Drive-By
                                                                                                    By
                                                                                                      Tooki



                                                                                            Chapter One


The city street steamed from the heat, as the sun beat down on its surface. The smell of over ripe garage permeated the air and made passersby’s wrinkle their noses in disgust as they hurried by, some even picked up their steps to get away from the stench quicker. Detective David Starsky stood at the curb leaning on a parking meter waiting for his partner who was inside Sunshine Travel. The heat radiating off his red and white car was almost unbearable but he didn’t move. His foot absently kicked the tire of the Torino as he waited. He couldn’t wait to get home shed his jeans; get into his cut offs and grab an ice cold beer from fridge. It was turning into one hell of a summer; the temperatures had soared into the record breaking status and stayed that way since mid-May and it was nearly mid-June.
Starsky ran his arm across his brow leaving his arm wet as it fell back to his side. He still had his other arm propped on the parking meter, he glanced at the meter, five more minutes and he would have to plug another quarter in. If they were on duty they didn’t need to bother with the parking meters but they had been off duty for the last hour, he had to feed the hungry machine. Hutch said he needed to make a quick stop, “Some quick stop.” Starsky thought as he glanced at his watch, it had been nearly thirty minutes since he had pulled up and parked in front of the little travel agency. Hutch had been dating its owner for the past month or so.
Starsky glanced over his shoulder at the store front; he could see Hutch through the plate-glass window leaning over Tonya’s desk talking to her. He sighed and contemplated going in where he knew it was cooler but it looked as though his partner was in a heated debate with his girl. Starsky heaved another heavy sigh and turned his attention back to the baking street. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. The heat was so torrid it was getting hard to get a breath.
At first Starsky didn’t notice the beat up car heading up the street toward him, it was moving so slowly that several cars behind it honked their irritation at being held up, but the car refused to speed up. Its windows were tinted so darkly that the occupants inside were barely visible. Starsky’s attention was finally drawn to the vehicle when a driver directly behind the creeping car laid on their horn. Starsky squinted in the blazing sun toward the slow moving car, as he studied the car he saw the heavily tinted windows on the passenger side, both front and back lower half way down. Then the tips of two machine guns poked from the openings.
Perhaps if it had been cooler or if he hadn’t been standing in the heat for so long, or if he had been on duty his reaction time would have been quicker. But Starsky stood rooted, staring, unbelieving at what he was seeing. It wasn’t until the first echoes of the guns filled the air did Starsky spring into action. But by then it was too late, people lay sprawled on the sidewalk, dead and dying. The car carrying the unknown assailants was long gone. Miraculously, Starsky was uninjured but there was a little girl no more than five or six laying flat on her back, a doll still clutch in her small hand, she had a bullet hole in her forehead. The girl’s mother lay on her side near the little girl; neither of them knew what hit them. An old man lay among his dropped groceries, a few feet from there a teenage girl who had been thrown up against the front of a building where she was now in a sitting position on the sidewalk, her long blonde hair falling into her lap, she was not moving either. There were other bodies littering the sidewalk, very few of them were moving.
Starsky first crawled toward the little girl, whom he knew was already dead, but that been his first instinct, then he moved toward the girl’s mother. As he started to feel for a pulse on the woman his eyes went up to where the plate glass window to the travel agency had been, it was totally shattered. Starsky pushed himself to his feet as he yelled, “HUTCH!”
There was no answer, the sound of sirens filled the air and people came running from every direction. Starsky called to his partner again but there was still no answer from inside the agency. Starsky was stepping over the mother of the girl, when the woman’s hand grabbed his ankle. Startled, Starsky looked down into the woman’s face; her eyes were glazing over as she whispered, “Sara.”
Starsky could only guess that was the child’s name, he knelt quickly next to the woman and took her hand but before he could respond her eyes slid closed, this time he felt for a pulse but there was no longer one. He gently laid the woman’s arm across her chest and stepped into the travel agency. He looked around wildly but saw no one, then he heard a noise behind Tonya’s desk, which was where he found Hutch. Hutch was kneeling next to Tonya talking softly to her. The young woman was responding to him through her tears, a bullet had caught her in the shoulder as it had penetrated the glass of the window. Hutch appeared to be unhurt.
Starsky leaned over putting his hand on Hutch’s back, “How bad is she?”
“Starsk,” Hutch breathed a sigh of relief, he had been worried about his partner but unable to get to him. “She is going to be alright. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Starsky answered still unable to believe that he hadn’t been shot, but everyone around him had been killed. “How about you?”
“A couple of cuts from the flying glass but other than that I’m fine,” Hutch said as he turned his attention back to Tonya. “The ambulance will be there soon.”
She nodded and closed her eyes.

~Earlier~

“Hutch, phone,” Starsky said holding the phone across the desk to his partner.
Hutch grabbed the phone. “Hutchinson.”
There was a giggle then a female voice said, “You sound so official.”
“Hi, Tonya,” Hutch grinned into the phone. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you could drop by the office on your way home from work.” She asked as she tapped an envelope on her desk, “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“Starsk drove today. so I need to go home and get my car.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind stopping by for a few minutes.” Tonya said sweetly.
“I really don’t want to hang him up,” Hutch said. He knew that they were both eager to get home after the hot day they had had.
“Just asked him,” She persisted.
Sighing Hutch covered the receiver with his hand, “Hey, buddy, Tonya wants me to stop by the travel agency on the way home, do ya mind?”
“No problem.” Starsky answered, the place was on the way to Hutch’s so it wasn’t even out of the way.
“Thanks,” Hutch said, then into the phone he told Tonya, “We’ll be there as soon as we get off.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Hutch hung up the phone. “You don’t have to do this, you can take me home and I’ll get my car, I’ll just tell her we got out of here late.”
“Hutch, it’s really no problem,” Starsky said.
Hutch had met Tonya Byron a little over a month ago, she had been carrying a large box of travel brochures into her office when the box slipped through her hands and tumbled to the ground spilling its contents. Hutch had been driving by on his way home from work when he saw her drop the box. He immediately pulled over and jumped out of his car to help her. He had instantly liked the petite brunette and after they had picked up the brochures he had asked her out. Ever since that day they had been almost inseparable, by their third date he had introduced her to Starsky who also instantly liked the young woman. They double dated frequently with Starsky and who ever was in town at the time.
Hutch got out of the car and headed toward the building, waving to Tonya who had been watching out the window for him. “Hey, Starsk,” Hutch said turning to lean back into the window of the car. “Why don’t you come in? You’re going to cook if you stay out here.”
Starsky shrugged, “I’ll be fine.”
“Suit yourself,” Hutch said as he headed into the cool office.
Tonya excitedly jumped to her feet when Hutch entered. “I didn’t think you would ever get here.” She said as she planted a kiss on his lips.
“What’s going on?” Hutch asked curiously.
Tonya went back to her desk and grabbed an envelope that clearly contained airline tickets. “One of the company’s that I sell for gave me two first class tickets and a motel for a week in Cancun. I want you to go with me.”
“When?” Hutch asked.
“Right away,” Tonya said. “My girlfriend said she would watch the place for me and we can leave tomorrow.”
“Oh, honey,” Hutch said, “I can’t leave right now, I don’t have vacation until next month.”
“Just take off.”
“I can’t do that, Tonya, my job doesn’t work like that. I can’t just leave Starsky to work the streets alone.”
“Oh, come on, he won’t care.” Tonya begged as she waved the tickets in front of Hutch. “A whole week in sunny Cancun, how can you turn that down?”
“Easy, I just have to say no.”
Tonya stuck out her lip, “Just ask Starsky.”
“I won’t do that,” Hutch said firmly as he glanced out the window at this partner who was leaning on a parking meter. “Why don’t you go with one of your girl friends?”
“I don’t want to go with one of them; I want to go with you.”
Hutch leaned across the desk toward her. “And I want to go with you, but I can’t.”
Tonya sighed, “Alright, I guess I understand.” She gave him a brief smile as she tucked the tickets into her top desk drawer. “But, you are going to be sorry you didn’t come with me. I’m going to meet some hot guy there and never come back.”
Hutch grinned at her and teased, “That will be my loss won’t it?”
Tonya got up and started around the desk when the plate glass window of her business shattered and the whole left side of her body was filled with a searing pain. She was thrown to the floor like a rag doll.
Hutch dove behind the desk and grabbed a hold of Tonya, covering her with his own body. “Lay still.” He whispered in her ear. It took Hutch a few minutes to process what had just happened and his first instinct was to run to find his partner. But Tonya was clutching him so tightly that he couldn’t move; he knew that Starsky was most likely dead.
Sirens filled the air as did sobs, screams and shouts. Hutch rolled Tonya over to see how badly she was hit. Blood was coming from her shoulder; Hutch ripped the sleeve of her blouse open to examine the wound. “Tonya, you are going to be okay, it just looks like a flesh wound.”
“Don’t leave me, “She said in a trembling voice.
“I won’t,” Hutch promised, when all he wanted to do was find Starsky. Hutch wiped away a small stream of blood that was nearing his eye from a cut on his forehead from the flying glass.
A few moments later he felt a hand on his back, “How bad is she?”
It was Starsky; somehow he hadn’t been hit or at least wounded very badly.


                                                                                    Chapter Two


Leaving his partner to care for Tonya, Starsky stepped out into the stifling heat; a paramedic was leaning over the woman and her young daughter. Starsky put his hand on the man’s back, “I’m Detective Starsky, my partner is inside with his girlfriend who has been shot and is still alive.”
The paramedic looked up into the detective’s face. “These two are dead.” He hadn’t needed to tell Starsky that he already knew, just like he knew the others were also dead from the looks on the other emergency personnel’s faces. In addition to the old man and the blonde headed teenage girl, there was a middle aged business woman, the contents of her brief case blowing around in the sudden breeze that began to blow. A boy with a skateboard who looked to be nine or ten lay sprawled on the sidewalk, his skateboard tipped over near him. No one outside was alive from the shooting except him. How did he manage to escape with out a scratch? Even Hutch, who had been in the building, had cuts from flying glass and poor Tonya lying on the floor in her own blood.
Starsky closed his eyes trying to erase what he was seeing but when he opened them it was all still there, the bodies, the shattered glass, the sirens of even more police and life squads coming, people running franticly either toward or away from the scene. He wished that he could run away. Why? Why? He kept asking himself over and over again. Why had he been saved? He should have been lying on the sidewalk dead with the rest of them.
“Looks like your car took your bullet,” Officer Pete Thompson said as he approached the detective. He had just finished examining the driver’s side of the Torino which was riddled with bullet holes, “Are you alright Starsky?” Starsky nodded as he looked at the officer, “Hutch is in the travel agency with his girlfriend. She needs help.”
“Looks like she’s getting it,” the officer nodded toward the door of the business. A gurney with Tonya was coming out; the paramedics had started an IV on her. Hutch followed behind, his cuts had been bandaged but the expression on his face was grim.
Starsky smiled at Tonya as she was pushed by. “You’ll be fine. “ He said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.
She gave him a pained smile, “I’m glad you are okay, next time come in uh?”
Starsky squeezed her arm and nodded.
“I’m going in the life squad with her,” Hutch informed his partner.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Starsky said, clutching Hutch’s shoulder. The look that passed between the two men said everything that words couldn’t.
After the life squad carrying Tonya left, Starsky stepped out into the street to inspect the damage to his car. “Crap,” Starsky said when he saw the damage; he ran his hand through his dark curly hair then let it drop to his side. There was a line of bullet holes the whole length of his car, looked like Earl was going to have his work cut out for him. Starsky was still inspecting the damage to his car when he heard an ear piercing sound; he ducked at first until his brain processed the sound….a woman screaming. He stood up and looked around; a woman was standing next to the bodies of the woman and child. She was screaming, tears streaming down her face; she dropped to the ground and started to touch the little girl.
“Please, Miss,” It was Officer Thomas. “I can’t let you touch the bodies until the crime lab and coroner has released the scene.”
“No, no,” she sobbed still trying to reach out for the little girl. The woman looked very much look the dead woman on the sidewalk. Pete Thomas looked around for help, he was hanging onto the woman to keep her from touching the bodies but he was starting to lose the battle. He gave a beseeching look in Starsky’s direction. Starsky sighed, all he really wanted to do was to get into his damaged car and head toward the hospital to make sure that Hutch and Tonya were really alright and to escape the nightmare he had been thrust into. Starsky walked around the back end of his car and stepped up on the sidewalk.
“This is Detective Starsky,” Officer Thomas tried to tell the hysterical woman. She wasn’t listening; she was intent on trying to take the little girl into her arms.
Starsky leaned over and grabbed the woman under both of her arms and pulled her to her feet.
“Listen to me,” he said sternly to get her attention.
Her eyes slowly focused on his face, “Sara, Marcy.” She said through her tears.
“I know,” Starsky said softening his voice. “You need to let these men do their jobs so we can catch whoever did this to them. Do you understand?” The woman looked over her shoulder at the two bodies lying on the ground then back to Starsky’s face. She nodded, as she did her body went limp; it was all Starsky could do to keep the woman from falling to the ground.
“Should I get some help?” the officer wanted to know.
Starsky shook his head, “She just passed out.” Starsky lifted the woman into his arms and started toward his car. “Could you get the door, Pete?” The officer ran to open the passenger side of the door, Starsky slid the young woman into the seat, it was like a blast furnace in the car. He crouched down in front her, “Miss?” A small moan escaped her lips and her eyes fluttered open then filled with tears.
“That is my sister and my niece.” She finally managed to get out.
“I’m very sorry,” Starsky said, sweat was beading up on both of them. “Why don’t I let Officer Thomas here get your information? He can help you call who ever you need.”
“No!” she blurted out grabbing the collar of his shirt as if she were drowning.
“Please don’t leave me.” There was something about the blue eyed man that she trusted and she didn’t want him to leave her.
“Alright,” Starsky said putting his hands over hers, he pulled them around from his neck and held them. He turned to Pete, “I’ll talk her to the hospital with me, then I’ll bring her down to the station.”
“But your car is part of the crime scene.” He said.
“I think the police know where to find me.” Starsky said as he swung the woman’s legs into the car and closed the door. He ran around jumped in and started the car. “I need to go to the hospital first, is that alright with you? I have to check on my partner.”
“Partner?” she asked.
“I’m a detective,” Starsky explained as he pulled out into the maze of rescue equipment. “Dave Starsky. What’s your name?”
“Danielle Stratford,” She said softly, “But everybody calls me Danny. I was supposed to be meeting Marcy and Sara at the ice cream shop up the street. It was Sara’s sixth birthday.”
Sadness filled Starsky as he drove toward the hospital. “I’m really sorry.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Danny said, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Is your partner okay?”
“He was hit by some flying glass but his girlfriend, who owns the travel agency, was shot.” Starsky took a deep breath and said, “I was standing there when it happened and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do.”
“There are so many dead.” Danny looked out the window, it seemed as if it was only thirty minutes ago when she had been rushing to meet her sister. If she hadn’t been late…her breath caught in her throat.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I was just thinking. I was late in meeting them, if I hadn’t been, I probably would be dead too.”
“You can’t think like that,” Starsky said as he still wondered why he was still alive. They were both alive by chance. As Starsky pulled in to the parking lot of the hospital he asked Danny “Is there somebody you need to call? We can call them from inside.”
“Marcy’s husband, Richard, is flying in late this evening from a business trip. He was so upset that he was going to miss Sara’s birthday. I’m not sure how to get a hold of him. I have only been here a few weeks; I moved here from South Carolina,” She told him. “God, how am I going to tell him his wife and daughter are dead.” Tears spilled down her cheeks again.
“Let’s just take this a step at a time alright?” Starsky said gently. “I’m going to check on my partner, then we will see what we can do about finding your sister’s husband.” She nodded as she got out of the car and followed Starsky into the emergency entrance. Danny wondered what she would do now, she had moved out to California to be close to her sister and now she was gone.
Starsky spoke to the nurse behind the desk to find out where Hutch and Tonya were; he was told that Tonya was in surgery and Hutch was in the waiting room down the hall. Danny joined the detective as they made their way down the hall to the waiting room. Starsky stopped in the doorway and looked around the half full room. Hutch was sitting in a far corner; staring at the floor.
Hutch looked up as his partner crossed the room. He had a pretty young woman tagging along behind him that looked rather shell shocked. Hutch could tell she had been crying from the red splotches on her face. Her curly, light brown hair hung just past her shoulders, her hazel eyes were full of pain.
“How is Tonya?” Starsky spoke first as he took the seat next to Hutch. Danny stood awkwardly to the side.
“The nurse said she was in surgery.”
“She will be fine, they just had to remove the bullet, I thought it was only a flesh wound.” Hutch answered eyeing the young woman.
“This is Danny,” Starsky said as he motioned for her to sit next to him. “Her sister and niece were killed in the drive by. Danny, this is my partner, Ken Hutchinson.”
“I’m sorry about your family,” Hutch said as he leaned across Starsky to take her hand.
“Were you injured?”
She shook her head no as a fresh batch of tears welled up in her eyes. “I was late.”
Hutch’s brow furrowed as he looked at his partner not understanding what she meant.
Starsky quickly explained about Danny being late to meet her sister. “We are going to meet her brother-in-law at the airport later. He doesn’t know.”
“I can go with you if you want,” Hutch offered, giving Danny a look of sympathy.
“You stay here with Tonya, she needs you.”


