1998 Automatic B5234T3, ~240K miles

My car's been parked for a couple of weeks and gave no indication of engine problems prior to being parked. Plenty of antifreeze/coolant in the system.

I went to move it for street sweeping a few minutes ago and it wouldn't start.

The crank sound really strange, sort of a higher-pitched whining and a rough crank. Not the usual crank rhythm at all.

I went to open the hood and the cable release broke. #$%&^@^&^@%%@!!

I checked the OBDII, but there's nothing set. I seem to recall that it won;t set a code until it starts. I'm going to have to trace the broken cable when the sun comes up

It's dark and cold. Not *that* cold - mainly too dark to really check anything out.

I'm wondering if it's simply a failing starter (original as far as I know) but the weird noises don't give me much to go on.

The timing could be worse, but this is still a serious problem.

Any thoughts?