Did you say something?" Hutch had nearly been talked in to a coma by Randal. He had never heard anyone who could talk more about nothing.

On the upside, his leg felt much better. The ice had done wonders for the swelling. For fifteen minutes out of every hour, ice had been applied, his leg was now nearly normal looking again, aside from the black and blue coloring.

Another plus was he had learned more about this prison and what the experiment part was. It seemed that most of the inmates went out daily -- excluding weekends -- on road crew work. The road crews worked on highway maintenance, fixed pot holes, picked up litter and removed brush from along the highways. And just like in the old days of the chain gangs, there was a mounted patrol to watch over the prisoners along with more modern vehicles.

Hutch rather liked the thought of the inmates working as long as it was humane and safe. They were kept busy and it was supposed to be punishment to be in prison. The inmates were also learning a trade, road repair and construction, so when they got out of prison, they could get a job.

It had been easy to get Randal to talk, shutting him up was the hard part. And those damn 'Arizona is so... fill-in-the-blank' jokes set his teeth on edge. But now he had a better idea of what was going on at this prison. It gave him ideas. Getting on the road crew was one of them.

"I'm going to go to lunch, you want anything?"

Food sounded good. Seeing Starsky would be better. The way that Roy had dragged him off that morning worried him. "Anything would be fine, I guess..."

Before Randal left to get lunch, he handcuffed Hutch to the bed, it was standard operating procedure, and you just couldn't leave an unsecured inmate alone with the nurse.

Starsky was starving. His stomach growled constantly. He drank water to quell the rumbles. He really didn't want to have to ask Roy if he could go to the common room to get food, but his stomach was starting to think his throat had been cut. Here goes nothing

"Excuse me sir, but could I go to lunch now?" It rankled Starsky to talk to have to ask Roy for anything.

Roy smiled "I'll go get lunch, you can stay right here. Turn around" Smack, twist, release, lift.

Oh, hell Starsky turned around but looked over his shoulder to kept his eyes on Roy.

"Back up to that cell, put your arms through the bars"

Starsky reluctantly complied.

Roy clicked on the cuffs and took a moment to look at his captive. He reached out and patted his face "Be right back" he then left. He returned an hour later with a tray of food.

Starsky's stomach growled.

Roy released Starsky from the cuffs and as soon as he was free, Roy flipped the tray of food over, it plopped to the floor, and food splattered everywhere.

"Bon appetite" Roy grinned.

Starsky stared at the food for a moment and then looked up at Roy, his breathing rate increased.

"You want to hit me, don't you?" Roy whispered.

Starsky calmed himself. He wasn't going to play this insane game. It was one he couldn't win. Roy kept changing the rules.

"Come on, give in, hit meeee" Roy hissed "You know you want to"

"I'm sorry... sir, I have a floor to mop" Starsky grabbed his mop and started to clean up the mess Roy made. He didn't want to hit Roy. He wanted to rip Roy's head off and spit down his throat. But he made himself keep mopping.

Roy was furious. He was trying to get Mr. Gary Harold angry enough to hit him. He walked back to his folding chair to contemplate his next move.

Starsky smiled to himself. Score one point for me it was nice to have finally made the scoreboard.

Hutch waited impatiently for Starsky to show up at lunch time. He never did.

Randal returned with a tray of food for Jones. He sat down in the chair next to his prisoner. He looked Jones up and down for a moment.

Hutch felt his cop senses kick in. Randal was looking at him. He didn't like it. "Hey, Randal, I'm starved, could you let me loose so I can..." He stopped, appalled as Randal reached towards him and gently stroked each of Hutch's eye brows with a single finger tip.

"Honey Dip"

Later that night, Starsky was returned to his cell by a second shift guard. Roy had remarkably left him alone after the tray incident. Starsky wasn't sure at all if that was a bad thing or a good thing. The second shift guy let him eat supper. Starsky was just about ready to make the man his second best friend.

He was relieved to find Hutch was already in the cramped quarters, standing at the tiny sink washing his hands. "Hutch!"

Hutch just continued to scrub his hands.

"Hey, I think your hands are clean enough..." Hutch didn't acknowledge him. "Hey, what'sa matter?"

"Nothing" Hutch sighed the word out. His shoulders were slumped.

"Uh huh, yeah, nothing, the same 'nothing' as yesterday I'll bet?"

"You'd win that bet. Three days"

"What?"

"Three days until Friday" Hutch kept washing his hands.

Starsky's brow furrowed for a moment "Oh" Three days until his mother missed his call.

Three days.

Chapter 7

Starsky lay on his bunk and stared at the dent Hutch was making in the upper bunk. He was puzzled. Hutch's marathon hand washing hand concerned him. When he asked Hutch about it, he had told him to "Shut the hell up", then had refused to talk to him after that. Just what the hell had happened to Hutch today?

What was he gonna do? Take no for an answer? Had he ever taken no for an answer when it came to Hutch? NO!

His mind made up, Starsky got out of bed and climbed on top of his bunk "Hey, Hutch, you awake?" He could barely make out the form of his friend in the darkness, the dim florescent light near the exit was the only source of light after ten p.m. "Hey" Starsky gently grabbed Hutch's upper arm and shook it "Hut--" the name was cut short when Hutch punched him in the face.

"I told you the shut the hell up! I'm tryin' to get some sleep here!" Hutch snapped at Starsky.

Starsky simply stared, dumbfounded, as Hutch turned over and presented his back to him. After a prolonged stunned stare, Starsky asked "do ya feel better now, or do ya need ta hit me again?"

Hutch had given it a lot of thought and he had come to the conclusion that Roy was trying to pit them against each other. It was the only thing that made sense. Not that Roy's plan was sensible, or that Roy was sensible, for that matter.

He thought he had heard something last night as he was falling asleep. He was fairly certain he had heard someone enter the seclusion block a short time ago. But he couldn't be sure and he couldn't take the chance of cluing Starsk in, not yet anyway.

Hitting Starsky had pained him the most. Having to hit his best friend... it was the worst kind of pain. The ache only deepened when Starsky had offered to let him hit him again. Just like that awful day when Gillian was murdered...

Hutch signed "Just go to sleep, will ya?" Tears leaked unseen from his eyes. He hated like hell to hit Starsky, but he had to distance himself. It was the only way to protect him.

"Okay, for now, but I ain't finished with this subject" Not by a long shot Starsky lay down on his bunk and once more stared at the dent What the hell happened to you today, buddy?

Finally, progress! Roy couldn't be happier as he tip-toed unnoticed, out the door.

Wednesday

Morning came too quickly, despite Starsky's Hutch induced insomnia. The morning brought a surprise; four guards arrived at the cell, Roy, Randal, Will Gardner and Joe the guard.

"Hey Hu-- Sam, wake up!" He pushed his foot against the dent above him a couple of times and quickly slipped on his jeans, pulled on his shirt and then he mashed his feet into his shoes without untying them.

Hutch's jeans encased legs appeared over the side of the bunk and he carefully slid to the floor, landing on his left foot. He avoided eye contact with Starsky. He sat down on the lower bunk and carefully put his shoes on.

Will, the most senior officer, then spoke up "Do you know why we're here Mr. Jones?"

"Yeah, I do" His head hung down. "Let's get this over with"

"Hu-- SAM, what's going on?" Starsky edged over to Hutch's side and tried in vain to make eye contact.

"Mr. Jones assaulted a guard yesterday, coupled with the demerits for fighting and damaging prison property, he is to be posted today" Roy sneered.

"What's 'posted'?!" Starsky was alarmed. He shot Hutch a 'why didn't you tell me?' look.

"Both of you, on your feet, turn your backs to us and place your hands in the small of your backs" Will ignored Mr. Harold's question.

Hutch meekly complied and silent urged Starsky to comply as well.

Starsky didn't know what this 'posting' shit was, but there was no way in hell he was gonna let Hutch go through it alone. He placed his hands behind his back and controlled his breathing as best he could. He would make his move before they cuffed him.

"Don't!" Hutch whispered and shot Starsky a pleading look. Starsky's dark blue eyes had steel in them. Oh shit Hutch knew what Starsky had planned. "St-- Don't!"

Joe and Randal moved into the cell. Starsky whirled around and punched Joe in the face; he then punched Randal even harder. Nightsticks were brought out and after several hard whacks; Starsky was subdued and panting on the floor. His hands were then cuffed securely behind him.

Starsky looked up from his position on the floor "Sorry I hit you, Joe" he was sorry that he had hit him. Joe had taken him to see Hutch in the infirmary when he had been attacked on Monday. That punch wasn't personal.

"What about me?" Randal whined.

Starsky said nothing, he let his glare do the all the talking. Randal scuttled out of the cell. For the first time, Starsky noticed that Randal was limping slightly. He struggled to his feet.

"Well, Mr. Jones, looks like you're going to have company" Will shook his head. He had never seen anyone fight to be posted before. Well, there's a first time for everything.

They were driven by pickup truck to a small area adjacent to the main prison compound. This section was fenced in as well it shared one side of the compound fencing, but for the three remaining sides the chain link fencing was not as high. One of the guard towers overlooked the area along with the adjoining compound the electronic gate to this adjoining area was controlled from there.

The spot they were taken to was near what looked to be a covered riding arena. A short distance from that was a stable for the mounted patrol horses for the prison. About ten feet from the arena fence were two ominous large looking wooden posts. Each post had several large eyebolts at various heights screwed into them.

Starsky and Hutch exchanged a look. Joe and Randal assisted them out of the truck and lead them to the posts. Roy and Will exited the truck cab and joined the other two guards.

They were handcuffed to separate posts. Their hands were cuffed in front of them and to the post at just such a height that they would not be able to sit down on the ground. They were then told that they would be there for twelve hours. It was now 5 a.m.

Each was given a wide brim hat to wear. Starsky was going to toss his, but Hutch, a.k.a Nature Boy, told him to leave it on.

Will, Roy and Joe got into the pickup and left.

Hutch watched Randal moved off to sit down on a park bench about twenty feet away. He was happy to note that Randal had a slight limp. Good, a little pay back for yesterday He allowed himself a moment of smugness.

"So, this is 'posting'. It don't seem so bad" Starsky looked at Hutch.

Hutch looked back at him "Why'd ya have to hit those guards, Starsk? Huh?" he shook his head sadly.

"Why didn't you tell me this posting thing was gonna happen? Huh? We're partners; remember 'Me and Thee'?" Starsky countered "We have ta stick together"

"That's very loyal of ya Starsk, but some things must be done alone" He avoided eye contact as he said that.

"Since when?" Starsky was getting angry. Hutch's behavior was becoming so un-Hutch like. "Why don't ya tell me what th' hell's going on? Huh? Ya hit me last night! That ain't like you! You can tell me anything, you know that..."

"I know, Starsk and I will tell you, after we get out of here"

"Why not now?" He was getting frustrated.

"Just trust me, okay?" Hutch sighed "'m sorry I hit ya last night"

"Why'd ya do it then? Huh? I think I gotta right ta know"

"You do, buddy, you do... but later, okay?" He leaned his head against the post; he didn't know how much longer he could keep what happened yesterday and the day before a secret from his friend. One day at a time, Ken, one day at a time.

The pair heard a sharp whistle near the gate and turned their attention there. The electronic gate glided open and a person in a cowboy hat, baggy t-shirt and jeans rode in on horseback, leading another horse, a German Shepard trotted along side. The gate slid closed once more.

The pair took careful notice on the entrance procedure for the gate. It might come in handy, if they got the opportunity to escape.

The person, a woman, trotted the horses up near the park bench to the hitching post located there.

The dog trotted over to where Randal was sitting and lifted its leg and urinated on Randal's leg. He jumped up "God Damn it Kate! Control that fucking dog of yours before I shoot the damn thing!"

"Sorry, Randal" The older woman tilted her Stetson hat back a bit as she looked at Randal's wet pant leg through large, thick glasses that rested on a beak like nose "Guess he couldn't wait any longer"

Starsky and Hutch exchanged a look and stifled their chuckles.

Randal glared in their direction as he limped away to change his pants, shaking his wet leg every few strides.

"Good dog!" The woman praised once Randal was out of earshot.

"Miss?" Hutch called, this could be the chance they had been waiting for, and his heart sped up.

"Missus" The woman corrected.

"Missus... Kate, we need your help" Hutch amended.

"Oh, spare me your sad tail of woe, I've heard them all" She threw up her hands and stalked off to the stables, leading the two horses she brought in. She returned a few minutes later with a different horse, which she took into the arena and started to work with it.

"Please, you have to listen, we don't belong here, we were kidnapped" Hutch tried again.

"Heard that one before, just last month" Came the bored reply.

The duo traded a look. Was it possible that Roy had done this to someone else? Yep, knowing Roy, it was possible. "We're police officers, detectives--"

She cut him off. "That's a new one; I'll give you points for originality. I'm not supposed to talk to inmates"

"Fine, don't talk, just listen!" Hutch snapped, fed up.

Shaking her head, she cued the horse to canter on.

"Hutch! What the hell are ya doin'?" Starsky whispered angrily, then to the woman he called, "Please don't listen to him, he's just having a bad day" He went on to try to explain their predicament. But the woman kept to the far side of the arena making it impossible to give details without shouting.

Randal, having changed his pants, returned shortly after that, he pulled the park bench into the shade of the arena.

The temperature was beginning to rapidly rise. It was about 6 a.m. and already in the eighties. Starsky's temperature was on the rise as well. "Dammit Hutch, what th' hell's gotten inta ya? Ya probably just blew th' best chance we've had so far of gettin' outta here"

Hutch just hung his head. He wanted to stick to his plan of pretending to break off his friendship with Starsky to protect him from Roy. But just how to do that without telling Starsky? Should he tell him? What would work best? Hutch wished he had the answers. His gut told him that Roy would know that they were just acting, no matter how hard they tried. But, if Starsky didn't know, maybe Roy wouldn't either...

Best to tell Starsk some of what happened yesterday and then stick to his plan "Okay, you win, Starsk, I tried talking to the nurse while Randal was out getting lunch. She ignored me; it was like I was a piece of meat. She just put ice on my leg and left. I was handcuffed to the bed. I couldn't hurt her or anything, why couldn't she just listen?" It had hurt not to be treated with common courtesy or respect that every human was entitled to, including criminals.

"Go on, ya assaulted a guard yesterday as well, I'm guessing Randal, right? He's limping today" Starsky watched as Hutch's head dipped lower "What?" It was so frustrating, he was mere feet from his friend but he had never felt further away.

"I was handcuffed to the bed... so I kicked him" The quiet reply.

Starsky wanted details "Why'd ya kick him?" he asked softly, he had an idea why, but he had to hear it from Hutch.

"He tried to k--" Hutch cleared his throat "k-kiss me" That wasn't all, but that was all he was prepared to tell Starsky at this point.

"That little shit!" Starsky snapped his head about and glared at the little guard. He turned back, "What'd ya do?"

Hutch smiled "Kicked him in the nuts"

"Good for you! Stupid little shit" Starsky glared at Randal once more. He knew Hutch was leaving something out. He silently vowed to make Hutch talk about it once they were back in their cell, for privacy sake.

The morning pasted with the duo killing time by watching the woman give riding lessons to the guards. It was interesting to see just how the mounted horses were trained. The guards practiced various techniques for separating a suspect (or in this case an inmate) from the others as well has handcuffing and breaking up groups of rioters, all without ever getting off their horses. They also worked on something they called "drill team" which reminded Starsky of military marching drills.

Starsky grew a little concerned that he and Hutch might be used as guinea pigs for the practice session that the guards were having. Those animals were huge. But much to his relief, they just practiced on each other.

The morning wore on.

Starsky was rapidly revising his opinion that posting shit wasn't so bad. The heat was getting unbearable and it wasn't even noon yet. Sweat rolled off his whole body. Hutch had told him to keep his sleeves rolled down to help retain moisture and prevent sunburn. He had rolled his up for a while but then the metal cuffs got so hot, he rolled the sleeves back down again.

"Dammit, it's really hot. My brains are beginnin' ta fry" Starsky panted.

"What? They're just beginning?" Hutch was leaning against the pole, trying to take his weight off his right leg, which was starting to really hurt again. "I always thought your brains were more than half baked to begin with"

"Hey, whaddya mean by that?"

"Thought that was pretty self explanatory" Hutch wiped ineffectively at his brow.

"Huh" No sense in arguing with Hutch, it was just too hot. "Wonder when we can get a drink? I'm parched" He looked over to where Randal sat in the shade, sipping water. He licked his dry lips.

The other guards had departed after the morning training session, even the instructor packing up her stuff to leave. She turned on the hydrant located near the arena and started to fill a couple of large jugs. The sound of running water was so good.

"Hey Randal, we could use some water, please!" Starsky called.

Randal merely opened up his newspaper and started to leaf through it without looking up.

Starsky tried again "Yo, Randal! Some water, please?"

