“It’ll be alright, Hutch.” David Starsky said to his distraught partner. “She’ll come around and see where she was wrong.”
“I don’t know, Starsk.” Ken
Hutchinson answered. “She was really
mad.”
“Look, Smokey’s a smart lady,
right?” Then, when Hutch nodded,
“She’ll cool off and think about it and realize you’re right. Then you can kiss and make up.”
“I hope so.” Hutch said
doubtfully. “I mean, I can see her
point of view, I just wish I could convince her otherwise.”
“Look, you’re upset. You want I should stay here tonight?”
Hutch looked at the
dark-haired man and smiled, “Nah. I’ll
be fine. If I don’t hear from her by
tomorrow night, I’ll give her a call and we’ll talk this thing through.”
“Okay, if you’re sure,”
Starsky said doubtfully.
“Starsky, get out of
here. I’ll be fine, okay?”
“Okay, ‘night Partner.”
“Good night Starsk.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky went down to the
Torino and drove off, stopping at the Pits to check on a lead (and have a beer)
before going home.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hutch, meanwhile puttered
around his kitchen, washing out the dishes and getting rid of the empty pizza
box from his dinner with Starsky. There
was a knock at the door and when he went to answer it, Smokey Bear was standing
there wearing a raincoat and holding a bouquet of white roses.
“Can I come in?” She asked
shyly, almost expecting a negative answer.
Hutch smiled gently and stood
back for her to enter the apartment.
She held out the roses to him.
“Peace offering?” She said tentatively.
He took the flowers and
headed for the kitchen to find something to put them in - that done, he turned
around and looked at her expectantly.
“Look, I’m sorry I got so
angry. I forgot to tell you about my
stubborn streak. I got to thinking
about it and I realized you were right and I was wrong. I lost my temper and said some pretty nasty
things, can you forgive me?”
Hutch smiled and held out his
arms, “I thought you’d never ask.”
With a sigh of relief, Smokey
threw herself into his arms and kissed him passionately. When they finally parted for air, Smokey
stepped out of his arms and moved towards the bedroom. He started to reach for her again and she
playfully moved out of the way. He
looked at her, puzzled. She gave him a
sly smile and slowly untied the belt on the raincoat. Hutch watched, enthralled as she leisurely unbuttoned the coat
and peeled it off, revealing a sexy black teddy with black stockings attached
to the garters and legs all the way down to the three-inch stiletto heels.
Hutch’s jaw dropped, “You
drove over here like that?”
“Well, I stopped at the
florist first.”
“You stopped at…the…” Hutch
trailed off as she moved forward again and started kissing and nipping her way
from his chin up to his ear.
“Mm-hmm” She murmured as she
started nibbling on his oh-so-sensitive earlobe.
He groaned and pulled her
roughly to him. He leaned down and
started on her neck, working his way up until he captured her lips with
his. He ran his tongue over her lips –
tacitly asking permission to enter.
Permission was granted and he lost himself in the taste and feel of her.
They kissed passionately until
Hutch found himself getting light-headed as the need to breathe asserted itself
once again. He pulled away for a moment
and she took that opportunity to start working on the buttons of his shirt. He quickly helped her remove his shirt and
trousers. Then, he picked her up –
sweeping her off her feet (and out of her shoes!) and carried her into the
bedroom.
He laid her gently on the bed
and knelt down next to her. She watched
with desire-filled eyes as he slowly removed her stockings one by one using his
mouth to mark the path his hands took down her legs. Then he kissed, licked and nipped his way back up her body until
he was in a position to slowly remove the teddy. Once she was naked, he began exploring her body with a growing
passion that very quickly threatened to consume him entirely.
She also was not exactly
helpless during this time and quickly took the opportunity to remove his shorts
and do a little exploring of her own.
He groaned as her hand fondled him gently but firmly. Finally, he could stand no more and rolled
her over so that she was underneath him.
Slowly, oh-so-very-slowly did he enter her. He propped himself up on his elbows so that he could see her
face. Her eyes were darkened with
passion and her breathing was ragged.
She reached up to pull him in
for a brief kiss and then with a gasp, said one word: “Please!”
No more encouragement needed,
Hutch started to move within her – finding the rhythm that both lovers were
seeking.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky swore softly as he
quietly let himself into Hutch’s apartment.
He had gotten all the way home only to remember that Hutch had borrowed
his house key to make another copy after a perp threw his keys (that had
unfortunately dropped from his jacket pocket) into the ocean. Starsky moved quietly, hoping that the key
was still on the kitchen table and he wouldn’t have to wake Hutch to ask where
it could be. That’s when he heard it.
“Oh GOD!” It was Hutch’s
voice. Starsky froze at the sound. Maybe Hutch was dreaming? Then Hutch moaned loudly – an agonized sound
that Starsky had never heard from his partner (at least not in those of Hutch’s
nightmares he had been present for).
