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   Devil's Due
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    Page Two

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From: "Patti" <theaterhost@voyagerliveaction.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:08:06 -0800 (PST)
Subject:  [EmergencyTheaterLive] Complications


Johnny Gage bent close to the woman's face, holding her shoulders
to prevent their muzzy patient from trying to sit up. "Hey there. Can you
hear me? What's your name? Can you tell me that?"

The girl groaned wetly, closing her eyes, still coughing weakily.

Gage moved the O2 mask aside and cross scissored her mouth open,
using her teeth, looking for blood or any other fluid that might be there. He
accepted an active suction line that Roy shoved over to him with a foot but
Johnny soon found that it wasn't needed.

"Nothing's here Roy. Her airway's doing fine. Ma'am? Hey! Can you answer
me?" Johnny asked again, letting go of her mouth.  He dug several  
knuckles into her breastbone.

The girl immediately shoved his hand away with only her left arm and her face
screwed up at the painful rub. *choke* Ugghh.." and she took a deep breath
from the mask Starsky replaced back onto her face. "Aaaah..." she sobbed.
"My...hea..d-d.."

Johnny rocked back onto his heels. "I know. Easy. Just lie still. Can you tell me
what happened?"

" I...mmmgh.." and fright suddenly filled her dirt crusty eyes as the rest of the
woman's words faded into incoherency.

"Just try to relax. My name's Johnny Gage and I'm a Los Angeles County paramedic.
We're gonna take real good care of you, all right? Keep holding still until I can
check you out a little better. Tell me where your pain is besides your head. Can you
tell me that?"

The woman, looking groggy and heavily stunned, didn't reply, but tears leaked
out of the corner of one of her eyes as she finally tracked Johnny's.

"You're still waking up a bit. Don't be scared. Try and take as many deep full breaths
from this oxygen as you can, ok? It'll help you focus a little better." Gage suggested to
her as he rechecked the status of her pupils. "I'm just gonna take another look here
with a flashlight to see how you're doing. Just relax."

Hutch picked up the girl's cut away clothes and started searching for a wallet in
a jeans pocket. He found one. "I've got a name. Mary Malone. Age 22 from
14 North Crescent in Anaheim. The photo I've got here matches her in a
positive I.D. Starsky, California driver's license." he told the paramedics and
his partner. "There's also a student's pass here to the University down the block."

Gage nodded while Roy called Rampart Base on the biophone.

Image of drinkstrangerswine2.jpg Image of wallet.jpg Image of royclosephonebystandersengine.jpg

After a half minute or so of watching Mary take breaths under the mask,
Gage spoke again. "Mary. Talk to me now. Do you hurt anywhere else
besides your head?"

Johnny noticed that she was growing more and more agitated. Finally,
her lips opened and she let out a fully coherent sentence. But it wasn't
a reply to his insistent question. It was about something else entirely
different. "...Tob... He's... Toby?!" she started calling out. "Where  are  
y---!?"

"Toby? Who's Toby? Mary! Take it easy. Don't move around so much.
You're gonna hurt yourself!" Johnny grunted, keeping her shoulders pinned
and immobile while Hutch kept firm hands across her forehead and over
the dressing on top of the gaping wound ripped open on her temple.

"Mary..." Hutch started in, being closest. "Who's Toby? Easy hon. Just
answer the question without fighting us.."

"My...my son.  He took him.." she cried frantically. "Ohmyg*d. That man
had a gun!" and she started wailing and struggling in her panic. Johnny
and Hutch both restrained her tightly.

Starsky took the wallet Hutch had dropped on the ground and leafed
through its photograph section. He found several of a young boy with blond
hair. "There's a couple photos of a kid in here,.... about four years old. He
looks a lot like Mary. I'll put out an APB." and he got up to radio headquarters
from the Torino.

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Hutch nodded and then he looked down once more."Mary.. Mary! Lie still!
We've got nearly a dozen police officers in the area and we'll look for him
immediately. But you've got to start cooperating with the paramedics here so they
can start treating you! I'm Detective Hutchinson and I promise you that I'll do
everything I can to find your son, but my first concern right now is you, and your
injuries. Let these firemen get you to a doctor and to some help at the hospital. The
best way for me to help find your son is for you to start answering their questions
about what happened to you, ok?"

Mary Malone went limp, sobbing in resignation. "Please...I'll do anything you ask.
Just find my little boy...."

Hutch sighed and so did Gage. Ken let go of the T shirt over Mary's temple.
"The bleeding's pretty much stopped here. I'm letting go." he told Johnny. "I've
gotta go help my partner get out that possible kidnapped hostage bulletin. I'll
be right back to help you with Mary's spine board. I'll also make
sure an ambulance is well on the way."

Johnny nodded to the fair haired policeman and got to work over Mary.
"Thanks, Detective Hutchinson."

"Please, call me Hutch. It's easier, Mr. Gage."

"O.k.." replied Johnny. "I'll remember that."

Ken got up and joined Starsky by the Gran Torino and a couple of other
officers who were heading up the grid search for the rifle armed Metford.
He also helped Starsky give Captain Dobey a preliminary report
of the chase and circumstances surrounding the girl's assault,
over their car phone.

Johnny bent close to Mary's face once more, wrapping a Coban elastic
wrap around her head to hold the blood soaked T shirt and dressings
into firm place against her temple. "How are you doing, Mary?"

"I...feel so dizzy, sir..."

Gage smiled at her. "Well then it's a good thing you're still lying down
now, isn't it? How's your neck?" he added quickly.

"Sore."

"How about back here?" he said, gently feeling the bones in the back
from the base of her skull and down to the top of her shoulders.

"It hurts just in front where he grabbed me. The left side of my neck's
burning." and she pointed over the biggest of the angry fingermarks
wrapping around there.