Randal turned down an edge of his paper and smirked at him before going back to reading.

Starsky gritted his teeth and apologized "Look, Randal, I'm really sorry I hit you this morning, okay? May we have some water now? Please?"

He continued to flip through the paper, ignoring Starsky.

Hutch merely leaned against the post, not even looking at Starsky, not looking at anything in particular. Resigned.

Starsky had been growing more concerned all morning. Hutch was just not acting like... Hutch. He hadn't responded at all, on any level to him in the last hour. He just leaned against the post.

Starsky was about to ask again when the woman hollered.

"Randal!"

"What?" Randal drawled out.

"You know the law" She gritted out.

"What law?" He asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb, the Arizona law that states that anyone asking for water must be given some" She snapped.

"Oh, that law" Randal took his time getting up and he sauntered over to the hydrant and picked up the metal cup that hung there and filled it. He muttered vile comments about her and her dog and what he thought they did together under his breath as he gave them water.

Starsky noticed that the woman fiddled around with her horses until both he and Hutch had had a drink. He nodded his thanks.

She turned away without acknowledging him and whistled for the gate to be opened.

He wondered if she would contact the police to make any inquiries about them, but realized that neither he nor Hutch had given their names. He ground his teeth in frustration. What a mess. He leaned on the post and stared through the distant chain link fence to the open desert and watched the heat waves shimmer off the sand and desert plants.

Hutch was aware that Starsky was upset with him. He had blown it and all the couldas, shouldas and wouldas in the world wouldn't change anything. Not now. Now he had to commit himself to his course of distancing himself from Starsky. He knew that Roy and Randal were beginning to focus their attention on him. And he intended to keep it that way. He swallowed dryly.

Hutch lowered his head. He couldn't decide who was worse; Roy was nasty, crazy and Randal wanted him. He fought the urge to vomit. He needed to retain all the fluids he had in this heat, also he was concerned that if he started, he wouldn't ever be able to stop. God, give me strength to get through this

At 5 p.m. they were taken back to their cell block. Only they were put in separate cells now. Starsky's stomach knotted up even tighter then before. This was not good. Hell, none of this whole damn mess was good, none of it their fault... he slammed his fist repeatedly into the wall that now separated him from Hutch.

He called to him several times, but Hutch didn't even answer. He tried reaching through the bars and around the wall, to make contact, nothing. He finally wore himself out and slid down the wall to sit on the floor next to the bars and stared without seeing the adjacent wall.

Hutch listened to Starsky rant and pound on the wall. The hardest thing was to see Starsky's hand flailing about and not to grab onto it and hang on for dear life. He leaned his head against the connecting wall, his palms flat against it It's for the best buddy, I'm doing this for you

Two days

Chapter 8

After unproductively staring at the wall for a while, Starsky got to his feet and washed himself in the small sink. It was nice to get the dried sweat off. He then pulled the mattress off Hutch's bunk and put it next to the wall that separated him from Hutch. He was exhausted from the day of being posted in the hot sun and from trying to get Hutch to talk to him. Any kind of response would be better then the nothing he was getting now.

Starsky sat down on the mattress and he listened intently. He could hear Hutch pacing in his cell. He thought he could detect a limp in his partner's stride. "Hutch, you should stay offa that leg, it'll never heal if ya keep walkin' on it" He listened again, the footsteps stopped near the cell bars, Hutch was close. He kept up his chatter. Hutch could easily hear him and that was something, anyway.

After a while, he finally ran out of words. He heard Hutch pace away again. He always felt better when Hutch sang. But Hutch wasn't even talking to him. What was going through that blond head of his? Probably thinking too much again Hutch tended to do that. What was that song by Bill Withers? Oh, yeah "Lean on Me"

"Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow, but if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow... lean on me, when your not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on..." Starsky softly sang the song all the way through, he kept waiting for Hutch to join in, but he didn't. Finally, exhausted by the long day and disappointments, he quit. Starsky slowly slid sideways until he lay on the mattress and fell asleep instantly.

Hutch listened to Starsky's soft snore. He had listened as Starsk sang, or what passed for singing. He would never break Starsky's heart by telling him his singing voice was like listening to cats being boiled alive. But what his friend lacked in talent, he made up for it in enthusiasm. He suppressed his chuckle.

Hutch slid down the wall. God, what a mess, how the hell am I going to keep up this fa‡ade? He dropped his head into his hands. It's just for two days. I can do this After a few moments, he ran his hands over his head. The hair was growing back giving his head a peach-fuzz feel. Pushing himself off the floor he walked to his new bunk and lay down and reluctantly drifted off to sleep.

Thursday

Randal arrived at Hutch's cell at 5 a.m. Hutch was already dressed and ready, had been for a few hours. He had managed to get some sleep, but it wasn't enough. Randal bade him to turn around and back up to the cell door with his hands behind his back. Hutch reluctantly did so. Randal cuffed him first and then opened the cell door. Hutch stepped out of his cell.

"Hey! Where're you takin' him?" Starsky got to his feet and stood at the bars of his cell.

Hutch turned his head away from Starsky and walked towards the exit.

Randal caressed Hutch's butt as he limped past and he grinned evilly back at the man he knew as Gary "I'm taking him to the liberry." Hutch flinched at the caress but kept going.

Starsky's arm shot pasted the bars and tried to grab Randal "You creepy little flake!"

Randal jumped back away from the bars "I wouldn't! Not unless you want your friend to have a really bad day" He smiled coldly at Gary and turned to trot after his prisoner "Wait up Honey Dip!"

Starsky gripped the bars tightly, his whole body shaking with impotent rage as he pressed his face hard against the bars and stared after his friend. "DAMMIT" He turned and started slamming his fists into the wall. The metallic bang of the exit door momentarily drowned out the sound of fists hitting concrete.

Joe entered the seclusion block a short time later "What the hell's all the racket?" He hollered over the din. He looked in on Gary, who appeared to be doing his best to smash through the wall with his bare hands. "Hey, save some of that energy for work detail" He stepped back away from the bars as Gary whirled around and glared at him. "Whoa! Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the cell today!"

Starsky swallowed hard and tried to get a grip on his rage. If he acted out any more then he already had; Hutch would be in even more trouble then he already was. Though it would be tough to top the hell Hutch was in now. He shuddered.

"Are you calm now?" Joe eyed the prisoner carefully. There was no way in hell he was gonna open the cell until this guy was back in control, especially after yesterday. Gary Harold had one hell of a punch.

Starsky controlled his breathing and looked at him. Joe was sporting a black eye from the punch he had given him. He weakly gestured at Joe's face "Sorry about that"

"Yeah sure, turn around, hands behind your back" He made a twirling motion with his index finger and when the prisoner complied, he added "back up to the bars" he clapped the handcuffs on once Gary obeyed.

"Where're we goin'? The library?" The second question had a slightly hopeful note to it.

"Library?" Joe laughed "We don't have a library" He grabbed his charge by the upper arm and yanked him out of the cell. He had been nice to this inmate and had even felt a little sorry for him, what did it get him? A punch in the face, but that wouldn't be happening again.

Starsky stomach suddenly felt like a large worm taken up residence there. It started to twist and turn. No library, they don't have a library... then where the hell did the little maggot take Hutch? He swallowed hard.

Joe took him directly outside without breakfast. Which was fine with Starsky, he didn't think he could choke anything down, let alone keep it there.

Joe un-cuffed him then handed him a hat and told him to rake the gravel in the compound. After handing him the rake, Joe shoved him from behind "Get to work!" He then went back inside the building.

Starsky looked around. There was a lot of gravel and a lot of compound. He gave a heavy sigh. He nodded to himself. He would look for a chance to search for Hutch. But since he was outside, he might as well look for ways to escape while he worked.

Damn 'em, they always seemed to be having him doing jobs that aggravated whatever injuries he had. His ribs were hurting from the beating he got yesterday. He gave another sigh and started to rake.

Hutch was led down several corridors and hallways. He tried to memorize the route to the library. His right leg ached from being forced to stand on it all day yesterday and the swelling was back. He wondered if there might be a hairline fracture in his shin bone.

Randal was uncommonly quiet today. Hutch decided that he preferred it when Randal talked. Silence out of the little guard was just too creepy. He also figured that they weren't really going to a library. He didn't couldn't decide if he should ask where they were going or just wait until they got there.

This business about not talking to Starsky was a lot tougher then he had expected; Starsky had been ready to defend him again this morning. He had had to look away and move quickly to the door to keep from breaking down. Then Randal had called him 'Honey Dip' again. He barely suppressed the shudders that name gave him. He closed his eyes for a moment, maybe the 'library' was the twisted little guard's name for his private quarters... Oh God, please get us out of here!

They turned the next corner and Roy was standing there. "It's about time you got here" He glared at Randal "Took you long enough, what's the hold up?" He unlocked the door and motioned for Randal to enter. Randal muttered something in response to Roy's question.

Hutch took a step back away from the door and Roy.

Roy grabbed his arm and hissed in his face "it's either you or your friend"

Hutch froze. He was trying to pretend that Starsky wasn't his friend. But there was no way he was going to let this crazy son of a bitch bring Starsky here. Did this mean that Roy knew that he was pretending? He took a gamble and lied "He's not my friend"

Roy looked him in the eyes. Hutch returned the look, not breaking eye contact, not even blinking. He managed to keep his breathing even.

Roy held his gaze and tugged Hutch's arm "Well, you're here now; maybe I'll bring him to the library tomorrow"

Hutch returned the stare "Good. Better him then me" he shrugged as if it meant nothing to him.

Roy smiled and pulled Hutch down the aisle towards the room they called 'the library'.

Starsky tried slipping off several times to search for his friend but every time he set the rake down, Joe would come outside and holler at him to get back to work. He was beyond frustrated. The tower guards must be radioing Joe and letting him know when he stopped working.

Honey Dip. Starsky growled at the memory of when Randal had called Hutch that and recalling what Hutch had said about Randal trying to kiss him... If that little creep had been just a few inches closer to the bars, he would have gotten his neck snapped this morning. When they got outta this mess... The little flake was gonna pay and pay hard and if there wasn't laws against everything the little creep did, Starsky decided that he'd make up a few.

What was happening to his poor friend today? He figured Hutch was downplaying the things that had been done to him on Monday and Tuesday. Starsky was nearly frantic with concern about Hutch's behavior. Why was he doing this? Scratch that. He knew why. The Blond Blintz was being noble and thought he was protecting Starsky from Roy and Randal. He was in his full-on 'White Knight' mode.

Starsky's thoughts were rudely interrupted by Joe's hollering "I said RAKE the gravel! Not dig a hole in the gravel with the rake!"

Starsky looked down at the shallow hole he had inadvertently dug "Shit!" He set about filling in the hole.

Earlier that day

Roy pulled Hutch into a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning room, HVAC, for short. Roy dragged him by the elbow along the narrow, ductwork filled aisle; Hutch had to duck down to avoid cracking his head on the various vents, ducts and pipes. Randal hardly ever had to duck.

After a bit, Roy stopped and pulled a screw driver he had hidden in between two of the pipes and stuck it into a crack in the concrete wall and pried open a door. The 'concrete' portion of the wall was really insulation that was painted to look like concrete. There was a door behind that which Roy unlocked and opened.

Roy pushed Hutch into the tiny room. There was a single bare light bulb on the ceiling and two chairs. The room was stuffy and there was a constant hum of the HVAC machinery. On the right hand wall were various items hanging neatly on hooks. The left hand wall had several sturdy eyebolts screwed into in at different heights.

Eyes widening, jaw gapping, Hutch stepped backwards, aghast. It was a miniature torture chamber. He stepped back again only to be shoved forward by Randal "C'mon Honey Dip! Get in there!"

Roy and Randal wrestled a fiercely struggling Hutch into the sturdier of the two chairs which was bolted to the floor. They strapped him in with wide leather cuffs and cinched them snuggly around his wrists and ankles, securing him to the chair.

When they finished, Roy and Randal stood back and looked at their handy work. "Comfy?" Roy inquired.

"Oh yeah, I could just fall right asleep it's sooo cozy" Hutch spat back sarcastically.

"Randal, out" Roy hooked his thumb towards the door.

"But I wanna see--"

Roy turned his head and glared at him "You can come back later" it was almost a whisper.

Randal gulped audibly and then shot out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Well detective Hutchinson" Roy brought out a metal box that was roughly the size of a men's shoe box and showed it to Hutch "I thought that I would hook you up to this" Holding the box up for Hutch to see, Roy continued "This is a electric cattle fencer. Farmers use them to keep cows behind a thin piece of wire. The cow touches the fence -- zap -- they get a shock. I touched this once. Knocked me to the floor, it's not strong enough to kill you, unless you have a heart condition... anyway, it will really get your attention" He smiled and set the fencer next to Hutch.

"Why're you doing this?"

"Because I can and because I don't like you or your partner" Roy smiled smugly as he circled Hutch "I now control the pain, food, water and your very life. I can kill you at time"

Roy leaned down and put his hands on Hutch's knees and looked him in the eyes "And if I don't kill you, you may find, in an amazingly short time, days or even hours, you will bond with me. You will see me as your protector, your benefactor; you will begin to look to me to meet all your physical and emotional needs"

"Never! That'll never happen Roy" Hutch snapped as he tugged hard on his bonds in a futile attempt to free himself.

"Ah, but, its already happening, I started last Sunday and every day I added just a little more control over you and detective Starsky's life's. I already know that by threatening one of you, I can control the other. Enough of this, time to get to business" Roy pulled out some wires and a phone and started hooking them together.

"One question"

"What's that?" Roy continued with his task.

"Why call this room the 'library'?"

"A library is where you go to learn things you can't learn in school" Roy smiled at his own wit "besides, Randal wanted to call it the 'screaming room' I just think the 'library' sounds more approachable, friendly. Also, if anyone over hears us... who gets excited over a library?"

"Have you done this to anyone else?"

"That's two questions, but I'm in a talkative mood. It's none of your business whether I have or haven't, I'm doing it to you and that's all that matters"

"Third question, what's with the phone and fencer?" Hutch was beginning to sweat and not just because the room was warm. Roy was no amateur at torture that was a certainty.

"Glad you asked!"

Roy brought out a blindfold and slipped it over Hutch's eyes and he tightened it. He then gagged him and placed a collar around Hutch's neck and cinched it snuggly. "Nice, now, the collar has a band of metal that is touching your skin. It's attached to the fencer, which is attached to the telephone. Here's where it gets a little tricky, whenever the main phone number for the prison is dialed, the circuit will be completed and you will get a shock for every ring of the phone, if no one calls, no shocks. But, this is Thursday, so, I am reasonably sure we'll get a call or two. If you're lucky, we won't get enough calls to kill you"

He stepped back to admire his handy work "Now I control your sight, your ability to talk, move and your pain" Roy burst out laughing "Oh, this is going to be sooo fun! I wish I could watch! Well, I gotta get to work" Still chuckling, he patted Hutch on the head and enjoyed watching the violent flinch his victim gave in reaction to the touch. Stifling his chuckles, he locked the door.

Hutch remembered the time that he had accidentally touched a fencer at his grandfather's farm, so he already had an idea of the voltage and how it would feel when the first shock came. He knew that he wouldn't just feel it on his neck; the electric shock would course through his whole body at the same time causing all the muscles to contract a bit.

A single shock would be very uncomfortable, the voltage wasn't terribly high. But, as the shocks multiplied over the course of the day, it would become unbearable. There was nothing he could do but wait in dread for the first call of the day and the sweat trickled down his spine.

The day drew to a close with no answers and no Hutch. Starsky's uneasy and worry grew as the day wore on and he was denied the freedom to hunt for his friend.

Starsky had been returned to his cell after supper, which he forced himself to eat so he could keep his strength up; he had a feeling that he would need it. As he was put in his cell he had gotten a quick look into Hutch's cell. He wasn't back yet. Starsky almost yelled to Joe and asked where 'Sam' was, but cut himself off as that might get Hutch into still more trouble with the gruesome twosome, Roy and Randal. He punched the wall once more and paced the tiny cell.

He stopped and looked at the upper bunk, Hutch's bunk. He had put the mattress back on the bunk before being lead off to work this morning. He paced again, stopped near the bars and listened intently for the sound of anyone approaching. Nothing.

He pulled down the blanket that Hutch had used and carefully folded it and gently smoothed out the wrinkles. He sat cross legged on the lower bunk and despite the warmth in the room, hugged the blanket to him and waited for Hutch to be returned to his cell.

He didn't know how long he stayed that way until he heard the door to the seclusion block open. He quickly went to the bars to see who was coming in and he clutched the bars when he saw Roy and Randal lug a semiconscious Hutch into the area.

"What happened to him?!" Starsky watched anxiously as Hutch was drug past his cell.

They deposited Hutch in his new cell bunk and locked the door.

As they turned to leave, Roy replied "He had a busy day, he had to take a lot of phone calls" He smirked and elbowed Randal, who guffawed.