                                                                              Chapter Three


Danny clung to Starsky as they waited in the airport waiting room. By the time they had tracked down Richard Davis’ flight, it had already taken off, so now they were left to wait for him to come off the plane. Starsky had arranged for a private room where they could tell the man the news about his family. As Richard’s flight was announced, Danny dug her nails into Starsky’s palm, “It’s going to be alright,” he whispered to her.
“There he is,” Danny pointed toward a tall man in the throng of passengers just arriving from London. He was several inches taller than Starsky, he wore a dark suit and long coat, and he carried a briefcase in his hand. The man’s eyes were searching the crowd for his wife. Danny put her hand up and waved toward him. Richard Davis put his own hand up in response then frowned as he looked for Marcy. He wondered who the man with Danny was and why his wife and daughter weren’t there. Perhaps Marcy had taken Sara to the bathroom. But when he reached his sister-in-law he knew instantly that something was wrong.
“Mr. Davis would you come with us?” Starsky asked touching the man lightly on the arm.
“Danny what’s going on, where is Marcy and Sara?” He asked still scanning the crowd.
“Rich please,” Danny said taking his hand, he could feel her shaking. The dread he was feeling settled in with a vengeance. They walked in silence until they reached a waiting room that was set aside for the purpose of giving bad news. It was a large room, at one end was a dry erase board that was there to give passenger and loved ones information in case of a crash or a mishap on a plane. Starsky shut the door and motioned Richard to take a seat but the man remained standing.
“Rich this is Detective Dave Starsky.” Danny began, her eyes filled with tears and she wondered how she could still have any tears left to cry. Richard looked at Starsky and nodded, then his eyes went back to Danny, “Danny, will you please tell me what is going on?” Fear was written on his face and he felt as if he would fly apart if somebody didn’t tell him something.
“There was an accident today…” Danny began, then stopped, she fumbled her words as she tried to continue, “…no it wasn’t an accident it was a…a…”
Starsky put his hands on Danny’s shoulders. “Mr. Davis, there was a drive by shooting this afternoon, I’m afraid that your wife and daughter were caught in the fire.”
“Shooting?” Richard sunk down into the closest chair. “Are they alright?” Danny just shook her head, she couldn’t say the words, she couldn’t tell him that his family was dead.
“I’m sorry but they were both killed in the incident.” Starsky said; this was the part of his job that he always hated. He didn’t like bringing pain into people’s lives.
“Marcy and Sara are dead?” Richard whispered looking at his sister-in-law for conformation. She dropped to her knees in front of him and wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m so sorry Rich.” A strangled sob escaped from Richard’s throat as he put his arms around Danny. Starsky backed out of the room to leave the pair alone in their grief; he stood outside the door and waited.

The next morning Hutch, who had been sleeping in a chair in Tonya’s room, stretched his legs, yawned and then stood up to check on Tonya. She had come through surgery with flying colors. The doctor said she could leave the hospital in a few days. He had made up his mind while she was sleeping that he would take the time off and go to Cancun with her. Hutch was going to surprise her with the news when she awoke.
As he stood there looking down at her, Tonya’s eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him croaking out a soft, “Hi there.”
“Hi yourself,” Hutch leaned over and kissed her forehead.
“My throat hurts,” she said.
Hutch poured her a glass of water and held it out to her, “This will help.”
Tonya took the glass with her good hand and leaned up to take a sip. She fell back on the pillow with a grunt, “My shoulder hurts.”
“You want me to call the nurse?” Hutch asked.
Tonya shook her head no, “At least I know I’m alive.” They both smiled at her joke then their faces turned serious again. “How many?”
“I’m not sure of the count,” Hutch said pulling the chair close so that he could sit down. “I haven’t left the hospital since I came in with you. Starsky was here yesterday afternoon.” Hutch then explained how Starsky was helping Danny.
“How awful for her,” Tonya said as a tear slid down her cheek and landed on the white pillow case. “You should have gone with them.”
“I offered but he told me to say here with you.” He smiled at her
She put her hand on his, “I’m glad you did. I don’t think I have ever been that scared before.” For the first time she noticed the strips of tape on Hutch’s face holding together his cuts. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine just a few cuts from the flying glass,” Hutch said as he touched one of the white pieces of tape. “Nothing serious.”
She smiled at him again. “I can’t believe that Starsky escaped uninjured, he was right out in the middle of it.”
“I guess somebody was watching over him.” Hutch smiled. “I’m not sure if his car will live though.”
Tonya gave a small laugh for she knew how much Hutch’s partner loved his car.
“Is that offer still on the table?” Hutch asked.
“Uh?” Tonya asked confused.
“I seem to remember somebody offering me a trip.”
Her eyes lit up, “You mean it? You’ll go with me?”
“Just as soon as the doctor says you can go.” Hutch promised.
“What about Starsk?” She wanted to know.
“He could use some time off too.” Hutch said; he knew that his partner was very shaken up over the shootings. “I’m sure I can convince Dobey into giving us some time off. Life is just too short.”
“You aren’t going to go all karma on me are you?” Before Hutch could answer there was a soft tap on the door, he got up to see who it was. Starsky stood in the hallway; he looked like he had been through the ringer. He was exhausted he hadn’t had any sleep; he still had on the same clothes and hadn’t noticed the tiny splatters of blood on his jeans until he had been in the hospital elevator. He was hoping that Hutch was still with Tonya since he hadn’t been able to get him at home.
“Starsky!” Hutch was shocked by his friends appearance. He had at least gotten some sleep in Tonya’s room. “Is everything okay?”
Starsky stepped into the room and flashed a tired smile at Tonya, “Yeah I’m fine, long night.” He had dropped Danny and Richard off at Richard’s home before heading to the hospital. Then thought of going home to shower and rest but he wanted to see Hutch, no make that he needed to see Hutch.
Hutch instinctively put his arm around Starsky’s shoulders, “Are you sure you are okay partner?”
“Yeah, just beat, “Starsky answered tiredly. It was really rough telling that woman’s husband that he had lost his family.
“Why don’t you go home get some rest and a shower you look like you could use both.” Hutch suggested. “I’ll come by and pick you in a while. We’ll go into the station and see what is going on.”
Starsky nodded, a hot bath did sound good but he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to sleep. “Sounds good, see you in a couple of hours?”
“How about we make it three?” Hutch patted Starsky on the shoulder.
“Okay three,” Starsky said to Hutch and then to Tonya, “See ya later kiddo.”
“Bye, Starsk,” Tonya called after him as he was leaving.

Starsky stripped his blood spattered jeans off and tossed them directly into the trash, he did the same with the shirt he was wearing also, then he went and took a long hot shower. He stayed under the steaming water until it started to go cold. Then he got out, toweled off and lay down in his bed. Starsky knew there was no way he could sleep.
He was still laying in bed when he heard a knock on his door, he got up to grab some clothes and was surprised to find that two hours had passed since he had gotten out of the shower. Starsky opened the front door as he was pulling a t-shirt over his head.
“Did you get some rest?” Hutch asked as he stepped in Starsky’s apartment. He had also been home to shower and change.
“I guess I did,” Starsky yawned. “I didn’t think I would sleep but I must have been out for a couple of hours.”
“Have you gotten any news?” Starsky wanted to know. He was hoping maybe the shooters had been caught although he found that unlikely.
“Only what I have heard on the radio,” Hutch said.
When the two men pushed open the squad room doors Dobey was waiting for them.
“Where in the hell have you two been?,” Dobey bellowed at them. “Get in my office.”
The detectives looked at each other, “Did you call in?” Starsky asked Hutch, who shook his head, “Me either.” Dobey had gotten the news that his two detectives had been at the scene of the drive by and had called their apartments and gotten no answer. He had been nearly beside himself when word had filtered up to his office that they were in the building.
“Since when do you two just walk away from a crime scene,” Dobey tossed the words angrily at them.
“Cap we were off duty, we just happened to be there because Hutch’s girlfriend owns the business that the shooting took place in front of.” Starsky explained.
“We are sorry; I would have thought one of the officers would have filled you in on what happened. My girlfriend was shot and I have been at the hospital with her. Starsky took care of one of the victim’s sister.”
“I..uh…was just worried that is all,” Dobey muttered.
They smiled at each other, “We know Cap and one of us should have called in.”
“And on top of everything else, you’re LATE!”
Starsky quickly gave Dobey all the details of what happened with Danny and the husband. “Has there been any news on who the shooters are?”
Dobey shook his head, “The task force is looking into it. But it seems that our only witness went AWOL.”
The color drained from Starsky’s face. “That hadn’t even occurred to me, I saw the whole thing. There was no one else?”
“A few people saw some of it but all their stories are different, you know how that is.” Dobey said as he picked up the phone. “Allen Penn of the gangland task force will want to talk to you Starsky.”



                                                                                            Chapter Four


Detective Allen Penn was waiting for the two detectives in one of the interrogation rooms at the station. He had been more than eager to talk to the officer who had seen it all. Allen Penn was a short stocky man with a crew cut; he looked more like an officer in the Army than a police officer. He greeted both of the men as they entered the room, and offered them coffee which they both accepted. “Alright now, Detective Starsky, tell me what happened.” Detective Penn said as he sat down across from them.
“I was waiting outside on Hutch; he was talking to his girlfriend inside the building when I saw this car moving very slowly up the street. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if people hadn’t been honking. The windows were tinted so darkly that I couldn’t see who or how many were in the car. The windows on the passenger’s side came down, the barrels of two machine guns poked out and that was when all hell broke loose.”
Penn was rapidly taking notes; he occasionally would nod his head, “What was the color and make of the car?”
Starsky closed his eyes and tried to picture the slow moving vehicle in his mind, “I think it might have been gray and it was beat up, older. As for the make I don’t know, but it was a large car.”
“You’re one lucky son of a bitch,” Penn said folding the cover closed on his notebook. “Could I have a team take a look at your car, I understand it was shot up.”
Starsky sighed, “Yeah...again…sure you can look at it. It’s out in the parking lot, you can’t miss it.” This hadn’t been the first or probably the last time that his car had taken the brunt of somebody’s fire power. Starsky pulled out his car keys and slid them across the table to Penn.
“It’s the red job with the white strip,” Hutch described, surprised that Starsky had just relinquished the keys to his precious car.
“I’ll get these back to you,” Penn said taking the keys and leaving.
“Are you sure you are alright?” Hutch asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You just gave you car keys to a stranger; you don’t even let me touch your car keys.” Hutch joked.
Starsky looked at Hutch, “Now that’s not true, I have let you even drive a few times. Besides what more can be done to her? By the way do you have Earl’s phone number?”
“I would have thought you would have had that number memorized by now.” Hutch answered. “It’s at my desk.”
As they were walking back to the squad room Hutch told Starsky about his plans with Tonya. “So what was what the powwow was all about? Looked like you guys were fighting, that was why I didn’t come in.”
“I told her that I couldn’t go, but now…I don’t know, things are different.” Hutch said. “Crap like this makes you realize sometimes you just have to go for it.”
“You two should go, don’t let me hold you up, I’ll be fine, you know that.” Starsky said.
“I want you to take some time off too Starsk, I know all this has really shaken you up.”
“I’m fine.” Starsky shrugged off his friend’s concern. “Somebody has to hold down the fort while you are gone.” Hutch frowned but didn’t say anything more. He was wondering if maybe Tonya could score a third ticket or maybe he would just buy one for his friend.
“Hey what about Danny, are you going to see her again?”
“You make it sound like we were out on a date last night,” Starsky snapped without meaning too, he was still on edge.
“I just meant…” Hutch began but Starsky interrupted him.