Starsky drew his gun and moved toward the source of the sound – the
bedroom. He was reaching for the door
handle when his partner’s voice reached him again, “Oh GOD, PLEASE!”
Starsky decided that if his
partner had to beg for mercy, this wasn’t the time for subtlety. He cocked his gun and kicked the bedroom
door in, rolling into the room and coming up, gun drawn…to face a very
embarrassed, irate and naked Hutch – half lying on top of Smokey Bear who was
equally nude and at least twice as embarrassed.
Starsky quickly put his gun
away and started backing out of the room, trying to explain as he went.
“Uh…I’m sorry
Hutch…er…Smokey. I…uh… left my house
key here and I…uh…heard you…and it…um…sounded…er…like…er…”
“Get your house key; it’s on
the kitchen table.” Hutch’s voice was
calm and quiet. He gently rolled off of
Smokey and quickly pulled the sheet over both of them. Then he looked at his partner again. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow. Right now, get the hell out of here.”
Starsky knew his partner well
enough to know that even though he wasn’t yelling, Hutch was extremely
angry. He mumbled another apology,
found his house key and bolted out of the apartment.
Hutch and Smokey looked at
each other and burst out laughing before picking up where they had left off.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
The next morning Starsky, not
ready to face Hutch after the previous night, drove himself to work. Hutch arrived several minutes later and sat
down quietly at his desk – completely ignoring his partner. Finally, Starsky realized he’d have to make
the first move.
“Uh…mornin’ Hutch,” he said
tentatively.
“Starsky.” The voice was flat – giving away nothing.
“Look, about last night…”
Starsky began only to be interrupted by Hutch.
“Starsky, I don’t want to
talk about it.”
“It was an honest
mistake! How was I supposed to know
Smokey had come over?”
“You know what her car looks
like.”
“Look, to me it sounded like
you were in pain. Should I ignore you
callin’ for help next time?”
“In my apartment at one
o’clock in the morning with my girlfriend’s car outside? YES!”
“You know, you should be glad
I was there. What if it had been some
thug torturin’ ya?”
“That’s not the point,
Starsky. The point is that it wasn’t
some thug! You’re saying I should be
thanking you for interrupting what was until that point, an incredibly intense
sexual experience and turning it into an incredibly embarrassing
experience? I don’t think so.”
“Fine.” Starsky said
coldly. “You don’t want my help next
time? You won’t get it.”
“Whatever. We’ve got these reports to do, I suggest we
get to work.”
Over the next few hours, the
partners worked in silence. The only
times they spoke to each other were to clarify facts for their reports. You could have cut the tension around them
with a knife (if it were extremely sharp).
Finally, about lunchtime,
Smokey stuck her head into the office.
“Hey Hutch, you want to join me for lunch?”
Hutch looked up and
smiled. Then, giving his partner a
glare, he said, “Sure. Be back in an
hour Starsky. Then we’ll have to hit
the streets.”
“Don’t hurry on my account.”
Starsky said sourly.
Smokey looked at the two men
quizzically. She had a feeling it had
something to do with the previous night’s activities and resolved to find out
what the problem was.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
“Alright, you wanna tell me
what that was all about?” Smokey asked as they walked along the sidewalk (she
felt Hutch could probably use the walk).
Hutch sighed, “Would you
believe he expects me to thank him for crashing in on us last night?”
“He’s your partner and he
thought you were in trouble. It was an
honest mistake, Hutch.”
“I guess you’re right,” he
conceded. “It was just really
embarrassing. I’ll apologize after
lunch. I guess it’s good that he’s so
protective. He’s just got to learn to
be a little more subtle.”
Smokey laughed. “That’s the ticket. After lunch, you’ll go back to him and talk
it out. I refuse to come between the
two of you and that’s kind of where you’re putting me.”
“I’m sorry, Love.” Hutch said
as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Starsk and I’ll be okay.
We’ll talk it out after lunch.”
She tilted her face up for a
real kiss when they heard a voice calling from the alley they were walking
past.
“Help! I’ve been mugged! Can somebody help me?”
Hutch and Smokey moved toward
the sound of the voice. Only too late
did Hutch realize it was a dead end and the man on the ground was not even
close to being injured. He spun around
to see four other guys wearing jeans, chains and leather moving in on
them. He put a protective arm around
Smokey who was tensed and ready for what might come.
“So the Good Samaritans want
to help the guy on the ground. How
nice. I think we should reward them somehow.” Said the guy who had been the bait for this
trap as he stood up.
“I’d be willing to bet that
the gentleman’s wallet is uncomfortably heavy, don’t you think?” Said another one. “We should lighten his load a little.”
“That is a fine idea,” Said a
third one. “That ought to be reward
enough for his good deed.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were
you,” Hutch said coldly.
“Oh, and why not?” Said the first man.
Hutch pulled his magnum. “I’m a cop.