Gage checked gently for equality on both carotid pulses with a
couple of fingers. "Can you still breathe all right? Is your throat swelling
up at all?"

"No.. I think its ok. It's just my head. It hurts real bad." she gasped.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, if one's nothing and 10's the worst, where's your
pain right now, Mary?" Johnny asked.

"A  nine.."

"Are you nauseated?"

"Yes.."

"Ok, just let me know if you think you're gonna get sick and we'll tip you
over."

"O.k.." and she grimaced rubbing her right arm with her left hand.

"What's wrong?" Johnny asked.

"I.. can't pick up my arm."

"This one here?" he said, gripping her hand on that side.

"Yeah.. it feels ...kinda tingly and numb."

Johnny got both her palms in both of his. "Squeeze my hands. Hard
as you can." he encouraged her.

He noticed her grip was weak but still there on the right
but her ability to keep her arm uplifted above her, was absent.

He moved down to test both her legs' strength, moving the
shock sheet aside.  "Ok, can you feel me touching you
down here?" he said pulling out a scissors point and tapping
her shins and the tops of both her feet.

Mary nodded yes.

Johnny put the scissors back into his hip holster.

"All right. Push both feet down onto both my hands. Ok, good. Now try and
lift your legs against my holding them down, hard as you can. Good. That's
fine." He looked for a Babinski's. Her toes curled down to his forceps point
sweep check, normally, on both sides.

"I'm ticklish." she said, trying to smile. The grin was nonexistent on the left
side of Mary's face.

"Sorry." Gage grinned, looking up. He didn't miss seeing
the face droop and he didn't alarm Mary by mentioning it.

He went on to get a full medical history, which he wrote down onto a
small tablet with his neurological findings. Gage handed it to his partner.

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Roy had reached a physician through the biophone line.
"Rampart. We've a  22 year old female. Victim of an assault. She's got
a large left temple wound due to a blunt force blow to the head. Bleeding
has been controlled. I estimate her blood loss at under 500 cc's.
Rampart, it seems she was a victim of a near strangling.

"She was respiratory arrested for a couple of minutes but was aided
by a bystander to spontaneous recovery. She's now awake and oriented
to 12 on the Glasgow on 15 liters of O2. There's signs of non invasive
crushing injury to the soft tissues of the neck. She's complaining of marked
tenderness in the left anterior throat without airway distress. She's been
cervical spine immobilized. Apparent restlessness has proved to be
emotional in nature.

"She's positive for vasovagal signs. Carotid pulses are equal. BP
initially was depressed at 64/40. Pulse's now 50 beats a minute, up
from 42,  and regular. Respirations are 18 and shallow. Pupils were
equal and reactive, but sluggish, when we first arrived, but now the ipsilateral
side's dilated. She has contralateral hemiparesis of only her right arm with
partial sensation and face drooping on the left. Negative on Babinski's.

"There's no indication of further injuries or allergies. Nor does she have
a prior history of medical problems. She's negative for any medications."

Dr. Early replied back.

## Start a large bore I.V., 51, of Normal Saline. Run in 500 ml's to offset her
carotid hypotension. Then turn the intravenous to TKO. Give her mannitol
IV 1 g/kg in a rapid push once you're in transit. After she's been long board
immobilized, raise her head up. Closely watch for signs of a deteriorating
consciousness level.  If she develops Cushing's, administer 1.0 mg/kg of
Lidocaine slow IVP.  Use 5mg diazepam for any agitation.

##If her Glasgow drops below 8, hyperventilate her, 51, and make preparations
for a rapid sequence induction ET intubation.  I'll advise you on what to use for
a paralytic agent.

##Give her .5 mgs atropine IV for that bradycardia. Get a strip for me, 51, I want
to look for any arrythmias. Monitor her vital signs every five minutes and transport
as soon as possible, without sirens, to prevent possible seizures.##

Roy repeated back all of Joe's orders and then he and Johnny, along with
the two plain clothes detectives, got Mary situated onto a backboard.

A minute later, the Hearse ambulance arrived and Mary was gurney
loaded onto it with DeSoto and all the gear boxes. They used the squad's
splint box turned onto one side to lift up the spine board's head end 30
degrees.  Roy repeated to Gage. "Johnny. Doc wants silent mode in."

"Ok.." said Johnny, putting on his helmet onto his head.

Starsky looked at DeSoto, holding the ambulance door so the paramedic
wouldn't have to shut it himself. "Traffic's not gonna do anything to get out
of the way with just your ambulance reds flashing by themselves."

"We've no other choice in the matter. Mary has to stay perfectly quiet
and calm. She's got an active intracranial bleed ongoing and any further
excitement, like loud noises, are liable to complicate things for her."
answered Roy.

"Mr. DeSoto, you have an alternative. We'll go ahead of the ambulance.
Our siren faces forwards and isn't heard past the rear of our car. Now
where's the girl headed?" Hutch asked, his question sounding more like
a demand.

"Rampart General Hospital in Torrance." said Roy.

"Let see, that's.. 6th to Ventura Freeway North, to 101 North to 226th
Street. Hang a right... Right?" Starsky asked the paramedic quickly
after his mental map drawing.

"Yeah, that's the shortest route. And if I can't talk ya out of an escort, I'll
take it." DeSoto grinned and got on board the ambulance.

"We gotta go anyway to talk to Mary for more details before she heads
into surgery. We may not get another chance to learn from her about what
actually happened if she doesn't make it." Hutch said grimly.  

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Roy frowned when his hidden paramedic worry was stated so openly.
"If Mary's got just an epidural hematoma, she's got every chance in the world
to survive it. The neurosurgeons at Rampart are absolutely the best
surgeons around these parts."