“I know what you meant, listen I’m sorry Hutch, I just haven’t had much sleep.” Starsky said giving his friend a smile. “Besides I didn’t get her number or address, I just know she hasn’t been here too long. I bet she will move back home to the south after this.”
“You seem to know enough about her,” Hutch joked.
Starsky gave him another smile this one was more strained. “Well she talked a lot to me when we were waiting on the vic…” he started to say victim but the victim had a name. “…Marcy’s husband, I really feel for him, it was their little girl’s birthday yesterday.”
“Yeah. I know, you told me.”
“Did I?”
“Yeah, yesterday.”
“Oh.”
“Starsky it’s ok to be affected by all this,” Hutch said as the entered the squad room. Danny was sitting in Starsky’s chair; Hutch nudged Starsky, “I think she found you.”
“Uh?” Starsky asked confused, he hadn’t seen the young woman yet. Hutch jerked his head toward their desks. Starsky instantly perked up and picked up his pace, arriving at his desk he said, “Danny is everything alright?”
Danny jumped at the sound of his voice; she had been staring at her hands debating if she should leave before the detective came back. It was too late now; she stood up and gave Starsky a shy smile. “I just wanted to thank you for staying with me and all.”
“Hey it was no problem, really.” Starsky said modestly.
“I don’t know how many people would have done that for a total stranger,” Danny said as she took his hand. “Let me take you to lunch.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Starsky said. He started to say he was just doing his job but he knew that wasn’t true. Waiting in airport waiting rooms was not in his job description unless he was there to arrest somebody.
Danny slipped her hand from his and sighed, “Okay, I just…”
“Are you sure this isn’t anything wrong?”
“Well it’s just…” Danny hesitated again. Dammit she thought to her self just say it. “I just don’t want to be alone.” There she had finally said it.
“Where is Richard?” Starsky asked.
“Making arrangements for Marcy and Sara’s funeral, he just didn’t seem to want me around. We really don’t know each other all that well. I haven’t made any friends here yet. I have been so busy looking for a place to live, starting my new job and spending time with Marcy that…that…” She stopped again. “I’m sorry, this isn’t your problem.”
As she turned to leave Starsky grabbed her hand, “Hey, how about if I take YOU to lunch, uh? Hutch and I know a great place if you don’t mind having two dates.” He winked at her then looked at Hutch, who nodded his approval. They had to take Hutch’s junker since Penn’s men were still going over Starsky’s car. When they arrived at The Pit’s, Hutch slipped in first to clue Huggy Bear into who the young woman was that was with Starsky so that he didn’t make any of his remarks about Starsky’s date.

Danny was charmed by Huggy who was now on his best behavior and insisted that her meal was on the house. “This is so nice of you all,” Danny said, she had a slight southern drawl that Starsky hadn’t noticed until lunch.
“It’s our pleasure,” Hutch assured her.
“And I want to thank for letting me borrow Dave last night Hutch, I know he would have rather been with you.” Danny said intuitively, Starsky had never actually come out and said that he was worried about Hutch but she could sense it.
“I would say it was a worthy cause and Tonya will be out of the hospital day after tomorrow.”
“Are you two leaving then?” Starsky asked.

“Probably not until next week, I still have to talk to Dobey and I want to make sure she is rested up for the trip.” Hutch answered.
“Where are you and your girlfriend going?” Danny wanted to know.
“Cancun, she owns the travel agency where…” Hutch trailed off.
“That’s really nice.” Danny said and they all let the subject drop.
When they were finished with lunch and ready to leave, Hutch asked Danny, “Is there some where we can drop you?”
“You can take me back to the station with you, I left my car there.”
“Your chariot awaits my Lady,” Starsky made a grand sweep with his arm toward the door.
Danny giggled as Hutch rolled his eyes. He could tell that Starsky was really starting to like the young woman named Danny. It was Starsky that noticed the car first, he caught it out of the corner of his eye and this time he didn’t hesitate or make a mistake. He shoved Danny and Hutch to the ground and yelled for everybody surrounding them to get down. Only moments after they hit the ground a spray of bullets pelted the building fronts. The sound of shattering glass and screams filled the air. Starsky could feel Danny sobbing under his body.
As soon as the two detectives heard the car squeal away they were on their feet with guns drawn. “Was it the same car?” Hutch asked as he brushed glass from his jacket. Starsky leaned over and pulled Danny to her feet, she clung to him sobbing.
“Same car.” He said through clinch teeth.
“Is everybody alright?” Hutch called to the people that were starting to get up from the sidewalk. Everybody nodded as they too, brushed shattered glass from their clothing. Sirens could be heard in the distance, someone must have called for help. Starsky leaned into Hutch’s car through the broken passenger’s window and grabbed the microphone.
“Yeah this is Zebra Three; you get a hold of Detective Penn and tell him to get down here.” He gave the address of Huggy’s bar then tossed the mic back into the seat. “Are you getting the feeling that these drive bys aren’t so random?” Starsky said to Hutch.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Hutch said shaking his head at the damage to his car. Earl was going to have his work cut out for him. “Who did we piss off now?”
“Are you saying somebody is trying to kill you?” Danny asked.
“Seems a little funny that we have been involved in two drive by shootings in two days.” Starsky answered her.
Detective Penn was there with in less than ten minutes with his note pad, “Is that all that man does is take notes?” Hutch whispered to Starsky. They had taken Danny back into the Pit’s and left her in Huggy Bear’s care.
“Where is this going to get us?” Starsky said a little louder than he meant too.
“This gets us closer to the finding out who did this. I take this information back to my headquarters where I put it all together to figure out just which gang this is.” Penn said snapping the notebook shut. “You are sure it’s the same car?”
“Yes and I don’t think this is a gang, I think this is somebody out to get Hutch and me.” Starsky answered angrily. “We need to get back to the station so that we can try to figure out who the hell is after us.”
“I’m going to need your car Detective Hutchinson.” Penn was clearly unaffected by Starsky’s anger.
“How the hell are we going to get back to the station?” Hutch wanted to know.
“I’m sure you can catch a ride in one of the squads.” Penn said turning his back on them.
“This is a bunch of crap,” Starsky said not bothering to keep his voice down.
“Go get Danny,” Hutch said as he went to bum a ride from one of the uniformed officers.
“Christ, are you sure?” Dobey asked when his detectives told him about the second shooting.

“Just doesn’t look like coincidence to us, Cap.” Hutch said
“No, I guess not,” Dobey sighed, “But who would do this?”
“That’s our job to find out.” Starsky said. “What I want to know is how they knew where we were going to be? Stopping at Tonya’s was pretty much a spur of the moment thing. And lunch today? We had no plans until Danny showed up.”
“Danny?” Dobey asked
“The young woman who’s sister was killed yesterday.”
“I see. Well maybe you have a tail.” The captain suggested.
“I guess anything is possible.” Hutch said.
Starsky got up, “I’m going to get Danny to her car.”
“Keep your eyes open Starsk,” Hutch advised.


                                                                                                Chapter Five

Danny pulled into the driveway of her sister’s house; Richard’s car was in the garage, the house was dark except for the porch light around back. Danny got out of her car and followed a cobblestone path to the fence that surrounded the built in pool. She knocked on the gate then opened it; she closed the gate behind her and walked toward the pool. She was startled to see Richard sitting in one of the lounge chairs with a drink in his hand.
“Richard?” Danny said approaching her brother-in-law. “It’s Danny.”
“Danny,” Richard held up his drink, “Want one?”
“No thanks,” Danny sat on the edge of another lounge close to Richard. “Did you get the funeral arrangements made?”
“There’s not going to be a funeral.”
“Excuse me?” Danny got quickly to her feet. Something was making her uneasy; maybe it was the coldness in Richard’s voice, the dark night or the fact that she was witness to a drive by earlier.
“I said there isn’t going to be a funeral,” He took a sip of his drink. “I’m leaving for London day after tomorrow. I have a few things to wrap up here, and then I’m leaving for good.”
“I still don’t see why we can’t have a funeral.” Danny persisted.
“Because I don’t want one,” he said calmly.
“I do, she was my sister and I want to say goodbye.”
“Well it’s not really up to you is it?”
Danny was taken aback by his attitude; he had always been nice to her in the past. “But…”
“If there is anything of Marcy’s you would like please feel free to go inside and get it before I have everything packed up.” Richard hadn’t taken his eyes off the pool.
“T-thank you.” Danny said as she walked quickly toward the gate; she stopped and looked up at the dark house then continued to her car. She almost expected Richard to run after her and…and…she didn’t know what came after and. All she wanted to do was get as far away from Richard and the house as she could.

It was nearly 1 a.m. and Starsky was sleeping soundly when knocking awoke him. He glanced at the clock then got out of bed, he felt like his head had just hit the pillow. “Yeah,” he called midway through the living room.
“Dave, its Danny.”
Starsky rush to the door and pulled it open, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah I guess,” She answered. “Can I come in?”
“I’m sorry, of course,” Starsky held the door open wider so that she could enter.
He started to turn on a light but Danny stopped him. “Please don’t.”
“What’s going on?” Starsky asked, glad that they had exchanged information before she had driven off that afternoon.
“I went to see Richard to find out when the funeral was. He’s not having one.” Danny said there was a catch in her voice.
“What? Why not?”
She shrugged in the darkness, “He said that he didn’t want to have one. He’s leaving to go back to London day after tomorrow.”
“Just what does Richard do?” Starsky asked.
“You know, I’m not really sure, all Marcy ever said was that he was away on business. He was away on business a lot. That was the biggest reason I moved out here. Marcy was always so lonely; she pretty much raised Sara by herself.”
“I know this has to be hard, isn’t there anything you can do? What about the rest of your family?” Starsky asked.
“We have a few cousins in Florida and that’s about it. Mom and Dad died several years ago, all we had was each other.” Danny told him as a fresh batch of tears welled up in her eyes.
“You want to stay here tonight?” Starsky asked, hoping he wasn’t sounding too forward.
“If you don’t mine,” she answered without any uncertainty in her voice. “I’m afraid to go back to my apartment.”
Starsky got up to get some sheets and a pillow from the closet but he stopped short when she said she was afraid. “Afraid of what?”
She gave a nervous laugh, “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what I’m afraid of, I’m just afraid.”
“Well you did get shot at today, that is enough to make anybody scared.” He pulled the sheets down. “You take my bed I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“I wouldn’t hear of it. I come wake you up in the middle of the night, I’m sure not taking your bed too. I’ll be fine right here on the couch. Starsky was too tried to argue, he handed her the sheets then grabbed a pillow.
“You sure?”
“Very,” She smiled at him in the dark.

The smell of breakfast woke Starsky before his alarm went off. He jumped in the shower and by the time he was finished dressing Danny was putting plates on the table. “Hope you are hungry.”
“Starved, but you didn’t have to do this.”
“I think I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me a thing.” Danny jumped as there was a loud knock on the door. She almost dropped a plate of bacon she had been carrying.
“It’s just Hutch,” Starsky said getting up to answer the door.
Hutch grinned at him as he opened the door, “I thought I was in the wrong place, what smells so good.”
“Hi, Hutch,” Danny called as she put another plate on the table, “Come join us.”
“You playing house now?” Hutch whispered, hiking his eye brows at his partner.
“She showed up late last night, scared.”
“Scared of what.”
“She said she didn’t know but I guess if anybody has a right to be afraid its Danny.” Starsky said going back to his meal. “Sit down,” Danny said coming in from the kitchen carrying a coffee pot.
“I didn’t know you had this much food in your place Starsk.” Hutch commented as he helped himself to scrambled eggs.
Danny gave a little laugh, “Thank heavens for mini marts.”
“I figured as much,” Hutch joked.

Hutch and Starsky headed to the station and Danny to her apartment. A feeling of dread filled her as she pulled into her marked parking spot. She sat in her car for a few minutes before getting out and going up the stairs to her second floor apartment. It was a tiny one bedroom job but she didn’t need much room. She had just been glad that she had been able to find one she could afford.
California was more expensive than life in South Carolina. Danny wasn’t sure what she was going to do now. She had no reason to stay but the move had nearly wiped out her bank account. It would be months before she would be able to afford to move back. She keyed open her door and was shocked to discover that somebody had broken in and trashed her whole place. Everything was dumped in the floor, pictures were smashed as well as the few knickknacks that she had. Danny stood rooted in the doorway taking in all the damage; she started to enter the room then wondered if the person might still be in her apartment. She listened intently and didn’t hear anything, but perhaps they were hiding and waiting for her come in so they could hurt her. Danny backed out of the door and ran down the stairs.