That’s why. If I were you, I’d
back off while I’m giving you the chance.”
“A cop, huh?” said the second
man. “What about the chick? She a cop too?”
“You leave her out of this,”
Hutch said malevolently.
“I don’t think so,” said a
fourth man, cracking his knuckles and leering at the attractive blonde woman at
Hutch’s side. “I think we could have
some fun with her, don’t you boys?”
Hutch pulled Smokey closer to
him and cocked his gun. “Touch her and
I put a bullet through that thick skull of yours.”
“I don’t think so,” said the
man that had been on the ground as he pulled a small handgun out of his belt
and fired one shot.
Hutch felt the burning pain
as the bullet entered his back. He
heard Smokey scream as his legs began to give way and the darkness closed
in. She eased him to the ground
carefully and then reached for his gun…only to have it kicked out of her reach
by one of the larger thugs. She stroked
Hutch’s hair once before standing up and glaring defiantly at the five men now
converging on her.
She felt a hand on her
shoulder from behind. She reached up,
grabbed the hand and twisted it around until the owner of said hand was yelling
and swearing and unable to do much more than that. She applied a little more pressure and his arm was permanently
dislocated. He quickly backed off as
another man advanced. She grabbed him
by his arm and, with what appeared to be only a gentle pull, used his own
momentum against him to send him flying headfirst into the nearest brick wall. He fell to the ground like a lead balloon.
Suddenly, one of the three
remaining thugs grabbed both of her arms from behind. Another man advanced on her with a leer. She let him get right up into her face
before bringing her knee up hard between his legs. He went down and immediately curled into the fetal position,
moaning in pain. Not wanting to waste
the momentum of her leg, she brought her foot back and down on her captor’s
kneecap as hard as she could. There was
a sickening crack and the man abruptly let go as he fell.
The men that were still able
to move quickly ran out of the alley.
The others limped out and the one that hit the brick wall still lay
unmoving. Unfortunately, Hutch was also
unmoving.
Smokey knelt down beside
Hutch and felt for a pulse. It was
there – still fairly strong, but she knew it wouldn’t stay that way. She also noticed he was starting to have
trouble breathing. As much as she
wanted to stay with him, she knew she had to get help. Sparing a quick look at the other man on the
ground to make sure he wouldn’t be trouble (and picking up Hutch’s gun so he
couldn’t use it against Hutch should he come to first), she ran as fast as she
could back to Metro, covering the two blocks in record time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky was walking through
the lobby of Metro, heading towards the parking garage on his way out for lunch
when he spotted Smokey running towards him with panic written on every feature
of her face.
“Smokey? What’s wrong? Are you okay? Where’s
Hutch?”
Smokey stood there panting
from exertion as she held Hutch’s gun out to Starsky. After a moment, she said, “We were attacked. Guy shot Hutch…in an alley…couple o’ blocks
from here…need an ambulance now!”
Starsky turned towards the
officer at the front desk and told him to call an ambulance and get a crime lab
out to the alley as specified by Smokey.
Then the two worried friends ran back to the alley.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
As they got to the alley, the
guy that Smokey had knocked out was just starting to come to. Starsky wasted no time in getting him
handcuffed before he was coherent enough to get away. After the thug was handcuffed to a nearby fire escape, Starsky
turned his attention to his fallen partner.
Smokey was sitting on the
ground with Hutch in her lap. She had
taken her blouse off (thanking God that she had gone for the ‘layered look’
that day) and was applying pressure to the bleeding wound in his back. She looked up into Starsky’s eyes and saw
fear in the violet-blue depths – a fear she knew was mirrored in her own green
eyes. Hutch’s breathing was getting
more ragged by the second and she realized the bullet must have nicked his
lung.
“Where the hell is that
ambulance?” she said worriedly. She sat
with Hutch’s head in her lap, stroking his blond hair and occasionally feeling
to see if the pulse was still strong.
It was weakening.
“I’ll go watch for it,”
Starsky said, unwilling to leave his partner, but unable to tell Smokey to let
go. With a quick look at his partner’s
pale face he went out to the street to wait for the paramedics.
Smokey leaned down and kissed
Hutch on the forehead, “You just hang on, Lover. Don’t you leave me like this!
I love you! Please…I need you.”
She whispered to the unconscious man in her arms.
Finally, after what seemed
like hours (but was, in reality, only a few minutes) the paramedics came
running into the alley. Reluctantly,
Smokey allowed Starsky to pull her off of his partner so the medics could work.
As Smokey watched the
paramedics work, she felt Starsky come up behind her and put his hands on her
shoulders. She leaned into him and
closed her eyes. After a minute, she
took a deep breath and straightened up.
By that time, Hutch was being loaded into the ambulance. Starsky and Smokey looked at each
other. Smokey wanted to ride in with
her lover, but she knew that Starsky was the one that needed to be in the
ambulance – both for his sake and Hutch’s.