"DeSoto, we're counting on them to do their d*mned*st to save her.
Those doctors, and my partner and I, are little different. Little Toby's now
counting on the both of us,...to save HIM." said Hutch with conviction,
meeting Roy's blue eyes evenly with his own.

"Let's go. Time's wasting." said Starsky gently. "Be sure to let that attendant
know that he's following our unmarked police car. It's the striped candy apple
over there."

Roy nodded. "I'll let him know."

Hutch shut the door until it latched. He then patted the glass to let the driver
know that he could start turning around back towards the main drag.

Starsky sprinted ahead to the Torino to precede him in the same move.
Then he picked up his partner in a spin of tires and dust and soon, the
siren blaring Torino and silent, lights only running squad and ambulance, were off
to Rampart as fast as Starsky and Hutch could scatter the city traffic.


In route, Roy set up an EKG tracing off Mary. She had fallen into
a litany of calling out her son's name. She no longer opened her
eyes to Roy's questions nor followed any of his suggestions.

Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart this is Squad 51, how
do you read?"

##Go ahead, 51.##

"Our victim's LOC is 9. Stand by for a Lead Two and vitals."

##Standing by.##

The paramedic sent on the telemetry to Dr. Early and
waited, biting his lip. Roy picked up his HT to Johnny.
"HT 51 to Squad 51."

##This is Squad 51.## answered Gage driving behind
the ambulance.

"She's slipping into unconsciousness. We might have
to pull over for that intubation before we get there."

##10-4, 51. Watching out for a curbside. I'll let the detectives
know that we might emergency halt on their Tach Two. ##

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In the striped Torino, Starsky had one eye on the ambulance
behind them and the other on the road. He shouted to
a slow driver in front of him. "Come on, buddy! Move it!"
he shouted, hanging his badge out the open car window
for the startled motorist to see. "What part of the color
red don't ya see?! Maybe this badge'll talk better!"

Hutch ducked down in embarrassment. "Starsky, go easy on them.
Scaring the other drivers'll only make'em slower in pulling out of our way.
We're making good time. I estimate Rampart's only three minutes away."

"More like six minutes, Hutch. Did you forget the seven o'clock coal train
already? I'm speeding because we're a minute away from it cutting us off
at the pass. Look over there buddy boy." and he pointed out to their left,
where two city blocks sideways from their own position, the guard rails
of the train crossing intersection, were already lowering and flashing red.

Rows of cars were damming up in front of them in anticipation of
their own street's train rails coming down.

Then Gage's transmission about Mary's potential future ambulance
emergency stop came over the radio through their police dispatcher.

"O.K. Nobody's stopping for anything else that's as unnecessary as
a freight train here." said Starsky and he drove onto the sidewalk to get
around the halting cars. Then he threw the Torino into a sharp left onto the
railroad tracks wooden rails as he waved on the ambulance and squad to
start coming towards the tracks normally, via the street.

Starsky jerked the wheel and spun the Torino sideways until the locomotive
conductor was sure to see the red car obstructing his way. He pounded
on the dashboard happily when he heard the blast of the train's klaxon bite
down in rapid succession and when blue sparking arcs started to fly as
the train's emergency brakes were frantically applied.

Hutch paled, seeing that his passenger door was the side facing
the oncoming train. "Starsky, what the h*ll are you doing?!" he
shouted in a high panicked voice.

Image of traincrossingroad.jpg Image of torinoontracks.jpg

"Slowing him down. The gates won't flash for our street
until he's an eighth of a mile away. Remember your train stats?
I'm buying us an extra thirty seconds. At least." said Starsky.

"You're crazy! Are you sure you didn't jam the tires into the rocks?!
We might not be able to work free again in time."

The smile of success faded from Starsky's face into a white wash.

Until he tested the stick and the forward and reverse gears until the
Torino rocked in response comfortably. "We're not stuck, Hutch. And
we only gotta stay here long enough for the squad and ambulance to
work past the traffic jam and get past that R/R crossing. Then we
can rocket outta here.."

Hutch just stared at his partner and back at the oncoming train again
in a panicked flurry of glances. "St...ar..sk..That train's going over
forty miles an hour!" he shouted.

"Just a few.....seconds.....more..." said Starsky, watching the  
intersection crossing the avenue they had just left for the Hearse ambulance
and rescue squad, in the rear view mirror. "There goes Mary.." he
wiped his hands on his jeans. Then he started to re-grip the Torino's
steering wheel, ignoring Hutch's shouts of alarm.

The train's next horn blare all but split their eardrums.  

"StarskyyyYYY!" said Hutch.

"....and there goes Johnny..." said the curly haired detective with a
crow of delight. "They did it.." he laughed, highly pleased. "They beat the train!"
Then he caught sight of the immense train bumper scoop and a whole lotta
of steam boiling down on them less than ten yards away from Hutch's
passenger door.

Hutch was scared into completely frozen immobility.

"GaahhhHH!" gasped Starsky and he punched the gas pedal to the metal
with all the strength he had in his leg. The Torino scooted off the tracks mere
feet before the train barreled by in a high speed squeal of sparking brakes.
He caught the barest glimpse of its terrified train conductor before the
young stripe hatted man in the locomotive was swept past and then
beyond them.

Clouds of dust roared into the detectives' car in an angry wind and
made both men cough and choke violently.  When the dust
cleared, they both eyeballed each other from underneath a thick coating
of grit and sand. The dusty assault had snapped Hutch out of his freeze.
"....Starsk... if ..you ...ever...." he began, holding up a now trembling
finger. Then he sneezed.

