Chapter Twenty

Hutch slowly regained consciousness during the flight. His hands were cuffed behind his back. He could feel the wetness of his
blood, soaking down his left side from his shoulder. Lying on the floor at the back of the jet he couldn't see much just hear the
voices; he thought they were the same ones at the airport but this time there was a third voice. He was thinking back to what he

was doing when he'd been shot, hoping now that Sonya has taken the call and may have heard the noises. 'But what if she
didn't take the call....... there'd be blood on the pay phone wall.'

The voices were getting nearer to him. One of them sounded very familiar, he'd heard the voice once before when he was ill
and needed his partner to find him. 'No, it can't be, that bastard isn't .. due for release yet.' Hutch was surprised to see Ray
Pardee looking down at him.

"Well, Hutchinson, we meet again, just like before." Pardee laughed, pleased at how helpless Hutch was.

Sloane was sitting in the seat in front of Hutch busily cleaning the gun and silencer. He'd enjoyed inflicting the same pain on the
detective that he himself had suffered years earlier.

Hutch tried to look around to see who else was there, wondering if Starsky was on the plane, too.

"My partner...... where is he?"

"Don't worry, you'll see your partner soon. Just like last time, you wanted your partner then, and you want him now. Only thing
is, now he can't help you." Pardee laughed again as he returned to his seat, leaving Hutch lying on the floor.

Hutch looked up again and saw Harris approaching him. He couldn't remember seeing Harris before until the huge man rolled
up his sleeves revealing the tattoos on his arms.

"Where's my partner?"

"Shut up" and Harris brought the first blow to Hutch's chin sending the detective's head sideways. Hutch slowly moved his head

back around so he could look at Harris.

"What've you done with him?" Hutch desperately needed to know if his partner was there on the plane with him. He just
wanted to see Starsky.

Harris met the comment with a swift kick to Hutch's stomach, causing the detective to gasp for air and curl up in agony.

"I said shut up, you'll see your partner soon"

Sonya couldn't stop thinking about the phone call Ken had made to her earlier that morning. While on a stopover, she decided
to phone the precinct and speak with him. It was making that call, that really had her wondering what was going on. Minnie
advised Sonya that Hutch hadn't been into the precinct that morning. 'That's unusual' She knew Hutch's routine was to always
head into the precinct first thing each morning with Starsky. But his partner was missing and now Hutch hadn't called in. She
was about to make her next call to Captain Dobey, when she looked at her watch and realized she didn't have time. The last
boarding call for her next flight had already been called. Reluctantly, she raced back to the plane, knowing she would have to
wait a few more hours to make the call.

Dobey and Agent Harbottle were still going through the files they had on Miller, making a list of all the addresses Miller owned.

Both of them were getting concerned with the time that had passed since anyone had last heard from Hutch. The address list
was growing longer when Minnie entered Dobey's office to let him know of Sonya's call.

"Well apparently, Hutch phoned Sonya and had her paged, but when Sonya got to the phone Hutch wasn't there.........." "I've
checked with the airline to have the call traced back to where it was made and it came from one of the payphones outside the
terminal."

Getting up from his chair, Dobey grabbed his keys.

"Come on Harbottle, I think its time we started to look further into Hutch's call."

                                        Chapter Twenty-One

The jet landed at the small runway, Miller's van was there ready to take the group back to the ranch. Hutch had not regained
consciousness after he had blacked out following Harris's attack. His limp body was pulled from the jet and dumped into the
back of the van, the blood still oozing from his shoulder.

Miller had made sure his workers were not near the house as the van arrived, everything had been timed perfectly. Slowly
Hutch was carried from the van and into the house. Miller smiled as he looked down at his latest guest.

"I see you have your revenge Sloane" Miller remarked seeing the gunshot wound in the shoulder.

"Take him upstairs, we'll wait until he comes round again"

Hutch was carried up into the attic by Harris and Pardee. Both men dumped Hutch onto the mattress beside his unconscious
partner. Matwick wanted to wait until Hutch had come too before he joined Miller in working on him.