"Roy, may I speak to you... alone" Starsky glared pointedly at Randal.

Roy hooked his thumb towards the door. Randal opened his mouth; Roy stopped him with a more emphatic jerk of his thumb towards the door. Randal blew a kiss to the man he knew as Gary and headed out the door.

Starsky rattled the bars of his cell while he glowered at Randal.

Randal scurried out the door.

"What do you want?" Roy sneered.

"I want to take his place tomorrow" He looked Roy directly in the eyes, willing him to let him take Hutch's place.

"Are you sure about that?" Roy arched an eyebrow at him, quizzically.

"Yes" Starsky figured he knew what Hutch was up to, he further figured that it wouldn't work.

"I want you to listen to something and then I'll ask you again" Roy pulled out a portable tape recorder and pushed 'play'

"It's either you or your friend"

"He's not my friend"

"Well, you're here now; maybe I'll bring him to the library tomorrow"

"Good. Better him than me"

"Do you still want to go tomorrow?" Roy raised an eyebrow.

"Yes" Starsky knew that Hutch was under duress and was trying to protect him. Well, he had to protect his partner too. Hutch had suffered enough already. He was not buying the load of shit Roy was trying to sell him.

That wasn't the answer Roy was expecting. "Too bad, he goes with me tomorrow" He turned and left the room. What a fool. So loyal to someone who had betrayed him, or was he being fooled by Hutchinson? He did turn on his partner awfully quick. Too quickly, perhaps?

Maybe, others had turned against each other more quickly, but these two and their 'weirdness' that thing that they had, that they did. They were different, somehow; he was finding it to be an unexpected thrill to hurt both of them, even though he was only physically hurting one of them. He wondered how longer it would be until 'it' was gone.

Starsky glared impotently at the closing exit door and envisioned all sorts of nasty things he would like to do to Roy.

When the door banged shut behind him, Starsky called to his friend "Hey Hutch, buddy? Can ya hear me?" He listened intently for movement for a long time. He then took Hutch's mattress off the bunk and moved it back to the floor, next to the wall that separated them and lay down. Hutch must be unconscious. Starsky would wait until Hutch woke up and have a little heart to heart with him.

He didn't have to wait too long for he soon heard a moan.

Hutch moaned, all his muscles hurt, the electrical shocks he had received over the course of the day had caused them to clench repeatedly. He was also dehydrated from being left without water for twelve hours in that hot chamber of horrors. Neither guard had come until they let him out. He cringed at the thought of how grateful he had been to get out of that chair. Grateful to Roy and Randal for freeing him and suddenly he felt quite nauseous. Roy had said he would bond with him, could that be what he had meant?

He heard Starsky call to him. He wasn't entirely sure if he was just wishing Starsky were calling or if he really was calling. His head pounded and his mouth was a desert, his eyes full of grit. Things were getting confused in his head. He wasn't talking to Starsky any more... Was he angry at him? No, that didn't seem right. Oh, yes, protecting him by not speaking to him. That seemed right, odd, but right. If he could just sleep on it, maybe it would make more sense in the morning.

"Hutch! C'mon partner, answer me! C'mon ya big lug..." Starsky paused, listened and barely caught a thin whisper.

"Go 'way, tired" Hutch muttered.

"HUUUTCH!" Starsky bellowed, attempting to rouse his friend. If he could just get him to come to the bars... "Hutch, please, get up, come to the front of the cell, Hutch?" If he could touch him... things would improve.

"Tired" The reply was as dry and brittle as last falls leaves.

Starsky dropped his head "Just sleep then, I'll wait" What else could he do? He heaved a frustrated sigh and lay down to wait for his friend to recover somewhat. Just a few more hours and it would be Friday.

One more day

Friday

Starsky started himself awake. What a nightmare. He had dreamed of having to watch Hutch be tortured. He rubbed his sleep laden eyes. He had not meant to fall asleep but he had none the less. He called softly "Hutch?" He listened closely and after a moment was relieved to hear the slap of bare feet hitting the concrete floor. "Blintz?"

Hutch awoke to the sound of his name being called. He shook his head to clear it and instantly regretted it, his head began to ache fiercely and he felt dizzy. He sat up and felt even worse, but thirst forced him to continue. He could barely make out the little sink just a feet away in the dim light and briefly wondered if he could make it.

He pulled his long legs off the bed and forced himself to his feet. He turned the water on and cupped his hand under the flow and began to drink. After a bit he made himself stop, knowing that to continue may cause him to vomit. He felt a little better. He would have another drink in a little while. He knew he had to re-hydrate himself. He also knew he should have some salt; his electrolytes were depleted after the past few days of dealing with the dry desert heat and all the sweating he was doing.

"Hutch? Hey ya big lug, how're ya doin'?" Starsky was relieved to hear his friend moving about. He dug out an apple he had saved from supper and stood up and reached around the bars "How 'bout some breakfast?"

Hutch looked over his shoulder at the proffered food; he hadn't realized how hungry he was until he saw the apple. He limped over and took it from Starsky, taking care not to touch his friend's fingers. He was afraid if he touched them, he would break down. He had to be strong, just for one more day. The hand stayed for awhile before it was slowly withdrawn.

"I know what you're up to Hutch, it ain't gonna work. Roy is just messin' with ya. You're just makin' it harder on yourself, on me. Dammit Hutch! We have ta stick together, it's the only way we're gonna get outta here" Starsky clenched his teeth in aggravation and ran a hand over his head. His hair was making a comeback that was something, anyway. "I'm a big boy Hutch; I don't need ya to protect me. I--I don't want to see you hurt either, ya know?" He paced worriedly.

Hutch slowly munched on the apple as he listened to Starsky. He was making sense. Hutch mentally chuckled at that for a moment before the chuckle wanted to turn into a sob. He bit his lip to stop the sob from escaping. Just one more day, twelve hours or so of shit to put up with, a few more hours of sitting in their cells before they were rescued, okay, maybe Saturday or Sunday, maximum... Dobey wouldn't know where to look for them. He would only know that they were missing. Okay, maybe as long as Monday...

Hutch nibbled his way around the core of the apple, getting as much of the fruit as he could, while still mired deep in thought. My plan is working. They are focused on me; I just have to keep them focused for just a little bit more, just a little longer, sorry Starsk

He threw the remaining core in the toilet and flushed it. Starsky is so bullheaded, stubborn, they might kill him, just gotta pretend for just a little longer

Any additional thoughts were cut off as the door opened and Roy and Randal arrived.

"Morning!" Roy was in great spirits.

Hutch went to the door of his cell and turned around, putting his hands behind his back. He just wanted to get the day over with.

"GOOD Boy! You are off to a great start Sam!" Roy gushed and turned to look at Starsky "You could learn a thing or two from your friend here" He ushered Hutch out of his cell.

Starsky glared mutinously at Roy.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Roy waggled his finger back and forth in time with each 'ah' sound.

Starsky whirled away from the bars, trying to get a grip on his emotions. Losing his temper now would only hurt Hutch.

"Turn around Gary; I want you to see something" Roy stepped back from Hutch "Hit it Randal"

Randal pulled out a portable tape player and pushed 'play' and the sound of a telephone ringing issued forth. Hutch immediately dropped to the ground with a harsh grunt.

"HU-- SAM!" Starsky hit the cell bars hard and kneeled, reaching a hand out through them to grab Hutch's arm as he lay there shaking "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" Starsky glared up at Roy.

"Ever hear of a guy called Pavlov? He's the guy with the dogs that he taught to drool at the sound of a bell. Well, I taught your friend that the sound of a phone ringing means he gets a shock" Roy burst out laughing "So now, even though he's not hooked up, his brain thinks that he is" Roy was gasping with laughter, he reached down and pulled Hutch to his feet.

"I'll go, Roy, take me instead! PLEASE!" Starsky was shaking with fear for his friend and with rage at Roy.

"Well isn't that just soooo sweet? Too bad Sam is all ready started on his 'training' don't you worry though, you're next" Roy grinned.

Hutch looked back at Starsky, making eye contact for first time since Wednesday. He shook his head slightly S'okay, thanks buddy

Starsky clung to the bars like a drowning man to a life preserver, his eyes locked with Hutch's. No, it's not okay! Nothing would be okay again until they got out of this hell hole.

Roy felt it. DAMN THEM. He hauled Hutch by the arm to escape the weirdness these two had together "RANDAL!" He bellowed at his henchman as he hustled out of the seclusion block.

The metal door banged shut as Randal left the area.

Starsky barely made it to the toilet before vomiting. "Oh God, Hutch" He slid to the floor, with his back to the wall, drew his knees up and buried his head in his arms and sobbed.

Hutch was once more put in the chair in the 'library', secured and again left alone to wait for the pain to start. He had put up a much bigger struggle today. A fruitless endeavor but it had felt good to try.

It was an interminable cycle of waiting in fear for the phone to ring and the shocks to begin. Trapped alone in darkness, unable to even scream, his life once more shrank down to the waiting for the sound of the telephone to ring.

Joe came for Starsky shortly after Roy and Randal had left. He watched mutely as the inmate he knew as Gary dry heaved into the toilet. Though he was still miffed that Gary had punched him, Gary looked quite pitiful now.

"I don't suppose you want to go to breakfast--" The sound of more heaving interrupted him "I'll take that as a no" When Gary finished praying to the porcelain God, Joe escorted him to the compound yard and had him raking the rest of the gravel.

At some point, Hutch thought it must be afternoon, Randal re-entered the room. Hutch's thirst had been growing exponentially and his headache hammered in time with his heart beat.

Randal removed the blindfold and gag and gave him some water, which Hutch gratefully gulped down. "Thanks, Randal" He gasped between gulps. He hated to thank him but damn, that water tasted so good.

Randal smiled at the man he knew as Sam and moved closer to look into the inmate's eyes "You are so handsome"

Hutch froze, not that he could move much, bound as he was. Cold fear replaced the stifling heat of the tiny room. He was helpless. There was nothing he could do to stop Randal. Nothing at all.

Randal stroked Sam's head "Your hair is growing back. It's so soft and golden, I was right to call you Honey Dip, I can't wait until it gets longer" He brushed the short strands with his hands.

Hutch jerked his head away from Randal's nauseating caress and tried desperately not to vomit.

Randal straddled Hutch's legs and sat down on his lap "How 'bout a kiss, Honey Dip? Please?"

Hutch dropped his head to his chest, he felt Randal shift his weight forward. Hutch quivered with disgust. Randal's face was just above his head now.

"So spirited, like a wild horse--"

Randal was cut off by the ringing of the phone, the electric current ran through both of them, the contracting muscles in Hutch's neck violently slammed his head into Randal's nose. Hutch heard cartilage snap.

Randal flopped off Hutch's lap "By dose! You b'oke by dose!" Feeling something warm on his hand, Randal looked down and saw blood. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted.

"Thank you God. That was very nice, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you send someone to free me?" Hutch looked about expectantly "I'll wait"

After a minute, Randal sat up woozily "Wha 'appened?" He started to bring his hand to face and saw the blood on it and promptly fainted again.

Hutch burst out laughing.

Roy entered just then "what's so funny?" He looked down at Randal, who was just coming around again. "What the hell's going on here? RANDAL! What happened to your face?"

Randal rolled over and began spitting out the blood that had run down his throat.

Hutch could only laugh, the stress of the past week overwhelming him.

"Shut the fuck up, laughing boy" Roy grabbed Hutch's shock collar and pulled it tight.

Hutch laughed harder.

"Gone insane? Huh? A little harsh treatment and you--" Roy was cut off as the phone rang. The muscles in Roy's fingers contracted tightly around the collar due to the voltage and he was shocked as well. As soon as the shock ended, he was then able to let go of Hutch. "SON OF A BITCH!"

Hutch looked at Roy's crotch and watched as a wet patch grew, between gasps of laughter, he said "Two day of this shit and I never peed my pants" Another fit of laughter hit him. He just couldn't help himself. The turn of events was just too funny. Served them right, the sick, twisted bastards deserved a little of their own medicine.

Roy was humiliated. He had forgotten to turn the power off his little toy. It was all Hutchinson's fault. He pulled his nightstick out and stopped the laughter.

Hutch's world went black.

That evening, Starsky was back at his cell, pacing and waiting anxiously for Hutch to be returned. He waited. And waited.

Friday night, New York City

Hanna Starsky looked at the phone. It was nine o'clock. Davy had said he would call at nine. But did he mean nine Mountain Time? Or nine East Coast Time? It would make more sense for him to call nine my time rather than-- Hanna cut off her babbling thoughts. She didn't know why she was so anxious about his call this Friday. He always called. Unless he was hospitalized or that cute partner of his, Kenneth Hutchinson was sick or injured. Kenneth would have called her if something was wrong with her boy. She went back to her dusting.

The evening wore on and Johnny Carson came on. Still no call, the dusting was done; vacuuming would have to wait until morning. She didn't want to disturb the neighbors with the noise. She would give her boy a piece of her mind when he called.

"Oh, to hell with THIS!" She snapped and picked up the phone and dialed the number for the hotel where Davy and Kenneth were staying. The phone rang and rang. She was eventually transferred back to the desk at the hotel. She asked for hotel security and her call was directed there. She then explained her problem, forcefully. She could almost see them roll their eyes, an overprotective mother wanting someone to check on her adult son in Sin City. She didn't care. She had a feeling something was wrong. They said that they would call back with in a half a hour. She hung up and waited.

Forty-six minutes later they called back. It was as she feared. Something was wrong. A check with the maids had determined that no one had been in the room since last Saturday night. No towels were used; no soap and the same clothes were hanging on the clothes rack. Nothing had been moved in six days.

Icy dread slid the course of her spine. Her son and his partner were missing and had apparently gone missing last Saturday night. She asked to be transferred to the Las Vegas police department. She filed a missing persons report over the phone.

She then found Captain Dobey's home phone and called it. She rapidly explained the problem and Dobey reacted as she hoped he would, with great concern. He informed her he would call her back with any developments. She sat down to impatiently wait.

And wait.

Chapter 9

Saturday

Starsky had stayed awake all night awaiting Hutch's return. He fretted and paced. Hutch, what's happened to ya buddy?

He would ask the next guard that came to the seclusion block where Hutch was. He knew his friend was alive. He has to be, I would know if... if... Starsky cut the thought off 'he's alive' and that became his mantra, a litany he recited as he paced.

8:03 a.m. Bay City Police station, Metro Division

Captain Dobey slammed the phone down. There still weren't any leads on the whereabouts of Starsky and Hutchinson. It was like they had fallen off the face of the earth. They had been missing for at least six days before being reported as such. He didn't want to think that they might be dead. But it was a very real possibility. He swallowed hard.

He backed away from that depressing thought and moved on to more constructive ones. LVPD had sent him some still photos that had been taken by the casino cameras. But there had only been cameras above the gaming tables at the casino where they had been last seen. Dobey thought he had picked his men out in the crowd, but the black and white pictures were grainy and of poor quality. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure. He threw them back on his desk.

Then there was Baxter Brown, who had been tending the bar in the casino the night in question and Baxter thought he remembered them from a photo he was shown, but there were a lot of people in the bar at the time. A fight had broken out at roughly the same time that he thought he had seen them. Dobey filed Baxter in the 'possible lead' pile.

A check of their credit cards had been put in, but there was nothing more he could do with that until the companies checked their records. It would be hours at best before anything was known.

Dobey nodded to himself, he had done all he could so far. If things didn't shape up in the next twenty-four hours, he was flying to Las Vegas to do a little investigating for himself and to make sure the Vegas police stayed focused in their search.

He began to fill out the paperwork necessary for him to take a leave of absence. He hoped that it would not be necessary. What was that old saying? Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. He prayed to God that the worst would never happen.

Hutch slowly woke up. His head was being thrashed with the most horrible headache he could ever remember having. He closed his eyes to the pain, seeking solace in the dark of unconsciousness but he was denied. He didn't want to remember yesterday. But the memories flooded his brain anyway.

Roy had hit him, hard. He had lost consciousness for a while and awoke to find Randal standing in front of him, arguing with Roy about him. He had been still bound to the chair, still had the insidious shock collar on. He tried to concentrate on what was being said, but couldn't. The phone rang and he let out a yelp. He couldn't help himself. He didn't think that he could take any more. He just wanted it to stop. Just please make it stop.

He had been so happy when Roy had released him. He had to bite his tongue so that he wouldn't thank Roy for freeing him. Hutch was afraid that if he had to spend one more day in there, Roy's sick plans may come to fruition, despite his efforts to prevent that. Upon releasing him, Roy had punched him in the stomach, which had made him vomit up the little bit of water that Randal had given him. The things got blurry after that.

