Thankyou again to those who take time to review. I very much appreciate it. I think this story has taken on a life of it's own. It seems it must be Starsky's turn for some … ahh … fun!

Chapter Twenty One

The cleaner moved slowly down the corridor, swinging a large mop back and forth in a regular arc. The bucket was only a few feet ahead of him and it didn't take long to cover the patch he needed to bring him back to the bucket. He dropped the mop in and wrung it out while casually looking down the length of the corridor. Further down he could see the same cop parked on a chair with a newspaper rolled up in his hand. He had finished his coffee and the mug sat on the floor under his chair. He slowly kept swabbing the floor until the young woman with the tea trolley came around the corner. She stopped to talk with the cop as she collected his mug and he edged closer with the mop and bucket.

The cop on guard duty looked up at him sharply. He kept his eyes on the floor, hoping the cop wouldn't look any closer and concentrated on cleaning the day's grime off the tiles. Before the cop could say anything to him a nurse came hurrying over.

"There's a phone call for Detective Starsky from your captain. He says it's urgent."

McFarlane looked at the cleaner one more time and then headed for the door.

The cleaner moved past the group with his mop and bucket and kept going until he was around the corner.

Captain Dobey clutched the receiver in his hand and anxiously waited. Across the desk from him, Jackson Forbes stared at the floor. Beads of sweat sprang up across his forehead and he absently swiped at them with the back of his hand.

"Come on!" he muttered. "Pick up the phone!" He began to pace back and forth behind his desk. He'd told the nurse to get Starsky but he realised that either officer would have done. Suddenly in the background he could hear loud noises and what sounded suspiciously like gunfire. Finally he could hear somebody yelling something.

Forbes could obviously hear the commotion from his seat as he flinched at the noise.

"Guess ya too late."

"For your sake, you'd better hope we aren't!" Dobey growled at him. The noises on the other end of the phone were increasing and it was clear that nobody was going to come to the phone for him. He slammed it down and simultaneously called out to the officer nearest the door.

"Franklin! Get in here."

"Captain?"

"Get him down to the lockup and don't let him go 'til I get back."

"Sure, but where are you going?"

"To the hospital. And tell them to call me immediately if Starsky or McFarlane calls back. Get onto Dispatch and get the closest couple of units there. We need to warn them."

Franklin watched as Dobey swiped his keys out of the drawer and hurried for the door. He turned towards the snitch sitting slumped in the chair and nodded towards the door.

"Let's go."

The haze of colour grew rapidly to engulf the whole ceiling and Starsky stared at it. It was mesmerizing. He knew he was supposed to be going to talk to Dobey but this crazy shadow had slid under the door somehow while he wasn't looking and now it was taking over the room. It seemed to slide across the room except the only time he could really see it was out of the corner of his eye. If he tried to focus on it then it vanished.

He needed to get McFarlane to come and help grab it.

"'Cept maybe he sent it here!" The thought tumbled out before he even knew it. "What?"

Starsky stared around the room and noted that more of the shadows were appearing. Except they were really sneaky and kept hiding under things.

Like the chairs.

And the bed.

"He's sent a whole army of them in!"

Suddenly his mind switched gears and he saw faces out of the corner of his eye.

Asian faces.

Covered in black streaks.

They melted into the corners as he frantically swung around in a circle.

"VC!" he yelled as loudly as he could.

The door swung open and the enemy tried to advance on his position. But he'd been ordered to hold their ground at all costs. The medivac was coming and they couldn't pull out until the whole platoon was back.

McFarlane had walked back outside, expecting Starsky to come answer the phone. Suddenly he heard Starsky yell and ran towards the door. He could have sworn he'd heard "VC" but that made no sense. Must have been something else. As he opened the door he saw Starsky across the room crouched behind an overturned chair.

"VC! VC!" he yelled again.

"What the hell?"

McFarlane glanced around the room and couldn't see what the problem was. Suddenly a bullet whistled past his ear and he realised Starsky had fired at him. He dived for the floor as another one hit the wall where he'd been standing.

"Starsky! What the hell are you doing? It's me! McFarlane!"

"The choppers are on their way and you're gonna get fried. You can't hide in there forever! We know you're there! The airstrike is coming!"

"Starsky!"

