Disclaimer - I don't own them or make money from them. Beleive me, they're purely for pleasure!

Chapter 1

Running uphill is an overrated pastime. Running full tilt uphill at midday in Bay City in August is about the most stupid thing anyone can do. There again, some might say that cops tend to do stupid things. The cops will answer that if they didn't, then no-one else would. I mean, who in their right mind would be chasing some mad Chinese guy through the streets whilst dodging live fire huh? Who in their right mind would want to face down that same flake when he was finally cornered? Visions of Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon floated in front of the brunet's eyes as he continued his headlong pursuit across the busy road as cars around him honked their disapproval.

These thoughts ran through Starsky's mind as he powered himself up West Central from the bay and into the city centre. He felt as though his body were melting and the sweat ran down his face to sting at his eyes. That was another stupid thing that cops did. Who else in their right mind would wear a jacket over their tee shirt in 95 degree heat? Most of the girls he passed had tiny vest tops and even tinier hot pants. Most of the men were in shirt sleeves or had tee shirts flapping loose from their shorts. Every single person was wearing sandals of some sort. Only a cop with a holster and gun to cover up would be crazy enough to add layers during the baking summer and only a cop intent on running as fast as he could would wear running shoes……and socks.

Not that any of that really mattered at the moment. The only thing Dave Starsky was intent on was catching the man running ahead of him without getting himself or his partner killed in the process. The gun, his trusty Smith and Wessen was held safely in his left hand ready for when the flake in front of him turned to shoot again.

Behind him and a little to one side, the brunet could hear his partner's footfalls on the sidewalk. Hutch's long legs made his running look effortless, whereas Starsky's shorter legs and windmilling arms gave an untidy appearance. Both men, however ate up the yards as they chased their target through the streets, yelling at passers by to get out of the way and occasionally ducking down behind vehicles or trash cans to avoid stray bullets.

Starsky saw the man in front of him turn suddenly and disappear down an alleyway and at the same time heard a scream and a squeal of brakes behind him. He slowed down long enough to look over his shoulder at the car that had shuddered to a halt inches from a woman and her child in a pushchair. The driver of the car had been rubbernecking and had failed to see the pedestrian and now the woman was ashen faced and shaking and the child was wailing loudly.

'The woman's yours' Starsky shouted over his shoulder.

'Gee, thanks partner. Where're you goin'?' Hutch answered, slowing down.

'Gonna see a man about a …..a……' any clever metaphor escaped Starsky and he shrugged his shoulders. '….oh hell, I'm just gonna go and shoot the bastard.'

Hutch stopped and bent over to catch his breath before turning back to the pedestrian and the driver. 'Play nice' he shouted to his partner as Starsky's body hurtled around the corner and out of sight.

'Play nice!' Starsky muttered under his breath as he recommenced his chase. 'I'll show the flake how to play nice!'

This was the first time Starsky had ever seen his opponent up close and personal. For three months now he and Hutch had been laying low and watching the Red Dragon Gang that had moved into the Bay area and set up their operations.

The trade of drugs has existed for as long as the drugs themselves have existed. However, the trade of drugs was fully legal until the introduction of drug prohibition. The history of the illegal drug trade is closely tied to the history of drug prohibition. In the First Opium War, the United Kingdom forced China to allow British merchants to trade in opium with the general population of China. Although illegal by imperial decree, smoking opium had become common in the 1800s due to increasing importation via British merchants. Trading in opium was extremely lucrative. As a result of the trade an estimated two million Chinese people became addicted to the drug. By the end of the middle of the 1900s opium and opium derivatives like heroin were 'enjoyed' by so many in America that the cops were kept ultra busy trying to stem the tide of importation. By 1975 Starsky and Hutch spent as much time dealing with drug related crimes as homicides. With the east coast of America being the first land mass after China, the Chinese population was growing exponentially. Not that all Chinese were drug runners. For the most part, they came to America like any other immigrant – wanting a slice of the American dream. Only the small minority caused the cops this much trouble.

The Red Dragon gang had, since it's set up in Bay City been responsible for three deaths and one man beaten so badly that he would never walk or talk again. That, on top of who knew how many kilos of heroin brought illegally into the country meant that the gang was very much on the BCPD's radar, and on Starsky and Hutch's in particular. The two detectives had laid low and had watched. Quietly and with the minimum of fuss, they had garnered together their information and had been ready to go in for the kill – until another body had been found in the bay and Hutch's eagle eyes had seen Mu Yong Lin (or Kim to his friends and business associates) walking nonchalantly up the street.