“Listen,” Starsky stormed at Detective Penn, “I don’t think this is a gangland thing.”
“And you are an expert?” Penn shot back; it was the first time that either detective had seen the man lose his cool. “Do you know how many years I have been on this task force? How many gang members I have caught and put in jail for drive by’s?”
“I don’t doubt your competency, I’m just saying that I think it’s highly unlikely that this whole thing is a coincidence,” Starsky said trying to keep HIS cool.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Hutch said. “I tell you what Detective Penn, why don’t you do your job, we will do ours and maybe we can help each other out. What do you say?”
The man ran his hand over his face, his frustration clearly written there. “Fine, fine.”
“What a jackass,” Starsky said when they were out of ear shot of Penn. “He just won’t listen.”
“Hum sounds like somebody else I know,” Hutch quipped.
Starsky turned on his partner, “Are you telling me you think these two shootings are random?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s just you don’t always listen when people try to tell you things either.” Hutch clapped Starsky on the back and continued down the hall.
A detective from burglary caught them in the hall. “Hey you guys know a woman named Danielle Stratford.”
Hutch shook his head no but Starsky gasped, “What happened to her?”
“Her apartment was robbed. She was asking for you but we didn’t know where you were.”
“Is she here?” Starsky wanted to know. He turned to his puzzled partner, “Its Danny.”
Hutch frowned, Danny sure was having her share of trouble, he suddenly was having distrust for the young woman. She wouldn’t be the first stray that Starsky and taken under his wing and gotten screwed over because of it.
“She is down in my office making a statement,” Detective Mason answered.
“I’ll be back,” Starsky said as he followed Mason down the hall.
“Starsk,” Hutch called after him but he knew it was no use. Instead of joining his partner Hutch went into the squad room and to his desk.
Danny was talking to an officer who was furiously typing when Starsky walked into the room. The moment she saw him Danny jumped to her feet and went to Starsky who wrapped his arms around here. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I didn’t catch them in the act but whoever it was sure trashed my apartment.” Danny melted in to Starsky. “What the hell is going on, why is all this happening to me?”
“I don’t…know,” Starsky pulled Danny away from him and looked at her then said. “You finish with the report then come find me; I’ll be at my desk.”
“What’s wrong?” Danny asked; she could almost see the wheels turning in his head.
“Just finish the report.” Starsky ordered and left the room.
Hutch was sitting at his desk when Starsky pushed the doors open to the squad room. Hutch looked up and was surprised to see that Danny wasn’t with him.
“Wasn’t it her?”
“Yeah, it was Danny, but I left her to finish giving her report,” Starsky said sitting on the edge of Hutch’s desk. “I wanted to run something by you before I said anything to Danny.”
Hutch sighed and shook his head, “Right spill it.”
“What if whoever this is isn’t after us, but Danny?”
“How do you figure?”
“It was something that Danny said to me the day her sister died. It just clicked.
She said that the only reason she hadn’t been killed in the first drive by was because she was late.” Starsky said.
“And the only reason you weren’t killed was by the grace of God. What’s your point?” Hutch asked.
“You don’t find it funny that there have been three incidents in the last 48 hours all surrounding one person.”
“Remember we were there twice. Danny’s apartment getting broken into was just a coincidence.” Hutch said, growing tired of the conversation.
“Hutch I don’t think so. I just have a gut feeling that something is going on and it has to do with Danny.” Starsky persisted. “She was supposed to meet her sister and niece to celebrate the girl’s birthday. Danny was late and now they are dead but she is alive. We were outside of Huggy’s and the same shooters come by and shoot up the block? Then her apartment is broken into? Come on, Hutch.”
Hutch sighed again, “What makes you think those bullets weren’t for us?
“They missed.”
Hutch shook his head; he knew there was no reasoning with his partner when he was like this.
“Are you fighting about me?”
Both detectives jumped, they hadn’t seen Danny enter the squad room. “Danny, did you get the report all taken care of?” Starsky asked.
“Yeah.” She said “You think somebody might be after me?” She had picked up a little of their conversation.
“We are just trying to cover all the bases.” Starsky said. “Was anything taken from your apartment?”
“Nothing important, well not to anybody else, all that was missing was my day planner.” Danny said, “My whole live is in that book.”
Hutch and Starsky looked at each other; suddenly Hutch thought that his partner might be on the right track after all.



                                                                                        Chapter Six


“But why would somebody be after me?” Danny wanted to know, “I’m a nobody, I have a boring job answering phones for an answering service. The most exciting thing I ever did in my life was pick up and move here and now I’m all by myself and no money to go back home where I at least have friends.” Danny took a deep breath and looked at the two of them.
“You have us.” Hutch said surprising Starsky. “Ok, let’s go on the idea that somebody is after you, you can’t go back to your apartment. We need to put you in protective custody.”
“She can stay with me,” Starsky offered.
“And what if we are wrong and somebody is after us?” Hutch asked his partner.
“If I have any say in this I would rather be with you two than be stuck with a stranger.” Danny gave them a weak smile.
“Okay, then it’s settled.” Starsky said. Then he asked Danny, “Do you remember what was in your date book? Might give a clue as to where they might try to get to you next?”
“I did have that I was meeting Marcy but they stole it after she was dead.” Danny said as she tried to remember other things that she had written down. She had to admit there wasn’t much. No lunch dates with friends. No doctor appointments or evenings out, a plumber was supposed to be coming later in the week that was about it. “There just isn’t much in there, like I told you, I just moved here.”
“So, how did they know you were meeting yours sister if they didn’t have the book yet?” Starsky wondered.
“Maybe SHE was being followed.” Hutch said.
“But then they would have known she wasn’t with her sister.” Starsky theorized.
“Oh my god,” Danny gasped, “What if they were after Marcy?
“This is crazy.” Starsky admitted. “I think we need to talk to Richard Davis, maybe he knows why somebody would want to kill his wife and child.”
“I’m coming with you.” Danny said.

They pulled into the driveway of the Davis’ residence; it was clear that nobody was home; all the doors to the three car garage were standing open. The house was huge, the lawn perfectly manicured, not a weed anywhere to be seen, Richard Davis did well for his family.
Starsky parked his car in the circular driveway near the front door, the three of them got out and walked to the door. Danny depressed the door bell, they waited, when no one answered she pounded on the door and yelled, “Richard, are you here?” The door opened a crack; whoever had been the last one out hadn’t secured the door. “Richard?”
Hutch grabbed Danny as he pulled his gun from under his coat. “Get behind us.” Starsky pulled out his gun also. They stepped into the foyer, it was devoid of furniture, and they quickly discovered that was the case in the rest of the downstairs.
“He is leaving for London tomorrow,” Danny said. “How in the world did he get everything out of here so quickly?”
“With enough money you can do anything.” Hutch said holstering his gun. He glanced out back; there was an empty liquor bottle with a glass next to it sitting on a small table.
Danny looked out also, “That was where Richard was sitting when I came to see him last night.”
Starsky opened the patio door and went out; he looked at the large pool then down at the bottle and glass. He pulled a napkin he had in his coat pocket out and picked up the glass. “I think it’s about time we find out just who Richard Davis is.”
While the detectives were looking around the back yard Danny crept back into the house, she couldn’t believe everything was gone. She headed up stairs hoping that perhaps there were still some things there. Maybe she should have taken Richard up on his offer last night to take some of Marcy’s things. But Danny had the feeling if she had done that; she might not be there now. Something felt almost evil in the house. She silently walked down the upstairs hallway pushing open each door, but like downstairs, all the rooms were empty. Only the curtains still hung covering the windows.
Danny’s foot struck something in the last bedroom she checked, it was Sara’s room, pink ballerina curtains covered the windows, the only thing telling it had been a child’s room. Automatically she reached for the light switch so she could see what she kicked but the power was off. Danny walked into the room straining to see in the dim light, searching for what went skating across the floor. Finally, in a far corner she found what she had kicked. She knew what it was before her hand even touched the object; it was Sara’s favorite rag doll. Danny dropped to her knees and picked up the doll holding it to her chest, tears spilled down her cheeks for the little girl who would never grow up.
“Let’s go Danny,” Starsky called when they re-entered the house. They found nothing else in the yard. He looked around but there was no sign of her.
“I’ll check the car,” Hutch said striding toward the front door.
Starsky checked the rooms downstairs then looked up the grand staircase to the upper floor. “Danny?”
“She’s not in the car,” Hutch said as he came back in the front door.
“She isn’t down here, I’m going to check upstairs,” Starsky said as he mounted the first step. Hutch followed, they cautiously climbed the stairs and made their way down the hall checking all the rooms.
As the detectives neared the end of the hall they could hear muffled sobs coming from the last bedroom. Starsky ran the remaining few feet to the room, he stopped short when he saw Danny sitting on the floor clutching something to her and crying. “Danny, are you alright?” Starsky went to her, kneeling next to her.
She looked up at him, “This was Sara’s room.” Then she held out the doll. “I found this on the floor. She named it Danny after me; I brought it to her when I moved here. She loved this doll.”
Starsky stood and pulled Danny to her feet, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Back at the station, Hutch put a rush job on the glass they had found at the Davis house. They needed some answers and they needed them now. Time was running out, if Richard Davis was getting ready to leave the country they didn’t have enough evidence at this point to stop him. He was just a grieving husband and father wanting to leave bad memories behind him.
The three waited impatiently in the hallway for news on the prints. Starsky went to get them coffee from a machine down the hall, Danny dosed on a bench and Hutch paced, running through everything through his head that they did know. Nothing was making too much sense. A street full of dead people just to kill one woman or a woman and her child? Was Danny just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or maybe somebody thought that Marcy knew something and shared it with Danny.
“Here,” Starsky whispered not wanting to wake Danny as he handed the hot coffee to Hutch.
After taking a sip Hutch said, “This is awful.” Starsky nodded in agreement but kept drinking. “Damn, what is taking them so long?”
“Patience, my friend,” Starsky answered.
“I just have a feeling we are running out of time don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do,” Starsky sat down next to Danny’s sleeping form and put her coffee on the floor next to the bench they were sitting on.
After ten more minutes of waiting a young man in a white lab coat came down the hall toward them. He had a piece of paper in his hand. He held it out to the detectives. “Here you go, sorry it took so long but I had to go international.”
“Thanks, Leon,” Hutch said accepting the paper.
“Anytime,” Leon started back down the hall.
Hutch glanced at the paper then called to the retreating white coat, “No photo?”
“It won’t be here until tomorrow. It’s coming from London.” He said. “I’ll bring it to you as soon as it comes in.”
“Thanks,” Hutch said as he began reading the information typed on the page.
“Damn luck,” Starsky said. “We need a photo.”
“Especially since this says that the fingerprints belong to a Carl Freon. He is wanted for international gun trafficking, drugs, three possible murders; the list goes on and on. He is on the ten most wanted lists in five states and overseas.”
“I guess we might as well get some sleep until we can find out what this guy looks like. The description doesn’t match Davis but your appearance is easy enough to change.” Hutch said.
Starsky touched Danny on the shoulder. “Let’s get you to bed.”
She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. “Did you find out who the fingerprints belong too?”
Nodding Starsky said, “Somebody named, Carl Freon.”
“I don’t know anybody by that name. And I’m pretty sure that Marcy never said the name either. What did he do?” Hutch read off part of what Freon was wanted for. “He sounds very dangerous. Why would he be at their house?”
“Danny we are pretty sure that Richard Davis is Carl Freon.” Starsky said as they walked toward the exit. “We just can’t prove it yet.”
“That is just crazy!”
“And what has happened to you in the last forty-eight hours is sane?” Hutch wanted to know. “We are getting a photo in the morning, then we should know for sure.”
“But why would he kill Marcy and Sara, they were his family.” Danny wanted to know.
“My best guess, they were nothing more than a cover. There was probably a lot of heat on him so he dropped out of sight for a few years. Maybe he thought Marcy found out something, possibly said something to you. Who knows? But I promise you we will find out.” Hutch said.

In the parking lot the detectives parted ways, Starsky and Danny climbed in his car and headed toward his apartment. “You want to run by your place and get some things.”
Danny stifled a yawn, “I’m so tired I could just sleep in the back seat. How about tomorrow?”
“You got a deal.” Starsky answered as he pointed the Torino in the direction of home.
It was late when Starsky parked the car, he ran around to get the door for Danny then they walked up the sidewalk together. “You hungry?”
“Actually, I am,” She admitted, not remembering the last time she had eaten.
“I’ll call for a pizza, how does that sound?” Starsky said as he put his key in the door. But before she could answer, the door flew open and Starsky was pulled inside by two shadowy figures. The detective tried to struggle against his assailants but with the element of surprise on their side they quickly knocked Starsky out and dumped him in a heap on the floor.
Danny tried to run but they were on her in a matter of moments, they gagged her and tied her hands behind her back then shoved her into a waiting car.



                                                                                Chapter Seven



Starsky wasn’t sure how long he had been unconscious when he slowly opened his eyes; it was dark in his apartment with only a shaft of moonlight coming through his open front door. He knew before he even called her name that Danny was gone. One of their questions had been answered, it was Danny that they were after. But still the question of who lingered, although Starsky was pretty sure it was Davis.
He groaned as he tried to sit up, the room spun and he brought his hand to the back of his head, a good size knot had formed and Starsky figured that his assailants had hit him with the butt of a gun. He tried to push himself to his feet but was unsuccessful; the room spun again and he felt as though he might pass out, his first thought was that he probably had a concussion. Starsky crawled, feeling his way along the couch, until he came to the end table where the phone rested. He pulled it from the table, leaned against the couch and dialed Hutch’s number.
Hutch was in an uneasy sleep, when the phone rang. Without opening his eyes he grabbed the receiver, “Yeah?” There was no response from the other end. “Hello!” He was about to hang up when he heard his name.
“Hutch,” Starsky croaked into the phone.
“Starsky?” Hutch said coming fully awake. “What’s wrong?”
“Hutch, they took Danny.”
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Who took her?”
“I-I don’t…”
The sound of the phone hitting the floor came through the ear piece of Hutch’s phone. “Starsk?….Starsky! Hang on, buddy, I’m on my way.”
When Hutch arrived at his partner’s apartment he found the front door open and Starsky laying on the floor behind the couch, the phone buzzed angrily from not being hung up. Hutch hung up the phone as he reached for Starsky. His partner groaned when Hutch sat him up against the couch. “Starsky,” Hutch snapped on a light and quickly examined him for bullet wounds. He breathed a little easier at not finding one then he felt Starsky’s head and found the large knot, a small amount of blood was oozing from the bump.
“Come on, Starsk,” Hutch said patting him on the cheek, “Wake up.” Starsky groaned again but didn’t open his eyes. Hutch left his partner for a few minutes in order to get a cold, wet, wash rag. But the wet rag didn’t do anything to revive Starsky. Hutch grabbed the phone and called for an ambulance.