"I promise. I won't. Not ever again. Hey, let's catch up with them now,
Hutch. I can still see them on the merge ramp leading onto the freeway."
And he spun the car's tires until they dug them off the soft soil of
the intertracks and back onto a sidewalk. He cut over onto the merge
lane and boiled up onto the freeway in long peels of noisy rubber.
A plume of dust accented their departure from the car's interior.

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Belatedly, Hutch fastened himself tightly into his seat's lap belt.
"I should turn you in for reckless endangerment Starsky! I'm sure
the captain will LOVE to hear about this latest stunt." he said,
trying to brush off the dust coating his tan leather jacket in vain.

"How can you rat on me? It'll have no credibility at all. There were no
witnesses visible for the last fifteen seconds. The dust cloud was too big
for anyone to see through."

"I saw everything just fine with perfect one hundred percent
clarity. That's all I'll need you big lummox!"

"You mean you'd doom our six year long partnership to a dissolvement?
Hutch I'm thoroughly surprised at you. I only made that move to save a risk to
a life. Mary's."

"By risking ours?!"

"I had everything perfectly under control."

"Let me tell you something Starsky. If you wanna go around rescuing
lives, do it with your Wesson 39-9mm. You're far better at shooting than
you are at playing chicken."

"I am?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Hutch was still fuming when he killed the siren long enough for them
to slide past the speeding squad and ambulance to get back into the
leading escort position they had before the train crossing.
"Or better yet. Why don't you join the firehouse guys to do that sort
of thing and work it out of your system?!" he snarled angrily.

"You know, that's not such a bad idea, Hutch. All this ambulance
and emergency medical stuff's addicting." And he flipped their forward
siren back on with a fancy florish. "I wonder if those two paramedics'
stationhouse ever takes on police volunteers...."

Hutch just stared at his partner in utter disbelief. "I was kidding,
Starsky."

"I don't think I was." Starsky replied back, keeping tabs on their
two tails in the rear mirror. "When I was a kid, I always dreamed of
becoming a fireman."

"You've got the wrong kind of badge for that kind of work. Forget
about it."

"Guess you're right, Hutch. Ah, here's our exit." And he calmly
signalled his right hand turn off the freeway.

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##Did you see that, Roy?## Gage came over DeSoto's HT.

"See what, Johnny?" answered Roy over his radio
as he counted Mary's pulse at her carotid.  The woman had quieted
significantly verbally and had accepted a simple nasopharyngeal airway
without a fuss. So far, her Glasgow rating was staying a solid 9.

##That police car. It just took on a train so we could get across.##

"I hadn't noticed. Mary's fair. Still a 9. And Joe's still going over
her EKG. She's showing inverted T waves, and non-specific ST
depressions. Pressure's rising."

##How high?##

"In the hundreds palpated. She's still breathing ok. I put
a nasal airway in and she took it."

##Keep me posted.##

"I will."

##See you at the entrance. We're gonna make it in without
that stop.##

"That's my call, too. Whatever those detectives did back
there bought Mary a whole lot of time."

##I'm sure they knew that, doing it. Man, I wish I could've
become a policeman. Seems like a d*mned fun profession.
I wonder if their department ever takes on fireman ride alongs.##

"Policemen are useful sometimes, Johnny. But a lot of them
are hot headed risk takers who'll do anything for the shortest
outcome. They're not your kind of people."

##Who says? I won't know if I don't try..##

"I've never heard of volunteer fire in a police station."

##Oh. That's too bad, Roy. I'll see you in one.##

Soon, the Torino, ambulance and rescue squad were lined up
at the emergency entrance and powered down.

Mary Malone was quickly bustled inside to Dixie awaiting there.

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From:  "Cory Anda" <andacory@h...>
Date:  Mon Nov 22, 2004  7:11 pm
Subject:  Hallway Duty


"Treatment 3." said Dixie quickly as she took the hanging I.V. from
Roy DeSoto's hand so he could manage his chattering HT radio.
The two other men, she recognized as police detectives. " Gentlemen,
Dr. Early's called for a neurosurgeon and I'll be the one helping you fill
out your crime report after we're through examining Mary. Johnny,
could you stick around and help x-ray out with her films? I've already set
out an extra lead apron."

"Sure, Dix."

"How's she breathing?" Joe Early asked as Gage and DeSoto wheeled
Mary's gurney into the indicated room.

"All right." Roy replied. "Still reacting to pain on both sides of her body.
All except that one arm. She was talking a minute ago, but now she's
just mumbling." And the three of them disappeared inside the treatment
room.

Detective Hutchinson sped up his walk until he was parallel with Dixie.
"Ma'am. Is there any way my partner and I could ask Miss Malone a few
questions? She's not unconscious yet."

"That's seriously doubtful." Dixie said, as she whirled to prevent the two
men from entering after Mary and the two paramedics when they tried to
follow them. "Excuse us. We've films to get and then she's going straight
into a ward for an immediate craniotomy."

She nodded to the two policemen she had anticipated needing to thwart
the detectives' meddling, to stand fast on either side of Mary's door.

"Miss.....McCall." said Starsky after reading Dixie's name tag
quickly.  "You don't understand the urgency of the situation! Malone's four
year old little boy has been kidnapped by her attacker and only Mary
knows the critical details.  This'll only take a couple of minutes. If she dies
before we find out anything...."

Dixie's hand slammed into the frame of the treatment room's door.
"She'll die for certain if you two delay us or her treatment for even a minute..."
she snarled.  "Please! Go sit down in the waiting room! If she says anything
during her exam and stabilization, I'll send Johnny or Roy out here to let you
know about it!"

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The richly varnished set of doors swung shut into their faces.

Starsky was about to go barging in after Dixie, when Hutch grabbed
his shoulders, and stopped him.

Starsky knocked his hands away. "What are you doing?" he said with a
low warning glare. "You know we've gotta get her side of it for the boy's sake."