He turned his thoughts away from yesterday. Today he was handcuffed to a cot in the infirmary. He had been given a couple of IV's to help him get re-hydrated. He hadn't realized he was that bad off. It was frightening, he now knew he was deteriorating; he could feel himself getting weaker everyday. Lack of food, lack of water, the stress of the situation were all beginning to send him into a tailspin. He hoped they would be rescued soon.

An even more frightening thought was what could happen to him in here, handcuffed to the bed as he was. Would Roy be back? Randal? Both of them? He trembled. He wondered how much more he would have to take. It was clear to him now that separating himself emotionally from Starsky had only hurt Starsky and himself. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. But it simply hadn't worked; it didn't seem to make any difference what he did or didn't do, he got tortured. Roy hadn't been fooled. Roy had his own agenda and he was sticking to it.

He just wanted to be back in his cell. Hutch then cringed at that thought. He corrected himself, he wanted Starsky and to go home. He wanted to see Dobey, Huggy and all of his and Starsky's friends and his plants. Huggy had offered to water them while he and Starsk were in Vegas. Had Huggy remembered? Silly question, of course Huggy would remember.

Hutch applied the brakes to this unproductive train of thoughts. He was starting to feel panicky and that wasn't good. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, he had to think logically. It would be easier to do so if this damn headache would just go away.

Will brought Starsky some breakfast and some news. Sam Jones was in the infirmary. It seemed that he been injured after having fallen off a ladder while changing light bulb. Starsky knew otherwise. He knew Roy had severely tortured Hutch for the last two days. What had Roy and Randal done to him that required him to be taken to the infirmary? He shuddered.

Will then started to complain about having to call someone in to work overtime to guard Sam while he was in the infirmary and how he was gonna have to listen to the man bitch about being forced in.

When Starsky heard that, the wheels in his head started to turn, slowly at first then rapidly gaining momentum. "Excuse me, sir? How 'bout if you bring him back here? He's my friend, I'll watch him" He paused, hardly daring to breathe while he waited for Will's response.

Will looked at the inmate, considering the idea. It had merit. The guy that was next on the list to be called in for overtime, his kid was having a birthday party this weekend; Will hated to make the man miss that. "I'll talk to the nurse, see what she says" Will turned and left the area without another word to Starsky.

Starsky let out the breath that he had been holding. He crossed over to the tray of food Will had brought, hope returned his appetite and he began to eat.

Sometime later in the day, Will returned to inform him that Jones would have to spend the night in the infirmary, tomorrow the nurse would re-evaluate him. Starsky wanted to smash his knuckles into the wall in frustration but didn't. Doing that hadn't changed anything.

Starsky knew he was more of a doer then a thinker, but Hutch's life and safety was on the line, it was time to try something else. He began to pace the cell and mull over the possibilities. One thing was certain; he had to get Hutch out of Roy's clutches.

Sunday

It was a little after noon when Will brought Hutch to Starsky's cell. It had taken some fancy talking and several promises, but Hutch was brought back to their cell. Starsky jumped up and went to assist Hutch to the bunk to sit down. "Thank you, sir" He nodded at Will who waved a hand in response before exiting the seclusion block. He winced at how stiffly Hutch was moving.

"Hutch, what happened?" Starsky looked his friend over, taking in the new bruises and overall stiffness his poor friend was exhibiting. He gently ran his hand over Hutch's head, grimacing each time Hutch flinched at his touch.

"Please, Starsk, stop." He pushed Starsky's helpful fingers away. After having to submit to Roy's evilness and Randal's humiliating touch, no matter how brief it had been and the nurse's uncaring roughness had added to his reluctance, he didn't want to be touched. Not even by his friend. The hurt look on Starsky's face nearly did him in, but he just didn't feel clean enough for a friend's tender touch.

"What's wrong? Just tell me..." Hutch was avoiding eye contact; he was acting rather like a victim of ra-- no! Randal hadn't actually... Starsky felt a lump raise in his throat. Was it possible that his friend had been sexually violated? He couldn't even bring himself to think the 'r' word.

There was only one way Starsky knew how to ask. As hard as it was, he had to know. Nothing was going to stand between their friendship. And most certainly not something that had been forced upon his friend.

"Hutch, you know that nothing, and I mean nothing, will change our friendship. Whatever may have been done to you, was not done with your consent... will not change the fact that you are my best friend. I love you no matter what. I hurt when you hurt. You're hurting now... I want to help, just, please let me help you..." he knelt down in front of the blond, waiting.

Hutch lifted his head out of his hands. His eyes connected with Starsky's. His dark haired friend was hurting. He was hurting his friend. He had felt so disconnected this last horrifying week, like a water hose with the nozzle missing, emotions, like water, shooting uselessly in all directions. And there, crouched in front of him, waiting to connect, was Starsky.

He reached out and Starsky pulled him into his arms. He instantly felt better. His headache faded into the background. All the niggling pains from the bruises and his leg vanished. He sobbed openly.

Starsky hugged Hutch harder and rubbed his back all the while silent tears streamed down his own face. And he listened as Hutch told him everything that had happened to him over the week. He thanked God that his worst fears were unfounded, so far.

After a while, exhausted and cried out, the blond slept in the arms of his best friend. Comforted at last.

Dobey was ready to leave. He had chartered a flight to Las Vegas. LVPD were aware that he was on his way and generously offered to have someone waiting to pick him up at the airport. He kissed Edith and the children goodbye and boarded the small plane. Though the window, he again waved goodbye to his family. Rosie had begged him to "please bring Uncle Ken and Uncle Dave home" He had nearly choked up when he told her that he would do his best. He would bring them home. One way or another.

Monday

Morning arrived. Starsky rose and woke Hutch up. It was a sad change. Normally Hutch would be the one getting him up. His poor friend was so exhausted and he needed all the rest he could get. Starsky was aware that Hutch was a long way from being recovered; he determined that if Hutch weren't able to keep up today, he would pick up the slack. But at least they would be together.

Roy arrived at 5 a.m. for Hutch and was incensed when he found out that Hutch would be going on road crew detail, he was also put out that they were in the same cell again. "So, you managed to get him back with you huh? That's just fine" Roy sneered, "You think road work will be easier on him? You think that I won't be able to get to you out there? You'll see" With that, Roy turned on his heel and left, slamming the metal door hard behind him.

The pair exchanged an uneasy look.

Joe and Will arrived minutes after Roy had left. Ankle shackles were placed on each of them. They had to walk with a shuffling gait. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but they managed.

They traveled by bus to the area where they were to work. Breakfast was given to them on the bus as a time saving measure as it sometimes took a couple hours to get to where the roadwork was to be done. The bus ride was very uncomfortable in more then one way. The other inmates gave them stony stares; some tripped them as they made their way to their seats and some of them spit on the new comers.

Once the bus reached its destination, the guards spread the inmates out along either side of the road. Some they had working on road repair, others collected trash. Starsky and Hutch were sent to work on removing Russian thistles from along the roadsides. The thistles, which they found out later, were what they knew as tumbleweeds. With leaves on them at this time of year, the tumbleweeds looked more like shrubs. The plant grew from anywhere from soccer ball sized to the size of a Volkswagen beetle and these plants were everywhere.

The guards kept a close eye on the shackled prisoners from inside air-conditioned vehicles and on horseback. They patrolled steadily and took frequent head counts.

Starsky and Hutch soon had developed a smooth rhythm for removing the plants and they could do so at a somewhat leisurely pace. Starsky was pleased to note that Hutch was able to maintain a steady pace and while he still limped, it was hardly noticeable.

The day continued in much the same manner, with the occasional interruption from inmates who tried in vain to get a rise out of Starsky and Hutch. They knew that the inmates thought that they were the child molesters Sam Jones and Gary Harold. But putting up with their abuse was much easier to deal with then Roy's and Randal's.

During lunch they sat in the shade of one of the larger tumbleweeds and ate in silence. Starsky saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and he couldn't believe what he saw

"Hey, Hutch!" He whispered as he slowly turned to lie on his belly to get a better look at the unbelievable creature he had spotted.

"What?" Hutch looked over at his friend who was now lying on his belly and staring at something under the bush "Starsky, what are you doing?" He arched an eyebrow at his friend.

"Shh! C'mere, ya gotta see this!" He glanced at Hutch and tipped his head towards the tumbleweed.

Hutch sighed and slowly moved over to lie down next to Starsky; he looked under the plant "What is it? I don't--"

"Shh!" Starsky pointed to the far side "It's the World's smallest kangaroo!"

Hutch finally saw what had so captivated his partner "Starsk, it's a kangaroo rat" He had to smile. Leave it to Starsky to find some wonder in the world, despite the trouble they were mired in.

"It don't look like no rat ta me" he huffed "kinda looks like a cross between a hamster and a kangaroo" He smiled as the creature hopped off "its way too cute to be any kinda rat" He sat up and brushed himself off.

"Yeah, it is. You were lucky to see one in the daytime. They are usually are out only at night. Did you know that kangaroo rats can live their whole lives and never take a drink of water?" Hutch sat up as well. This was the first normal talk that they had had in days.

"Nope, speaking of drinks, we better get some water and get back to work" He noticed the guards were starting to roust the other inmates; he stood and put out his hand to help Hutch to his feet. "How's the leg doin'?"

"It's fine" It was bothering him, but he didn't want Starsky to know that. He looked up at the sun's position, still hours to go before they would be done for the day. He rubbed his aching leg, gritted his teeth and followed Starsky to the water dispenser.

They worked steadily into the afternoon. The sun mercilessly beating down on them as they worked. Hutch had to go; it was a consequence of drinking so much water.

"Hey Starsk"

"Yeah?"

"Gotta heed the call of nature"

"What? Again? You really are a nature boy" Starsky chuckled "Go ahead, I'll keep a look out"

They had found out earlier in the day that the other inmates waited for either one to be alone to attack. So they quickly learned to keep watch while one attended to 'business'.

Starsky looked about the area, keeping his back to the creosote bush Hutch was using. What's takin' so long? he wondered as he looked at his left wrist. Dammit, that's right, Roy has my watch "Hutch, c'mon, ya better hurry up..." He suddenly had a very bad feeling. Hutch would have answered by now; he hurried around the bush as quickly as the shackles allowed. "SHIT!" Hutch was nowhere in sight.

He thought he heard something a little further off the road and shuffled off in the direction of the noise. He rounded yet another creosote bush and pulled up short at the sight. Three inmates had Hutch. One had him in a headlock and had a hand over Hutch's mouth. Another was pulling the blond's shirt off, the third inmate who had been unzipping Hutch's jeans, turned to intercept Starsky.

In a heartbeat, Starsky knew that these were the three men that had attacked Hutch in the kitchen. Hutch, not knowing their names, had called them Huey, Dewy and Louie. The intercepting inmate had to be Louie; Hutch had described them to him so he would know who to watch out for.

Starsky put a lid on his temper. He wanted, quite badly, to beat the living crap outta this sorry excuse for a human being. But he also knew that he was at a disadvantage as Louie was more used to moving in shackles and was about fifty pounds heavier.

But bigger didn't mean better. Starsky waited for the man to get close and rabbit punched him. He shuffled off to the side, looking for another opening when he was struck from behind. His legs were knocked out from under him with a shovel handle. Huey laughed harshly.

Louie pounced on Starsky and punched him in the back of his head, pushing his face into the sandy soil. He inadvertently inhaled some sand and started to cough and gag. Louie dragged him up by his collar and pulled him to a mound of dirt that was about a foot tall.

Hutch struggled against Dewy's grip. Dewy tightened his arm around his victim's neck, cutting off his air. Hutch stopped struggling; he wouldn't be able to help Starsky if he blacked out. Dewy's eased up his hold.

Huey moved in and yanked his victim's shirt off as Louie held the brunet in a punishing grip.

Starsky thrashed about, trying to free himself.

"Stop fightin' the feelin' you damn baby raper" Louie tightened his hold on his victim. "It'll just go harder for your buddy over there" He turned Starsky so he could now see his friend was trying to get his air back after Dewy had cut it off.

He stopped.

Huey took his shovel and removed the top part of the mound. Ants swarmed out.

Louie pulled Starsky over to the mound and pulled out some binder twine and hog-tied Starsky, stuffing a dirty hanky into his mouth. He then rolled the helpless man onto the anthill. "Them's fire ants. Ya know why they're called fire ants? 'Cause their sting burns" He giggled, Huey and Dewy joined in.

At first the ants just crawled on him. Then they grabbed hold with their mandibles and they stung him. It felt like mosquito bites, at first, but as the pinches and stings grew, so did the pain. Starsky rolled off the mound. Louie shoved him back on it.

Hutch swallowed hard, he forced himself to think. He had to help Starsky, but if he struggled, Dewy would choke him again. His eyes darted about, looking for a prison guard, looking for anything useful. A glint near his feet caught his eye. A bit of glass, he relaxed his body and went limp.

The inmate holding Hutch grunted as his prisoner collapsed in his arms. "Hey, guys, looke this! The baby raper fainted!" He let the lax body fall to the ground in a heap. He kicked the helpless man.

Hutch rolled with the blow, stifling his grunt of pain. He picked up the glass as his body was rolling over it. He allowed his hand to land near a rock. He waited, hoping that they would all turn their attention to poor Starsky; he held his breath.

The inmates turned their interest to the bound child molester as he once more attempted to move off the anthill. They moved in a circle around him, forgetting the unconscious man as they focused on their more mobile victim.

Hutch pocketed the shard of glass and gathered a few fist sized rocks, rolled to his feet and proceeded to throw the rocks at the inmates' heads. He gritted his teeth in a grim smile as Louie was felled after being hit in the head.

Dewy hurled towards the blond as fast as the leg shackles allowed. Hutch dropped him in short order as well. He then aimed for Huey, who wisely put his hands up and backed away from Starsky. Hutch moved to his friend's side, helping him to roll away from the anthill and began brushing the swarming ants off. He kept the remaining rock next to him and brought out the piece of glass and cut the twine off of Starsky's wrists, freeing his hands.

Huey, momentarily forgotten, shuffled off.

Starsky spit the dirty hanky out and began franticly brushing the remaining ants away. "Thanks Hutch" He panted as he slapped the stinging bugs.

Hutch sustained several stings to his hands and chest as he brushed the bugs off his friend, some of them landed on him, but he didn't notice as he watched Starsky drop his jeans to brush the last of the insects off of himself. "How're ya doin' buddy?"

"Terrific" Starsky pulled his jeans back up and moved a little further from the anthill. "I don't think I got that many bites, with all that rollin' around I did, I think I crushed most of 'em before they stung me" He quivered "Yuck! I really hate ants" He looked down at the unconscious men "I suppose we'd better pull these assholes away from the damn ants... don't want the ants to get sick" He chuckled.

Hutch joined in, once more amused by how his friend could almost always make him laugh, regardless of the situation.

As he and Hutch rolled the downed inmates away from the anthill, two guards rode up on horseback. The third inmate shuffled up to watch the proceedings from a short distance away.

"Well, well, well, just what do you think your doing?" A guard they knew only as "Whip," asked as he uncoiled his nickname sake from the saddle horn.

"They--" Starsky started to explain, but was cut short by a sharp snap inches from his nose.

Whip popped the bullwhip inches from Starsky's nose, he then coiled the whip back up as he said, "I wasn't asking you a question"

"But--"

Crack! The bullwhip snapped a hairsbreadth closer "The next time you open your pie-hole without me telling you to, I won't miss. Now, what do you think is going to happen to you for starting this fight? You may speak now"

"Starting!--" Starsky snapped as he moved a step towards the questioning guard.

Hutch's arm shot out, blocking him "We're going to be posted, sir" He dropped his head and looked away for a moment before turning his gaze back to Starsky's.

Starsky gave him a brief nod and stepped back, also dropping his head. Trying to explain what had really happened was pointless.

They endured the hostile bus ride back to Boot Camp stoically.

Back in their cell, they sat shoulder to shoulder. Neither had been allowed to eat and both were denied treatment for the ant stings. They had made do with soap and water.

Hutch was exhausted and very frightened. He had made a good show of how fit he was today. He had almost even fooled himself. But he seriously doubted he could last through twelve hours of standing in the blazing sun.

"Hutch, what is it? You're shakin' like a leaf" Starsky was unnerved at the blond's sudden quivering.

"I'm scared" And he was. There was no denying it and no stopping it.

"Aw, c'mere babe" Starsky pulled his friend into his arms, tucking the blond's shorn head under his chin. "We'll make it. I know we will" He put as much positive emotion in his voice as he could muster. He willed Hutch to believe him. "Knowin' ma, she's got the Calvary out lookin' for us and pretty soon, they'll come a ridin' over the hill and we'll be able to ride off into the sunset, just like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"

"Think they can find a horse big enough for Dobey to ride?" Hutch chuckled between sniffles as he wiped his eyes. He didn't want to point out that Butch and Sundance had died in a hail of bullets. His chuckles were stopped by that sobering thought.

"Maybe not, how 'bout one of those beer wagon horses? Would that be big enough?" Starsky scratched his chin in thought.