“Let go of me,” Danny demanded of her two captors as they jerked her from the back seat of the car. They pushed her toward a door that looked as though it might be a service door to a restaurant. One of the two men opened the door while the other pushed her inside. Instantly the smell of food filled Danny’s nose, waiters and cooks bustled around her but nobody said or did anything to help the woman with her hands bound behind her back.
“Somebody, help me,” She called as one man dressed in a white apron squeezed passed her and the two large men that had shoved her into the car. He didn’t acknowledge that she had said anything, nor did he look at her. He just went about his business as if it were an everyday occurrence to have someone being held against their will in the kitchen.
“Move,” the large man that had opened the door hissed in her ear and he nudged her in the back toward another door that led them out of the kitchen and up a fight of stairs. Danny could tell that the restaurant they were in was a fancy one by the way the employees were dressed. She wondered who the two men were taking her to see.
When they got to the top of the stairs there was a hallway with several doors. The second man rapped on one of the doors with his knuckles, a muffled voice from inside told them to enter. Danny was thrust in before them, then the two men shut the door and stood guard in front of it. She stood in a lavish office, there was a large desk directly in front of her, and a high backed desk chair was turned so that she couldn’t see who was sitting in it.
“You just couldn’t keep your nose out of our business could you?” The voice emanated from the chair.
Danny’s blood ran cold for she knew who the voice belonged to. How could he have done this to her family…to his family, people he was supposed to love and protect? A single tear ran down her face as she said, “Hello, Richard.”
The chair swung around, Richard sat there in his immaculate gray pin striped suit and perfectly groomed hair. His face showed no emotion as he looked at his sister-in-law. “So, when did you figure it out?”
“For sure? Just now Richard, I just couldn’t think the worst of a man that my sister loved enough to marry.”
“Awwww, isn’t that sweet,” Richard said in a monotone voice.
“How could you do that, how could you kill your wife and daughter?” Danny wanted to know stepping closer to his desk. She had nothing to lose, everybody she loved was dead. Dave and Hutch had no idea where she was, she knew she was dead.
“They were nothing more than a cover. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was looking for a woman I could use to disappear for a while. There were too many people looking for me. So, I changed my name, my appearance, found a wife and started a new life for myself. As for the child, that was your sister’s idea or trick if you will. I thought she was on birth control, I never wanted a kid, it was just one more thing that had to be taken care of.”
“But why kill them, why not just leave?” Danny glared at the man she now hated.
“I didn’t want to have somebody calling the police because I was missing…looking for me.” Richard said. “If you hadn’t moved here, you wouldn’t have even been involved in any of this.”
“My sister was lonely because you were never around. That was why I came here.”
“Again, how sweet, but it has cost you your life now.” He pierced her with his dark lifeless eyes.
“You are a soulless man.” Danny said.
Richard only shrugged at her words then he looked at the men standing guard behind Danny, “Did you kill the cop she was with.” They shook their heads. “Find them both and kill them.”
“NO!” Danny yelled and lunged for her brother-in-law. One of the oversized men grabbed her arms and held them behind her.
“Please with the dramatics.” Richard waved his hand at her. “You really don’t think that I’m going to leave any loose ends after this entire thing do you?”
“But they weren’t involved!” She screamed at him trying to pull loose of the meaty hands.
“They became involved the moment they helped you.” Richard shook his head at her stupidity.

“I have got to get out of here!” Hutch heard Starsky’s voice from down the hall. He had called Dobey to let him know what was going on.
“Detective Starsky,” the doctor said patiently, “I would not recommend that, you have a pretty severe concussion.”
“I will sign whatever you want, I have to find Danny,” Starsky swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, his hospital gown gapped in the back but he quickly grabbed the two sides of the cloth and held them together. “Get me my clothes.
“Detective Hutchinson, will you talk some sense into your partner,” The exasperated doctor said as Hutch entered the room.
“Come on, Starsk, get back in bed.” Hutch encouraged but he knew his partner and knew his words were falling on deaf ears.
“Hutch, we have got to find Danny or she is dead and you know it.” Starsky said as he searched the room for his clothes. He stopped for a moment as the room spun; he took a deep breath and continued looking for his clothes.”
The doctor shook his head and told the nurse to give the detective his clothes. Then he held out a clipboard to Starsky, “Sign this release form but this is against doctor’s orders.”
“I understand,” Starsky said as he scribbled his name on the form. A nurse was standing in front of him holding his clothes; he grabbed them from her and began quickly putting them on.
“So, where do we start?” Hutch asked, watching Starsky step into his jeans, he could tell that his partner was still dizzy but it was no use to try and stop him.
Starsky perched on the edge of the exam table as he put his tennis shoes on. “I will bet it was Richard Davis that had her taken, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t one of the guys, they were huge from what I could tell in the dark, Davis isn’t that large. His house is empty; we didn’t find as much as a business card. Only that doll that Danny picked up.”
“Why don’t we start at his neighbor’s house, maybe they will at least know where he works?” Hutch suggested.
“Can’t hurt, we need to call the station and see if they can’t put a rush on that photo of Carl Freon.”

Terry Garner grumbled at being awakened out of a sound sleep, the hands on the clock said it was nearly 3 a.m. His wife poked him as the pounding on their front door continued. Terry threw on a robe, stuffed his feet into slippers and made his way downstairs, turning on lights as he went. “Yeah, who is it?” he yelled through the door.
“Police!”
“Show me your badge,” he said making no move to open the door. He looked out the peephole and saw a badge being held up so that he could see it. Terry unlatched the chain on the door, and then turned the knob. “What is the meaning of this, waking a man out of a sound sleep?”
“I’m very sorry Mr….” Starsky stopped not knowing the man’s name.
“Garner, Terry Garner.”
“Mr. Garner, we are sorry to wake you up but this is really important. Can we come in?”
Signing, Terry opened the door so that Hutch and Starsky could enter. Teresa Garner stood at the top of the stairs clutching her robe closed. “What is it?”
“Nothing, go back to bed, Tee,” He said using his pet name for her. “We can talk in here.” He addressed the detectives as he led them into the den. He turned on the light, then confronted them. “Now, what is this about?”
“We need to know what you know about your neighbors the Davis’,” Hutch said.
He shook his head as sadness filled his eyes. “What a shame that was, poor Sara and Marcy, she was such a lovely woman and a real good mother and Sara, sweet child. Have you caught the bastards that killed them?”
“No, I can’t say that we have,” Starsky said. “We are looking for Mr. Davis, he has moved everything out of the house and we can’t seem to find him anywhere. Do you, by chance, know where he works?”
“I can’t say that I do,” Terry said, “Richard was never the friendly sort and he was rarely home. Marcy and Sara spent many hours with us and then her sister, uh…Danny, that was her name, showed up about a month ago. She was as sweet as her sister. “
“We really need to find him, it’s very important,” Hutch said. “If you can think of anything, please give us a call.” He handed the man a card with their number on it.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t be of more help,” Terry said as he followed them to the front door.
“Wait a minute,” Teresa called down the stairs from where she had been listening. “There was something odd when Richard had the house emptied.” She came to stand on the bottom step. “I didn’t really think all that much about it then, but now it just really strikes me as funny.”
“What is it Tee?” Terry asked her.
“The truck that the movers were tossing stuff into was a catering truck.”
“A catering truck?” Starsky asked. “That’s a kind of odd thing to move your stuff in.”
“That was what caught my attention and as I watched these guys were just throwing stuff in, most of it wasn’t even in boxes. It was as they were tossing stuff in a dumpster.” Teresa told them.
The two detectives looked at each other. “Do you remember the name of the catering company?”
“Yes, because it’s also a fancy restaurant, Terry and I went there once for our anniversary. It’s called Green’s Roadhouse, not a fancy name but very fancy food and prices. I didn’t even realize they did catering until I saw the truck.”
“Thank you very much, Mrs. Garner. “ Starsky said taking her hands.
“I hope you catch them.” She called after the detectives as the hurried out to Hutch’s beat up car.



                                                                                   Chapter Eight



Danny glared at Richard Davis; there was no fear in her eyes, only rage and hate for the man whom had killed her sister and niece. She still had her arms pinned behind her back by the oversized bodyguard; he had kept a tight hold on her to keep Danny from lunging over the desk at Richard again. Richard looked back at her, his gaze unwavering; he nodded to the man holding her. “Get her out of here, put her in the truck then take care of this whole mess. And don’t forget those two cops, Starsky and Hutch.”
The bodyguard nearly yanked Danny’s arms out of their sockets as he pulled her from the room. She didn’t say another word to Richard but she maintained eye contact with him until she was out in the hall and the door was shut. “You are one ballsy chick,” The second man said. “I have never seen anybody stand up to Mr. Wright, not even a guy.”
“Can’t you guys find a better job than doing that scumbags dirty work?” Danny grunted out, the man’s grip was becoming painful but she would rather die than let on that she was being hurt. “If he is so great let him kill me, he is nothing but a coward hiding behind a desk.”
“Pipe down,” the man holding her said and squeezed her arms tighter behind her. Danny let out a little groan. The bodyguard laughed, “Don’t worry honey, it won’t hurt much longer.”
They went back the way they had come, down the stairs, through the kitchen, where still nobody made a move to stop them and back out into the alley. A truck was parked in the street; it said Green’s Roadhouse Catering on the side. The two men walked her around to the back of the truck and rolled up the back door, inside was a jumble of furniture, clothing, toys and other household items. It wasn’t until the men tossed Danny up into the truck that she realized it was things from her sister’s home.
“Please let me go,” Danny finally relenting in her tough act begged. “I promise I will go to my apartment pack a bag and be gone. Richard will never know you let me go.”
The two men looked at each other and started laughing. “You think for one minute we believe that?” one of them said.
They pulled the door down and latched it as Danny screamed at them to let her go. Then they went around, jumped into the catering truck and drove off.

“Here it is,” Starsky said; he was sitting in the passenger seat. They had both felt that it would be better for Hutch to drive since Starsky was still having dizzy spells. More than once on the way to the restaurant Hutch had told his partner he needed to be in the hospital.
As Hutch pulled up in front of the fancy restaurant, neither of them noticed the catering truck turning the corner in front of them. Ignoring the valet as they got out of the car, they headed toward the door. “Hey, your keys,” the valet called after them but they were already inside.
They didn’t stop until they reached the maitre d', “Where is Richard Davis?” Starsky demanded.
The man looked at his registration book, “I’m sorry, I don’t…”
Hutch interrupted the maitre d'. “No, he works here, probably the boss.”
“I’m sorry sir but I don’t know anybody by the name of Davis that works here.” He said beginning to look flustered and concerned about the two men before him. He put his hand on the telephone. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave now or I’ll call the police.”
“We are the police,” Hutch said whipping out his badge and sticking it under the man’s nose. “Where are the offices?”
“I-I,” The man stammered and looked around.
“We will have the health department here so fast it will make your head swim if you don’t tell us where we can find Richard Davis or maybe the name Carl Freon rings a bell.” Hutch said, hoping that tossing the name Carl Freon might get a reaction.
“Like I told you,” the maitre d’ said with out missing a beat, “We don’t have anybody here by that name.”
“We would like to take a look around ourselves, uh?” Starsky said pushing passed the man.
“The offices?” Hutch said as he picked up the receiver of the phone on the desk to prove to the man that he would make good on his threat of calling the health department.
The maitre d’ scowled at Hutch as he snatched the phone away from the detective, “Through the kitchen, up the back stairs.” He finally answered dropping the polite tone.
“And you won’t call up there and warn anybody, will you?” Starsky said coming up behind the man and breathing down his neck. “Because if you do, we will be back for you.”
The man backed away from the desk and held up his hands, “I won’t say a word.”
“Why don’t you take a walk,” Starsky said still at the man’s back.
“I can’t, we are getting ready to start the lunch rush,” the maitre d’ said dropping back into character.
“Fine, “Hutch said, “But just remember, we will be back if we think you warned them.” With that final threat Hutch followed Starsky through the dinning area and into the kitchen.
The kitchen was bustling with waiters, waitresses and cooks as they prepared for the on slot of hurried lunchtime customers. Starsky nearly collided with a cook as he carried a crate of tomatoes to the sink. “Watch it,” the man in white growled.
“Sorry,” Starsky said then asked. “Where are the stairs?”
The man pointed with a knife toward the far wall of the kitchen, “Through that door. But the boss man doesn’t like to be disturbed.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Starsky said as he motioned for Hutch.

Danny struggled to stand in the pitch black darkness of the truck, there was so much stuff tossed around it was hard to find a place to walk without stepping on something. As the truck began moving she was thrown from her feet and landed painfully on the corner of what she discovered, by feeling, was one of the end tables from her sister’s living room.
Danny felt the table as the truck lumbered its way up the road, finally she found where the drawer should have been but it was missing, it had probably fallen out when it was tossed into the truck. She began feeling around the bottom of the truck until she located the drawer, fortunately for her, the contents were still in the draw and she quickly found what she was looking for. Marcy always kept a flashlight in every drawer in case of a blackout. The thought made Danny smile, her sister had been afraid of the dark when she was a child and had never grown out of it.
She flicked on the light and shined it around the inside of the truck, hoping to find a way out. Danny quickly found that the only way out was the way she had come in and she knew that the two men had locked the door; that had been the first thing she had tried. As she waded though the belongings something cracked under her foot, Danny trained the flashlight on the object that she had stepped on. It was a wedding photo of Marcy and Richard, they looked so happy in the picture. Danny leaned against an up ended couch and thought about the day they had gotten married, they were so happy. Richard had been so loving and gentle with Marcy; they seemed so much in love. How could it all have been a game?
Danny threw the frame against the side of the truck shattering the glass further. “You bastard,” she raged as she picked up a lamp, also throwing it at the side truck. She kept up picking up objects and throwing them until she was exhausted, then she flopped down on a foot stool that was miraculously upright. Danny dropped her head in her hands and sobbed. She cried for her sister and her niece, for all the innocent people that had been killed because they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, for Dave and Hutch, who she knew were going to die just because they helped her and finally for herself.

Richard Davis knew the two cops were in the restaurant, he had closed circuit cameras trained on all entrances. He watched their exchange with the maitre d' wishing that he could hear what was being said. “Damn persistent cops,” he grumbled under his breath. When he saw that they were heading on through the dinning room he knew that he would have to be the one to take care of them. He was never above getting his hands dirty when need be, in fact, at times he enjoyed it. This was going to be one of the times, he would truly enjoy offing a couple of pigs that he knew would be coming up the stairs to his office shortly.
Quickly, Richard went to a closet in his office and pulled a dark sports bag from the floor; he placed it on his desk and carefully lifted out a small black box that had a light on it that glowed red when it was activated. He was going to blow them sky high along with the contents of his office while he escaped out the back way. He gave a small grin as the saying ‘killing two birds with one stone’ went though his mind. He was ready to blow this town anyway and get back to business. He had a ticket in his breast pocket for an 11 p. m. flight to London where he would disappear again and leave this whole mess behind him. Even if one of his employees talked, it wouldn’t make a difference, he would be long gone.