"Starsky. Think about it. Just how much could Mary've learned from Medford
during the brunt of the attack? He was strangling her."

"Adrenaline sometimes does some pretty powerful things on memory, partner.
I'm banking on Mary having had a total recall effect because of her mother's
instinct firing off for her child's protection." and he started to push on the doors
around Hutch's larger frame.

The two very large officers started to tense up their well muscled arms.

Hutch once again prevented his smaller partner from moving. "Don't, Starsk.
Be happy. We've managed to save Malone long enough for the doctors to
get their shot at finishing the job.  Let's go grab a cup of coffee."

"No way in h*ll, Hutch. I'm not getting the wool pulled over my eyes
by skipping an interview with another material witness against Metford again.
Not this time. We lost the last one when he died on the surgical table."

"I insist." said Hutchinson, spinning his partner around toward the front
reception desk of Emergency's ward. "Sorry officers. He's a bit gung ho
when it comes to cracking female victimization cases.  Come on, Starsky.
I smell coffee brewing over here and you look like you could seriously use
some right about now."

Starsky let himself be herded, finally realizing that he should retreat
rather than embarrass them both with a public scuffle with two fellow
policemen. Then he shivered. "I am kinda cold."

"Stress'll do that." said Hutch matter of factly, grinning at the nurses
who hurried by them, going about their business. He absently patted  
Starsky's shoulder reassuringly as he guided him away from Mary's
room and the two head nurse appointed guards. "We've been hunting
Metford down like an animal for ...what? Two days straight?"

"Three. I remember that because that's how long it's been since  
either of us got any sleep." Starsky grumbled unhappily. Then
he shrugged out of Hutch's grip, cooperating at last, and he adjusted
his brown leather jacket back into comfortable place around his fatigue
slumped shoulders.

"Homicidal maniacs always give us a run for the money. It's the price we
haveta pay before we get to nab the bad guy." Hutch reasoned. "Haven't
you ever noticed that?"

"No." Starsky reached out an arm in a grab and collapsed his weary butt on an
empty gurney stored along the side of the hospital hallway with a sigh, before
they had even walked thirty steps. He toppled over onto his side, nesting a cheek
on an elbow and then he closed his eyes. "Wake me when those two fire monkeys
get back out here, Hutch. I want a decent prognosis on Mary for Captain Dobey
a.s.a.p. You know how he makes our life a living h*ll until he hears the final results
or at least some decent progress news on any of our felony cases."

"That may take a while. They've got to clear her C-spine before they
can even move her."

"That's ok by me. Why don't you grab the other end of the bed and lie down.
This feels....absolutely....divine...."  he murmured sleepily, curling up under
the wheeled gurney's antiseptically clean white sheet.

"Starsky?" Hutch inquired, staying on his feet. "I don't think you should
be doing that.. I mean, what if it gets busy later and they need this stretcher?"

A loud snore peeled immediately from Starsky's lax face.

Image of hutchcloseserious.jpg Image of gurneybody.jpg

"Starsk?"

There was no answer.

Hutch finally yawned uncontrollably and then he gave in to a mild grin. "All
right. I guess you deserve a nap, pal. Looks like we've a long night ahead of
us." he said angling Starsky's chin, so he slept silently without noise.

To keep nosy hospital staff at bay, Hutch threw the sheet over his partner's
face, took over a chair, and snatched up a magazine to read. Then he sat
next to Starsky's gurney as if on a corpse watch.  

The shining detective's badge that he put out on his shirt's lapel kept anyone
from asking any questions about either the man shaped lump under the
crisply pressed sheeting on the bed, or him.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Image of dixkeljoecardiactreat.jpg Image of epidural.jpg Image of dixieatatreatmenttray.jpg

*******************************************************************
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:20:34 -0800 (PST)
From: "Jeff Seltun" <finiterider@yahoo.com>    
Subject:  The Lead..


Dr. Brackett was already in the Treatment Room on the phone.
"Joe, I've got an anesthesiologist coming right now to get
her squared away with an endotrach tube."

"Thanks, Kel." said Joe as he began a funduscopic exam on
Mary. "The sooner the better. There's retinal petecchiae in
evidence."

"Intracranial changes?" Dr. Brackett offered.

Joe nodded. "At the very least, a linear skull fracture. I'm feeling a crack
that's non depressed right along her parietal bone just above the left ear.
With that same side dilated pupil and partial hemiparesis that Roy found,
I'll bet there's a strong possibility that she's got an active epidural bleed
going on."

"No bet." said Kel. Then he turned to Dixie while he continued waiting for
the X-ray tech to lay out the lateral and frontal cranial film series on the light board.
"Dix, I want you to set up a foley before she hits the OR. Take care of that once
she's under and intubated. Also draw blood for electrolytes, blood urea nitrogen,
creatinine, glucose, a complete blood cell count with platelets, prothrombin time,
activated partial thromboplastin time. Have the lab do a toxicology screen and
serum alcohol level and get a blood type and crossmatch. Her chart's not up from
records yet." said Brackett.

"Right away, Kel." and she went to the wall phone in the back of the room.

He moved to the woman's right side and uptook her hand and fingers.
"Johnny, what's her pressure?"

"It's up, Dr. Brackett. 150/98. Respirations are only ten now. The heart
rate you already know." he said pointing to the audible cardiac monitor
that they all could hear pacing off a slow beat.

Joe completed his physical check of Mary's head and he moved to
her legs to test their reactions with a reflex hammer. He looked up
when the anesthesiologist arrived with his equipment.

Brackett pressed his thumbnail on top of Mary's middle finger nail bed,
sliding it along until his clicked over the end of hers at the finger tip. The
rest of Mary's fingers on that hand flexed, transiently exaggerated. "Joe,
I've a positive Hoffman's response."