"A Clydesdale?" Hutch supplied helpfully.

"That what they're called? No, I'm thinkin' of something bigger, more like a Dobeydale!"

They laughed themselves silly at that.

Tuesday

They were posted at 5 a.m.

Starsky had to help Hutch dress. Hutch had tried to do it on his own, but simply lacked the energy. He had tried to hide that fact from Starsky, but his friend knew him all too well and wordlessly took over the task.

He lightly brushed Starsky's arm in a 'thank you' gesture and Starsky had given him a brief smile of encouragement. Roy would have been so pissed. Hutch grinned at that.

Starsky was gravely concerned with his partner's obvious lack of stamina. Hutch was nearing the end of his rope, physically and mentally. Twelve hours of posting, of standing in the hot sun was sure to sap what little remaining resources Hutch had.

Roy, Randal, Joe and Will had shown up on time and they were taken to the posts.

About an hour after they were posted, Starsky heard a whistle at the gate. He perked up and watched as Kate entered. Maybe she would listen today. She had to listen. He watched her avidly and looked about for Randal.

Dammit the little shit was at the park bench, reading the newspaper. If the little pecker would just go away for a few minutes, he would ask her for water. He was glad she had told them about that law. It had been a real lifesaver. He glanced back at Hutch to see how he was doing.

Hutch leaned on the post. It was the only thing holding him upright. He wasn't sure he would make it the whole twelve hours. He could feel his body growing weaker. His body temperature was rising, he was nauseous and the hammer in his head had just been joined by a sledgehammer and a jackhammer. It was a regular chorus of pain.

The morning wore on, the desert temperature rose and Randal stayed put.

Starsky anxiously watched as Hutch wobbled unsteadily "Hey, Hutch, c'mon babe, hold on" He looked about; Randal had finally gone off somewhere. He had been so focused on Hutch that he hadn't seen Randal leave.

Hutch heard Starsky but couldn't make out what he was saying; the words sounded garbled to him and despite his valiant effort to keep standing, Hutch's strength finally gave out. As did his legs, the cuffs kept him from falling to the ground and he dangled by his wrists.

"Hutch!" Starsky whispered loudly as he tugged on his cuffs, desperate to help his friend. He looked about and noticed that Kate had stopped the horse she was riding directly across from them; she was looking worriedly at Hutch.

"Kate! Help! Please!" He implored and to his great relief, she hopped off the horse and climbed through the arena's wooden fence rails. She stopped about five feet away from them. "Kate, please, you have to help us" Starsky glanced about, no one else was near, his heart lodged in his throat, he swallowed hard to move it down some so he could speak.

She briefly glanced at him and then returned her eyes to Hutch; her concern over his condition was obvious.

"Kate, my name is David Starsky, that's my partner, Ken Hutchinson, and we're detectives with the Bay City Police Department, California. We were kidnapped by Roy Palmer. He has been calling us Sam Jones and Gary Harold. Please, you must call our captain, Harold Dobey" He rattled off the phone number, nearly hyperventilating with excitement.

"Roy kidnapped you two?" Her voice was laced with skepticism and she rolled her eyes. "I don't believe it. Roy's a nice guy. He helped me build a wheelchair ramp for my husband after his accident" She looked back at the stricken inmate; her expression changed back to concern. "He is really sick, though" she took a cautious step closer.

"Yeah, he's really had it rough. I really need you to call Dobey, can you do that, please?" Starsky held his breath, awaiting her answer. He watched as she pursed her lips and gave three staccato whistles. His heart stopped.

With growing dismay he watched as she waved at the tower. She looked at the guard who stepped out onto the walkway of the tower. She gave a hand signal and pointed to Hutch, then mimed drinking water.

The guard waved an 'okay' signal back.

Kate turned back to the inmate calling himself Starsky "I had to let the guard know what I was up to or risk getting shot at" she moved to Hutch's side. "He's not sweating. How long has he been like this?"

Starsky released the breath he hadn't known he was holding. "I'm not sure; he's been tortured and worked hard, with very little water. He's been going down hill for days now"

"Tortured?" She reached out and put her hand to Hutch's forehead "He's burning up!" She stared at Hutch, her gaze roved over his arms, then to his neck. She moved her hand from one telltale raised bump of a fire ant sting, then another. Her momentarily skeptical gaze softened back to concern, she looked back to Starsky "I'll get the hose, Mr. Starsky; we have to get him cooled down"

"David, do you think he'll be okay?"

"Should be, David, if we can get him cooled down"

Starsky nodded, slightly relieved. He watched the woman carefully as she opened Hutch's shirt to help cool him and she winced at what she saw.

"What the hell is this?" Kate shot a questioning look at Starsky, her eyes rounding widely in horror at the bruises, old and new, the ant stings, the scorch marks from the shock collar; the man's ribs were beginning to show as well. She took a gentle pinch of skin. It stayed tented for a while then slowly smoothed out, a sure sign of dehydration.

"Shh, Kate, don't let anyone see you react" He looked about and saw Roy and Randal making their way over to them. "They mustn't know that you know. Your life depends on it" He willed her to understand the gravity of the situation. Any other time, any other place and he would have never put a civilian in this position, but there were no other options. Hutch couldn't wait any longer. He simply wouldn't survive.

She stared at him in total disbelief, turned her gaze back to the sick inmate and returned it once again to meet Starsky's eyes. She saw earnest concern, fear and a whole lot of worry there. She still was not totally convinced. She had been fooled before. It had nearly cost her job here; she could not afford to be wrong again.

Meanwhile, Roy and Randal heard the whistles and saw Kate go over to the posted inmates, seeing this; Roy said "SHIT! Let me do all the talking" He quickly composed himself "Now, let's go over there, be cool, walk like it's no big deal"

The pair wandered up and looked at the sick inmate. Kate almost ran into Roy as she turned to get the hose. "Whoa, easy there Kate" He briefly caught her by the arm to stop her.

"Excuse me Roy, I have to get the hose" Kate moved to step around Roy.

"Wait, you don't know this guy Kate, he is such a kidder" He turned back to Hutch and prodded him with his nightstick "Cut it out Sam, quit your screwing around, you're scaring the lady" Roy looked at Kate for a second "He's just faking it"

She stopped mid-step and her head popped up.

Starsky watched as she turned slowly to stare at Roy in stunned disbelief, her jaw gapped for a moment, she then snapped "You can't fake not sweating, Roy! It is ninety degrees out here! He should be sweating buckets, but he's not, he has heatstroke and he's dehydrated!" She trotted away and hooked up the hose to the water hydrant. She dragged the hose over and began to hose the inmate off in an attempt to cool him down.

"Quit faking it, Hutchinson" Roy again prodded the unresponsive man with his nightstick.

Starsky locked eyes with the older woman as she shot him a startled look. Her eyes were bugged cartoonishly large by the magnification of the thick lens of her glasses. All doubt had been removed.

She knows Roy is lying! She knows! Starsky mentally crowed. He quickly put his head down near his cuffed hands, put a finger to his lips and shook his head ever so slightly, warning her not to react to Roy's slip up. He sighed with relief when she gave him a tiny nod back. She apparently now understood the danger. He watched as she swallowed hard and tried to control her fear.

Kate cleared her throat "Um, Roy, he needs to go to the infirmary... he could die if he doesn't get cooled down" she kept her eyes on the sick man, afraid to look at Roy.

"You're right Kate, sorry, it's just that he has tried this before, I thought he was doing it again" He offered her a meek smile.

"Sure, no harm done" She shrugged as she continued to hose Hutchinson down.

Roy had Randal get the pickup truck and they took the inmate to the infirmary. Kate rode along and helped the nurse for a while before stating she needed a ride back to the stables, which Joe gave her.

"M'am, could I have a drink, please?" Starsky loudly called to her after Joe drove off.

He waited as she whistled for the guard's attention and got permission to approach him. "How is he?" He drank the water she offered him.

"Better, he was awake when I left; he seemed to know where he was. I didn't get to talk to him or anything, Roy stayed right next to me... I was so scared that he would figure out that I knew" She gave a shudder. "Oh God, I've had that man in my house! I--"

Starsky gently cut her off "Ya did good, now you need to go call Dobey, please, please be very careful. Act like it's a normal day when you leave, 'kay?"

She swallowed hard and nodded.

"You remember the number?"

She recited it back to him.

"Good, thanks Kate"

She smiled weakly at him "You're welcome, but I'm really sorry I didn't listen last week, I'll ride to the nearest place and--"

"You didn't know, you do now and that's all that matters and no, don't go to the nearest or the second nearest place, if they figure you know, that's where they'll head"

She nodded.

"Go on now and remember to be careful!"

She nodded again and gathered her stuff, got her horses and dog and whistled to be let out the gate. Starsky watched as she causally rode out. Soon this whole mess would be over; he allowed himself to smile and heaved a sigh of relief.

Outside of the prison infirmary, Randal watched as Kate walked her horses out the gate. That reminded him of something he wanted to ask Roy. "Why did you call Sam 'Hutchinson'?"

Roy snapped his head around "WHAT?!" Roy had never told Randal who these prisoners really were or what their names really were. He hadn't trusted Randal with that information, couldn't trust him not to fuck up and wreck everything. The little shit couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his ass. "When did I do that?"

"When Kate was helping Sam, you told Sam to 'Quit faking it, Hutchinson'"

"SHIT!" Roy was pissed off at himself, he had so concerned himself with Randal fucking up that he had forgotten to use more caution himself. "Randal, get a rifle from the cabinet, get in the truck and see if Kate is still here"

"She just left," Randal hooked a thumb towards the gate "I just saw her leave. Why?"

"She did? Go after her!"

"Why?"

Roy hissed through clenched teeth "If you don't want to end up in prison yourself, you will shut the fuck up and do exactly as I say"

Randal's face scrunched up, trying to comprehend what Roy meant. "I don't understand--"

Roy cut him off "Do I have to draw you a fucking picture? She knows what's going on. If she tells the authorities... well, you will be on the receiving end of what you have been dishing out"

Randal paled.

Roy re-emphasized, "If you don't want to end up in prison, kill her. She'll have to cut cross-country to get to any of the ranches that are nearby to use a phone. When she gets several miles from here, shoot her, dead. I'm as serious as a heart attack Randal, if she gets to a phone; we are up shit creek with out a paddle"

"O-Okay" Randal had helped Roy kill before. He had killed while Roy watched, but this was the first time Roy wanted him to kill someone by himself. He was scared and excited all at the same time.

"And Randal..."

"Yeah Roy?"

"Bring me proof that she's dead. Something small" Roy wanted evidence; the little fucker might just try to weasel out, but if he killed that woman, then Randal would be the one up for murder in the first, if anyone ever found out. He had been setting Randal up as his patsy all along, just in case anyone got wind of his extracurricular activities. But hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, not yet anyway.

"Okay, I-I will." No faking it, Roy finally trusted him enough to do something really important all by himself. He couldn't wait. He would make Roy proud of him. Maybe he would shoot that damned leg-pissing dog of hers as well. He ran off to get the pickup.

Randal knew that Roy would literally kill him if he failed. So, he decided he had to get a little higher and drove up to what the guards called "Runaway" ridge for the great overview it gave of the surrounding area. He got out and started to scan the area and after about a half hour she rode into view.

He raced back to the pickup and grabbed his rifle. Randal didn't have many talents, but the one thing he could do was shoot. He knelt down to steady himself and as soon as she was in range, he aimed for her head and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the rifle shot echoed and bounced off the surrounding the rocks.

He watched as she toppled off the horse and rolled down into a ravine. The dog ran down after her and the horses trotted off a ways before stopping to graze. Randal didn't care. He carefully made his way down the steep slope. He had to get proof that she was dead.

Captain Dobey prepared for his television interview that was being held by the one of the local television stations; the interview would be on how the search was going for his missing men. He looked at the photographs of Starsky and Hutch. He had to turn the photos face down. Looking at their smiling faces and not actually knowing where they were and wondering if they were still alive was tearing him apart; he had to compose himself so he could do his job and give his best effort for the sake of his missing men.

He mopped his dampening brow, dabbed at his eyes to remove the moisture; he got out some over the counter eye drops that carried the promise to 'get the red out' and used some. He looked in the mirror to adjust his tie. He shoved the handkerchief back into his pocket and then straitened his blazer.

"Two minutes to on-air, Captain" A cheery voice informed him.

"Be right there" He pocketed the photos and headed out the door, stopping just short of it to ask God for just a little miracle, before heading onto the studio area.

That night, Starsky and Hutch were back in their cell. Starsky knew something was very wrong; help had not arrived. It should have by now. It had been hours since Kate had left for help. Maybe she had changed her mind. Maybe she had it changed for her.

Starsky looked at Hutch who was asleep on the lower bunk, he looked exhausted and drawn out after his ordeal today. Starsky gently ran his hand over the blond's head. What're we gonna do now?

He heard the door bang open and stood up; when he saw who it was, he placed himself between Hutch and Roy. There was no way in hell that crazy bastard was gonna touch Hutch ever again.

Roy was alone. The two opponents squared off and eyeballed each other for a few seconds. Then Roy smiled, it never reached his eyes. "You think you're so clever, don't you detective Starsky? You've got your friend back into your little cell and everything is going to be just peachy, well, I got something here that will change your mind"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped inside of it were a pair of glasses. One lens was missing, the other was spider webbed and covered with a dried rust-colored substance. Blood.

Starsky looked at them, he instantly recognized them. The blood drained from his face. The glasses were Kate's. He couldn't tear his eyes off of them. She had only tried to help Hutch and him... what did it get her? Killed. Dead. A lump grew in his throat and stayed there, he couldn't swallow past it.

"I can tell by the expression on your face that you know what's happened and it's all your fault. If you hadn't told her, she wouldn't be dead" Roy's voice was smug "enjoy what time you have with your friend. By the looks of things, he's not long for this world either" Roy laughed harshly and exited. The metal door banged closed behind him, sounding like a death knell.

Starsky looked over his shoulder at his friend. Roy was probably right; another day of toiling in the hot sun was sure to be too much for Hutch. His body seemed to be withering before Starsky's worried eyes. He had lost several pounds from his already sparse frame. How much more could he take? Not much, not much at all.

"Hey... Starsk, what's goin' on?" Hutch's voice was a shadow of itself. The sound of the door slamming shut had awakened him. He was happy to see that Starsky was still in the same cell as he was. For a split second there he feared that Starsky had been taken away.

Starsky turned away for a moment, considering his options, tell him, don't tell him...

Hutch could tell by the way Starsky held himself that something was very wrong "What is it?" Starsky's painfully sad eyes met his "What?" it was a mere whisper.

"They've killed Kate; she was going to call for help... I gave her Dobey's number..." He buried his face in his hands "It's all my fault--"

"Oh no, c'mere babe" Hutch rose unsteadily to his feet and gathered Starsky into his arms "S'not your fault"

Starsky gently pushed away from his friend "Then whose fault is it? I asked her to help, I--"

"You know the answer to that, it's Roy and Randal's fault, don't blame yourself--" He was trying hard to be there for Starsky. The mind was willing, but the body was not. Hutch weaved unsteadily, his legs buckled.

Starsky caught him by the upper arms "Whoa, I got cha', ya need ta lie back down, c'mon" He eased Hutch back to lie down down on the cot and sat beside him. He pulled the sheet up to Hutch's shoulder and smoothed it into position. He gently brushed the back of his fingers over the blond's exhausted and drawn face. As he listened to Hutch's breathing slowly even out into a sleep pattern, he once more buried his face in his hands.

Sometime later, Starsky heard a buzzing sound and went to the front of his cell to investigate. The buzz was issuing from the exit light above the door; he watched it flicker for a few moments before it winked out and stayed that way. Starsky dropped his head to his chest and turned away from what he considered to be a bad omen.

No exit light, no exit. No way out.

Trapped

Chapter 10

Hutch was dead. He hadn't lasted through the night. Kate was dead. Hutch was dead. And it was all his fault. Hutch had died in his arms, convulsing until he had stopped. Stopped moving, stopped breathing and finally his heart stopped, ever so slowly coming to a shuddering halt, only to beat a few more times, then stop. Start, beat... beat... until it beat no more.

As Starsky watched helplessly, Hutch's eyes had fixed and dilated, the lids remained open. The light behind those baby blues faded and was gone. And it was all because of him. He had failed.

Starsky gently closed the lids, even though he knew that they would open again due to some death process that he couldn't remember the name of. He held onto his friend until rigormortis set in, the awful truth fully sinking in then. Hutch was really dead.

"NOOOOO!" Starsky flung himself to the floor.

"Starsky"

"No!" Starsky buried his head in his worthless arms. What good were they? Sure, they were strong, but not strong enough to keep his friend from death.

"STARSKY!" Dobey grabbed a hold of his frantic and bereaved detective, trying to get him off the floor.