Kim was the leader of the gang. The Red Dragons had laid low in Bay City since their arrival and seemed unaware that the cops were onto their operation. The headquarters of the gang, so far as Starsky and Hutch had been able to tell was a Chinese Restaurant on one of the better downtown streets, owned and run by Kim's parents. From the business operation there was little clue as to what the restaurant hid, in fact, so good was the cover that neither cop knew for sure whether Kim's parents actually knew what their son was up to. Undercover cops had been sent in to eat there and had come back to report that the food was excellent, the waitresses were to die for (in that petite Asian way) and the two older Chinese owners spoke little or no English but cooked divinely. At no time did any of the undercover cops see Kim or any other suspect do anything other than seat customers and wait tables. Yet the Red Dragons continued to operate and Starsky and Hutch continued to watch, count the bodies and plan their next moves until that one fateful afternoon.

The chase, once Hutch saw Kim running, had most definitely been on and neither cop had had time to formally call it in. Now with Hutch back there playing traffic control and with no other back up called for, Starsky was very much on his own. A tiny icicle of fear pushed at the brunet's consciousness, right before Starsky took it and crumpled it and ignored it completely. Dave Starsky was mad with a capital M and no amount of urges to caution was going to stop him from getting his man. With a skid of his sneakered feet against the hard concrete of the sidewalk, the cop shot around the corner of the alleyway and saw his target slowing as he came up against a dead end. The end of the alley was blocked by a high brick wall.

Bringing himself to a juddering halt. Starsky bent his knees in a classic firing stance, clasped his gun in both hands and pointed it skywards. 'Police, freeze!' he yelled down the confines of the alley. As usual the shout had little effect and Kim merely turned at the end of the dead end and faced the curly haired cop with an open sneer on his face.

Very cautiously Starsky started to walk towards the Chinese man. There was nowhere for Kim to go. The wall at the end of the alley was maybe ten feet high with razor wire across the top and yet a cornered prey is a dangerous prey and having read the reports, Starsky knew Kim was not just a pretty face. He was a typical young Chinese American who had embraced the more aggressive parts of his culture and was a black belt in some unpronounceable form of martial art.

So, as Starsky started to walk up the confines of the alley towards the young Chinese, he had his gun still clasped in both hands with the muzzle pointing at the ground, ready, should the need arise.

'Eat dirt' Starsky shouted as he got closer to his quarry. 'On the ground now and lace your hands behind your head.'

Kim stood stock still with a look on his face that told Starsky that he was going to do nothing of the sort. It was the sort of look a man who was comfortable with his own skills would give and something low in Starsky's belly gave a small flip of apprehension. The younger man stood slightly sideways to Starsky, his hands relaxed and resting at his sides, but his eyes never left the cop and there was a calculating look in his eyes. Starsky tried again.

'Look punk. There's nowhere to run, just give it up, get down on the ground and I'll be happy. I'll just stand over here being happy till my partner arrives, huh?'

Again Starsky's words met silence and he sighed, wishing Hutch would arrive quickly and suddenly feeling out of his depth. As he squared off to the younger man, Kim changed stance. He brought up his hands to ball them into loose fists in front of his chest and his knees bent so that he looked ready for a fight.

'You don't wanna do this. Look, we both know why we're here. Make it easy huh? Why fight? We just wanna talk to ya' Starsky said reasonably.

'Talking's for losers' Kim muttered and flicked his fingers at the cop in a universal sign inviting the older man to come play. Starsky's fear subsided to be replaced by anger. Most things he could deal with these days. After his brush with death at the hands of James Gunther's goons his temper had become a tamer beast but there was nothing like an open display of defiance to bring it boiling to the surface.

'I think I misheard. I thought you just called me a loser' the brunet ground out.

Kim grinned. 'If the cap fits…..'

Starsky leapt forwards, all thoughts of waiting for Hutch disappearing out of his mind as he grabbed the Chinese man by the shoulders and spun him around until Kim was facing the wall. The brunet slammed the body in front of him against the rough stonework and held one hand against Kim's spine as the other one fumbled for his handcuffs.

In the blink of an eye Kim changed from docile prisoner to the red dragon his gang was named for. Taking Starsky completely by surprise, the younger man pushed back against Starsky's hand, whirled and brought his right leg around in a perfect arc high up at waist level, knocking Starsky's gun from his hand. As the brunet's hand was knocked sideways he lost his balance and fell to one side, righting himself just in time to feel Kim's foot slam into his face.

