Cops and Robbers

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An undercover case sends Hutch into danger alone.

 

This is a story written for an auction and purchased by CC, whose enthusiastic response gave me the confidence to post it to the archive.

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“Let’s hope nothing too exciting happens today, huh?” Starsky said, stifling a yawn as he entered the police department. “I’m beat.”

“And whose fault is that?” Hutch replied with a smirk as he remembered what had kept them up late the night before. He held the swing door open and ushered his partner through, his hand brushing across the small of Starsky’s back as the other man passed him.

“Entirely yours,” came the mock-indignant response. Then Starsky lowered his voice to a breathless murmur, wary of the people milling about in the lobby. “How can I help it if your beautiful blond ass makes me horny?”

Hutch couldn’t suppress a grin on the way over to the stairs, before their progress was halted by a shout from behind them.

“Hutchinson, Starsky!”

The two detectives swiveled to spot the uniformed cop on the front desk gesturing them over.

“What’s up, Ed?” Starsky asked jovially as they approached, though he had to stifle another yawn.

“There’s a perp in lock-up who was brought in last night,” Ed told them. “Rawlins booked him, and he said to tell you the guy was asking to talk to you two.”

“This perp got a name?” Starsky wanted to know.

Hutch leaned over the desk as Ed pulled a file out from underneath it, intrigued to know who it was. As soon as the top sheet came into view, he read out the name for his partner’s benefit.

“Larry Constantine — hey, isn’t he that guy we busted for selling stolen goods a few months back?”

“Yeah, I remember him,” Starsky confirmed. “He got off lightly because it was a first offence and he claimed he didn’t know the stuff was stolen.” He turned back to Ed. “What’d he get done for this time?”

“Same thing,” Ed told them, then added with a wry smile, “Must be really unlucky to be passed stolen goods without knowing it twice!”

“And he promised us so faithfully that he’d be extra careful in future,” Hutch said with a roll of his eyes.

Ed grinned. “Shall I call ahead to lock-up and get them to move him to an interrogation room for you?”

“Yeah, thanks, Ed,” Starsky replied. “Might as well see what he wants, huh, partner?”

* * *

A few minutes later, the two detectives entered one of the interrogation rooms to find Larry Constantine seated at the small table inside.

Once the uniformed cop guarding him had left, Starsky put his hands on his hips and said wearily, “Larry, Larry, Larry. Getting caught with stolen goods once could be considered unfortunate, but twice is beginning to look like carelessness.”

Larry was a tall, wiry man, with a shock of dirty blond hair and circular, wire-rimmed glasses with frames that were slightly bent out of shape. He looked up at the partners sheepishly from behind them, and offered up a guilty smile.

“Well, you guys were so nice about it all last time, I thought I’d give you a hot tip,” he said.

“In exchange for…?” Hutch wasn’t about to believe a criminal would give them information purely out of a sense of civic duty.

“A reduced sentence, of course!” Larry exclaimed, then added hopefully, “or dismissal of the charges altogether if what I have to say is worth it.”

Starsky turned one of the spare chairs backwards and sat down, while Hutch leaned his long frame up against the wall.

“We’ll see about that,” Hutch temporised. “Why don’t you tell us what you know first, and then we’ll decide what it’s worth.”

Larry sighed dramatically. “Well, as you may have guessed by now, I do in fact have some connections in criminal circles.”

Starsky looked over his shoulder at Hutch with an expression of amusement at Larry’s pretension. Hutch hid a smile, focusing his attention on Larry and trying to look interested.

“Go on,” he encouraged.

“No doubt you’ve heard about the string of bank robberies that have taken place across California in the last few months?” Larry continued.

Hutch nodded. All the police departments in the state had been made aware of this gang of roving bank robbers, who had hit several banks in different cities and got away clean every time.

Larry smiled smugly. “I can tell you who’s behind them.”

Starsky immediately leaned forward. “Can you prove it?”