The trees swayed in the wind and the grass flattened out as it always did when a big Huey was coming in to land. Faces peered out from behind the trees and he raised his rifle to take aim at them. He knew he was low on ammo and he could see that there were far too many for him to take them all down before he ran out. He'd have to be selective. The sound of the chopper was deafening and he couldn't hear anything else over the roar. He turned to the soldier on the makeshift stretcher and patted his arm. Some new kid, only been in-country for a few weeks and already he'd been taken down.

"You're gonna be alright soldier. Transport's here."

McFarlane watched as Starsky patted Hutch's arm, which didn't seem at all irregular but the words he spoke most definitely were. He'd heard the two of them trade all sorts of names and mock insults but never had heard either of them call the other "soldier". He could hear something in the tone of voice and knew that something was definitely wrong.

He started to slide towards the door when Starsky saw him. Without hesitation he raised his gun and fired. McFarlane raced towards the door but wasn't quite quick enough. The bullet hit him in the left arm and he threw himself out the open doorway. As he stumbled into the hallway, one of the hospital cleaners caught him and pulled him away from the door. He realised it was the same one from before and he'd seen him earlier in the night too but right now he had more important things to think about. Like Starsky losing the plot!

"Did I just hear gunfire?"

McFarlane ignored him and ran towards the nurse's station. "Call Security! And I need to speak to Captain Dobey. He was on the phone waiting for Starsky."

The nurse handed him the receiver but all he got was a dial tone. He shoved the phone back at the nurse. "Call Dobey at Metro. Tell him what's happening."

As he turned back around he saw that the cleaner had disappeared.

"Coward!" he muttered under his breath.

Starsky dropped down beside the wounded soldier on the stretcher.

"S'OK, we're gonna get you outta here. Fix you up. Good as new!"

He glanced across the sky and watched as swarms of helicopters flew overhead. The noise was deafening but he silently cheered them on. He needed to get across the open space to where the Huey had landed but it was open ground and that wasn't going to be easy. He reached out to the kid on the stretcher and noted that he hadn't once opened his eyes, despite all the noise.

"Guess Charlie got you real good. Don't worry. Just across there is your ticket to a warm bed and a pretty nurse." Starsky motioned towards the Huey and looked down at the kid. That blonde hair sure did make him a target here. He'd be easy to spot anywhere in the jungle. No wonder the sniper got him.

Dobey hurried toward the nurses' station where he could see McFarlane. A strip of white bandage was tied around his upper arm and blood was already seeping through it. Hospital security guards and several more officers were standing around him, as if waiting for instructions. Starsky was nowhere to be seen and his heart seemed to sink into his stomach.

"What's going on?"

McFarlane looked across at him and sighed. "Seems you were right, Captain. About the dust." He nodded towards the two uniforms standing beside him. "These guys arrived about five minutes too late to tell us and Starsky never got to taking your call in time. "

"Where's Starsky?"

"In there." McFarlane pointed towards the door. "Captain, I think he's hallucinating. He kept calling 'VC' and when I went in there he shot me!"

"What? He did that?" Dobey nodded toward the blood soaked bandage.

"Yep. He told me the choppers were on their way and I was gonna get fried."

Suddenly further shots rang out from the room and they could hear Starsky yelling something.

The villager kept coming towards him and he hesitated. He knew that the man would try to climb on board the Huey with them but they couldn't take everybody they came across.

"Get back!"

"Let me help you with your friend. I'm a doctor."

"Doctor! Sure, like some kinda witchdoctor maybe!"

He looked over at the soldier on the stretcher and pulled him towards him. For some reason it was very important that nobody get near him. His captain had told him to get the wounded on the chopper.

"Stay back! Don't make me shoot ya!"

He waved his rifle around menacingly and he watched as the man retreated slightly. A blast of explosive off to his right sent waves of sound rippling through the air and he grabbed at his ears.

The man, who claimed to be a doctor was slowly advancing towards him with his hand outstretched. Maybe he really was a doctor because only doctors or nurses used syringes. At the last moment he grabbed at the soldier and hauled him off the stretcher. No gook doctor was gonna touch him. Not when US medics were waiting in the Huey. He just needed to get them there. He fired a couple of warning shots and hoped the man got the message.