CHAPTER 9

Hutch stood at the small sink of the stewardess’ station washing his hands as Castiano watched him from the other side of the plane.   As he looked over his shoulder, he could see into the cockpit where Charlie stood with a gun pointed at the pilot.  He couldn’t see Kent Parker…but he had a good view of Charlie.

Starsky had been complaining about being uncomfortable so Cassie had placed a couple of pillows behind his back so he could rest…or at least try to. He had Hutch put a blanket over Joey’s body in front of him so that he wouldn’t have to look at it. He had been trying his best not to get sick.

Cassie remained in the other row of seats with Maureen and Alexandra for the most part…because Hutch had asked her to.  He was keeping an eye on Starsky and he felt that she would be a little safer with the women.  They would have to make a move soon and didn’t want her in the line of fire.

Castiano held his position in the doorway …like a statue.  He hadn’t moved for a good twenty minutes.

Suddenly the plane began to shake…slightly at first and then more and more violently.  Starsky yelled out in pain as he was tossed around in his seat and everyone else grabbed onto what they could.  The passengers in the back began to emit sounds of panic and Castiano was busy yelling at everyone to shut up.  Charlie had been standing by the doorway inside the cockpit and was now yelling at the pilot to stop the plane from shaking.  Kent was doing the best he could, but they had run into a mass of storm clouds and heavy turbulence.

Charlie opened the door of the cockpit and began to step through it as the plane lurched suddenly forward.  The gun that had been pointed towards the pilot …went off and a single bullet hit its unintended target.  Kent Parker’ s body fell forward on the controls causing the nose of the plane to drop almost instantly. Charlie managed to make his way through the doorway just
before the controls were shoved forward but the sudden change in direction caused him to loose his balance and fall backwards against the door…knocking him out cold.  Hutch had been standing near the doorway bracing himself between the two walls of the narrow hallway.  As he watched Charlie fall backwards he seized the opportunity and knocked the gun from his hand…as he watched his head hit the door.

Castiano pulled his gun up to aim it at Hutch while trying desperately to keep himself from falling down.  Starsky had gotten out of his chair and was now on the floor holding Hutch’s gun in his right hand.  He had been watching as Charlie hit his head and knew that Castiano would have to try and take charge.  He turned his attention back to the compartment. He had a clear shot from between the seats and when he saw Castiano raise his gun towards Hutch…he fired twice.  The bullets penetrated the old  mans chest and right shoulder. He went down quickly as the passengers screamed and the plane leaned even heavier toward the front.

Starsky called out to Cassie who quickly answered him. She and the other women were all right.  Everyone was holding on and screaming as the plane tilted more and more on it's nose and Starsky began to slowly make his way towards the entrance of the cockpit. The place where he had last seen Hutch.

When Starsky reached the middle of the hallway, he found Charlie tied to a roll cart that was chained to the wall.  Hutch had to have done it…it looked like his handiwork.

Maureen saw the gun fly from Castiano’s grip and hurried over to pick it up…struggling and crawling on her hands and knees to reach it as the plane tilted. Cassie yelled to her to hold onto something and keep the gun on him. She knew that Starsky and Hutch were busy in the front and it was up to them to keep this guy on ice.

Suddenly the plane began to level off…slowly at first and then with more conviction.   Everyone began to relax a little and the terror of the past few moments came to an abrupt halt.  Starsky looked over at Cassie and the other women and saw that they had Castiano under control.  He called over to her, instructing her to find something to tie him up with and told Maureen
to keep the gun on him and shoot him if he moves.   He knew she probably wasn’t capable of pulling the trigger but she was threatening enough, for a man who was in extreme pain from two bullet wounds.

Now there was only one more question to be answered.  Where the hell was Hutch?  He wasn’t in the hallway but his presence there was evident.  Where did he go?  Starsky figured there was only one place he could possibly have gone…inside the cockpit.  But why hadn’t he come back out by now?  What was he doing in there?

He made his way toward the small door and to open it…leaning against the wall to steady himself as he made his approach.  His shoulder was hurting so badly. The pain had increased now that he was on his feet, but he had to find Hutch…pain or no pain.

As he pushed the door to the cockpit open it was met with some resistance. The body of the copilot had fallen against it.  He pushed harder to shove him out of the way and looked over towards the control panel…expecting to find the pilot seated in the chair in front of the large window.  But what he saw made his mouth fall open and the pain in his shoulder pale in comparison.

Hutch was flying the plane! The pilot’s body had been flung out of the way and was now lying on the floor next to the co-pilot.  Hutch had the radio in his hand desperately calling out a Mayday…not sure if he was on the right frequency or even what the hell he was doing.   He had been so busy at the controls that he hadn’t noticed as Starsky crept up from behind and took the
co-pilots chair next to him.  As Starsky sat down Hutch finally took notice of his presence.

“What the hell are you doing?” Starsky asked him in a low voice.

“I already asked myself that question…I didn’t get an answer either.” Hutch told him in a serious tone.  “What are you doing up here?”

“Looking for you…I thought you were afraid of flying.” He asked.

“You got a better idea…tell me now…” Hutch told him. “Otherwise help me get somebody on that radio.”

Starsky just put his head down and rested his right hand on the control panel…pushing on a lever that caused a loud buzzing sound to go off over their heads

“What ever you touched put it back…” Hutch yelled at him.

“What?” Starsky asked in an innocent manner and then he found the lever and pulled it back where it was.

“Just don’t touch anything.” Hutch said “I don’t know what all this stuff does…but if it beeps like that…it can’t be good.”

“What are we gonna do now…just hold it steady.” Starsky asked.

“I doubt we have enough fuel to stay up here for too much longer…we’re gonna have to land somewhere.” Hutch told him.

“OH SHIT!”  Starsky cried out. “You can’t even parallel park!”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------