Starsky righted himself, spitting blood out onto the ground. He felt dizzy and sick and just a little stupid for starting the fight before he had Hutch's back up, but he'd chosen his own path now and he aimed to finish what he'd started.

The gun lay a couple of yards away from the brunet's foot. Starsky eyed it just as Kim too looked at it. There was one of those moments in time, one of those freeze frame moments when a film director would have panned from one set of eyes to the other. Kim and Starsky were locked in that freeze frame for little more than a second and yet that second seemed to last an eternity until with difficulty Starsky launched himself towards the weapon and Kim kicked it out of the way, his body following the kick so that he fell to the ground inches from the curly haired cop. Instantly Kim was straddling Starsky's body, his hands reaching for Starsky's throat and equally as fast the brunet grasped Kim's wrists, using all his strength to keep the murderous hands away from him.

'You should go back to your station right now old timer. You have no idea who you're messing with' Kim grinned down at him.

Whether it was being called an "old timer" at the ripe old age of 34, or whether it was the sheer fact that Kim was quicker and stronger than him Starsky had no idea but as Kim said the words, Starsky's grip failed and suddenly the hands were around his throat, squeezing the breath from his body.

With a determined effort, Starsky garnered all his strength and arched his spine before bringing his knee up and into Kim's back. It was not a telling blow but the surprise registered on Kim's face and the grip around the cop's throat slackened just enough for Starsky to prize the hands away. The two men rolled over and over on the ground trying for the upper hand.

'Old timer huh?' Starsky grunted.

'You think you can take me?' Kim grinned.

'I'll die tryin'.'

'That can so easily be arranged' the young Chinese ground out and in an instant was on his feet, towering over Starsky before the cop had time to see where his adversary had gone. A foot connected with the side of Starsky's head, whipping his neck sideways. The other foot came from the other direction and echoed the move so that Starsky lost all sense of direction and a high pitched squealing noise started up in his ears. Starsky brought his hands up to his head as protection. He could think of nothing else to do to protect himself and he thought he heard Kim growling at him to back off his operation and leave them alone. Another foot came at him and this time Starsky managed to deflect the blow so that it caught him on his shoulder rather than on the side of his head. He rolled over onto his stomach and lay there, spent as the blows rained down over him until a shot rang out into the air.

Kim stopped immediately. Suddenly there were just no more feet flying around his ears and Starsky lay in silence, pierced only by the incessant whistling inside his head. Another shot rang out and in the distance he thought he heard Hutch yelling although over the whistling it was difficult to tell. Eventually Starsky managed to look up just in time to see Kim make an almost impossible vault over the ten foot high wall across the end of the alleyway. He levered himself up onto his hands and knees just as Hutch skittered to a halt besides him.

'Huh?' he asked as he saw Hutch's lips move. There was no sound other than a muffled fuzz and he shook his head slowly from side to side.

'I said are you ok?' Hutch repeated. Starsky managed to catch the vowels but not much of the consonants in the words. The muffled whistling seemed to override all the other sounds.

'Yeah. The punk jumped me and then ran.'

'Looked like he did a job on you before he ran' Hutch said, his hands holding onto Starsky's shoulders as his partner got shakily to his feet. The world took a distinct dip to the left and Starsky started to fall again but righted himself against the wall. 'Starsk we need to get you checked out at the hospital.'

'Why? For a few scratches?' Starsky huffed. 'I'm fine. Aint nuthin but my pride been hurt.'

'You're bleedin'.'

'Yeah I am. Funny that, but I've found that a size 12 in your face often has that effect. I said I'm fine. I just need to sit down and have a cup of coffee somewhere, preferably not in public.'

Hutch grunted softly. He knew Starsky was truly hurt when his partner started to get sarcastic but he also knew that Starsky would never go to hospital unless he was unconscious first. As the smaller man seemed to be walking and talking ok, Hutch let it go. He picked up the Smith and Wesson from the ground, handed it back to Starsky and started to make his way back out of the alley. Starsky started to follow although he felt as though the ground beneath his feet was falling away to the left all the time and the annoying whistling in his ear was getting louder and not softer. He raised his hand and poked at his ear with his finger. It came back with a pink tinge of blood on the end of it and for a second Starsky felt sick.

'You comin'?' Hutch shouted from the mouth of the alley, although it sounded to Starsky more like "oo omin".

The brunet nodded, plastered his best innocent face on and followed on wobbly legs as Hutch rounded the corner.