“Not as such, no,” Larry admitted, but rushed on as Starsky rolled his eyes in disgust, “but I can put your partner here inside the gang.”

Hutch moved away from the wall and took the last remaining chair at the table. He exchanged an intrigued glance with Starsky, noting his partner’s immediate concern at the fledgling idea.

“Explain,” Hutch said simply, really interested now.

“It’s like this,” Larry said. “My sister Madeleine hooked up with this guy about six months ago, and he’s the one who’s been masterminding the bank jobs. He’s got Maddy embroiled in it somehow and I want to get her away from him, but she won’t listen to me, so I need to attack the problem from a different angle.”

“That’s all well and good,” Starsky said, clearly getting bored with Larry’s preamble, “but how can you set Hutch up undercover — and why does it have to be Hutch anyway?”

Hutch knew Starsky hated them to be separated on undercover assignments, and he could see that being a potential problem if this turned out to be a viable operation, but he ignored it for the moment, intent upon Larry’s explanation.

“One of the other guys in the group had an accident last week and is going to be out of action for a while so they need a replacement. As it happens, my cousin Tony just got out of jail for assault and armed robbery down south and Maddy suggested they recruit him. Now, no offence, Detective Starsky, but I don’t think I could pass you off as a relative. Detective Hutchinson, on the other hand, might just about get by.”

Hutch immediately saw a snag in the plan. “If your sister won’t leave this guy on your say-so, how on earth is she going to agree to set him up to get caught?” he asked.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Larry grinned. “Maddy’s never met Tony — she was very young when he went to prison, so she has no idea what he looks like.”

Starsky was also evidently thinking carefully about possible pitfalls, as he followed up straight away with another question. “What’s to stop the real Tony suddenly turning up for a visit and blowing Hutch’s cover?”

“Believe it or not,” Larry said with a wry smile, “prison didn’t agree with him. He’s not going to risk going back by breaking his parole and skipping the state.”

“A reformed criminal?” Hutch queried. “Now that I do find difficult to believe!”

Starsky snorted, then laid his hands flat on the table and got up. “Okay Larry, we’ll think about it and get back to you.”

“But what about my deal?” Larry demanded, looking from one detective to the other desperately.

“We’ll see, Larry,” Hutch said firmly, then rose and followed his partner out of the room.

Starsky was waiting for him in the hallway, one foot flat against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

“What do you think?” Hutch asked him, though he had a fair idea of what the response would be.

“I don’t like it,” Starsky replied, confirming Hutch’s suspicions. “How do we know we can trust him? There are so many things that could go wrong with you pretending to be a family member. And you going undercover alone, without backup, is a really bad idea.”

“But it would be a chance to break the bank robbery case,” Hutch pointed out. “This gang has been getting away scot free for months. None of the PDs have any leads, and who knows when they’ll stop? Nobody at the banks has been hurt so far, but it’s only a matter of time. You know how these things can escalate.”

“All the more reason I don’t want you in the middle of it when that happens,” Starsky protested.

Hutch was determined to get his partner on side before they took the idea to Captain Dobey. “C’mon, Starsk,” he continued. “You can’t tell me you’d be reluctant if it was you going undercover. Besides, I won’t be alone — I’ll have you backing me up from the outside. We’ll set up some way of contacting each other and I’ll keep you informed every step of the way.”

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to see what the Captain has to say about it,” Starsky finally caved. “We might as well see how hard it would be to set up before we make a decision.”

* * *

Two days later, at 5am, Starsky lay on his back in bed, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. His partner and lover was sprawled across him, completely dead to the world, his weight a pleasant pressure on Starsky’s chest and legs. Starsky savored the feel of Hutch’s bare skin on his own, not knowing when they would next be together like this.