She smiled gently and said,
“Go. I’ll meet you guys there.”
Starsky spared her a brief
look of gratitude as he followed the stretcher out to the ambulance. Smokey watched the ambulance pull out before
running back to Metro to pick up her car.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky and Smokey paced the
small waiting room as they waited for news on Hutch. Finally, after about an hour of pacing, they finally collided.
“Sorry,” Starsky
mumbled. “Guess I should watch where
I’m goin’, huh?”
“It’s alright,” she answered softly. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”
“Tell that to Hutch. He’s mad at me and I deserve it. I got all defensive on him about last
night. I didn’t even get a chance to
apologize. I mean I tried at first, but
he was still mad and I got all high ‘n mighty on him and made the situation
worse! What if he dies? He can’t die mad at me! I couldn’t live with that.”
“Starsky,” Smokey said
gently. “You couldn’t live without him
whether he was mad at you or not. If it
helps though, he wasn’t really angry.
He was just embarrassed about you catching us like that. He was gonna apologize after lunch.”
Starsky allowed himself to
smile at her. “Thanks,” he said
quietly.
“Hey, what are friends for?”
She asked, smiling softly at him.
He took the opportunity to
pull her into a comforting hug - not knowing for sure if he was giving comfort
or getting it. Although, if he had to
be perfectly honest, at that point it didn’t really matter all that much to
him.
They were still hugging when Captain
Harold Dobey walked into the waiting room.
“How’s he doing?” he asked as
Starsky pulled away to look at him.
“We haven’t heard anythin’
yet.” Starsky said with an air of defeat.
“Don’t worry, Hutch is
strong,” Dobey said as he laid a comforting hand on the worried detective’s
shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“I hope you’re right,”
Starsky said. “What about that guy in
the alley? You get anything from him?”
“You mean Tony ‘Nails’
Doyle? The guy’s got a rap sheet as
long as your arm. He’s well known in
the gang community and isn’t saying a word.”
“He ain’t, huh?” Starsky said
with a dangerous flash in his eyes.
“Let me have a word with him. I
think he’ll change his mind.”
“Starsky,” Dobey said in a
low, warning tone of voice.
“Forget Starsky,” Smokey said
venomously. “Let me have ten minutes
with him!”
Starsky looked at her in
shocked admiration, “I never figured you for having a vengeful streak!”
“You know the saying – ‘Hell
hath no fury…’” She said with a shrug.
“I thought the saying was
‘Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.’” Dobey said.
“There’s also a little known
version which says – ‘Hell hath no fury’ as a woman whose man has just been
messed with.”
Starsky grinned at her,
“That’s my girl!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Huggy, you gotta help me
find those other guys,” Starsky was saying to the spindly black man that had
just joined them in the waiting room.
“Smokey is a black belt and she did some damage, so you might wanna
start with the doctors who don’t ask too many questions. The guy we caught was Tony ‘Nails’
Doyle. The guys you’re lookin’ for
would hang out with him.”
“Black belt, huh?” Huggy
said, suitably impressed. “That
explains how Nails got himself caught.
Can’t imagine what it’s gonna do to his rep to be taken down by a girl!”
Smokey grinned, “Yeah, I can
take care of myself.”
“I’ll say!” Huggy said. “Alright Starsky. There’re a couple o’ docs that work on anyone with a bit o’ cash
- no questions asked. I’ll check up with
them and see if they got anyone recently beaten up by a chick.”
“Like they’d admit it,”
Starsky said with a snort.
“Don’t worry, Starsky. Leave it to the Bear. I’ll find ‘em.”
“Thanks,” Starsky said. He opened his mouth to say something else
when the doctor walked into the room.
“Are you here for Ken
Hutchinson?” the doctor asked Starsky.
“Yeah, I’m his partner,
Doc. How is he?”
“Extremely lucky.” The doctor
said with a smile. “The bullet just
nicked his lung, and we were able to repair the damage. Apart from some minor muscle damage in his
back where the bullet entered, there was no other injury. He’ll be on a respirator for a few days
while his lung heals and we’ll keep him in ICU as a precaution, but he should
be fine.”
Starsky closed his eyes in
relief and suddenly found himself being hugged by Smokey. He hugged her back and looked at the doctor
with shining eyes.
“Thanks Doc! When can we see him?”
“They’ll be moving him out of
recovery in a couple of hours. When
they get him settled into a room, you can go up and see him.”
Starsky grabbed the doctor’s
hand and started shaking it vigorously.
“Thanks Doc! Thanks a lot!”
“My pleasure,” the doctor
said with a laugh. “All I ask is that
you return my hand in the condition it was in when you grabbed it…I am a
surgeon after all.”