Starsky slowly crept up the flight of stairs with Hutch following, both had their guns drawn, when they reached the top step they saw light coming from one of the doors that was left ajar in the hallway. Cautiously, Starsky got to one side of the door while Hutch went to the other. Hutch, using the barrel of his gun, slid the door open more so that they could see inside. The office looked empty but they still proceeded with caution until they were sure they were alone.
“That little weasel,” Starsky exploded, referring to the maitre d’, “He warned him anyway.”
Hutch shook his head as he pointed to several monitors mounted on the wall. “He knew we were coming before we ever got into the building.” Hutch said. “Why don’t you pull all those tapes, Starsk, maybe they will give us some clues as to where Danny is?”
“We aren’t even sure if this is Richard Davis’ office, Hutch,” Starsky said as he started pulling the tapes.
“Don’t you think that catering truck out in front of his house was reason enough to suspect this is his office?” Hutch asked as he sat down in a black leather chair at the desk. Hutch scanned the contents on top of the desk, quickly noting there was nothing there to give them any clues to the exact owner of the desk. Then, he tried to open the long drawer in front of him but it only opened an inch or two. “Drawer is stuck,” Hutch said more to himself than his partner. Hutch tried to force the drawer open with no success so he looked under the desk to see what could be stopping it from opening. His eye caught a small black box with a red light shining brightly; suddenly the light began to flash. Hutch jumped up slamming the chair into the wall behind him. “STARSKY, GET OUT!” he yelled a warning as he almost hurdled the desk.
“What?” Starsky asked looking at his partner startled.
Hutch caught Starsky around the waist and propelled him out the door, Hutch scrambled to his feet out in the hall, “Bomb.” That was the only word he could get out before the blast knocked them backward down the stairs.


                                                                                      Chapter Nine



Patrons in the restaurant screamed and fled out the front door in a panic as the whole place shook from the blast. Large cracks appeared in the ceiling and it look as if it might collapse at any moment. The waitresses who were in the dinning room helped guide their customers out as the kitchen staff, who felt the blast the most, escaped out the back into the alley.
Hutch opened his eyes and found he was lying at the bottom of the stairs; his ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion. He quickly took inventory and found that aside from a few cuts and bruises he was fine, nothing broken. “Starsky?” he called out trying to find his partner in the cloud of dust and debris that had followed them down the steps.
“Yeah,” Starsky answered then followed it by a cough to clear his lungs.
“Are you okay?” Hutch felt around until his hand landed on a blue jean clad knee.
“I-I think so, but that sure didn’t help my head any,” Starsky said as he sat up on one of the steps.
“There sure isn’t any evidence left in that office,” Hutch sighed as he stood up carefully, amazed that they hadn’t been blow to bits.
“I still have these,” Starsky said, holding up four tapes he had taken from the bank of machines.
“Hey, hey, you guys alright?” a voice called to them through the dust and smoke.
“Yeah,” Hutch responded as he stepped out into the kitchen. The man that Starsky had bumped into with the tomatoes was standing just outside the door that led up stairs. Starsky followed his partner out and they brushed what dust they could from their clothing.
“Anybody hurt?” Starsky asked the man.
“I don’t think so; we have called for help and they should be here any minute.” The man answered. “What the hell happened up there?”
“There was a bomb.” Hutch said.
The man shook his head, “I am not surprised. He might have dressed nice but he is nothing but a two bit thug.”
“What was his name?” Starsky asked.
“Richard Wright.” He responded.
“Would you mind coming down to the station and look at some other photos? We are tying to track down your boss and we have so many different names on him we are having a hard time.” Starsky said.
“Sure, anything,” the guy answered.
Hutch gave him a card, “This is where you can find us. When you can get away, meet us.”
The man looked at the card and nodded at the two detectives. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. This is really a mess.”


“I’m staving Tom,” the muscle bound man in the driver’s seat said.
“Yeah, me too, but we got to take care of this truck and the chick in the back.” Cal said as his stomach rumbled.
“Hey, Mr. W will never know that we stopped,” Tom urged. “We can get something to go.”
Cal sighed and nodded, “Think we should offer her something?”
“Why waste the money, she will be dead soon,” Tom quipped, then said, “I don’t know why we have to drive all the way out to the desert to burn the truck.”
“So nobody will find it anytime soon.”
“How the hell are we supposed to get back?” Tom inquired. Cal stuck his thumb out like he was hitchhiking. “Oh, great.”
They pulled into a burger joint but quickly found that there was no way they were taking the large truck through the drive thru. “I’ll go in,” Cal offered as he jammed the truck into park and jumped out of the cab.
Cal had just disappeared into the restaurant, when somebody tapped on the passenger’s side window causing Tom to nearly jump out of his skin. He whipped around to see a police officer standing there peering into the cab of the truck. A thread of fear ran through Tom’s body but he still rolled down the window. He hoped he was keeping his voice steady as he asked. “What can I do for you officer?”
“Your truck is blocking my squad car,” the officer said.
“Oh,” Relief flooded his body. “I’m really sorry; we couldn’t get through drive thru so my buddy just ran in to get some food.” He glanced over at the ignition, fortunately they keys were still there. “I’ll move it right now.”
“Thanks,” The officer said, as he started to walk away he stopped and cocked his head toward the truck.
Tom watched him in the side mirror; it was if the cop was listening to something. Tom held his breath and also listened intently. He could scarcely hear the girl crying out in the back and tossing things around. He was hoping that because he was in the enclosed cab that he was hearing her more clearly than the cop who had the traffic competing with her cries. Finally, the cop moved on and got into his squad car.

As soon as the truck had come to a halt Danny started calling for help and threw whatever she could lay her hands on against the sides of the truck. It was beginning to get unbearably hot and it was getting hard for her to get a breath. Sweat was dripping down her face as she heaved a dining chair into the side of the truck. She waited to see if anybody had heard her, but she didn’t hear any voices of somebody coming to rescue her. The truck started up, moved a few feet and stopped again, but this time the engine remained on. Danny dropped to the footstool she had unburied and dropped her head in her hands. She knew that nobody was going to find her and that she was going to die very shortly.

Starsky popped several aspirin and took a big swig of water from the cup he was holding, his head was absolutely splitting. He sat down in his desk chair as he waited on the equipment so that he could view the tapes he had taken from the office. Hutch had gone to see if the photo had come in from the prints they got off the glass.
One of the secretaries, pushing a cart holding the video equipment, came though the squad room, with Hutch right behind her. He was waving an 8X10 photograph of Carl Freon. He eased around the woman beating her to their desks and slapped the photo down on Starsky’s desk. The man in the photo had short cropped, dirty blonde hair and a mustache, but there was no mistaking that he was also Richard Davis and probably Richard Wright. They would have conformation of that fact as soon as the chef from the restaurant arrived.
“Where do you want this?” the woman asked as she stopped the cart next to the two detectives.
“Dobey’s office,” Starsky said without hesitation.
She cocked an eyebrow at him, “Are you sure that is okay with him?”
“He’s out to lunch,” Starsky whispered to her, “He’ll never know.
Sighing she pushed the cart to the captain’s door, Hutch rushed over to open and hold the door for her as she pushed it in.
“Thanks, Detective Hutchinson.” She said.
“Alice, I really wish you would call me Hutch,” the blonde detective said.
She smiled and nodded but left without responding to him.
After she was gone Starsky walked up to his partner, “You mean a woman that can resist your charms? What is the world coming to?”
“Just get in the office before Dobey comes back and wants to know what the hell we are doing.” Hutch said. “You got the tapes?” Starsky held up the four he rescued.
They quickly realized that each door had two cameras on them, one showing who was coming in, the other, who was going out. As they watched, they saw themselves in the restaurant talking to the uncooperative maitre d’. They rewound and fast forwarded the tape they were on but saw nothing that could help them. But the tape from the back door gave them what they needed to know.
Two large men were pushing a young woman toward the door, “That’s Danny!” Starsky exclaimed as he leaned closer to get a better look. “You don’t think she was still in that office somewhere when it exploded, do you?”
“We can only hope not, Hutch said. “Play the tape from the inside of the back door.” They breathed a quick sigh of relief when they saw the same to men leading Danny back out into the alley. “Ok, switch back to the tape where they were coming in.” Starsky did as he was asked. “Now, fast forward a bit, there they are leaving. There was a large truck blocking the view, they couldn’t see where the two men took Danny. Suddenly, one of the men reappeared and climbed into the truck and then it drove away.
The two detectives looked at each other, “Did they put her in the back of that truck?” Starsky asked as her rewound the tape hoping to see something they missed the first time. There was nothing different except this time, he noticed some writing on the truck as it drove away. “It’s a catering truck and I’m betting it’s the same one that was at the Davis house hauling their stuff away.
“Let’s get an A.P.B. out on that truck, “Hutch said picking up the phone on Dobey’s desk. “I just hope we aren’t too late. I have a feeling they weren’t taking her to a catering job.”
A knock at Dobey’s office door caused both detectives to start thinking it was their captain, then they grinned at each other realizing that Dobey wouldn’t knock on his own office door. Starsky opened the door, a man dressed in pressed blue jeans and a white button down long sleeved shirt stood there. “Can I help you?”
“I’m, Martin Franco, from the restaurant, you asked me to come down and look at some photos?” the man said.
“Sorry,” Starsky said, not recognizing the man without his white apron and hat. “Come in.” He closed the door after Martin.
“Thanks for coming down,” Hutch said as he laid the two photos they had next to each other.
Martin picked up the one of Richard Davis and nodded, then studied the one of Carl Freon for a few moments, “Same guy.”
“Yeah, we know that,” Starsky said.
“I mean, this is my boss, Richard Wright,” Martin pulled a photo from his pocket, there were a number of people in it, he pointed to a man standing in the back, it was Richard Davis. “This man has many names.”
“And faces,” Starsky added. “We have got to find Danny.”
“A young woman?” Martin asked.
“Yes, did you see her?”
“I don’t know if it’s the woman you are looking for but two of Wright’s bodyguards brought a woman through the kitchen earlier today and up to his office. Then they brought her back down.” He answered.
Hutch rewound the tape quickly and froze it on Danny, “That her?”
Martin looked at the screen, “Yeah that is her.”
“Do you have any idea where they might be taking her?” Starsky asked.
“I’m sorry, I don’t. We stay out of Mr. Wright’s business, that is, if we want to stay alive. You get to nosy and you tend to disappear.” Martin said, then after a moment he asked. “He won’t know this information came from me will he?”
“No, don’t worry,” Hutch assured him. “Besides, when we catch him, nobody is going to have to worry again.

Officer Peterman had just pulled into a shady spot at the park to enjoy his lunch when the A.P.B on the catering truck came over his radio. At first the description for the truck didn’t register with him; that was until he opened the bag containing his burger. He suddenly dropped the sandwich back into the bag and grabbed the microphone. He couldn’t believe that he had talked to the guy that was holding a young woman hostage.


                                                                                  Chapter Ten

Danny was soaking wet, the heat was nearly unbearable, and with every breath she felt as if her lungs were searing shut. She almost wished they would just kill her and get it over with. She really had nothing to live for anyway. Danny slid off the footstool she had been sitting on into the jumbled bits and pieces of her sister’s life. She closed her eyes; she didn’t feel the truck pull off the side of the road or feel it stop, or hear the doors slam. Danny had mercilessly drifted off into unconsciousness.
Cal and Tom had pulled off the road after they had gotten through Barstow, they had been traveling on Interstate 15 since they left Los Angeles, the Mojave Desert lay ahead of them. There was a road that lead into the desert they were planning on taking, it passed a dry lake called Coyote, this is where they would get the truck as far off the road as possible, torch it and somehow make it back to the city.
“We should have driven separately,” Cal said as an afterthought. “Then we wouldn’t have to hoof it out of this god forsaken place.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow.
The hot sun beat down on both of them; they moved so that the truck gave them a little shade, “You think she is still alive in there?” Tom asked pressing his ear to the side of the truck. “I don’t hear anything.”
Cal shrugged, “Let’s just get this done, where did you put the gasoline?”
“I thought you got it.” Tom said, the color draining from his sweaty face.
“I did, you idiot, I told you to get it out of the back of my car before we left,” Cal growled at his accomplice.
“I guess I didn’t hear you,” Tom growled back, “You got it; you should have put it in the truck.”
“Shit,” Cal kicked the truck tire. “Mr. W is going to kill us.”
“Just leave her; the girl is probably already dead from the heat anyway.” Tom said as he looked out over the steaming desert.
“That wasn’t really the point, Mr. W didn’t want any evidence left,” Cal said, he started walking around the truck. “He wanted the truck burnt up.”
“Hey, what about the gas in the truck?” Tom called to Cal. “We could rig up something to make it explode.”
“Who the hell do you think I am, MacGyver?” Cal asked, then he stopped, “You know that ain’t a half bad idea, “Take off your shirt.”
“What?” Tom backed away from Cal, “I’ll cook out here without a shirt on, you take your shirt off.”
“Christ,” Cal muttered to himself as he stripped his t-shirt off, he twisted it into a long tight wick, unscrewed the gas cap and shoved one end of the shirt inside the tank leaving as much hanging out as possible. Cal turned to Tom, “Do you at least have matches? Tom dug in his pants pocket and produced a pack of matches which he handed to Cal. “Start walking.”

“Zebra three, zebra three,” the radio blared.
Starsky grabbed the microphone since Hutch was still driving. “Zebra three.”
“A call just came in from an Officer from around Upland; he said he spotted the catering truck parked in a fast food joint. He even talked to one of the passengers.” The radio operator said.
“Does he know where they might be going?” Starsky asked.
“I can patch you through.”
“Do that.”
In a few moments Officer Peterman was on the radio, “This is Alan Peterman,”
“Officer Peterman, this is Detective Starsky, could you take a guess as to where the truck was headed?”
“I don’t have to guess,” Peterman answered, “I saw them pull out, they were headed east on Interstate 15, my guess is that they are headed to the desert.”
“Can you get some men headed out that way? We are on our way. There is a young woman probably in the back of that truck, and I’m sure they aren’t going on a catering job.” Starsky said. “Keep in touch.”
“I’m on it.” Peterman answered.
Starsky slapped the flashing light on top of the Torino as Hutch floored the car in the direction of Interstate 15.