Dobey had approved their undercover plan and they had spent the next twenty-four hours making all the necessary arrangements for Hutch to accompany Larry Constantine as his cousin, Tony. Hutch was due to meet the ringleader of the gang that afternoon, which was why Starsky couldn’t sleep. He remembered what Hutch had said after their first conversation with Larry and realised his partner was right. If he had been the one going undercover, Starsky would most likely be sleeping like a baby, unconcerned by the events of the upcoming day. He had no problem with putting himself in danger, but he detested the idea of Hutch going undercover without him there to back him up. Their success as policemen was founded on the fact that they faced things together and, from past experience, Starsky knew that if anything went wrong, it was always worse if they were split up.

“Starsk…” came a sleepy murmur from somewhere below his right ear.

“Yeah?” he said softly back.

“Stop it.”

Starsky was confused. He hadn’t moved, he hadn’t made a sound — he wasn’t doing anything.

“I can hear you worrying,” Hutch explained, his voice still muffled by sleep. “Everything’s set up and it’ll all be fine. I’ll be fine — so stop it.”

As that, Starsky grinned and tightened his arm around Hutch’s shoulders in a brief embrace. “Okay, I’ve stopped,” he said truthfully, amused by his partner’s apparently psychic abilities. “Go back to sleep, babe. You need your rest.”

Hutch snuggled closer to him and admonished, “So do you.”

“Alright, already,” Starsky exclaimed. “I’m sleeping, I’m sleeping!”

“Are not,” cam the relentless response. “You’re talking to me.”

“Well, if you’d quit jabbering, and let me try…” Starsky teased back.

There were several minutes of silence before Hutch suddenly raised himself up on one elbow and looked down into Starsky’s eyes, which were still open.

“It’s no use,” the blond man complained. “I’m awake now! I’m going to miss out on a good hour’s sleep, and it’s all your fault.”

In the pre-dawn light that was filtering through the blinds, Starsky could see a mock glare marring Hutch’s handsome features.

He smirked, an idea rapidly forming in his mind. “I’m most terribly sorry, my dear fellow,” he said with exaggerated sincerity. “We can’t have you being grouchy later due to lack of sleep, now can we?” He put his index finger up to his cheek in a thoughtful pose. “Now, what could we do in an hour that might put you in a better mood?”

In response to the question, Hutch bared his teeth and then made to bite Starsky’s finger. Once he had it in his mouth, though, he started to suck it, moving his lips and tongue over the knuckles in a sensual manner.

“My, my,” Starsky commented. “You do catch on quickly, don’t you?”

* * *

Over breakfast, Hutch kept looking up from his toast to see Starsky smirking at him unashamedly. He tried to put on an air of bored indifference, but eventually cracked and demanded, “What?”

Starsky’s smirk broadened into the Cheshire Cat grin Hutch knew and loved so well, and he replied with untempered glee, “I was just thinking I’ll have to send you undercover without me more often if that’s the kind of farewell I’m gonna get!”

Hutch cursed inwardly as he felt traitorous heat suffusing his cheeks. His annoyance was only increased as Starsky immediately burst out laughing.

“After what you just instigated, I can’t believe how easy it still is to make you blush!” Starsky chuckled.

Hutch returned to perusing the newspaper with a superior sniff. “I’m trying to get into the mindset of a hardened bank robber here,” he complained, “and you’re not helping.”

Starsky just laughed all the harder.

* * *

All too soon, Starsky found himself behind the wheel of the Torino, driving Hutch to his rendezvous with Larry. The journey passed mostly in silence, with Starsky dwelling on the pitfalls of the operation and Hutch presumably thinking about the character he was to play. They had discussed it and decided Hutch should use one of his less flamboyant undercover personas. He wanted to blend into the group, not draw attention to himself unnecessarily. Besides, if Larry was anything to go by, members of the Constantine family were unlikely to be extroverts.

It wasn’t long before Starsky was turning the Torino into the parking lot of the specified diner. Peering through the window, he could see Larry seated in one of the booths, nursing a cup of coffee.

“See you, then,” Hutch said casually, reaching for the door handle.

“Good luck,” Starsky replied in a similarly offhand manner. Their nonchalance was well practised.