Starsky looked at him
curiously for an instant before realizing that he was still shaking the
doctor’s hand. He grinned sheepishly as
he released the abused right hand of his partner’s savior. The doctor smiled back at him and then
excused himself.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky entered the
interrogation room (hey, he had a couple of hours to kill before they were
gonna let him see Hutch…) to see Tony ‘Nails’ Doyle sitting sullenly at the
small table. The two men looked at each
other - both with hatred in their eyes.
“Okay Doyle,” Starsky said
quietly. “You gonna roll your buddies
or what?”
Doyle didn’t say anything.
“I hear you guys got the shit
beaten out of you by a girl. That’s
gotta hurt.” Starsky said with a tight
smile. “You wanna be the only one of
your gang to have that officially in your record? Because you know the other guys ain’t gonna admit to it.”
“Nice try, pig. I ain’t sayin’ nothin’.”
“Well, let me explain
somethin’ to ya,” Starsky said as he leaned forward on the table, getting into
the other man’s face. “One of you guys
shot my partner. Shootin’ a cop don’t
make you any friends here and you sure as hell ain’t getting bail. It’s especially bad because the cop you shot
was my partner. You don’t want to see
me when someone hurts my partner. I
forget to be nice when someone shoots my partner. Now, if you want to face that alone, that’s up to you, but I’d recommend
you give me you’re buddies’ names or I can make your life very difficult.”
“Still ain’t talkin’. You might as well save your breath. I don’t give a damn about you or your
partner. I’m just sorry he ain’t dead.”
Starsky jumped at him like a
lion going for a zebra. He grabbed the
man by the lapels of his shirt and shoved him against the wall.
“You better be sorry for
yourself,” Starsky hissed at him.
“Because from now on, your ass is mine…and I intend to kick it from here
to New York.”
“STARSKY!” Dobey’s voice
thundered from the door of the interrogation room where he came in to stop his
detective from doing anything to end his career.
Starsky brought his fist back
and punched the wall just to the right of Doyle’s head. He was gratified to see ‘Nails’ flinch.
“Think about it,” Starsky
said, his voice low and dangerous. “He
won’t always be watching us.”
“That’s enough Starsky.”
Dobey said. “You should get back to the
hospital to see that partner of yours.”
Starsky glared at Doyle for
another minute before giving him one last shove into the wall and walking out
of the room.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Smokey entered the quiet
hospital room and gazed fondly at the form lying still in the bed. She walked over and took his hand – careful
not to dislodge the I.V.
“Hey Lover,” she said
quietly. “You missed a helluva
fight. You shoulda seen it! I kicked their asses but good!”
Hutch refrained from
congratulating her.
“They got one of them in
custody, but the rest of them ran like rabbits as soon as they got the
chance.” She grinned. “Starsky went to have a word with the one
guy. It was the one I tossed into the
brick wall. Being a black-belt has its
advantages!”
She sat down next to the bed
and gently stroked the soft blond hair.
“The one thing that would make this a great day would be if you could
wake up and tell me I done good.”
Hutch decided she would just
have to settle for a good day – not great just yet.
“That’s okay, when you’re
ready.” She said softly as she leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead. “I guess with the respirator down your
throat, it’s probably a good thing you aren’t awake. I’ve heard they’re a bear when you’re conscious.”
“That’s why we’re keeping him
sedated,” came a voice from behind her.
Smokey turned to see a
dark-haired man in a white coat standing in the doorway.
“I’m Dr. Roger Day. I’m the attending physician on his
case. When we use a respirator, we
generally keep the patient sedated – at least a little bit – so they aren’t
fighting the tube down their throat.
We’ll ease up on it the closer we get to taking him off the ventilator.”
“Oh.” Smokey said, not really
knowing what else to say. “How’s he
doing so far?”
“Pretty well, all things
considered. He’ll be on the respirator
for another couple of days at least; so don’t expect him to be too coherent
very soon. I’d say if all goes well, he
should be out of here in a couple of weeks.”
Smokey stood up and shook the
doctor’s hand gratefully. “Thank you so
much, Doctor. I don’t know what I would
have done without him.”
The doctor smiled,
“Anytime. Now if you wouldn’t mind
stepping out for a minute while I give him a quick once-over and then you can
have him back.”
Smokey grinned at him, turned
and kissed Hutch on the forehead again and stepped into the hallway.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky walked through the
corridors of the hospital. He looked up
as he neared Hutch’s room to see Smokey holding up a wall.
“Hey Kiddo, what’s goin’ on?”
Smokey straightened up from
where she was leaning against the wall and smiled. “The doctor’s in with him now.
Nothing’s changed since you left.”
“Oh.”
“How’d it go with that
creep? He tell you anything?”
Starsky shook his head
disgustedly. “Nah, he knows I can’t
really do nothin’ to him or he’d get off on a mistrial. He’s been arrested before, he knows the
system.”