Tom and Cal walked along the sandy road; Cal’s back was already starting to turn red in the unrelenting sun. Every few minutes they would stop and look back in the direction of the truck, it still hadn’t exploded and it was completely out of view.
“Shit,“ Cal swore, “I bet the shirt went out.”
“Come on,” Tom said, he kept walking but Cal had stopped and turned back in the direction of the truck. “She’s dead, who cares if somebody finds the truck.”
“I can,” Cal said, “I told Mr. W we would take care of it and that is what we are going to do.”
Tom finally stopped, “I have to get out of this business,” He muttered, he turned to follow Cal. They had only taken a few steps when there was a loud explosion and a cloud of black smoke appeared.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Cal said as he started jogging back toward the interstate.
They hadn’t gotten very far when they heard a car coming toward them at a high rate of speed. Both men looked around desperately but there was no place for them to hide so they slowed the run to a walk and tried to look causal as the continued down the road. It was only moments before they saw it; it was a police car with its lights flashing. The squad car pulled up next to them. “You boys in trouble?” the officer asked, it was Alan Peterman. He instantly recognized one of the men as the man he had talked to in the catering truck. Peterman had a shotgun lying across the passenger seat and he gripped it with one hand as he spoke to the men.
“Our car broke down officer,” Cal lied but he recognized the officer. He was smart enough to know that the officer being there wasn’t a coincidence.
“Why don’t you get in and I’ll give you a lift.” Peterman said as he pulled the gun across this lap. He was glad that the two men were far enough from his squad car that they couldn’t see in. The officer could see the plume of smoke rising in the air ahead of him. He could only guess that the two thugs had set fire to the truck most likely with the girl still inside.
“No, that’s okay,” Tom said, “We can walk.”
“Its miles to the interstate.” Peterman said but made no attempt to get out of the car yet. He kept his eye on the men and the darkening cloud forming in the sky. He didn’t want to drive off leaving the men and then perhaps have to deal with them if they followed him to the truck.
“We will be fine,” Cal said as he pushed his partner to get moving.
“Suit yourself.” Peterman said and threw the cruiser into gear, he moved it a few feet as the two men started walking. Then in one fluid movement the officer jammed the car into park, threw open the door, got out, dropped to one knee as he aimed the shotgun at the men’s backs. “Stop where you are.”
Tom started to go for his gun, it would be easy for them to kill this one cop, steal the patrol car and be out of the god forsaken desert in no time. Peterman fired the gun in the air then pointed it back at the men. Tom froze and put his hands over his head as did Cal.
“Keep your hands up,” Peterman ordered as he got to his feet and started toward them. “Throw your weapons in the sand and step away from them.” Both men complied quickly. The officer picked up their guns and led them back to the squad car. After securing them, he grabbed the microphone and called for help.

The t-shirt had taken a long time to burn, and at one point had almost gone out, but it finally caught and began to burn in earnest. Once it reached the opening of the gas tank the fumes took over causing the cab to burst into flames, at first only the cab was engulfed but slowly the flames began to lap toward the body of the truck.
Danny groaned when the truck was rocked by the explosion but she didn’t open her eyes or move. The heat in the truck was now totally unbearable and being made worse by the fire that was working its way toward the back of the truck.

Starsky and Hutch were only a few miles from where Officer Peterman stopped the two body guards when the call came from the officer. Within several minutes the squad car came into view, Hutch brought the Torino to a screeching halt next to Peterman’s car.
Peterman pointed to the dark, smoky cloud in the sky, “I think the woman you are looking for is in that direction,” He shouted at Hutch.
“It looks like something is on fire,” Starsky said peering through the windshield looking toward the sky. “My god, we have got to get to Danny.”
Hutch waved at the officer and floored the car in the direction of the smoke. As they got closer the smoke got thicker and within minutes they could see the truck, it was nearly engulfed. Hutch hadn’t even stopped the car when Starsky jumped out and plowed through the sand to the blazing truck.
“Starsky!” Hutch called after his partner, but Starsky didn’t stop; he was to intent on getting to the back of the truck and getting it open with the hopes of finding Danny alive.
The heat was almost blistering as Starsky arrived at the back of the truck. He grabbed the handle to release the door but it was blazing hot, he jerked his hand back. Starsky peeled his jacket off and used it to grasp the handle, he pulled hard on it and the door ran up. Heat rolled out of the back of the truck and he could see where flames were starting to penetrate the sides.
“Danny!” Starsky yelled as he looked in to the murky darkness, he clamored up into the truck still calling the young woman’s name. He began feeling around until his hand finally touched her arm. Starsky closed his hand around her wrist and yanked her from the debris hoping that he wasn’t hurting her, but he had to get her out of the truck before it exploded again.
Starsky pulled her to the opening of the truck, jumped out, and pulled Danny out; carrying her in his arms, he staggered quickly through the sand and away from the truck. They were merely yards away when the second gas tank ignited and exploded sending a ball of fire into the air.
The force of the explosion sent Starsky face first into the sand, he covered Danny the best he could with his body. Hutch, whom had been on his way to help, was knocked to his knees by the blast; he covered his head with his arms praying that Starsky would be alright. The moment that Hutch could stand, he made his way to where his partner and Danny were laying. Starsky was laying half over Danny; Hutch dropped to his knees, the heat coming from the truck was almost excruciating.
“Starsky,” Hutch said, he got no response. He knew he had to get them further from the truck and the intense heat. He grabbed Starsky by the collar and was trying to get a hold of Danny when he felt a hand on his back.
It was Officer Peterman, “I’ve got her.” He said scooping up Danny in his arms and heading back to where the cars were parked.
Hutch picked up Starsky and best as he could, carried his friend away from the flames. “Thanks.”
“There is back up coming and an ambulance. Is your partner alright?” Peterman asked.
“I’m not sure,” Hutch said, concern etched in his face as he laid Starsky in the shadow cast by the cars. “He already had a concussion.”
“How is she?” Hutch asked as he glanced at Danny, she looked near death.
“She has a pulse but not much of one. I wish that ambulance would hurry up.”
“We need to get some water into her,” Hutch said but neither of them had water in their cars. All they could do was wait for help to arrive and hope that they weren’t too late.


                                                                            Chapter Eleven


“Starsk,” Hutch called to his partner as he gently patted the sides of his face trying to revive him. He noticed that Starsky’s left hand was red and blistered from grabbing the handle on the truck door. Hutch felt helpless as they sat in the hot sand waiting for help to arrive.
“How’s your partner?” Peterman asked.
“I’m not sure, he should have been in the hospital, not running around out here, he has a concussion from one of those jerks you have in your car.” Hutch said giving the men in the back seat of the squad car an angry look. Hutch got up and stalked over to the car, the windows were open to allow air in so that the prisoners wouldn’t overheat. “You’re getting better treatment than you gave the girl.” Hutch snarled at them. Both men glanced at Hutch but they didn’t speak. “How about if I just roll up these windows and see how long you last.”
Hutch opened the front door of the squad car and started to roll up the window. “Hey, you can’t do that!” Cal yelled.
“Watch me,” Hutch said.
“We’ll die in this heat.” Cal leaned forward so that he could see Hutch.
“And I care, why?” Hutch asked but he stopped rolling up the window. “Why don’t you tell me where your boss is?”
“No way,” Cal said. “He’ll kill us.”
“And what do you think I’m going to do to you?” Hutch asked.
“You’re a cop, you can’t.”
“Nobody will know, the girl and my partner are unconscious and I don’t think the officer over there will say anything. Will ya?” Hutch glanced over his shoulder at Peterman who was trying his best to help Danny.
“Say anything about what? Two scum bags that tried to kill us?”
“We didn’t do anything to you.” Cal said, his voice starting to sound whiny. Tom remained silent.
“You know what; if I was you I would start talking. We have you two dead to rights, kidnapping, assault on a police officer, attempted murder, arson…you want me to continue?” Hutch asked. “You’re going to jail while your boss gets off scott free. He left you holding the bag and do you think he will so much as hire a lawyer for you, then think again.”
“Airport,” Tom finally broke his silence.
“Shut up,” Cal gaped at his partner in crime.
“You shut up; I’ve been listening to you far too long. The cop is right; we are going to jail, probably the rest of our lives, while Mr. W is going to fly out of here. This is bullshit and I’m not doing it anymore.” Tom snapped at Cal.
“Where is he going?” Hutch asked.
“London, but he’s flying in a private plane to New York, then catching a flight this evening sometime.” Tom informed the detective.
“Thanks,” Hutch said, “I’ll put in a word for you.”
“Hey, what about me?” Cal asked.
Hutch slammed the door shut and started back toward where Officer Peterman was caring for his partner and Danny. As he started to crouch down next to the officer, Hutch looked down the dusty road; he could see a cloud of dirt rising in the air indicating that help was on its way. Thank God, Hutch thought as he touch Starsky’s blistered hand.

With an IV pumping fluids back into Danny’s dehydrated body and Starsky strapped onto a gurney, Hutch went over to the squad car again. He peered into the back seat at the two men. “If my partner and that girl don’t fully recover, there won’t be a hole deep enough that you two can hide in.” With those words Hutch went to help the paramedics load Starsky and Danny into the two waiting ambulances.
Cal and Tom looked at each other and knew that the cop had not been joking. Suddenly, they were more afraid of Hutch than their former boss.
Hutch was torn, he wanted to ride with Starsky but he knew that if he left Starsky’s beloved car out in the desert there would be hell to pay when his partner woke up. So he settled for following the ambulances back to civilization.
It was several hours before Hutch was allowed to see Starsky. He had paced the halls, drank gallons of bad coffee from the machine and made a few phone calls, one of those to book himself on a flight to New York. He planned to be there when Richard Davis went to board his flight to London.
Hutch had been able to find out that the London flight was not until nearly midnight, which gave him to time to wait at the hospital for news on Starsky and Danny, and catch his own flight to New York. He had already placed a call to the NYPD to let them know that he was coming and had files and photos faxed to them.
He was expecting Starsky to still be unconscious when he entered the hospital, but Hutch was greeted with a smile from his partner. Starsky’s left hand was bandage and he had an IV running but other than that, he looked fine. “How are you feeling?” Hutch asked as he went to his friend’s bed side.
“I have one hell of a headache, next time I think I’ll listen to you.” Starsky answered, giving Hutch a sheepish grin.
“No you won’t.” Hutch shook his head. “When do you ever listen to me?”
Starsky shrugged and grinned once more, and then he asked. “What about Danny?”
“I did talk to the doctor that is treating her.” Hutch said, “I haven’t been allowed to see her yet. She was very dehydrated and in hypovolemic shock when they brought her in. Her temperature was close to 107, the doctor is worried about brain damage, but we won’t know anything until she wakes up.”
There was a pained look on Starsky’s face, “I hope she is going to be okay.”
“You like her, don’t ya, buddy?” Hutch smiled at his curly headed friend.
Starsky shrugged, “I really haven’t been able to get to know her well enough to know if I like her or not. I’m sure she will probably be going back south after all this.”
“I’m betting it’s going to be a while before she will be able to travel.” Hutch said.
“What about Davis?” Starsky wanted to know.
Hutch was reluctant to tell Starsky about his flight to New York but after a few moments he said, “Starsk, I’m heading to New York in about thirty minutes. Davis is catching a plane from there to London, and I want to be there before he gets on that plane.”
“I’m coming with you.” Starsky said and started to swing his legs over the bed but a wave of dizziness hit him and he fell back on his pillow.
“Not this time, buddy. You are staying put, I can take care of this and I’ll have NYPD’s finest backing me up.” Hutch assured him.

Hutch landed in New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, he was met by several members of the New York police force. All they had to do was wait until it was time for Richard Davis’ flight, then they would arrest him and the nightmare for Danny would finally be over, or at least she could get on with her life. They still had no idea what Davis had done with the bodies of his wife and daughter. That was going to be the first question he asked Davis, so that Danny could give them a proper burial.
After making a call to Starsky to reassure him that all was well, Hutch went to one of the many restaurants within the airport. As he sat sipping coffee he noticed a well dressed man, his hair was short cropped and a sandy color, he was clean shaven with green eyes. Hutch had a feeling he had seen the man somewhere before but just couldn’t quite place him. He watched the man as he sat down several tables away. The waitress came and took his order, then the man pulled some papers out of a briefcase he had placed on the chair next to him.
Hutch couldn’t take his eyes from the man; he had a nagging feeling that he knew this man. “Can I warm your coffee for you, sir?”
Jumping, Hutch glanced up at the smiling waitress. “Sure, thanks.” She filled his mug to the top and started to ask him if he wanted something else but Hutch was already lost in thought, the waitress turned and walked away. Suddenly, Hutch pulled one of the photos of Richard Davis from a manila envelope. He studied the photo, then looked across the tables at the man sitting there. Hutch’s breath caught in his throat, he was certain that the man in restaurant and the man in the photo were one in the same.

“Detective Starsky,” A nurse greeted him as she entered Starsky’s room carrying a fresh pitcher of water.
“Ahh, nurse Karen,” Starsky teased her as he winked her way. “You got something better than water in there, honey?”
“’fraid not,” She replaced the nearly empty pitcher with the fresh one. “Miss Stratford that came in with you is awake, and is asking for you.”
Starsky came to attention, “She’s alright then?” The last he had heard there was the possibility of brain damage.”
“Well, if she can remember the likes of you,” Karen quipped with a grin, “Then, I guess she must be on the road to recovery. “
Starsky went to get out of bed, “I have to see her.”
“Okay, cowboy,” Karen said, “Let me get you a wheelchair.”
“Come on, I can walk.”
Karen shook her head, “Are you trying to get me into trouble, Detective?”
Starsky sighed and leaned back on the pillow. “Alright, go get the wheelchair.”
Karen rapped on Danny’s door, then pushed it opened and rolled Starsky in. The room was nearly dark except for a light on the bedside stand. The nurse rolled her patient close to the bed; she leaned over his shoulder and whispered, “I’ll be back in a while to get you.”
Starsky nodded as he gazed at Danny, her eyes were closed, she looked so small lying in the big white bed and there was still an IV running fluids into her body. “Danny?” Starsky touched her hand softly.
Her eyes opened and she looked into his face, instantly tears welled up in her eyes. “I-I never thought I would see you again.”
“How are you doing?” Starsky asked.
“Okay, I guess, they want to keep me for a while just to make sure I’m fully recovered. What are you doing in here?”
Starsky quickly told her but he left out the part about burning himself saving her. “I’m going to be fine.”
“What about Hutch?” Danny asked, suddenly concerned he wasn’t there.
“He is in New York trying to track down Davis. He got a tip that he was flying out of New York tonight at midnight for London.”
“He better be careful.” Danny said, “Richard Davis is an evil man.”
A look of worry crossed Starsky’s face, “I wanted to go with him but Hutch wouldn’t hear of it.”
Danny sat up in bed and held her arms out to Starsky, he got up from the chair and as he was going to hug her she noticed his wrapped left hand. “What happened, you didn’t say anything about hurting your hand.”
“It’s nothing, just a little burn.”
“You were the one that rescued me from the truck aren’t you?” Danny asked her eyes filling with tears again.
“Anybody would have done the same thing,” Starsky said modestly. “I was just the first one to the truck.”
Somehow Danny didn’t quite believe him. “Thank you, Dave; I don’t know what I would have done without you.”