Then, Hutch’s familiar comforting presence was gone from Starsky’s side and suddenly Starsky wasn’t prepared to let him go without a proper goodbye.

“Hutch!” he called, and his partner’s blond head reappeared through the car window.

Their eyes locked and they exchanged a long, lingering glance for several moments.

Then Hutch smiled his angelic smile and said softly, “I’ll see you soon, Starsk,” before he turned resolutely away and made his way into the diner.

Starsky watched him go, with fear in his heart and love in his eyes.

* * *

That evening, Starsky sauntered through the door of Huggy Bear’s, trying to look as though he didn’t have a care in the world. The place wasn’t busy — it was too early for the usual crowd — and Starsky didn’t spot anyone he knew among the current patrons. He meandered over to the bar, where the owner stood, polishing a glass.

“Evening, Hug!” Starsky called, gaining the other man’s attention.

Huggy looked up with a knowing smile that told Starsky he saw right through the detective’s casual act.

“The blond half’s upstairs,” he said. “And you’d better get your butt on up there — he’s been waiting for you half an hour.”

Starsky would have been disappointed that his acting skills were apparently so transparent, but Huggy knew him too well to be fooled. Their friend and sometime snitch was well aware of his relationship with Hutch, regarding it with a protective affection.

“Thanks, Hug!” Starsky said and made his way quickly towards the stairs. He took them two at a time, eager to be reunited with Hutch after their day apart.

They had decided to use Huggy as a point of contact throughout the case, as it would be far easier for Hutch to leave messages with him than at the police department. Starsky had arrived at the bar, fearing he would find only that Hutch had left word of his activities, hardly daring that he might actually be there himself. As he now approached the door to Huggy’s upstairs room, Starsky suddenly thought back to when he had brought Hutch there after finding him wandering the streets, suffering from heroin withdrawal. It was not a time he liked to remember and it made him all the more eager to see his partner safe and well.

When he opened the door, Hutch turned from where he had obviously been pacing up and down, and the two men exchanged smiles of mutual greeting and relief. Starsky crossed the room in two short strides and took his lover in his arms, holding him tightly. Slightly startled, Hutch returned the embrace and, when Starsky finally pulled away, looked into the other man’s eyes with some concern.

“What was that for?” he asked, obviously surprised at Starsky’s show of emotion.

“Just remembering the last time we were here,” Starsky explained.

Hutch reached up and caressed his cheek, a bittersweet smile gracing his features.

“This place does bring back rather interesting memories, doesn’t it?”

Not wanting to dwell on the painful past, Starsky cocked his head towards the bed and smirked. “P’raps we could make some better memories for this room tonight.”

Hutch pushed him resolutely away and raised a warning finger in his face. “Work first, play later,” he admonished firmly, though the twinkle in his eye belied his stern manner.

Starsky grinned, but settled down obediently to hear what his partner had to say.

Hutch remained standing, knowing that a certain distance would have to be maintained if Starsky’s attention was to remain focused on the case. He leaned his long frame up against the far wall and ordered his thoughts. From across the room, Starsky waited for him to begin, looking extremely comfortable stretched out on the bed.

“There are three of them, plus the girl. The leader’s name is Gavin Jenson and he’s a real hard case. Very possessive of Larry’s sister — I can certainly see why Larry’s so upset about the situation.” Hutch had been looking at the floor while he spoke, but now he glanced back over at Starsky, only to find his partner openly leering at him. The man was hopeless. “Starsk! Stop it!” he admonished.

The leer was immediately replaced by an expression of studied innocence and Starsky protested, “What? I wasn’t doing anything!”

“It’s the way you’re looking at me,” Hutch complained. “How am I supposed to concentrate on telling you about the case when you look like you’re ready to rip my clothes off any second?” It was hard enough for him to keep his mind on work when Starsky was around at the best of times, and his partner’s horny behaviour was not helping one bit.

Starsky’s response was to pat the bed beside him and say, “Well, why don’t you come and sit over here? Then I won’t be able to distract you by looking at you, will I?”