“Maybe you should let me have
a few minutes with him,” Smokey said mischievously. “Pippa has a vet’s appointment day after tomorrow. I could bring her by to say hello and
‘accidentally’ let go of her leash in the general vicinity of an interrogation
room…”
An evil grin made its way to
Starsky’s face. “You are wicked! I love it!”
“So should I?”
“If Dobey asks, it wasn’t
intentional. If he suspects, then I
said ‘no’. Unofficially though, I say
go for it!”
Smokey returned the evil grin
tooth for tooth. “You’ve just earned
yourself a free lunch, Detective Starsky!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Several hours later, Starsky
was heading out to his car when he heard the radio, “Zebra-3, how do you read?”
He ran to pick up the
handset, “Zebra-3 here, go.”
“Zebra-3 meet Huggy Bear at
the Pits,” the dispatcher said in that curious monotone that all dispatchers
seemed to have.
“Roger that, Dispatch. Zebra-3 clear.”
He started his car and aimed
it for Huggy Bear’s establishment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
“Starsky! How’s your other half doing?”
“He’s gonna be okay, Hug.”
Starsky said with yet another silent prayer of gratitude. “Whatcha got for me?”
“Doc Bevis said he treated a
few guys who had gotten themselves worked over. One of them had a dislocated shoulder, another one’ll be walkin’
funny for a while if you know what I mean and the third got a broken knee.”
Starsky nodded, “That sounds
like Smokey’s work. Who are these
guys?”
“He only knew their street
names. The shoulder guy is ‘Romeo’, the
broken knee is ‘Leather’ and the new soprano is ‘Bear’.”
“That ain’t much to go on,
but it’s better than what I got now – which is nothin’ but a creep who ain’t
talkin’ – yet.”
“I know that look, Starsky.”
Huggy said with a gleam in his dark eyes.
“You gonna tell the Bear what you got planned?”
Starsky shook his head. “Nope.
I’ll say 2 words and you can figure it out yourself.”
“What 2 words?”
“Lady and Tiger.” Starsky
grinned.
A slow grin made its way
across Huggy’s gaunt face. “I think I
know what you’re plannin’ m’man. I like
it.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Two days later, Starsky got
‘Nails’ Doyle back into an interrogation room…leaving the door not quite
closed.
“Okay, Doyle,” Starsky said
in his ‘I’m-trying-very-hard-to-be-patient-with-you’ voice. “We know three of your friends are Romeo,
Leather and Bear. You wanna tell me
their real names? Or do I put the word
out on the streets that you got your ass kicked by a 5’6”, 125-pound woman?”
“Everyone knows cops’ll lie
to get what they want. Who’ll believe
you?”
“It ain’t a matter of them
believing me,” Starsky said. “I’ll just
plant the idea…they’ll say they don’t believe it, but the doubt’ll be there.”
“That don’t scare me, cop.”
“What will scare you then?”
Starsky asked in a low voice.
Just then, there was a scream
from somewhere on the other side of the door.
Doyle jumped at the unexpected sound and Starsky tried to look surprised
– not very successfully if you want to get technical about it.
Just then, something nudged
the door open and there was a low growl as a full-grown Bengal tiger walked
into the room. She rubbed herself
affectionately against Starsky – who deliberately didn’t touch her leash – before
walking over to growl at Doyle.
Doyle’s eyes widened in
surprised terror. He began backing
toward the wall until the large cat cornered him. Pippa did her best ‘circus roar’ and the tough gang leader shrank
back even further into the wall.
“Call it off man! Get it away from me!”
“Me?” Starsky said
innocently. “What control would I have
over a tiger? You see a whip in my
hand?”
“You got a gun, man! Shoot it!”
“That’s an endangered
species!” the dark-haired cop replied indignantly. “I ain’t goin’ to jail because you were scared of a pussy cat!”
Pippa roared again and Doyle shrank back into his corner. Starsky walked forward and stroked Pippa
behind the ears. Then he knelt down
beside the big cat.
“Hey Pippa, this is the guy
that shot Hutch. I know how you feel
when someone hurts someone you care about.
It makes you just wanna bite his head off, don’t it?”
Pippa roared her agreement.
“Hey man! Call the cat off! I didn’t shoot the cop! I
swear it wasn’t me! Call it off!”
“IT is a she,” Starsky said
angrily. “So if you didn’t shoot Hutch,
who did?”
“It was Romeo!” Doyle
practically sobbed as Pippa advanced again.
“What’s his real name?”
“Mike Owens!”
“Who’s Leather?”
“Eric Newcastle!”
“Bear?”
“Barry Daugherty!”
“What about the other guy
that bolted?”
“Mike’s kid brother Andy!”
“And where can we find them?”
“The Red Zone! They hang out at the Red Zone – you know,
that club on Main Street!”
“Thank you so much!” Starsky
said with a smile. Then he picked up
Pippa’s leash and walked over to call out the open door, “Smokey, you lose
something?”