                                                                                 Chapter Twelve


Hutch silently watched the man, he couldn’t help but wonder what name Richard Davis was going by now. The waitress came back several more times to top off the detective’s coffee and he finally ordered a sandwich, not wanting to stick out. He glanced at his watch, it was nearly 11 pm. Davis’ fight left in one hour which meant that he would be leaving to check in soon. Hutch didn’t want to make a scene in the restaurant, too many people, too much of a chance somebody could get hurt. He would have to contact the officers that were covering the gate and let them know that he had found the man they were looking for.
At one point Richard looked directly at Hutch, but if he recognized the detective it didn’t register on his face. Hutch had never met the man, the only way Richard would recognize him would be from the closed circuit camera. Hutch was glad that Starsky wasn’t with him; they would have been made instantly.
Fifteen minutes later Richard put the papers he had been working on back in his briefcase, paid his bill and left. Hutch quickly paid his own bill, leaving a generous tip for the waitress and followed Davis. Davis went into the restroom; Hutch bought a newspaper and leaned against the wall pretending to read it. As soon as Davis exited the restroom Hutch continued to follow him, making no more stops they arrived at the gate where Richard Davis was to board his plane to London.
Three undercover officers mingled with the passengers for the London flight, Hutch closed in on Davis and through hand signals indicated that the man in front of him was the man they were looking for.
“Excuse me,” Hutch said to Richard Davis’ back.
The man turned around, “Yes?”
“Aren’t you Richard Davis?” Hutch asked.
The man’s expression didn’t change, “No, I’m afraid not.”
“I think you are, would you come with me, sir?” Hutch asked and started to take his arm.
Richard shoved Hutch causing him to land on the floor. Richard took off running, Hutch scrambled to his feet and dashed after him. The undercover officers drew their guns and took off after the fleeing man and detective. Richard was shoving people out of his way as he made his way to the exit of the busy airport. Hutch was close on his heels and airport security joined in the chase.
Hutch followed the man out the revolving doors to where the cabs were dropping off and picking up passengers. “Davis, STOP!” Hutch shouted as he ran into the street.
Richard stopped and turned to look at the detective for a moment, Hutch lunged at the man, neither one of them saw the parking shuttle bus heading for them. The driver of the bus tried to slam on his brakes but it was too late, he hit both men head on.

It was nearly midnight when Starsky woke with a jerk; he turned the light on next to his bed. He had only been asleep just over an hour. He had spent most of the evening with Danny; they had eaten their dinner of hospital food together.
A feeling of dread came over him once he was fully awake, something was wrong. He knew it, something had happened to Hutch. Starsky picked up the phone, and then realized that he had no way to contact Hutch. He only knew that his partner was in New York. After thinking a moment, Starsky dialed the number of his captain.
Dobey was in a deep sleep when the phone rang, his wife Edith nudged her husband in the back, knowing that the call was for him. Dobey grunted as he automatically rolled over and grabbed the phone. “Dobey,” he growled into the phone.
“Cap, this is Starsky, have you heard from Hutch?” Starsky asked.
“What time is it?” Dobey asked, he hadn’t opened his eyes yet.
“Nearly midnight.”
“What’s wrong?” Dobey finally opened his eyes and propped himself up on one elbow, he knew that tone of voice.
“I think something has happened to Hutch,” Starsky said worriedly. “I woke up and just knew.”
Dobey sighed; he knew that Starsky wouldn’t stop pestering him until he got some word on Hutch. “I’ll make some calls and get back to you. Get some rest.”

Richard Davis took the brunt of the force from the shuttle bus as it hit both men. Hutch was pinned under Davis’ body, he was conscious but he was sure, at the very least, he had a broken arm. Within moments the area was swarming with police and emergency personnel. Davis was lifted off of Hutch, and put on a gurney, Hutch saw two paramedics looking at him as they covered Davis’ body with a sheet. Two more paramedics knelt next to Hutch to see what type of injuries he had. They immobilized his left arm, put a brace round his neck, then gently slid a backboard under him and lifted him onto a waiting gurney.
“The other man dead?” Hutch had to ask, even though he saw that Richard Davis had been covered by a sheet.
“I’m afraid so,” said one of the men as he took Hutch’s pulse. “Was he a friend of yours?”
Hutch had to smile even though he was in pain. “He was suspect I was chasing. I’m a Detective from Los Angeles.”
“Well, I guess he won’t be giving you anymore trouble.”
“Yeah, guess not,” Hutch grimaced. He was having trouble breathing; he was sure some ribs were broken.
“Having some trouble breathing?” the paramedic asked.
“Yeah, a little,” Hutch admitted.
The attendant slipped an oxygen mask over Hutch’s face, “This should help, and we will be at the hospital in no time.”

Hutch awoke, his breathing was much easier and his arm was in a cast, he looked around and realized that he was in a hospital room. He must have passed out for the rest of the ambulance ride and his treatment once he was at the hospital. The side of his face hurt as well as his ribs, his left leg and his arm was throbbing under the cast. At least he had faired better than Richard Davis. His next thought was of Starsky. He was supposed to be back in L.A. by now; Starsky would be going out of his mind.
He started to reach for the phone when it suddenly rang; surprised, Hutch picked it up and said a tentative hello into the receiver.
“Hutch, thank god,” Starsky breathed a sigh of relief on the other end. He had been beside himself when Dobey got the word to him that Hutch and been hit by a bus trying to arrest Davis. Starsky had wanted to get on a plane and head for New York but Dobey had strictly forbidden it, saying he didn’t need two detectives in the hospital in New York. He had promised that as soon as Hutch was able to travel that they would have him moved to Memorial where Starsky was.
Starsky had immediately shared the news of Richard’s death with Danny. He had expected her to be overjoyed but her face fell with sadness. She had hoped they would find out where the bodies of her sister and niece were.
“Starsky!” Hutch said “How did you know?”
Starsky smiled and told Hutch the feeling he had during the night. “I think we have grown entirely too close, buddy.” Starsky joked. “How are you doing?”
“Scrapped up, I haven’t gotten a chance to look in the mirror but the way my face feels, I think I have a good case of road rash.” Hutch said bringing his hand to the side of his face. “My left arm is broken and I’m pretty sure some ribs, I haven’t talked to the doctor yet, I just woke up.”
“Dobey is going to have you flown home to be my roommate here in the hospital as soon as you can fly.” Starsky informed his partner.
“Hopefully, that will be later today.” Hutch said wanting to be at home. “Davis is dead.”
“Yeah, I know, I told Danny,” Starsky said, “You didn’t happen to find out where there bodies were did you?”
“Sorry, I was too busy trying to chase down the bum.” Hutch answered. “We will do something for her when we are all on our feet.” There was a tap on the door, “Hey, I think the doctor is here, I’ll call you later.” Just as Hutch hung up the door swung open; a man in a white coat entered, followed by a familiar face.
“Detective Hutchinson,” The doctor addressed Hutch. “I think we can have you on a flight this afternoon if you are up for it.”
Hutch hadn’t been listening, “Cap!” he exclaimed in surprise.
“Hutchinson,” Dobey said coming toward the bed. “Doesn’t look like nothing that won’t mend.” The gruff tone told Hutch that his captain had been worried about him.
“It will take a few weeks for him to really be back up on his feet again but it’s nothing life threatening.” The doctor confirmed. “You can check out when you are ready as long as you check into a hospital at home.”
“It has already been taken care of, “Dobey guaranteed the doctor.
“Fine, I’ll send the nurse in for some papers for you to sign, Detective.”
After the doctor left Dobey asked, “Are you alright son?”
“Yeah, banged up,” Hutch said holding up his arm with the cast. “I’m not going to scare small children am I?” Hutch indicated his face.
Dobey chuckled, “You don’t look that bad I’m sure it feels worse than it is.”

Back in L.A. Starsky waited impatiently for his partner’s return, he knew he wouldn’t relax until he could see Hutch for himself. His door opened a crack and Danny stuck her head in, “Is it alright if I come in?”
Starsky smiled, it would be nice to have a distraction. “You think they will give us a discount?”
Danny grinned as she came to his bedside; she was finally off the IV’s and looked much better. “I’m really sorry that Hutch got hurt.”
“He should be here anytime,” Starsky reassured her. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Danny shrugged; nothing would ever be the same for her again. She had lost everything. She had no family, no place to go; she was stuck in a strange city with no one.
As if reading her mind, Starsky took her hand. “You have Hutch and me.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks.”
The door opened and a nurse wheeled Hutch into Starsky’s room, “I hear you want some company.”
“Hutch!” Starsky got out of bed. There was a huge scrape on the left side of Hutch’s face, his arm was in a cast and as he got out of the wheel chair he limped from the scrapes on his legs. He gingerly climbed into the bed next to Starsky, trying not to jostle his ribs.
Hutch winked at Starsky who was trying to help him, “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look so fine.”
“You should have seen the other guy,” Hutch quipped. He looked over at Danny, “Sorry.”
She waved his apology away, “I stopped caring about that bastard a long time ago.”
Dobey stepped into the room, “You getting settled, Hutchinson?”
“Yeah, thanks, Cap,” Hutch said, he had been grateful that he hadn’t had to make the long plane trip home alone.
“I thought the three of you would like to know that we caught the shooters.” Dobey informed them. “We were able to recover some files from Davis’ office; we found lists of people he hired to do his dirty work. Surprising for a mastermind like him.”
“Unless, he left the lists on purpose, he was suppose to be long gone, why would he care who went down.” Starsky said.
Dobey nodded in agreement.
“Was there anything about where my sister might be?” Danny asked hopefully.
“I’m sorry, dear, but we didn’t find anything about her.” Dobey put his big arm around her. “I have had my men check all the funeral homes around here but nobody matching the description of your sister or her daughter turned up. I hate to say this, but you will probably never have their bodies.”
Tears slid down Danny’s face, she turned to leave. Starsky called out to her. “I just need sometime,” Danny said and left the room.
“Cap, if you could help me out, I think I have an idea that might at least make Danny feel al little better.” Starsky said.
“Anything I can do,” Harold Dobey said.

                                                                             Epilogue


Starsky stood with his arm around Danny’s shoulders, it had been a month since they had gotten out of the hospital, both Danny and Starsky were fully recovered but Hutch still had his cast on and there were a few lingering scrapes on his face.
Danny had an arm full of red and white roses and her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the grave stone that Starsky had been instrumental in having erected. The words carved into the stone said, Marcy and Sara Stratford; Danny had refused to use Davis on the stone saying that they had never belonged to Richard Davis. Danny knelt on the ground and placed the roses at the base of the stone, “I hope you are at peace.” She said softly then dropped her face into her hands.
Starsky crouched next to her trying his best to comfort her. “It’s going to be alright.”
Danny nodded as they both got to their feet, “I have decided to stay here, at least for a while. I thought I would give California a chance. Maybe I’ll learn to surf or something.”
Starsky smiled at her, Hutch hung back and watched the pair wondering if a romance would develop between them. He could tell that they liked each other by the looks they would pass between them when the other one wasn’t looking.
“Hey, I almost forgot,” Hutch said. “Tonya asked us to stop by; she said she had a surprise for us.

Tonya Byron sat at her desk, her shoulder still hurt once in a while and she had a scar that would forever remind her of that day, but other than that, she was okay. She tapped a long envelope on her desk and looked at her watch. She knew that they were taking Danny to her sister’s grave for the first time.
Finally, Starsky’s red Torino pulled up and she saw Hutch get out, a shiver went up her spine as she thought about the day the shooting happened. She wasn’t sure she would ever stop jumping at the sound of squealing tires. Tonya watched as Danny slowly got out the car, the young woman walked toward the front of the travel agency then stopped and looked down at the sidewalk. She was standing on the exact spot where her sister and niece had died.
Tonya felt a wave of guilt as she rushed out to greet them. “Oh, Danny, I’m so sorry, I just never thought how hard this would be for you.” Tonya apologized as she took Danny’s hand in hers.
Danny’s hand was trembling, but she smiled at Tonya, “Its okay, I’ll have to pass by this spot sometime, I’m going to have to learn to deal with it.”
Starsky once again put his arm protectively around Danny, “We can go if you want.”
Danny shook her head determined to be brave. “Come inside,” Tonya said, at least they would be off the street.
They entered her office and she motioned for them to take seats in front of her desk, since there were only two chairs Hutch took one, Danny the other and Starsky perched on the chair arm where Danny sat. “So what is this surprise?” Hutch asked smiling at her over the desk.
“Well, I know the last time I offered this; it turned out very badly, but that offer for Cancun is still open. The head of the travel company heard what happened here and offered me tickets again. A whole week at the Gran Melia Cancun, it’s beautiful, airfare is included.”
Hutch sighed and looked at her, “I really can’t leave right now, I just wouldn’t feel right about…”
Tonya interrupted, “It’s for all four of us.” She opened the envelope and held up four airline tickets. “All we can eat and drink too.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“Very sure,” Tonya grinned at her. “When I called the company rep and told him what happened he insisted that the two of you come with us.
Danny looked up at Starsky, “Do you want to go?” Danny asked unsure, she didn’t really know how Starsky felt about her. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she was feeling for him. She wasn’t sure if she was falling for him or if it was just because he had been around and taken care of her. But she was sure willing to spend a week in Cancun to find out.
Starsky started nodding his head, “Yeah, yeah, I think I could stand spending a week in paradise with the three of you.”
“There are only two rooms but we girls can room together if that would cause a problem.” Tonya suggested.
Hutch put on a fake pout for Tonya which made her laugh, “We can always put a sock on the door,” He winked at her.
“I don’t mind sharing a room with Dave if he doesn’t mind.” Danny said, her face reddening slightly.
“Hummmm, let me think, spend the night with a beautiful girl for a whole week, would be a hard job but I think I’m up for it.”
“Okay then, it’s settled, we leave on Saturday, looks like we got two days to go shopping girl.” Tonya said to Danny.
Danny grinned at her, she felt happy for the first time in a long time. “How about now?”
Tonya looked at her watch, “I can close up a little early, it’s been a slow day.”
“Hey, what about us?” Starsky wanted to know.
“This is a girl thing,” Tonya said. “I’m sure you can Ken can find something to do. You are going to have us all to yourselves for seven whole days. Tonya grabbed her keys and purse, looped her arm through Danny’s, “Lock up boys when you leave.”
After the two women were out the door, Hutch said, “Well, how do you like that?”
Starsky shrugged, “Maybe we should go shopping too, why should they have all the fun?”
Hutch nodded in agreement and in mimic of the girls he looped his arm through Starsky’s and they left Sunshine Travel.

The end