Man With a Mission

When the doctors put Hutch and me in quarantine together, we did some joking around—about the stupid yellow gowns, the bad food, the vampire nurses who kept taking our blood. We weren’t being flippant about it; I mean, we hadn’t forgotten about Jake. But the jokes kept us sane, kept the fear at bay. The two of us together, same as always.

And shit, we thought we were in the clear, thought we’d dodged a bullet. It’s business as normal, until we get called back to the hospital.

How the hell do you dodge a bullet you can’t even see? How the fucking hell do you beat something when you don’t even know what you’re up against? This damned mystery bug, now it’s coming for Hutch. There’s nothing normal about the situation now.

“We have to find an antitoxin within two days,” Judith says.

“And if you don’t?” Hutch asks.

“We’ve been trying to synthesize a serum with everything we know. So far, we haven’t come up with anything,” is what she says.

What she means, is that Hutch will die.

This is bullshit. I know they’re trying their best, but this is unacceptable. There’s gotta be something—

“Callendar’s the key, right?” I say, and both Judith and Meredith confirm it. He’s the walking cure. I find him, they can save my partner.

Okay, then. I know what I have to do.

My gut twists as Hutch hands me his gun.

“I’m gonna find Callendar,” I promise him.

“Well, do it buddy, ‘cause I plan to be around for 148 years,” is what he says, but the look he gives me says a whole lot more.

Then he’s gone. They’re putting him in isolation, separating us. And I’ve got 48 hours to catch a man who’s very good at not getting caught.

There’s nothing to hold back the fear now.

* * * * *

“Set up an iso room for Officer Ken Hutchinson,” Dr. Meredith says, and my heart sinks. Fuck.

“Tell me straight, how much time have I got?” I ask, steeling myself for the worst.

“About 48 hours before the symptoms appear.”

Well. Yeah, that’s about the worst, all right.

The symptoms, they aren’t pretty. This disease literally eats you up inside. And seeing as how the medical team hasn’t made any headway on a serum yet, odds are I’m going to end up like Jake and the perp we caught. It won’t just be me, either. Who knows how many people are already sick, or are going to catch it. Without a cure, they are all going to die too.

“Callendar’s the key, right?” Starsky says suddenly.

“Yes,” Judith replies. “His blood is producing antibodies right now. A serum from it would cut through all of our experiments and lab work.”

“If I get Callendar, you can save Hutch,” Starsky says. When the doctors don’t answer him right away, he demands, “That’s what I’m asking. Straight out, yes or no?”

I know that look on my partner’s face. Intense, focused. A man with a mission.

Judith says yes, but Meredith is a little more circumspect.

“If Callendar’s still alive, he’s passed the crisis. He is the walking cure.”

The cure, yes, but not necessarily for me. He makes no promises about saving me, because he can’t. I get it, there’s too many variables, and 48 hours is only an estimate anyway.

But Starsky doesn’t notice the distinction, or dismisses it. Like I said, he’s on a mission now.

“I’m gonna find Callendar,” he promises.

Maybe Meredith has to hedge his bets. Me, I’m putting all my chips on Starsky.

“Well, do it buddy, ‘cause I plan to be around for 148 years.”