Doyle looked up as a very
familiar blonde head stuck itself into the room. “Oh THERE she is! I
couldn’t imagine where she had gotten to when she got away from me.” She was trying very hard not to laugh when
she looked at the tough gang leader huddled in the corner of the room. “Hello!
Long time no see! I hope my
little kitty didn’t scare you too badly.”
“That ain’t no LITTLE kitty,
lady!” Doyle called from the corner.
“Would you just get it out of here?”
Smokey shrugged and Starsky
draped an arm over her shoulders as he walked her out. He called to one of the other officers to
return Doyle to his cell and then escorted Smokey and Pippa out to her car.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they got out to the car,
Starsky doubled over laughing. “Oh
man! You should have seen it! He caved so fast you wouldn’t believe it!”
Smokey knelt down and put her
arms around Pippa’s neck. “That’s my
good girl!”
Starsky just grinned.
“You’re not going to get into
trouble for this, are you?” she asked as she stood up.
Starsky shook his curly
head. “Nah. Dobey’s out of the office in meetings all day and the others have
agreed to keep their mouths shut. Oh,
by the way – I had to promise one of them a family membership to the zoo. Apparently his kids have been buggin’ him
and he saw this as a good opportunity.”
“Did you get the information
that you needed?”
“Got their names and where
they hang out!”
“Then you can have your
family membership on the house.”
Starsky grinned his
gratitude. “Soon as I finish here, I’m
headin’ up to see Hutch. What about
you?”
She shrugged. “I’ve still got to get her in for her
appointment and then I have a zoo trustees’ meeting. I won’t be able to get up there until around dinner time at
least.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
Starsky said as he opened the car door for her. “And thanks again.”
“I want those bastards as
much as you do. Anything I can do to
help, you just ask.”
“Better believe I will! See you tonight.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Starsky
stopped by Metro to finish some paperwork that fell by the wayside when Hutch
was injured. He had just sat down when
Dobey’s voice bellowed from the inner office.
“Starsky, in here NOW!”
Starsky sighed, stood up and
headed for his Captain’s office.
“You wanted to see me Cap’n?”
“I just got a curious call
from Doyle’s attorney. He said you used
a tiger to interrogate his client. Now,
surely there’s no truth to that.”
Dobey’s tone was positively ingratiating, but Starsky could tell he
meant business.
“Well, Smokey brought her by
to say hello on the way to the vet’s. I
guess she just slipped out of her leash.”
“And she just happened to
find her way into the very interrogation room where you had Tony Doyle,
right? Completely unintentional,
right?”
“Absolutely,” Starsky said
emphatically.
“You realize you can’t use
what you got from him in court.” Dobey said.
“Don’t need to.” Starsky said
with a shrug. “I got the names of the
others involved and Smokey can make the ID’s in a line-up.”
“I see,” Dobey said
thoughtfully. “I trust there will be no
more ‘accidents’ with that cat in my station?”
“No more. Smokey said she felt real bad ‘bout scaring
the guy and she won’t be bringin’ ‘er back to Metro.”
Dobey grunted his
approval. He looked at Starsky with a
twinkle in his eye and Starsky knew Dobey was just as amused at the
interrogation ‘tool’ as Starsky was.
“Consider yourself reprimanded.
Just a verbal warning since it was an accident and I have your
word that it won’t happen again. I want
a report of the ‘accidental’ release of the tiger written and on my desk in
triplicate within the next hour. You do
that and I’ll deal with the attorney myself.”
“Thanks Cap’n.”
“Oh, and off the record…it
was a brilliant idea.” Dobey said with
a sly smile. “Now get the hell out of
my office!”
Starsky grinned at his
Captain before heading out to his typewriter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Starsky walked into his
partner’s room to the beautiful sight of a pair of ice-blue eyes looking at
him. Starsky walked over to Hutch’s bed
and immediately took his hand.
“Hey partner,” he said
affectionately. “Welcome back to the
land of the living.”
Hutch, still on the
respirator, could only squeeze his partner’s hand in acknowledgement.
“Got the names of the other
guys that did this to you.”
The blond’s eyebrows rose
slightly.
“Yeah, you shoulda seen how
fast he caved! Smokey sort of
accidentally on purpose released Pippa into the interrogation room. The jerk was singin’ like a canary in less
than five minutes!”
The smile made its way into the blond man’s eyes. Then those eyes began to close again. Starsky could tell that his partner was fighting sleep.
“They still got you sedated,
don’t they?”
Slight nod.
“Okay Blintz. You just go to sleep. I’ll sit with you a while, okay?”
Hutch squeezed Starsky’s hand
one more time and let his eyes drift shut.
Starsky sat there for a very long time with Hutch’s hand in his, just
watching him sleep – feeling deeply grateful that his partner was only sleeping
and not anything more permanent.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Red Zone nightclub was
dark and smoky when Starsky entered with several other officers. He stood there for a moment waiting for his
eyes to adjust to the darkness. After a
minute, he motioned the other officers to start covering exits and he started looking
around.