The mock seriousness with which Starsky suggested this made Hutch smile and he made a great show of dragging himself reluctantly across the room to join his partner on the bed.

“Oh, all right,” he gave in. “But only so you can’t distract me any more, mind.”

He settled down next to Starsky, whose hand immediately found its way onto his knee.

Hutch resolutely carried on with his report. “The other two men are just there to do as they’re told. I don’t know where Jenson found them or what their history is, but they’re not the most independently-minded criminals on the planet. I guess that’s the way he likes it, though — the less brains they have, the less likely they are to doublecross him or mess up his plans.”

Starsky’s hand was steadily travelling up Hutch’s thigh as he spoke, until Hutch was forced to halt its progress by taking hold of it and moving it away from its goal.

“Starsk, are you even listening to me?” he asked.

“Of course!” Starsky replied, evidently horrified at the mere suggestion. “I’m multi-tasking — takes a lot of talent, you know.”

Hutch couldn’t help smiling again, though he was careful not to let his amusement show in his voice. Instead, he gave a heavy sigh and said in a long-suffering tone, “It’s just that I know exactly where this is leading.”

“So do I,” came Starsky’s incorrigible reply.

“No, I mean that you’ll just spend all day tomorrow complaining about how it’s my fault you’re so tired.”

“No complaining, scout’s honour,” Starsky promised, holding up his hand in the scout salute.

“Well, if you promise…” Hutch said, releasing Starsky’s hand once more. “But will you just let me finish telling you the important stuff first?”

He took Starsky’s motionless silence as assent and continued, “I don’t know when Jenson is planning the next robbery but I do know that it’ll be at the First National Bank on Ninth and Haversham. Maddy’s working there as a cashier and that’s how they get all their information. So, you and Dobey can set up a surveillance on the bank and be ready in case I can’t get word to you once I know when the job’s going down. You’ll need to be watching Maddy as well — she’s about five feet four, with long wavy brown hair. She can’t be more than eighteen and looks it, so I should think she’ll be easy enough to tell apart from the other women working at the bank.” When the silence stretched out with no movement from Starsky, Hutch gave an indignant huff and said, “Well, if you’re not going to continue your previous activities now I’ve finished, I’ll just have to take matters into my own hands.”

With that, he rolled over suddenly so that he was pinning Starsky to the bed, looking down into his partner’s blue eyes.

Starsky grinned. “I didn’t want to risk another tongue lashing if it turned out you had something more to say.”

“How about I use my tongue to do something else to you?” Hutch offered with a leer of his own.

* * *

The following day, Hutch was surprised to find himself inside the target bank, robbery in full flow. It amazed him that Jenson and his gang had not been caught already, if this was an indication of how much planning they put into their jobs. To accept a completely unknown new member into the gang and then carry out a robbery the very next day seemed like a big risk. Hutch just hoped that Starsky had had enough time to set up the surveillance of the bank.

The execution of the job itself was very simple. He and Jenson watched the employees and customers while the other two men collected the money. They wore the traditional balaclavas to hide their identities and worked to a strict time limit, supposedly to ensure that the cops wouldn’t have time to respond to any silent alarm that the employees might be able to reach without them knowing.

Of course, the fact that the cops already knew which bank was being targeted would hopefully ruin this plan. There was something else that was liable to ruin the smooth running of the robbery, though, and that was the attitude of the bank manager. Instead of cowering against the counters with the rest of the people in the bank, he was getting in Jenson’s face, much to Hutch’s dismay. He had been railing against the bank robbers ever since they set foot inside the building and Hutch could see Jenson’s already short temper getting very frayed around the edges.

He shifted closer to the manager, unsure how to diffuse the situation before it could get any worse.

“Hurry up, will you?” Jenson called to the two men who were collecting the money. “This guy is really starting to get on my nerves.”

“I’m getting on your nerves?” the manager replied with ill-advised indignation. “That’s rich, coming from a common thief! You come into my bank and start stealing my money, and I’m the one that’s annoying you?”