Image of roy_and_johnny_at_hospital.jpg Image of hoffman.jpg Image of brackettclosetanroom.jpg

"Both sides?"

Kel checked. "Yes."

Dr. Early frowned. "That means there's a problem at C5 or above
in addition to her head injury."

"Good thing she was collared." Dr. Brackett said. "Did you get cervical
plates, too?"

"Yeah, they're almost set. Hang on."

"Mike. Get her ready, fast. Cushing's is just around the corner." Kel
said to the anesthestist.

Right then, Mary moaned. Roy, by her right side, leaned in close.
"Mary... can you hear me? The doctors are right here. They're gonna
take real good care of ya. We're at the hospital now."

Mary got more agitated, as if feeling Dixie's tap for the lab's arterial blood,
and she started to fidget restlessly. "Tttt----Ttttoobbbb "

"Keep her down." Brackett warned the two paramedics to hold her
still. He drew up a 3 mg syringe of pentobarbitol and injected it into Mary's
I.V. "Mary. Mary. Listen to me. You hurt your neck when you hit the
ground. It's very important for you to lie as still as you can and don't move."

"TTttttt---oob. Money's on the dress...e..r. Tooower's  Plaazzz-zz."

"Shhh.." Kel soothed holding her forehead. "Don't try to talk. We've
given you some medication to relax you."

"Brrrrriing....ittt  th---"  Mary's face slacked off with a sigh as Brackett's
sedative took effect and she quit fighting actively.

Mike deftly took out the nasopharyngeal airway and
suctioned the blood and saliva out of her mouth and nose.

He prepared for an in-line intubation with the endotrach airway tube he
had ready to place. He nodded to Kel to signal that he was ready for the
doctor to inject the second syringe full of succinylcholine to paralyze her
the rest of the way until her breathing stopped.

Gage pulled the sheet down so the anesthesiologist could see her
chest for landmarks and its eventual rise for when the ventilator was turned
on. He read off the numbers on the billows gauge. "She's got
mild hypocapnea..   I'm reading,...30- 35 mm Hg, doc."

"That's fine, Johnny.." said Joe Early. "That carbon dioxide level will
prevent any severe vasoconstriction and it'll eliminate her existing cerebral
ischemia. Do you have good breath sounds yet for Mike, Roy?"
he asked as the tube doc finished his work.

Roy listened carefully over both of Mary's lungs and her stomach
with the stethoscope he still had around his neck.
"There's no gastric gurgling. You've got your placement right first time."
he shared. Mike nodded and taped off the breathing tube so it wouldn't
move around during her transit into surgery.

Image of royclosetreatmentwellyouneverknow.jpg Image of nasopharygeal.jpg

"Ok, let's go. Dixie, make sure the lab results and those X-rays meet
up with us while we scrub up. We'll stall with starting Mary's tapping
burr holes as long as we can."

Dixie nodded as the two paramedics bundled Mary up again in
warm heated blankets and helped the orderlies gather all her
tubes and IV from around the wheeled bird vent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hutch rose immediately from his chair hopefully, as Mary was wheeled
out into the hallway. But his smile died when he saw that she
was tubed and not breathing on her own, hooked up to a machine.

"Do you need us any more, docs?" Gage asked Joe Early and Kel Brackett
from alongside her bed.

"We got it from here." Kel said, helping to keep Mary's airway from jostling.

"Tell those two detectives we'll give them a call as soon as Mary hits the
Recovery Unit." Joe added as they put some fast distance between
them.

"Will do.." said Roy and the two fire paramedics slowed their pace as
the surgical entourage entered the metal doored elevator.

Hutchinson met up with them as the doors snicked shut on the sight of
Mary's pale, still face. "Gentlemen? Did she speak anymore?"

"Hmm?" Gage said, looking up thoughtfully. "Oh, oh.oh. Uh. Let me
think back. We really had our hands full. Uhhhh. She was
really worried about her son, Toby." he offered.

"Yeah, she called out his name a few times." Roy agreed. "And..and
and.. she mentioned something about some money.."

"About what money?" said Hutch starting to walk back down the hall
to where he had been reading. The two firemen followed, next
to him.

Gage blinked a few times. "She didn't specify.. but
I think she said something like, 'It's on the dresser.' "

"Yeah, and about a place that it had to go to." DeSoto frowned, rubbing
his head wearily.

"Did she give an address?" Hutch asked, pausing by the gurney along the
wall.

"Not exactly. We had a hard time making it out." Roy admitted.
"She was getting doped up pretty good by that point. It was
just a few syllables."

Image of johnnyrampartclose.jpg Image of hutchcloseholster.jpg Image of roytellitjacketclose.jpg

"Where?" asked Hutch amicably.

"Well,... it sounded like Tauser's Pass or... Tower's...Pl..." Gage
broke off, trying to remember.

Hutchinson snapped his fingers. "Tower's Plaza?"

"Yeah, that might have been it..." Roy nodded.

"Thanks fellas. We'll get right on it."

Gage stopped Hutch before he turned away again.
"Uh, who's we? I don't see your partner around here anywhere."

Hutch took his radio out of his pocket and said, "Zebra 3 to
Headquarters. We've a lead on the Malone kidnapping. Tell
Captain Dobey to call us on our automobile phone in two minutes.
We're headed to Mary's residence right now. Come on, Starsk, rise
and shine..." he said, tickling something on the gurney. "We've a
ransom to deliver."

Johnny Gage startled badly when the "body" moved and became
Detective Starsky pulling off the sheet in a tangle of bleary panic.

Roy steadied Gage as the two hastily departing detectives
ran quickly down the hallway for the ambulance doors. "Easy,
pal. Don't have a coronary. We've got that dinner bet to collect
on, so don't die of fright on me. I don't wanna work that hard."