"Release his handcuffs" ordered Matwick.

Pardee reluctantly released the handcuffs and the three men left the two unconscious detectives alone in the attic. As soon as
the door was shut and the lock turned, Hutch slowly moved so he could sit up. Looking over at his partner he could see
Starsky's badly bruised torso through the carpet of hair. Listening to his partner breathing, Hutch could hear the wheezing
sound coming with some of the breaths. The sight of the red liquid gathering in the bag was almost too much for Hutch to
handle, the nausea started to hit the back of his throat. Slowly Hutch got to his feet, the room started to spin as he rose to his
full height of 6ft 1. Standing against the wall helped for a few minutes till the spinning stopped and he slowly moved to the far
corner of the room and released the nausea building in him.

Dobey and Harbottle arrived at the airport and quickly found the phones at the far end of the terminal, the sight that met them
turned both men's stomachs. There was the dried blood splattered over the wall and the phone area.

"Control, this is Dobey. Send some units down here to the airport and the forensic team to seal off this area immediately" he
hoped the blood was not Hutch's but deep down knew it most likely was. Harbottle guarded the area while Dobey drove
round the parking lot and found Hutch's car at the other end of the terminal building, the parking ticket on it indicating that the
car had been there for a few hours.

"Starsk, can you hear me buddy" Hutch knelt next to his partner, trying to immoblize his own left arm. The bleeding had
stopped and he tried to keep his arm as still as possible. Hutch saw his partner slowly open his eyes and try to move.

"It's okay Buddy, I'm here, it's okay" Hutch looked round trying to find any pillows or blankets to help support his partner's
bruised body. There was nothing to use, all they had was the mattress.

"Hutch" Starsky was still trying to gather his breath longer to speak to his partner.

"Shssh Buddy, I know. I need to get you over on your side so you can breath better, do you think you can help me?" Starsky
nodded his head slightly. "Now buddy this may hurt like hell, but at least you should be able to breath easier."

"Okay."

Hutch moved round to his partner's side and carefully rolled his partner over to his right side. Starsky groaned as the pain
clawed at him again and Hutch hated hurting his partner, but knew if he could just ease him onto his side, the breathing would
be easier for him.

"Almost there buddy, just stay with me Starsk" moving his partner was harder than Hutch had expected but soon he had
finished moving his partner into the recovery position and the wheezing was easing.

"Hurts, Hutch."

"Good to hear you speak a bit easier buddy. Sorry I hurt you."

"Easier to breath" Starsky slowly began closing his eyes again.

"Stay with me buddy, stay with me."

"Not going anywhere" Starsky tried to smile but only managed to slightly smile.

The forensic team had finished their work at the airport scene and promised Dobey to have the results back in an hour. Deep
down Dobey knew it was his detective's blood he saw, he only hoped now his detectives were still alive.

                                        Chapter Twenty-Two

It seemed like hours since Hutch had been left in the attic. At least he was finally with his partner and to his relief Starsky was
breathing easier lying on his side.

"How are Allison and Sarah?" The thought of seeing his wife and daughter and of seeing Hutch again is the one thing that kept
Starsky going during his time of captivity.

"They're fine Starsk, just fine." Hutch did not want to upset his partner telling him how distraught Allison was when she'd heard
her husband was missing. Hutch watched as his partner closed his eyes once again and drifted off into unconsciousness. Hutch
heard the door open and slowly got to his feet as the four men approached him. Carefully, he stood between his partner and
the men trying to protect Starsky as best he could.

"What do you bastards want?" Hutch decided he had had enough and just wanted to get out of the hell hole they were in. Deep

down he knew it was a losing battle but he was determined to give as good as he got. Pardee and Harris approached Hutch
trying to grab the detective and secure him again.

Both men were surprised at the swift movement from the detective. Hutch delivered a blow to Pardee's jaw, sending the man
falling backwards and crashing into the table. Harris was too quick and strong for Hutch and quickly ducked away from the
blow swung at him. Hutch was knocked down to the ground by a series of swift blows from Harris, leaving him winded. Miller
stood watching the fight and smiled to himself.