Hutch really wished the man would shut up. He didn’t seem to realise the danger he was in, baiting a man who was holding him at gun point. At that moment, Hutch saw police cars converging silently on the bank and decided this was what he needed to take Jenson’s attention away from the manager. The danger to the people in the bank was such that he knew he had to do something and he thought that if he could distract Jenson by pointing out what was going outside, he might be able to overpower him. He’d worry about the other two afterwards. He didn’t see them as a real threat, as they would be unlikely to think quickly enough to take charge once Jenson was out of the way.

“Look!” he cried, pretending to be surprised. “The cops are here. Now what are we going to do?”

Unfortunately, the bank manager remained completely oblivious to what Hutch was trying to do and exacerbated the situation. “Now you’re in trouble,” he crowed, smirking at Jenson. “You won’t get away with this with the police outside.”

“Maybe not,” Jenson replied. “But at least I can get some satisfaction out of shutting you up.”

Hutch saw his finger tightening on the trigger of his gun and his instincts took over. Unable to reach Jenson, he launched himself at the bank manager instead, shoving him out of the way just as Jenson fired. Fire burned its way into his body and he hit the floor of the lobby hard. He heard Jenson shout, “What the hell?” and then everything went black.

* * *

Outside, Starsky watched as a young frightened-looking girl appeared in the doorway of the bank, a gun clearly visible pressed against the side of her head. The disembodied voice of one of the bank robbers floated out to the surrounding policemen.

“We’re coming out! Let us get to our car and the girl won’t get hurt.”

Starsky took in the girl’s obvious youth and long wavy brown hair and spoke into his radio. “The hostage is not a hostage. She’s the inside member of the gang. I repeat, the hostage is one of the gang. If you have a shot on the leader, take it as soon as he comes out.”

Shoving Maddy in front of him, Jenson slowly emerged from the bank, two other members of his gang following hesitantly behind. They were still wearing their masks but, even from a distance, Starsky could tell neither of them was Hutch. He wondered where his partner could be, but was glad he wouldn’t be in the firing line for what was about to happen. He found himself holding his breath as the robbers made their way slowly down the steps in front of the bank. Just as they reached the bottom, there was a sharp crack and Jenson’s head suddenly snapped backwards. Maddy shrieked and dropped to her knees, her arms wrapped tightly around her head as the body of her lover fell to the concrete behind her.

The other two men stopped dead and immediately dropped their weapons, calling out fearfully for the policemen not to shoot them. Before the uniformed cops had finished securing the now compliant perps, Starsky broke from behind the car that had been sheltering him and started sprinting towards the bank.

As soon as he got through the doors, he scanned the lobby, noting the scared and confused-looking employees and customers, all still cowering round the edges of the room, uncertain as to what was happening outside. All thoughts of reassuring them fled, however, the moment Starsky spotted the dark-clad figure lying motionless on the marble floor.

Starsky flung himself down next to the fallen man, taking in the blood spreading out from beneath him. He reached out and carefully lifted the mask to reveal his lover’s pale features. A finger to the side of Hutch’s neck told him his partner was still alive, and the knowledge galvanised him back into action. Depressing the radio button, he called urgently, “Officer down, officer down! Get some paramedics in here right now!”

* * *

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” Starsky proclaimed as he paced up and down at the foot of Hutch’s hospital bed. “What did you think you were doing?”

Hutch fixed him with a steady gaze. “Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if it’d had been you in that bank.”

Starsky stopped pacing and moved to his partner’s side, looking down at him with love and concern in his eyes. “Well, of course I would,” he admitted. “It’s just that…”

“I know,” Hutch replied, taking hold of Starsky’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “This has all worked out rather well, though, if you think about it.”

“How do you figure that?” Starsky wanted to know.

Hutch grinned. “Just think how much energy you’ll have to tackle your double caseload, what with all the sleep you’ll be able to get while I’m laid up!”