"D-dd-ddid you see that?" Gage said, breathing fast and pointing
down the hall. "Why'd they pretend a body was a sleeping guy like
that? What a nasty trick."

Roy shrugged mildly. "I don't think it was a trick. More like an inadvertant
crash. I've seen you do it enough times around here."

"What?"

"Nothin. Come on and walk it off. Let's go, I'm getting hungry." DeSoto said,
thinking about how bad the end of rush hour traffic was going to be
and how long their ETA back to base was gonna take. "L.A., Squad
51's available."

##Squad 51.## Spap.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Image of gageroysendoffsquad.jpg Image of stationcloudy.jpg

***************************************************************
From :  Cory Anda <andacory@hotmail.com>
Sent :  Wednesday, December 1, 2004 1:57 PM
Subject :  Mary's Deal  


Starsky and Hutch ran up the stairs leading to Mary Malone's
spanish shingle house and to its vine wrapped front door.
In their hands, they held a property search warrant, fresh from Captain
Dobey's hands. Lock picking the door, they went inside steathily, guns
drawn and hugging the walls.

They put them away when they saw that things were completely
undisturbed in every room they could see. Together, the two
detectives sighed in relief.

Image of walkstreetnight.jpg Image of warrant2night.jpg Image of sh-guns2night.jpg

"Metford hasn't been here yet." said Hutchinson.

"How could he come around to look for the ransom money?
He's got a kid in tow. And one who probably isn't very happy
about being apart from Mary right now. Besides, Metford still
knows he's got every cop in the city looking for him." said Starsky.

Hutch frowned. "There's one thing about this whole affair
that really stinks." he said, as he and his partner searched every
dresser in each room for anything resembling something that
could hold hidden money.

"And what's that, Sherlock?" smiled Starsky.

"If Metford kidnapped Toby on the spur of the moment, how
could Mary have had time to make arrangements to have
money available on hand to try and get him back so fast? We've all
been assuming that attack on her was a first meeting between
the two of them." reasoned Hutch, leafing through the stack of mail
sitting on Mary's desk for clues.

Starsky didn't like the feeling that washed over him. "A prior
relationship of some kind?"

Hutch nodded. "Not necessarily a romantic one. I can't see a college
student getting involved with a man Metford's age. He's old enough to
be her father. Perhaps she knows him as some shady, obscure family
acquaintance?"

"I'll buy that. But if that was true, why didn't she tell us about knowing him,
when we were there, right up front?"

"She had a head injury Starsky." said Hutch. "I speak from experience
that you can't always think clearly having one. I was amazed that Mary
could even talk after coming to like that after not having been able to
breathe at all."

"She sounded pretty lucid talking to that dark haired paramedic for
those few minutes. What was his name again?"

"John Gage." supplied Hutch, moving on to the next room.
"Let's try looking in the bedroom."

"Ok, Hutch,  I'll go along with your line of thinking. So, ....You're saying,
she changed her tune, once she woke up the rest of the way in that alley, because
she wanted to try and handle the situation with Metford on her own. I'll buy that. She was
scared for her boy." Starsky surmised. "But then, at the hospital, the seriousness of her
condition must've convinced her to change her mind about getting some help with him
when she realized that she was heading into surgery. She must've figured out that going
under the knife would run over being able to keep Metford's ransom delivery deadline."

"Most likely."

Both detectives stopped when they spied a very masculine black briefcase,
sitting on  a nightstand by the bed that didn't jive with the rest of the
floral or child's home decor around them. They rushed over to it and
flipped open the lid. Jewels and a large sum of money sparkled up at them.
"Bingo."

Image of briefcasestuff2.jpg Image of shandbook2.jpg

Starsky picked up some documents lying next to the case and started reading
out loud. "I, Mary Malone, co-signer of the contents of this safety deposit
box, so avow, affirm and agree that I have made this withdrawal in good
faith and sound mind...."  He looked up at his partner. "Metford coerced her
to get into her dead grandmother's savings withdrawn."

Hutch had found a notepad next to the phone, written in a curling feminine
hand that was also shaky looking with stress. "This says eight o'clock, tonight,
Starsky. At Tower's Plaza.. the 1010 Interchange Building." and his face fell into
shocked angry lines. "This whole day's turning out so like Metford's usual MO.
A targetless shooting spree for kicks to celebrate a heist going his way...."


"He's gonna conclude this deal and then go back into deep hiding again where we'll
never find him. We're taking all of this with us! Who can say Toby won't get on
his nerves and get beaten up like Mary did?" Starsky said, shutting the briefcase
and snatching up both the bank withdrawal papers and the phone notepad along with
the money and jewels.

"No one." said Hutch. "That little boy's still in danger even if it isn't deadly danger."

"We don't have time enough to go to headquarters to get the FBI in on this whole
deal.  It's 7:10, Hutch."

"We're gonna haveta find time," he said in a burst of an idea. "I know, we'll make
arrangements on the way to the Plaza through Captain Dobey and call all the watch
dog units to close on in." agreed Hutch. "Most of those offices at that tower
are empty now and unoccupied. It's way after their business closing hours."

"We'll startle Metford out of any target practicing on the streets by calling in
the fire department."

The two detectives ran out of the house, secured its front door tightly, and
raced for the red Gran Torino as fast as they could in the falling night time
darkness.

Image of torinomic2night.jpg Image of toweroflightsmall.jpg

***********************************************************************
From:  Katherine Bird <kathbird01@yahoo.co.uk>
Date:  Tue Nov 30, 2004  4:50 pm
Subject:  Ring of Fire

Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage skidded into Station 51's kitchen,
each doing fair imitations of Bonnie scampering claws on the slippery
floor, but with their shoes, in their hurry to get to their plates.