Mike Owens adjusted the sling
on his arm and looked up from where he was tossing darts – not very well as he
wasn’t normally left-handed – to see several uniformed police officers cutting
off the exits. He nudged his friends
one by one and pointed out the escape of their escape routes. That’s when Starsky saw them.
He drew his gun and
approached. “Okay, Romeo, Leather and
Bear. Where’s little Andy?”
A sudden movement from behind distracted him and he turned just in time to ward
off a blow from a cue stick. He grabbed
the stick and twisted it out of Andy Owens’ hands. He then dodged a fist and managed to cold-cock Andy with one
punch under the chin.
“Hey, that’s my little
brother!” Mike Owens shouted as he started to move towards Starsky.
Starsky turned and pointed
his gun at the advancing gang member. “Give
me an excuse asshole! You shot my
partner. Please give me an
excuse!”
Owens stopped advancing and put his good hand in the air. The other officers quickly surrounded the gang members and very quickly, they were apprehended and removed from the club.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Three days later, Hutch, now
off the respirator, was sitting up in bed when Smokey entered the room.
“Hey lover, how’re you
doing?”
“I’ve been better. But I’ve also been much worse, so I guess
I’m doing okay.”
She sat down on the edge of
the bed and leaned in to hug him. He
held her tightly for a moment before using his hand to tilt her chin up so that
he could kiss her gently. She sighed
into the kiss and he took the opportunity to deepen it.
After a few minutes, when
they parted for air, she pushed his roving hands away from the buttons on her
blouse. “What are you nuts? This is a hospital!”
“And I thought you were the
adventurous one,” Hutch said in a mock-wounded tone. “It gets awfully lonely here.”
“I refuse to have this
discussion. You aren’t up for this
yet.”
“Better believe I’m ‘up’ for
it!” Hutch said as he pulled her in for another kiss while at the same time
moving her hand to a position to feel exactly how ‘up’ for it he in fact,
was.
She tried one more time to
pull back, but he wasn’t going to allow it.
Finally, with a sigh of surrender, she allowed herself to caress him
more firmly. He moaned his approval and
was about to start on her blouse again when a voice from the door startled them
both.
“For cryin’ out loud! You two are worse than rabbits!” Starsky’s voice was filled with an amused
annoyance. “This is a hospital! Smokey, you should know better and Hutch –
honestly!”
“Nice to see you too,
Starsk.” Hutch said with an irritated look.
Smokey leapt off the bed and
moved quickly to the chair across the room.
“Uh…Starsky. How’s it goin’?”
“Not as good as it was
obviously goin’ for you.”
“Hutch, I’ve got to get home
to feed Pippa. You want me to bring you
anything when I come back?” Smokey asked as she plotted her escape route.
“Just you,” Hutch said with a
grin.
Smokey returned the grin and
went over to quickly kiss him goodbye.
Then, on her way out, she ‘accidentally’ hit Starsky in the ribs. Starsky doubled over slightly before
recovering and giving her a good-natured glare as the door closed behind her.
Hutch turned to look at his
partner. “How’d the hearing go?”
“All five of them pleaded
guilty,” Starsky said with a smug smile.
“When they realized that Smokey could identify them, the rolled really
quick.”
“You know, I had always heard
that gangs around town would rather take down their witnesses than cop a plea.”
Starsky shrugged. “I guess they didn’t wanna take on that
spitfire you call a girlfriend again.
She kicked their asses pretty good the first time she took them on. I guess they figured she’d do it again. ‘Sides, when Doyle told them about Pippa,
they decided that jail would be less dangerous.”
Hutch grinned. “She is something else, isn’t she?”
“You are one lucky
son-of-a-bitch. You know that?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So when you gonna marry
her?”
“Starsk?”
“Oh come on! You love her an’ she loves you, right?”
“Yeah…” Hutch said with just
the slightest hesitation.
“So marry the girl
already. I know you’re a little gun-shy
after Van, but Hutch, Smokey ain’t Vanessa and she ain’t likely to ever become
her neither.”
“You’re right there,” Hutch
agreed fervently. “She’ll never be like
Van. That much I think I can be sure
of.”
“So what’s the problem? I know if you asked, she’d say yes. So ask!”
Hutch sighed. “I’ll think about it, okay Starsk?”
“Well, don’t take too
long. I ain’t been anyone’s best man in
a long time.”
“What makes you so sure I
would ask you?”
“What makes you so sure you
wouldn’t? Hutch, you’re avoidin’ the
issue.” Starsky said quietly. “You
gonna ask her or not?”
Hutch sat back and closed his
eyes for a minute. Finally, he took a
deep breath and looked at his partner.
“Yeah, Starsk. I might just ask
her at that.”
Starsky grinned.
End.