"Let me be!" He punched Dobey, sobbing "Where you? We waited for you, now you're here and Hutch is gone, it's too late!

"David Michael Starsky, Stop it!" Dobey grabbed the sobbing man by his upper arms and shook him hard.

"Get-away-from-me! He's gone, he's gone... gone..." Starsky suddenly remembered Dobey had a gun. He easily broke the hold Dobey had on him and dug around his captain's waist searching for the gun, the way to follow Hutch.

"Stop that! I'm ticklish, gees; don't I even get flowers before you grope me?" Dobey laughed.

"Huh?" Starsky stopped.

"Whoa, you really need to do something about your breath! Whew! What have you been eating? Because, my God, your breath is foul"

"Wha--?"

"Wake up Gordo! You're having a nightmare" Dobey's face dissolved and Hutch's appeared in its place.

Starsky blinked stupidly for a moment, still stuck in the dream, then it dawned on him Hutch wasn't dead, he was right there in front of him "HUTCH! I thought I'd lost you..." He tightened his grip around his friend's waist, buried his head in the blond's chest and wept.

"Shh, s'okay, I'm here, I'm here" Hutch held onto his best friend, tears brimming in his own eyes "I'm right here, babe, and 'm not goin' anywhere..." He stroked the heaving shoulders and continued to soothe the dark haired man "s'okay buddy, shush, I'm here"

"Sorry Hutch, I..." Starsky wiped his brimming eyes and remembered punching Dobey in the dream; he hadn't actually punched Hutch... had he? "You okay? I didn't hurt ya, did I?"

Starsky had fallen asleep next to him on the tiny bunk sometime during the night and had woken Hutch with his terrified screams and struggles. Hutch now had a new bruise to go with the others, but he would never tell Starsky about it. Poor Starsk was feeling bad enough as it was.

"Nah, shh, s'alright Starsk, I think there's still time to get more sleep, if you want..."

"No! I don't think I could sleep anymore tonigh..." zzzzzz

Hutch continued to rub the brunet's back and shoulders gently, he wasn't the least bit surprised as he felt Starsky slip off again. His friend was nearly as exhausted as he was. "Sweet dreams this time buddy, please?" Hutch gingerly rubbed the newest sore spot on his ribs and allowed himself to follow his friend into sleep.

Wednesday, 4:26 a.m.

Roy was in fine spirits. He had a new plan. Starsky had taken Hutchinson away from him and had forced him to change his plans. Well, today he had some plans for Mr. Starsky as well as Mr. Hutchinson.

The incident on Monday with his three inmate 'friends' was just the beginning. Today just might be the last day of their lives, if things went the way they should. He smiled and it was all he could do not to burst out laughing.

He spotted Randal as he entered through the door and headed towards the guards' lounge and moved to intercept him. "Hey, hey! Randal, what you got there?"

"It's doughnuts, my turn to buy today" Randal smiled at his friend. Roy had been very pleased with him yesterday and seemed to be in good spirits today as well.

"Hey, can I have one?"

"Sure, that's why I bought 'em" He grinned at Roy.

"There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing, could you get me a cup?"

"Well sure, don't eat all the doughnuts!" He shook a finger at Roy.

Roy smiled back "Wouldn't dream of it" He took the box from Randal. He removed two from the box, his favorite kind and Randal's then randomly picked a few others and put a little something extra on them. He smirked to himself and mentally rubbed his hands together in glee. His plan was in motion.

4:59 a.m.

Starsky had finished dressing and Hutch was washing up at the tiny sink when Roy arrived. He said nothing, merely stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, smirking at the pair.

They exchanged a few looks and could almost swear that they could hear Roy grinding his teeth in frustration as they did so. He seemed to loathe it when they did that. They did it anyway.

The door banged open and Will stormed in. "Roy, there's been a change in plans. Three guys had to go home, stomach flu or something. Puking all over the place... You and Randal have been re-assigned to road crew detail. Shackle these inmates and get 'em to the bus"

"But--" Roy whined.

"No buts, Roy! I don't have time for this shit today! Get a move on! NOW!" Will stormed back out, almost running over Randal who was coming in through the seclusion block door.

"Outta my way!" Will shoved past Randal "Get them to the bus ASAP!" he shouted over his shoulder as he exited the seclusion block. "Wish to hell I could get a day off!" He hollered as he stomped down the empty hallway.

Roy turned back to the pair with a sly grin spreading over his face.

They exchanged a worried look and they both felt sick to their stomachs as dread wormed its way through their bellies. It was always bad news when Roy smiled.

Roy looked innocently at Randal "Gees, someone's got their underwear in a bunch today" he pointed after Will.

"Yeah, he's really on the warpath" Randal chuckled.

Roy nodded and returned his attention to the inmates "Turn around you two and back up to the cell bars, you know the routine"

They complied. What else could they do?

8:05 a.m. Las Vegas Police Department

Dobey made his now daily call to Hanna Starsky. He knew he was calling early but he wanted to make sure he reached her. Not that it made any difference. What he had to tell her hadn't changed in days. No news. And every time he said that, she always gave the same reply "Thank God"

It had taken him a couple of days to figure out what she meant by that. He realized that she was waiting for him to say they had been found and were dead, but when he told her 'no news' it meant, for her, that there was still hope. He wished he had that luxury. Hope was growing dimmer everyday. He prayed today would be different. But deep down he feared it would not.

Hutch's family was a different matter. He had contacted them after finding out that his detectives were missing. Dobey was coldly informed that unless he had found their son, they did not wish to be given a progress report.

He shook his head sadly and sighed. He then went back to the pile of leads that covered his borrowed desk and shuffled through them for the hundredth time, maybe he had missed something.

12:36 p.m. downtown Las Vegas

Gabe stopped in front of the electronics store to watch the news on the TVs displayed there. He normally never watched the news, it was too depressing, but today was different. People jostled him as they hurried about their daily lives and their busy routines. He simply smiled at them and moved back into position in front of the picture window of the store, unperturbed.

Then he saw him, on the screen, a helper. Gabe listened intently as the helper explained that two police detectives were missing and asked anyone with any information to please contact the Las Vegas or Bay City police departments. Two photographs were flashed onto the screen and the names of the missing Bay City detectives were under the photos.

Gabe reached into his grubby shirt pocket and pulled out the credit card that the demon in human form had given him over a week ago. He looked at the name on the card and matched it with the dark haired detective. Gabe nodded to himself, now he understood and he began to walk to the police station.

He knew the way. He had been there many times before to explain that there were demons on the loose. They looked like humans and most of the time, acted like humans but they were demons and Gabe was never fooled. The police were usually kind but he knew they never listened to him, they thought he was crazy. Still, he had to try and he would try again today.

He had been petrified when the demon had come up to him and put the plastic card in his pocket. He had pretended to be sleeping during the whole incident. When the demon departed, Gabe had cautiously followed him and watched him get into a white van and drive away. He read the sign on the side of the van 'Arizona Corrections Department' or was it 'Arizona Department of Corrections'? He shrugged; it was one of those two.

He squared his shoulders before entering the police station. Sometimes they turned him away before he even got to the front door. He took a deep breath and walked in. He heard the helper before he even saw him.

The big black man had an air of command about him and the other police officers gave him a wide berth. He shouted and hollered; people moved quickly when he did so. Gabe smiled. He wasn't afraid. He walked directly to the man and introduced himself and handed the big man the credit card.

The big man put an arm around Gabe's shoulders and escorted him to an interview room, shouting for food and anything else Gabe wanted. Gabe smiled, he already had gotten what he wanted; he had gotten someone to listen to him.

1:42 p.m. Las Vegas airport

Dobey was following a lead from a mentally disturbed man. A man who had Starsky's credit card and a story to tell; Dobey mopped his brow. He could feel a headache coming on. The Vegas police told him not to listen to Gabe. But his instincts had told him to listen.

Dobey boarded the small charter plane and was on his way to Tucson. It was a two seater and a very tight fit for Dobey. The Piper pilot told him that it was about a three-hour flight, it would be a straight shot, with no stopping for fuel.

Once there he would have to rent a car to get to the prison. It would still be quite a bit of a drive to reach his destination. As the plane took off, he bowed his head and prayed Please God, please help my men, please let me find them alive

2:58 p.m., somewhere in the Sonoran desert, Arizona

Hutch had collapsed again. It was one hundred and ten degrees in the sun. It wasn't much cooler in the shade. Roy had kept them separate from the other inmates, at the far end of the line, the furthest point from the buses. But he left them alone for the most part, only occasionally coming around to check on them.

Starsky propped Hutch in the shade of tumbleweed and kept working, frequently casting worried glances in his direction. Starsky had to keep a look out for other inmates and guards as well. He was doubly worried because Hutch had quit arguing with him about staying put. Starsky exhausted and feared he was near collapse as well. But he kept working.

Roy trotted up on horseback and watched Starsky work; he leaned down and rested his forearm on the saddle horn. He seemed content with doing nothing else but simply to watch.

Starsky was, at first, rather concerned that Roy would be upset that Hutch was sitting instead of working, but he said nothing, just watched. This made Starsky nervous, he tried to ignore Roy and he concentrated on removing yet one more bush. He was sweating a lot and the sweat dried nearly as quickly as it formed in the dry desert air.

Starsky drank from the canteen that the guards had handed out to all of the inmates earlier. The water was hot. The sun was hot. The wind was hot. This is what Hell must be like. Hot. Hotter then Hell, Starsky choked back a giggle. He stopped, realizing that the heat was getting to him. He took another swig of hot water.

As he capped the canteen, Starsky watched as a large dust devil swirled its way across the arid plain. He sighed and bent back to his task of cutting the tumbleweeds out of the ditch along the roadside. Just a few more hours he thought to himself just a few more hours and back to the damn jail. At least it's out of the sun He cast a quick look at Hutch.

Hutch had tipped slightly off the right; he felt as if a stiff breeze would blow him over. God, it was so hot. But at least he was sweating. Christ, it that what his life had come down to? Happiness over a little sweat? The blond shook his head; he had found out the importance of sweating yesterday and had no desire for a repeat of yesterday.

He had tried to work and help Starsky today but was unable. He felt like he was letting his friend down. That thought made him want to cry, but he was too exhausted to even do that. His head was pounding with yet another headache. He closed his eyes to the pain and tried to concentrate on finding a way out of this mess. At least he could feel useful that way.

Starsky ran the back of his hand across his brow and bent down to cut another tumbleweed. Off in the distance he heard shouting. He straightened up and put a hand to his brow to block the glare that even his broad-brimmed prison issue hat could not completely disperse and tried to find what the commotion was about.

As he watched, Randal rode up, his butt audibly slapping down on the saddle leather. Starsky had seen enough Western movies to know that Randal was a horrible horseback rider. Just like everything else the little shit did -- he did it poorly. Starsky chuckled to himself.

"Dust storm's comin'!" Randal panted excitedly "The weatherman was right for once"

"Good" Roy turned to look in the direction of the oncoming storm. It was still some distance off and the bottom part of the storm was partially hidden by some hills in the distance. "Did you bring them?"

"Yeah, but how come there are two sets?" Randal dismounted and tied the horse up to a creosote bush.

"You'll see, unlock their shackles" Roy threw a set of keys to Randal after he dismounted. "You get over here next to your friend" He pointed his gun at Starsky.

Starsky moved over to Hutch and stood in front of him "What're you plannin', Roy?" He squinted up at his enemy. He didn't like the sound or the feel of this. He didn't like it at all.

Roy ignored him "Randal, hurry up, damn it! We ain't got much time." He scanned the area as Randal removed the prisoners' shackles.

Starsky looked back at the blond.

Hutch was looking up at him "Help me up, Starsk" he put out his hand. Starsky obliged him. They exchanged a long speaking glance; they didn't need any skills as detectives to figure out what Roy had in store for them.

Roy felt it and kicked his horse forward towards the duo "Quit that shit!" He thumbed back the hammer of his gun. He hated it when they did that. That was the last time that they would be doing it ever again, though. That thought made him smile. He watched as Randal removed the inmates' shackles.

Starsky and Hutch exchanged another look. Dread wormed its way through their bellies.

Randal stood up after removing the last ankle cuff. He picked up the chains and put them in his saddlebag. He then brought out two other sets that were visibly damaged "what do you want me to do with these?"

"Throw them under that creosote bush" Roy pointed. His walkie-talkie squawked and the voice issuing from it said to bring all inmates back to the buses to secure them before the storm hit.

Roy turned to check on the approaching storm.

A wall of dust moved steadily towards them and above that the sky was gray with clouds. It was like a giant curtain was being drawn closed at the end of a play as the cold front moved in, lifting and pushing the loose soil before it.

Roy turned back towards the pair "Times almost up for you two, got any last words?" He smirked.

"Shot while trying to escape, huh? That your plan Roy? Couldn't you think of something a little more original? I mean, how cliche, we're insulted" Starsky crossed his arms over his chest. Hutch snickered.

"Brave words from a dead man" Roy replied with a sly smile spreading across his face.

"I ain't dead yet" Starsky said quietly.

Hutch put his hand on his friend's shoulder, lending his support as much as gaining support for his unsteady legs. Whatever Starsky might be planning, he hoped it didn't involve running. He knew he wouldn't get very far; his right leg throbbed with pain, he had little time to recover from yesterday and now today, again... He closed his eyes and tried to gather his meager strength for whatever Starsky had in mind.

"You soon will be, both of you will" Roy laughed.

"Now wait a minute Roy, you said that I would get to keep Honey Dip, y-you said he was mine!" Randal stammered.

"Change in plans" Roy shrugged "you can always get someone else"

"I don't want anyone else, I want Honey Dip!" Randal whined petulantly, "You said he was mine! You promised me last Friday that he would be mine!" Randal advanced on Roy, determined to make his point. He wanted his golden man.

Hutch now knew what they had been talking about while they were in the 'library'. He had the sudden urge to vomit and a quiver ran through his body. His legs threatened to give way, Starsky, feeling this, put his arm around Hutch's waist to steady him.

Simultaneously, they took a cautious step back away from the bickering pair and towards the oncoming storm. Then they took another and another, keeping a wary eye on the arguing guards.

Roy barked "Shut up! We can't take the chance that someone will find them--" the horse Roy was riding started to act up, reacting to the on oncoming storm. He struggled to hold it still as it danced and reared excitedly under him.

The horse Randal had been riding pulled away from the bush that he had tied it to and started snorting in fear at the rapidly approaching storm. It pulled back hard on the reins trying to free itself from the bush. Randal moved to catch hold of the reins to keep it from running away. He would be the laughing stock at the prison if he let that happen.

"Whoa, damn it, whoa" Roy slid his gun back into its holster so he could use both hands on the reins. He pulled the horse's head to one side and the animal rapidly spun in a tight circle, nearly unseating him.

Momentarily forgotten, Starsky and Hutch moved even further away from the road. They did so slowly, keeping an eye on the pair of guards. They moved towards the massive wall of dust that was moving towards them at an incredible pace.

Starsky looked back at the guards and saw Roy get dumped by his mount and Randal's horse bolted away from him, running off to who knew where. He tightened his hold on Hutch as they were buffeted by a blast of wind and fine sand. The massive dust storm was nearly upon them.

He ripped one of his sleeves off and made a makeshift bandanna to put around Hutch's face to cover his nose and mouth. Hutch smiled at him and tore off a sleeve off his shirt for Starsky to use.

Starsky took it and grinned widely at his partner and they started to laugh. They gave each other a brief hug of relief. They then put on the makeshift bandannas and then turned to move towards the wall of wind blown dust and sand. Starsky pulled one of Hutch's arms over his shoulder and headed in the direction of the distant hills. He wanted to get to them for shelter and protection. He was under no illusions about how far Hutch could go. He prayed his friend could make it that far.

As the wall closed in on them, they stopped in amazement; it was a jaw-dropping sight. The pair could only look up at the massive storm wall. It was as if a mighty tidal wave made of dust and debris was about to crush them in its wrathful wake. They exchanged a fearful look. There was nothing they could do now, no escaping it. They braced them selves and clung to each other. Simultaneously, they put a forearm in front of their faces in a futile attempt to protect their eyes from the sand and dust.

The wall hit them with a blast of wind. But this wind had teeth, millions of tiny teeth made of sand and dust. They leaned into the wind and proceeded into the mouth of the storm.

This storm would wipe away any trail they might leave. All trace of them would be gone, no tracks to follow, no scent for dogs to find. We could hide out for a few days and-- Starsky stopped that thought. First he had to get to the hills with Hutch. That was the only thing he needed to concentrate on now.

Through the biting, blinding storm they trudged, all the while praying they were still headed for the hills. It would be so easy to get turned around.

Roy and Randal slowly made their way back to the prison buses on foot. In the blinding dust storm, they nearly had to crawl on hands and knees on the paved road so they wouldn't get lost.