Marco was grumpy, having just finished peeling twenty potatoes to
go along with the steaks Kelly had grilled up. "Hey, watch it you
guys, you'll scuff up the tiles! I just got done mopping that."

Gage and DeSoto ignored him as they scooted their wooden
chairs a little closer to the table and their silverware.

"Ah, I can't wait to sink my teeth into... Sorry for winning the bet, Chet.
This looks absolutely fabulous." he said tucking a napkin around his neck.
"What'ya sauteed them in?" he said reaching for the steaks platter for
a taste of the marinate glistening there.

Chet smacked his fingers. "Shittake mushroom and yellow onion. Mitts
off until you get served." he said. "Cap wasn't too pleased about being
suckered into the bet.  But he did his part. He's got a couple of bowls
of salad chilling in the frig."

Johnny looked around, stuffing a dinner roll into his mouth as Kelly
forked over two steaks onto the paramedics' blue and white swirled
china plates. "Where is he? Usually he'd be here pulling rank on all of
us to get the biggest steak."

Image of chetinsistent.jpg Image of gagefeetuptablegang.jpg Image of steakdinner.gif
Mike Stoker looked up from some carrots he was shoving into his
mouth as quick as he could. He mumbled. "He's on the phone
with somebody named Captain Dobey from the Bay City Police
Department. Do you know anything about that?"

Gage and Roy exchanged glances. "A fair amount. That police
medical standby call turned into an assault and kidnapping. Our
victim was a mother and her four year old son's now missing.
The cops think he's being held by her attacker."

"Ooo, that's rough. She gonna make it?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah. Rampart was really on the ball today.  Her anesthetist was
already in the room when we got to the hospital. She's got a head
crack that seemed to be just epidural in nature. Easily mended." Roy
replied, cutting his steak calmly and chewing on a center piece stabbed
onto a fork. "Pass me the pepper, Stoker. Thanks."Johnny was eating so
fast that Roy was amazed that he didn't choke.  DeSoto frowned a little
and tried not to watch.

Johnny added his two cents worth. "The whole run was just plain
weird, guys. Bullet casings lying around us like scattered acorns. Cops
running around everywhere. Our two detectives' car had its
windshield shot through with a couple of bullet holes. "

Marco's eyes got real big. "We're you in danger?"

"Nah. It was over by the time we got there." Roy reassured Lopez.

"The shorter cop reminded me a lot of you, Chet. Complete with moppy
hair and tennis shoes." Gage interjected.

"No kidding..." Kelly said with feigned interest. "Didn't know I had
a twin out there. What'd he do for you guys?"

"He got our lady breathing again. She'd been choked and thrown too hard
onto some concrete. Starsky did pretty well considering the fact that he
thought he shot her with his gun the whole time he and his partner were
helping her out."

Stoker chuckled. "Starsky? What kind of name is that?"

Image of dobeyoffice.jpg Image of investigation.jpg Image of stokerchetcookglance.jpg
"It's probably Jewish." Marco guessed.

"Probably. His taller partner was named Hutch." Roy nodded reflectively.

"As in a piece of furniture?" Chet laughed, stuffing a pile of potatoes into
his mouth.

"I think it was a nickname." Roy said. "But I sure appreciate them both
and what they do for a living. They ran escort for us on the way in and
played chicken with a train to slow it down long enough for the squad
and ambulance to get over the tracks before the gates came down."

"Now that took guts." Gage agreed. "They seem like a real crazy
pair of partners. Funky and impulsive."

"Kinda like the pair of partners sitting in front of me right now, huh?"
Chet quipped.

Johnny nailed Kelly in the shoulder with a towel. "I meant that in a good
sense."

"So did I." Chet said, mildly, tossing the kitchen towel right back at
him. The whole thing turned into a tossing war between the two,
until Cap's entry into the room, suddenly ended it.

Nonetheless, Cap's eyes had missed nothing. Hank hurried to his chair
and sat down. "No horseplay at the table, you two. You know the rules."

"Not unless you can get away with it.." Chet said under his breath to
the others.

Cap was too busy filling his plate with food to notice him.

Hank ate half his steak, before he flipped open a file filled with hand written
notes that he had hastily scrawled onto a blank log sheet. "Johnny.
Roy. Gang. We're all on special duty for the rest of the day. Apparently
there's a man hunt going on downtown for some nut case the cops
want real bad. They think they've cornered him in a high rise office
building somewhere near Tower's Plaza and we're gonna be part of a
fire back up response crew in case any tear gas's needed."

"That's probably our kidnapper.." Johnny snorted, chewing his third
dinner roll loudly.

"What?" Hank asked.

"Nothing, Cap. When do we move into position?" Roy wanted to
know.

"They'll call us just as soon as they get a bead on their perpetrator. He
could be anywhere inside that building. And sixty stories is a lot of
ground to cover manually. We'll probably make it through dinner."

Image of capeatsaladjohnnycomplain.jpg Image of royjohneatlunch.jpg
"Knowing the pace our two detectives like to work at, better
hurry up with your steaks everybody. We're bound to be called
out sooner than you'd think.." Roy warned.

The tones went off.

All the firemen stood bent over their food and they shovelled in a few
last hasty cheekfuls, before they fled for the vehicle bay and their trucks.

##Station 51. Truck 99. Foam 127. Battalion 14. L.A. and Bay City
Police request a non code R multiple station response to 1010 Tower
Plaza Drive. Cross street Interchange Blvd. 1010 Tower Plaza Drive.
Cross street Interchange Blvd. Time out: 19:12.##

"10-4, Station 51, KMG 365." said Cap into the alcove mic.

They rolled out.
. ------------------------------------------------------------------

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