Harris kept Hutch pinned to the ground as Pardee regained his balance. Hutch desperately tried to get out from underneath
Harris but he was well and truly pinned to the ground by Harris's weight. Looking over at his partner, he could only watch
helplessly as Miller placed a gag onto his partner and resecured his partner's hands behind his back after Matwick removed the

IV.

"Leave him alone" yelled Hutch trying desperately to break free from his captors. At least they have left you on your side,
buddy, so you can breath easier.

"Well, Hutchinson, as you want to give us a fight, we'll do you the same as we did your partner" Miller smiled.

"Oh Shit" Hutch thought. He tried harder to struggle. Pardee had secured Hutch's hands again with the cuffs and grabbed the
rag from Matwick to keep him quiet. He shoved the rag into Hutch's mouth just about choking the detective. All the men heard
now were muffled shouts coming from Hutch as he tried his best to wriggle free. Harris released his weight and quickly pulled
Hutch to his feet causing the shoulder injury to widen, the blood again flowing freely down Hutch's side. The pain intensified
more as Harris pulled Hutch's arms into the air and with the help of Pardee and Sloane lifted the detective off the floor and
secured his hands to the rafters. Hutch lost consciousness, his head dropping down to his chest.

"We'll leave him for a while, wait until he comes round again" smiled Miller.

The men left the attic and again secured the door behind them leaving the two partners helpless to give aid to one another if they

regained consciousness.

                                       Chapter Twenty-Three

Dobey and Harbottle awaited the findings of the forensic team. The news was just as Dobey had feared; the blood type was B
negative, the same as Hutch's. Since arriving back at the precinct they had both started working on all the files they had on
Miller, this time looking for properties away from LA. The list was short, only half a dozen properties but all scattered over
different states.

"Harbottle, if we do find my boys are out of this State, how soon can you get a team together to reach them?"

"That depends on whereabouts they are, have you heard from your men regarding their inquiries at the airport on any private
flights that may have arrived or left around the time Detective Hutchinson disappeared?"

"The inquiries have so far turned up only flight plans logged for the commercial flights, there were a few training flights earlier
today and one private plane but no flight plan logged for that. The FAA are looking into that flight now, apparently the plane
was almost in a mid air collision after take off. The only thing we do know is that flight was headed west and was on a private
charter."

"I'll get my office to look into who chartered the flight, it's a long shot but I have a suspicion your detectives have been taken
out of state."

Sonya had finally managed to get to a phone again earlier that afternoon to try and contact Hutch again. Minnie asked Sonya to

hold the line while she transferred the call through to Captain Dobey.

"Captain Dobey, its Sonya. I can't contact Ken, where is he?" Sonya knew something was wrong by the delay in the reply and
the deep breath Dobey took before he spoke to her.

"Sonya, at the moment we don't know where Hutchinson is." Dobey wished he could have told her better news.

"I'm coming back on the first flight I can take, I am still trying to remember where I heard that voice before. The voice I heard
when I was waiting for Ken to speak to me, I heard voices in the background."

"Sonya, we're doing all we can to find Ken and his partner. Don't worry we'll find them."

Sonya gathered herself together again and with a few calls managed to change her roster so she was working on the next direct
flight back to LA. Edith Dobey had agreed with her husband to sit with Allison at the hospital and keep her company. Allison
was grateful for Edith's company as both women took turns at nursing little Sarah.

"She has her father's eyes" Allison commented looking down at the lovely blue eyes looking up at her.

"And her mother's looks" smiled Edith. "Harold and I have a room set aside for the two of you when you come out of the
hospital tomorrow." Allison had many hours to think about that offer. Her heart was shattered when she heard David was
missing and she did not want to return to their home without him.

"Thank you Edith, I don't want to go home without David. The last words I said to him as we left home were that the next time
we returned it would be as a family, the three of us. I won't go home unless I have him with me."