Roy wasn't sure how this was going to play out. Starsky and Hutchinson had managed to escape. They could die in the desert, but those two had the strangest luck. They would probably live, just to piss him off. He growled low in his throat at that thought.

When asked what happened, he would report that his and Randal's horses had spooked at the on coming storm and had dumped their riders and that was when the inmates had escaped. This was no lie so, now all they had to do was find the pair before the other guards did.

Roy smiled; perhaps this turn of events could work out for him after all. This would be far less suspicious then his original plan, but riskier too. They simply had to wait until the storm died down to begin to search for the escapees and kill them.

5:04 p.m., Tucson Arizona

Dobey rented a car and was soon driving on I-10 towards the prison that his men might have been taken to. He thought this thing through and knew he could be on a wild goose chase. Gabe couldn't recall which prison, for sure, that the van belonged to.

And just because it said 'Arizona Corrections Department' or whatever it said, it didn't actually mean it was from there. Some idiot with a sick sense of humor could have painted that on the side of the van. Dobey mopped his brow as nervous sweat beaded there. His thoughts continued to circle, Gabe could have lied and he could actually have something to do with their disappearance. Or maybe he simply found the credit card, or stolen it, or any one of a hundred different things could have happened.

The credit card checks that he had issued last Saturday had returned with no new purchases on either card since before Starsky and Hutch had left on vacation. Gabe had Starsky's card and Don from the Bay City crime lab had called Dobey in Las Vegas to tell him that Hutch's credit card had arrived there in an envelope that was addressed to him, Captain Dobey. The envelope had no return address on it and was postmarked Las Vegas. The envelope and card had been sent to the lab to be checked for clues, but none were found, so far.

Dobey speculated that the person who found the card or stole it, after seeing him on the news had sent the card to Dobey. Then again, it could be the person or persons who had kidnapped or killed his men had sent it to him as some kind of sick joke.

Dobey mopped his face with his hanky as sweat dampened his brow and kept driving.

The wall of dust hit the duo; the gritty dust scoured their exposed skin with thousands upon thousands of pinpricks of pain. The grit invaded every inch of them, ears, nose, mouth and eyes, nearly smothering and all but blinding them. If they even dared to open their eyes to look around, dust partials filled their vision.

Starsky felt Hutch leaning more heavily on him. He tightened his grip on the blond. He was afraid that if he let go, for even an instant, he would not be able to find Hutch again as visibility was nearly nonexistent.

He wondered if he was even headed in the right direction anymore. Even with the bandanna, breathing was extremely difficult. He was gasping for air through the dust-laden cloth. Grit caked around his eyes, due to the moisture from his constantly tearing eyes.

Hutch collapsed just then, virtually pulling Starsky to the ground with him as he went. "Go on without me" Hutch hollered over the wind "I'll catch up later" his body shook with a dust induced coughing fit. He sat panting in the sand and attempted to catch his breath.

"Bullshit! Uh uh, no way! You wouldn't leave me, I ain't leavin' you!" Starsky knelt down in front of the blond. "Climb on, ya big lug, I'll give ya a piggyback ride for a bit" It was impossible to make eye contact with the dust attacking their eyes.

"Aww, no Starsk, I can walk, really" Hutch was appalled, there was no way he could do that, he would be too much for his friend to carry. He rolled to his knees and tried to stand and failed.

Knowing what he was thinking, Starsky said "Hutch, I carried a friend of mine in Nam outta the jungle after he got shot up, I can do this" He hollered in his friend's ear. They had to keep moving, no telling how much longer the storm would keep up. They had to find shelter soon or risk getting caught out in the open.

"I know you can, Starsk" The ferocious wind blew his words away. He tried getting to his feet but he found he just didn't have the strength. His vision darkened and he felt faint. He quit arguing and allowed Starsky to carry him. All the while promising himself that once he was rested, he would walk on his own again. Well, okay, hop on my own again

After convincing Hutch to climb aboard, Starsky struggled onward, adrenalin giving him strength. He was not sure he was even headed to the distant hills he had spotted earlier. But he was determined. The storm tore at them with sandy teeth, scouring exposed flesh. Starsky refused to complain about it. This storm was saving their lives.

With his head down against the driving sand, he marched on, the heavy but comforting feel of Hutch's weight on his back. Starsky ran directly into the wall of rock. He was panting with exhaustion and he nearly dropped Hutch. His legs buckled and he sank to his knees. Hutch slid off his back and landed in a boneless heap. Starsky sat his partner up against the rocks. Hutch patted his hand weakly.

"Thanks buddy" the blond began to cough, his body shaking with the force it.

Starsky, exhausted, acknowledged Hutch with a weary nod of his head. He sat down next to the blond and leaned against the rock and tried to catch his breath, his heart still hammering from his exertions.

The rock wall partially protected them from the wind and dust and they were able to breathe a little easier. The storm seemed to be getting weaker. The pair coughed and hacked up sand and grit. They each drank some water from their canteens and used a few precious drops to wash some of the grit out of their eyes.

Starsky helped Hutch to his feet after a few minutes and pulled the blond's arm over his shoulder and they slowly made their way around the rock, moving steadily up a slope on a natural rock path. They had to keep moving.

After a bit of climbing, they rounded a corner and found a large opening in the rock wall. Starsky leaned his partner against the mouth of the cave, entered cautiously and he was greeted with a low rumble. He took a nervous step backward. The grumble continued and increased in volume. He stepped back again.

"Who is it? Who's there?" A nervous female voice issued from within the cave "Frank?"

Starsky was back at Hutch's side when he heard the voice, they exchanged a glance.

"Answer me or I'll sic the dog on you" The voice wavered.

"Uh, hello in there?" Starsky called back "We got lost in the storm, can we come in? There's not a lot of shelter out here and my friend is hurt"

"A-alright, just keep your distance"

"Just keep a hold of your dog, okay?" Starsky eased Hutch's arm back over his shoulder and slipped his around the blond's back and after taking a deep breath, they walked into the cave.

From some hole in the cave's ceiling, a tiny shaft of light lit the interior of the cave. A haze of dust from the now dying storm still hung in the air. The detectives scanned the semidarkness for the woman and as their grit filled eyes adjusted to the dim light they saw her.

The woman looked like a statue, covered with a fine layer of dust and sand, as did the dog that stood beside her. As the detectives eyes adjusted to the dim natural light, they saw a pair of horses standing beside the woman; they too looked like statues with the dust layer on them.

Starsky stared at the small group for several seconds, realization sunk in "KATE! Oh my God! You're alive!" Starsky was in shock "Roy said you were dead! How--?"

"Please don't yell, I've got one hell of a headache" Kate sat down and put her hands to her head.

"Sorry"

He moved closer and helped Hutch to sit down next to the cave wall. After assuring himself that Hutch was comfortable for the moment, Starsky turned his attention to Kate. He noticed that there was a makeshift bandage wrapped around her head. He moved to her side, keeping a wary eye on the dog that rumbled as he drew near.

"Bleib, Cody, Setz dich hin!" The dog stopped growling and sat down at the command "It's okay now" She closed her eyes to the pain that talking gave her.

Starsky knelt next to her and under the layer of dust he could see that the right side of her shirt was caked with dried blood and the bandage had a large bloodstain on it. "Do you remember what happened?"

She started to shake her head and winced "Ouch, no, I remember riding for the Thompson ranch... to make the call to your captain... then next thing I remember was Cody licking my face. I must have fallen off of, or got dumped by, Rudy" she hooked a thumb in the direction of the two horses. "He's never done that before though..."

"Roy showed me your glasses last night, he said you were dead"

"So that's what happened to them... I crawled up out of the ravine and found my hat and one lens from my glasses..." She reached back and brought out the hat.

Starsky took it and looked it over, under the right side brim he noticed a fair amount of dried blood "I think you were shot, the bullet grazed your skull"

"Shot!" She grabbed her head and winced at the pain.

"Easy, there Kate" He remembered something she said earlier "Who's Frank?"

"My husband" She went on to explain that while he had been hurt badly enough in a car accident to need a wheelchair due to the loss of his left leg from the knee down, he could now get around fairly well with his prosthetic one. "He knows if I don't show up, he'll come check out all the places where we placed emergency rations. Bob and I got lost in the desert five years ago, we damn near died--"

"Who's Bob?"

"The taller of the two horses"

"You named your horse Bob?" Starsky could think of a hundred different, better names then 'Bob'

"You say that with distain, that's his name and has been for nineteen years" She crossed her arms defensively "I'm not changing it just because you don't like it" The dog growled.

"Sorry, I just--"

"Keep it up Starsk, the hole you digging with your mouth is almost big enough to bury yourself in" Hutch started to laugh but was interrupted by a coughing fit.

Starsky went back to Hutch's side "Easy there partner" He reached for his canteen and helped Hutch to drink. The canteen was nearly empty. He quickly checked Hutch's; it had a few swallows left. Kate had said something about emergency rations... "Kate, how much water do you have?"

She pointed to two large containers on the ground next to the horses "Probably ten gallons or so"

"Wow, why so much?" That took care of the water issue. They could get a refill.

"Horses drink a lot"

"Oh" That made sense "I just gotta know, it's been buggin' me since the first time I saw ya ride inta the prison gate, why do you ride to the prison instead of driving a car or somethin'"

"We've been training for the Tevis Cup" At his uncomprehending look; she explained that the Tevis Cup is a hundred mile horseback endurance race over some of the roughest terrain in California "The object is to do the race in under twenty-four hours and to cross the finish line and have your horse judged, by a veterinarian, to still be 'fit to continue' Bob and I have competed for seven years but he's getting on in years so this is to be Rudy's first year--"

Starsky put his hand up to stop her; he had the feeling she could go on for days about the subject, if he let her. "Could we have some of your water?"

"Sure, I got some medical supplies here too, you said your friend was hurt" She pointed to a small box near the water containers "there's not much left, I used most of it, sorry"

"Nothin' ta be sorry about. I'm just glad you're alive" And he was, he couldn't bear the thought that he had been responsible for her death, 'course, he still felt bad she had gotten hurt. As he stood up to refill the canteens and get the first aid kit, he suddenly felt exhausted. The adrenalin had worn off and only sheer will power was keeping him going now.

He brought the meager supplies over to Hutch and they proceeded to clean and care for their injuries. They used some more water to give their poor eyes a good wash to remove the rest of the grit and sand.

After that, Starsky sat down next to Hutch with a big sigh and promptly fell asleep, slowly sliding sideways until his head landed on Hutch's shoulder. Hutch reached over and patted fondly him on cheek.

Hutch was determined to stay awake, someone had to. He had to plan the rest of their escape. They couldn't stay in this cave for long; they couldn't have walked far enough to be out of the search area. The hilly area was sure to be combed over. They would have to go some miles to get to a phone to call Dobey and the proper local authorities.

And then there was Kate. They couldn't leave her here, injured as she was. Roy might find her and finish what he started. The options were minimal. He wouldn't be doing much walking and neither would Kate. The two horses should take care of that, they both could ride.

Starsky could switch between sharing a horse and walking. Knowing his stubborn friend, he would insist on walking. If their luck held and no one found them, they could leave after dark, less chance of being seen. Hopefully Kate would be able to guide them out of the desert.

Dobey was caught in the aftermath of the dust storm. There had been several traffic accidents and the traffic on I 10 was at a crawl. He got out and helped the local police and state troopers where he could. As he helped them, he told them why he was in the area. It never hurt to have the locals involved (well, he hoped not) and their interest was peaked due to the involvement of fellow police officers.

Jake 'Whip' Williams was pissed. Two prisoners were missing. Christ on a cross, Will Gardner would have his ass for supper. At least the two prison horses had returned to the trailer after having dumped their riders, Randal and Roy. The horses had shown more sense then those two did. Whip glared at the two, if they had brought the inmates in when he first told them to, none of this would ever have happened.

Now here he was with one hell of a dilemma on his hands. He had a couple of busloads of inmates and only a handful of guards. He wanted to keep a lid on the escape as best as he could. Will would have to be informed. If they could find the escapees quickly enough, maybe the warden wouldn't even have to know.

Whip scanned at the surrounding desert. They could be anywhere. The hills were a good place to start, but considering the storm, they could have gone any direction. Hell, they could have died already and could have been buried by sand, never to be seen again.

"SHIT" He turned his eyes back to the incompetent pair "You lost 'em; you find 'em! I've got to get the rest of these inmates back to Boot Camp. If you find them by the time we get back here, it will be a wash. If we have to help you find them, you won't find a job in this state guarding flowers!"

"But--" Roy started, but was cut off.

"Don't even stay it Roy, I know your brother is the warden, but if word gets out, he'll help me bury you and you know it! You never were guard material and this foolishness today proves it" Whip stared at the two, who stared back at him "What are you two looking at? Get a couple of fresh mounts and get going!"

Hutch nudged Starsky gently; the brunet had started to drool on his shoulder. Friendship can only be taken so far! he chuckled softly to himself. "C'mon Starsk, time to wake up" Despite his best efforts to stay awake, Hutch had succumbed to sleep as well and twilight was closing in on them. They needed to get out of the area.

Before he had nodded off he had Kate draw a map in the dirt of the surrounding area and best possible routes to take. Now it was time to get going. He felt re-energized and ready to deal with the matter at hand. But first he had to wake his drooling friend.

It took some doing, but Starsky was awake and ready to eat. He dug around and found a container with some granola in it. He brought it over to Hutch, munching on a handful as he did so. "Found some granola, Blintz, ya want some?" He handed it to Hutch and speaking around a mouthful said, "S'not so bad, better than that stuff you usually make me eat"

From over by the horses Kate lifted her head "Granola?"

Hutch looked into the container "Starsky, that's not granola"

Still chewing Starsky looked at him "Whaddya mean this ain't granola? Smell like granola, tastes like granola"

Kate wandered over and looked in the container, then she looked at Hutch and they burst out laughing. Kate held her head as laughing aggravated her head wound.

"What? What is it?"

"Starsky, that's sweet feed"

"Sweet feed?" Dark brows knitted in question.

"Horse grain!" Hutch burst out laughing even harder as he watched his friend franticly spit out the horse food like it was poison, even going so far as to wipe his tongue off on his dirty shirt.

"That was a dirty trick" Starsky rounded on his friend

"Trick, what trick? You got that container all by yourself, remember?"

"Yeah, well you could have told me sooner" Starsky groused.

"Uh, children? I hate to interrupt, but you did say you wanted to be leaving soon..."

"Right, c'mon buddy, give me a hand up" The blond put out his hand.

Starsky grabbed it and pulled him to his feet "Pay backs are hell" he smiled.

Starsky prompted Kate to go over a few horse safety rules after he had nearly made the mistake of walking directly behind one of the horses. "Are you trying to get killed?" she had snapped after pulling him by his belt loops out of the danger zone. "You could have been double barreled!" At his blank expression, she elaborated "Kicked with both hind legs at the same time -- double barreled -- minimum end of the scale, painful bruises, maximum end of the scale -- dead" He swallowed hard.

The trio then set off. Starsky was walking, for now. Hutch rode the older and taller of the two horses, Bob, and Kate rode Rudy. They rode in silence as best they could, the horses' hooves with their metal shoes making the occasional ringing sounds as they traveled over the rocks. Darkness fell and a sea of stars graced the sky.

Roy was furious. How dare Whip threaten me with termination? Just who does he think he is? The sky was darkening; it would be very hard to find them in the dark. Soon Whip and the rest would be joining the search for the escapees. He had sent Randal up a head to check out the hills while he checked the area surrounding where he had last seen them.

Roy pulled the horse to a halt. Maybe he should just cut his losses and just leave right now. NO, that would mean that they had won He couldn't permit that. They had to die. Then he would leave. Maybe he would go to Canada, Mexico was closer though.

Randal couldn't believe it. He saw them. It had to be them. And Kate was with them. Roy would be beyond angry with him if he ever found out that Kate was alive. Randal hadn't gone down into the ravine to see if she were really dead.

There had been so much blood on her head that he had just assumed that she was dead or soon would be. He didn't want to have to touch the blood, the thought of doing that made him queasy. He had found her glasses near the spot where he had shot her and took them.

That was then, but here, here was his chance to get his Honey Dip. He would kill the other two, then take Honey Dip to his place, where his golden man would be all his. To hold, pet and kiss to his hearts delight. His golden Honey Dip would love him back, in time; he just knew it. He just had to find the right spot so he could ambush them.

To say that Captain Harold Dobey was angry at the Arizona Corrections Department, also known as Boot Camp would have been the understatement of the century. Or more accurately it was the people who worked there and not the place itself was whom he was livid at.

The guards, at first, had been rude. Then they got nasty. Then Dobey called on a few new friends from the Arizona State Troopers department and things got very interesting, very quickly. Dobey then found out that his men had been prisoners in this prison. All the guards thought that his men had been two convicted pedophiles named Gary Harold and Sam Jones. The records had been tampered with; it was a good forgery job. Only thing was his men were innocent and had been kidnap victims. Then the guards reluctantly admitted that those inmates, correction, detectives had escaped just this afternoon. The guards had been preparing to conduct a search for the escapees when Dobey had arrived.

The State Troopers were interested in hearing this and demanded to know why they had not been informed immediately. They were somewhat mollified by the response that the escape happened during the dust storm and that the guards hadn't wanted to report it in case they had found them right away. Resources had been spread thin at that time due to the traffic accidents. But now was different, they should have been informed.

A man pulled up on the scene and demanded to speak to the warden. The man limped up to where Dobey and Warden George Palmer were standing and butted in front of Dobey and started to berate the warden. Palmer stepped back as the man advanced. "Where's my wife? You said you would call me back and let me know what time she left here yesterday, you didn't"

Dobey took control and got the man to calm down, a little. Frank Roundtree's wife, Kate, had been last seen leaving Boot Camp yesterday. When she hadn't made it to her lesson appointments, Mr. Roundtree had gone looking. When the pain of his still healing stump had became too much, he had stopped, gone home and started to make phone calls. He was told, even though he knew it anyway, that he would have to wait twenty-four hours before a missing persons report could be issued.

Dobey was concerned over the seaming coincidences of the man's wife and his detectives both going missing in a little over twenty-four hour period. Dobey started flipping through his notes. Two guards' names kept reappearing. Roy Palmer, the warden's brother and Randal Waters.

The whole mess smelled worse then three-day-old fish. Dobey demanded to speak to those two guards. He nearly had a heart attack when Jake 'Whip' Williams informed him that he had left those two in the desert to search for the escapees.

The clock was against them; Palmer and Waters had motive enough to kill his men, they also had the opportunity and the means. Both guards were armed and they were already out there. The Troopers, Dobey and Frank Roundtree piled into their vehicles and headed to the scene of the escape to conduct their own search.

Randal found the perfect spot for an ambush. His heart raced soon Honey Dip, soon He would take out Harold first then Kate. If Honey Dip tried to run, he'd shoot the horse. He tied his horse nearly a quarter of a mile away from where he was hiding. He didn't need to have it neigh and alert them to his position.

The little group continued their trek to freedom. They were on a seldom-used trail that would take them to a ranch Kate knew of. Starsky walked up front next to Kate. She was feeling dizzy again. They had to stop a time or two already so she could dismount and vomit behind some bushes. Hutch knew from his premed days that she had a concussion. Her vision was blurry as well, mostly from her extreme nearsightedness. He could easily see why she had opted to stay in the cave to await her husband. She would never have made it home on her own.

She sat up straight and stopped her horse.

"Ya need ta get down Kate?"

"Shh, no... the horses are acting funny"

Hutch noticed it too, Bob had his ears cocked in one direction, and Rudy's ears did the same. Both horses then tensed up and sniffed the air. Starsky had learned quickly that when they did this to look in the direction that their ears were turned to. Kate had told them that these horses, Arabians, could spot a black pearl in a pile of coal on a moonless night. He had scoffed at first, but they were quickly turning him into a believer.

"I'll scout ahead" He no weapon. He proceeded forward quietly. His time as a solider in Nam served him well as he crouched low and made his cautiously way through the desert plants.

Hutch realized that he and Kate were nice targets, sitting high on the horses and he carefully dismounted and urged her to do the same. The dog, Cody rumbled low in his chest. Kate shushed him and Hutch guided her to some large rocks where they tied the horses. Hutch then moved her up higher and away from the direction that the horses had indicated.

The moon broke over the distant hilltops and bathed the area in a blue light. Hutch tripped over a small tumbleweed. He hissed in agony as his right leg was wrenched. His vision dimmed momentarily. Kate helped him up and put his arm over her shoulder.

He breathed deep, trying to force the pain away so he could help Starsky. He pointed where he wanted to go to get a good vantage point. Once there he had her crouch down and he peered into the semidarkness, looking for his partner.

That's when Hutch saw them. One man was behind a rock, the other, Starsky, was carefully making his way towards that same rock. Hutch saw the glint of moonlight on metal. He tensed, how many were there? Was it just the one man? If he hollered a warning, the bad guy or guys would know where they were.

"What do you see?" Kate whispered

"Trouble, lots of trouble, someone is behind that rock over there and Starsky is on a collision course with him. Dammit! I wish I had a gun!"

"I have a weapon," She whispered

Hutch spun around "Give it to me! Quick!"

"It's not a gun, it's him" She pointed at the dog "Cody here is, well was, my husband's k-9 partner"

Hutch turned back to the scene before him, Starsky was still on his collision course. He looked at Kate "Send him in"

She nodded with tear filled eyes "Point out whom you want him to hit, he's like a bullet, he'll hit whoever he is aimed at"

Hutch pointed to the crouched figure behind the rock.

"Good dog, Cody, I love you" She hugged the dog and kissed his head "Bad guy still there?"

"Yes! Hurry dammit!"

"Cody, ANGRIFF!" She slummed behind the rock, unwilling to see the outcome.

The dog shot down the small incline and slammed into the figure. Sharp teeth sank deep into the man's forearm and he let out a scream. It was Randal.

Starsky heard the noise and changed positions to attack from the rear. He could hear Randal struggling with the dog. As he closed in on the pair, a crack of gunfire filled the air. He leapt on Randal, his hand reaching for the handgun. They spun around with the dog hanging grimly onto Randal's arm.

Starsky managed to grab Randal's gun hand and they wrestled for possession. The dog let go and Starsky increased his struggle and another crack spilt the air. Starsky and Randal stood face to face, neither one moving.

Hutch's heart stopped "Stay here Kate" He hopped down the incline and as he approached the combatants, Randal collapsed.

"Starsky! Are you okay?" He ran worried eyes over his partner.

"Yeah" Starsky panted and put his hands on his knees and gasped for air.

Hutch went over to check on Randal. As he stood over him, Randal looked into his eyes, reached towards him and smiled "Honey Dip--" his hand landed on Hutch's foot. Hutch left his foot under Randal's hand until the life faded from his eyes. Hutch then pulled his foot away from Randal. He knelt down and checked the carotid artery, nothing. Randal was dead.

"C'mon, we better get outta here, anyone coulda heard those shots" Starsky gripped Hutch's shoulder "c'mon, there's nothing more we can do"

Hutch nodded. He felt sorry for the sick little shit. They turned to collect Kate and the horses.

Kate was sitting in the dirt with Cody in her lap. She rocked him as if he were a baby.

The duo exchanged a look, sorrow in their eyes. Starsky spoke up "C'mon Kate, we have to leave now"

"We can't leave him! He's my husband's partner!" She implored, "He saved you, he saved all of us" She sobbed openly.

Starsky knelt down beside her "Then don't let him have given his life for nothing. Look, when this is all done, we'll come back and give him a hero's funeral, okay?" He gently moved the dog off her lap "C'mon, we have to go now" He pulled her to her feet.

Soon the solemn group was once more on its way through the dark, having collected Randal's horse, all three now rode. They would make much better time now.

Roy heard the shots. He had been listening to the walkie-talkie and knew the jig was up. They were onto him and Randal. He would have to leave tonight. All his carefully laid plans in ruins. God Damn Starsky and Hutchinson to Hell. This was all their fault. It was them and their weirdness. He wanted them dead. But that was going to have to wait.

He would have to go into hiding for a while. What better place then where Kate had hidden some of her emergency supplies? He had helped restock some of them when her husband was hurt. That little bit of knowledge was going to payoff now. When things cooled down, he would leave Arizona for good.

Dobey looked at his watch. Was it that late already? It was nearly morning. They had found Randal's body and Frank's dog. The scene told the story. Frank was elated that his wife was alive; the dog would not have listened to anyone but her. Proof positive she was alive. Dobey was happy as well. His men were alive.

However, they were probably still under the mistaken notion that they would be sought after as escapees. They would fight if they were not approached carefully.

And Roy Palmer was still at large. An APB was put out for him. A mere detail, he would be in custody soon. He didn't know he was a wanted man, when he returned from searching for the missing inmates, they would grab him.

They were loosing darkness. Both Hutch and Kate were in pain, both were being troopers though. Starsky was in pain as well. He was aching from having carried Hutch yesterday and this horse riding was pulling muscles in his legs that he never knew he had. At first riding had been fun. It was something that he had wanted to do as a kid, ride a horse, just like Gene Autry.

The cold reality was he was in no shape to ride. None of them were. They hadn't made good time. The horses were exhausted as well. Soon, they would be caught out in the open. They would be easy pickings out on a flat plain with no place to hide.

The hot sun would beat down on them. Then the guards would catch them and post them in the blazing sun. Or maybe they would just shoot them out right. Randal was dead. If they found the body they would know who had killed him. Starsky turned his thoughts way from that line of thinking. It was unproductive.

In the distance he spotted a line of lights. As they approached, he was able to count seven vehicles. Dawn was about three hours away. He looked about for a place to hide. It had to be large enough to hide three horses. Yeah, right he thought glumly, nothing over two feet tall around here.

He rode over to Hutch, who looked as if he were about to fall out of the saddle. "Well this is it partner, I'd give ya my boots, but this ain't a cowboy movie, it's a prison break one, you dirty rat" He did his best/worst Cagney impression.

Hutch lifted his weary head and chuckled at that. Leave it to good old Starsky to come up with a joke at the right time. He put out his hand and Starsky grabbed it. They made eye contact and held it.

"Excuse me"

They broke contact at the interruption and turned to look a Kate, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry to bother you, but, I can get the horses to lay down, if they haven't seen us yet, they will drive right by as we will be hidden by the vegetation"

The pair brightened. That could work.

They all dismounted and Kate had the horses lay down and she showed them how to keep the horses down. "They can safely lie on their side for about thirty minutes, after that it will hurt them"

Hopefully, it would be enough time.

They each peered over the bellies of the downed horses at the approaching vehicles. The vehicles drew nearer and stopped. Had they been spotted? They held their breath.

Then they heard "STARSKY! HUTCHINSON! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU MEN DOING OUT THERE?"

The pair turned to each other "DOBEY!"

They jumped up and made their way to their captain's side and once there gave him a big hug. Which left the big man mopping his face and blustering about all the trouble he went through to find them and then they go try to hide on him.

They hugged him again.

They went back to Boot Camp; it was where the headquarters for the search had been set up. They would give their statements and then go to the local doctor to have a once over before heading for home.

They found out along the way that Cody, while injured, was under a veterinarian's care now and should recover. That was the good news. The bad news was that Roy Palmer was still on the loose.

As they entered one of the rooms to give a brief statement, the phone started ringing. Hutch gasped and fell to the floor and lay there shaking.

Dobey looked on in shock "What's wrong Hutchinson?"

More phones started to ring. Starsky grabbed Hutch, pulled him to his feet and hustled him outside.

Hutch leaned against the wall of the building and wiped a hand down his face "Wonder how long it'll be before I can stand the sound of a phone ringing? They're everywhere" He gave a nervous laugh.

Starsky gave Hutch's shoulder a squeeze "I'll go tell cap' that you need to see the doc first, don't go nowhere" He headed back inside.

Hutch looked around at the surrounding desert. It was open, free; he wasn't ready to go back inside just yet. He heard a horse neigh and saw Bob tied to a trailer. He went over to pet the gentle creature. Somehow he found himself on the horse and headed into the desert. Just for a little while. He was free to do so and he would. No one could stop him; they had no reason to.

The tension in his muscles eased and he breathed deep, only now able to enjoy the scent of the desert. He kept going, luxuriating in the wonder of it all.

Starsky came back outside to tell Hutch it was okay to go to the doc's first. Hutch was gone. He swept the area with his eyes; he saw Kate and her husband and ran over to them "Have you seen Hutch?"

"Yes! He stole Bob!" She was nearly done saddling up Rudy to go after him.

"Oh Kate, he didn't steal him, he's just borrowed him"

"Borrowing without asking is stealing!" She snapped and then winced in pain.

"Can I borrow Rudy? I'll bring back that dirty horse thief for ya schweetheart" He gave his most charming smiled and winked.

Kate rolled her eyes and handed him the reins "Go get him, bring him back in one piece and I'm not talking about your partner, I'm talking about Bob and Rudy"

"She means it, detective" Frank added and drew his wife into a hug to keep her from trying to follow her horses. He then sat down to wait. Kate would refuse to go to the doctor now until her babies were back. She was weird that way.

Starsky gave a smart salute and hurried after Hutch. The blond had taken off. That wasn't like him. He was worried. This was the first time that he had said 'don't go nowhere' only to have Hutch take off. It just wasn't like him. He scanned the surrounding terrain and spotted a cloud of dust. It had to be Hutch. He steered Rudy in that direction and hurried to catch up to his friend.

Hutch finally stopped some miles from the prison. He ended up on a little bluff that overlooked a small group of saguaro cactus. He hadn't directed the horse to come here, but it was a grand sight. The sun was making its appearance to the east and it painted the desert in calm earth tones. He raised his face to the dawning light and soaked it in.

Starsky lost track of the dust cloud, but Rudy seemed to want to go towards the east so not having a better idea, Starsky let him. A short time later, he spotted Hutch on a little bluff. He slowed Rudy to a walk. "Nice view"

"Uh huh" The blond continued to face the sun.

He let Hutch stare for a while, content to simply sit beside his friend.

After a few minutes, Hutch dismounted and limped away. Starsky dismounted as well and followed, allowing Hutch to collect himself. He would be there. As long as his friend didn't get any closer to the edge of the bluff, the height bothered him. Being on a horse wasn't so bad though, height wise. He let his thoughts wander a bit, trying to find the peace in nature that Hutch found so attractive.

Roy heard something. Voices, they were close. He carefully moved up the rocks to see who it was. He climbed up a little higher. The legs of two horses blocked his line of sight. He edged up. There they were. He couldn't believe his luck! Starsky and Hutchinson, he checked the surrounding area, just incase this was a set up. He hadn't heard anything over the radio, though, unless they had finally figured out that he had a radio as well.

The pair had stopped talking, or were doing so quietly that he couldn't hear them. He moved closer, using the horses as cover. He snuck up behind the taller of the two horses and leveled his gun and took careful aim.

Bob felt something in the air. He twitched his ears around trying to locate whatever it was that was drawing near. His vision was nearly three hundred and sixty degrees, but he could not see directly behind him. There it was again, closing in on him from behind. It was close now, alarms went off -- PREDITOR! -- He kicked out with both hind legs, they connected with something solid. The trajectory of the impact thrust Roy over the edge of the bluff.

The solid hooves with their metal shoes connected with Roy's chest. The force of the blow crushed his sternum, instantly flailing his chest, rupturing his heart, crushing his lungs. He fell quietly and landed in the upturned arms of a two hundred year old saguaro cactus. He was already dead.

Hearing a ruckus behind them, Starsky and Hutch whipped around, the horses snorted and trotted away from the edge of the bluff. Starsky grabbed the trailing reins of the horses and Hutch cautiously peered over the edge. He saw Roy lying in the arms of a cactus. He turned back to Starsky "Bob just killed Roy, at least, I think he's dead"

Starsky reached up and scratched the horse's neck "Good horse!"

"Well buddy, I'm ready to go back now" Hutch grinned at his friend, he was ready, more then ready.

Starsky let out a sigh, Hutch would be okay.

They got on the horses and started back down the slope.

Starsky looked about and said "Ya know, it's kinda pretty out here. Kate said we could come back some time and she'd take us jackalope hunting"

"Jackalope hunting?" He raised an eyebrow and struggled to keep a strait face "Ah hem, you would go hunting for some poor critter and shoot it?"

"No Hutch, jackalopes are endangered, we'd just shoot it with a camera"

"Oh really, Starsk?"

"Yeah, it'll be great! We could ride around in the desert during the day taking pictures and at night stay at the Roundtree's house" Starsky was warming up to the idea. "Kate says that Frank makes mean barbequed ribs"

"Uh... Starsky, you really that interested in doing this?"

"Yeah! Just think Hutch, I could be the first Bay City detective to ever have taken a photograph of a jackalope!" He was practically bouncing up and down on poor Rudy's back he was so excited about the prospect.

"Oh, it would be a first alright"

"It'll be great!" A smile split the brunet's face, his eyes twinkled, things were going to be just fine.

"Starsky"

"Yeah?"

"Remind me to take you Snipe hunting sometime"

"I don't have to shoot anything, do I?"

"Nope, first you get yourself a gunny sack--" Hutch proceed to tell Starsky how to catch a snipe and his gullible best friend bought the whole thing. Yep, he was going to be just fine.

The END

Author's Notes:

There really is an Arizona law that states anyone asking for a glass of water must be given one!

Police dogs are given commands in what ever language the dog originates from, the dog in this story is a German Shepard -- Hence, German is used.
Angriff! -- Attack!
Bleib -- Stay
Setz dich hin! -- Sit down!

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