Hi All,

Sorry for the long wait. I guess I need a sign on my PC that says –Caution! Slow muse at work! - As always, thanks for the emails and encouraging reviews. They keep the creative fires burning. Sorry, I just couldn't resist that.

Big thanks to the Usual Suspects; you guys were right, again!

Here ya go Hig!

Chapter 16

Elk Meadow

Hutch was helplessly dragged to some trees and pushed against a tree trunk. He was nearly squished when Starsky pressed his back hard against his sternum. "Starsky what-"

"SHH! Dammit Jake, you're trying to get us killed, ain't ya?" The brunet pressed backwards harder and pulled his Beretta from its holster.

Hutch tilted his head to the left "Jake? Starsk-"

A hand slapped over his mouth. Hutch felt the blood run from his face as understanding dawned on him. Starsky was having a flashback, a very intense one from the feel of it. Hutch could feel the pounding of Starsky's heart against his own chest, it was hammering so hard, he was certain that it was trying to bust through and escape. He eased his good left arm around Starsky's chest and hugged his friend. "S'okay Starsk-"

Starsky turned halfway around and really clamped his hand over the blond's mouth "Shut up!" his whisper was urgent and laced with fear "Please… be quiet… the VC might hear you and find us!"

Unable to speak, Hutch nodded. He simply had no idea how badly Starsky had been affected by his time in Vietnam. He knew that a lot of men and women who had been over there and had been deeply traumatized. Starsky had certainly never talked to him about it. He just had never figured Starsky to be suffering in silence over the years. Or perhaps he had blocked it out and now these circumstances they were in were bringing those memories to the foreground.

As the last of the planes droned away, Hutch could feel Starsky start to relax a bit and removed his hand from over his mouth. "Hey buddy, you back with me here?"

"Huh? What're ya talkin' about?" Starsky shifted positions and moved away a little so his back was no longer pressed so hard against Hutch.

Hutch took a deep breath "You just had a flashback. You care to tell me what's goin' on?" he desperately wished for his vision to return. He needed to see the look on Starsky's face as he asked him what happened to him over there. "Starsk?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talkin' about."

Pressed against him as he was, Hutch could feel Starsky shake his head. "I think you do. I wanna help you, but you gotta help me."

"Help you what? I don't understand what the hell you are tryin' ta say" Starsky sounded slightly defensive.

Hutch sighed "Look, I've heard of soldiers having flashbacks, certain things can trigger them, the sight of something, the smell, sound, or a combination of all of those things can trigger a flashback."

"We're stuck on a mountain, no supplies, you're injured, we have an armed killer somewhere out there waiting and a fire burning not too far from us and you wanna talk about stupid flashback about an event that is best forgotten?" Starsky snapped.

"Event? It was a war; it was called Vietnam it-"

"I KNOW what it was, I was there! I don't need you ta tell me what it was that I was doin' over there… we were fightin', bleedin' and dyin' in Nam, while you and others like you sat on your asses and demonstrated about what a shitty thing the whole war was. You weren't there… you have no idea what really went on! You sat here, all comfortable in your dorm room while we were over there, sleepin' in the mud and wonderin' if the next minute we were gonna even be alive! And you wanna know about some stupid stinkin' flashbacks?"

"Starsk, I'm not the bad guy here. I just want to help you" he tugged at Starsky's shirtsleeve.

"You wanna help me? Fine! Shut the hell up about Nam, already. It's an old issue. A bad memory best forgotten."

"Right, and not talking about it has done wonders for you." Hutch shook his head, unwilling to give up on this subject just yet.

XXXX

Colby edged closer to the bickering pair. God, they were making this far too easy for him. The low flying planes had all gone by, for now. There might be more planes later, it was impossible to tell. Something big going on down in the valley, most likely the planes were going to be used to fight that distant fire he had spotted when he had been treed by the bear. Good. The media and authorities would be focused on the fire, a far more immediate threat then the disappearance of plane with four people on it.

Colby belly crawled even closer to them. He could hear them arguing, Starsky's voice was nearly loud enough that he could nearly make out what their fight was about. Not that he cared at all what their argument was about. He edged behind a rock and pulled the Magnum out of its holster and removed two of the hand grenades from the backpack. It was time to play. His groin tightened with anticipation of the hunt and he pulled the pin of one of the grenades, while holding the key down, waiting for just the right moment to toss it in their direction.

XXXX

"Obviously this is bothering you Starsk, I don't ever recall you having these flashbacks before, what has changed that you are havin' them now?" Hutch tugged on his friend's shirt. "Talk to me!" he could feel Starsky pulling away, closing in on himself. It made him even more desperate to help.

Starsky flipped his arm in a half circle and broke Hutch's grip, he then moved away from him. A chilly silence filled the air.

"Starsk?" Hutch could hear Starsky's breathing; it was coming in huffy pants, an almost panicky sound. He grabbed Woody and moved towards the sound. "Starsk?" he reached out a hand, feeling for his friend.

"Luua!"

Starsky slammed backwards into Hutch, roughly shoving him into the tree truck. His injured arm flared with pain as it was smacked hard into the rough bark. He could feel the darkness of unconsciousness flooding his senses, drowning out all but the sound of Starsky's heart beating wildly in his chest, or maybe it was his own heart… he fought to stay conscious.

An explosion of sound assaulted him and he could feel the concussive blast as a wave of energy from a bomb… or something that had exploded close to their location. Then the sound of gunfire erupted. His Magnum and Starsky's Beretta barked at each other like mad dogs. A haze of red filled his vision and quickly faded to black once more as he fought through the pain, he would do Starsky no good if he passed out now. He clutched Woody in his good hand afraid to let go.

"Ma kwai! Kon lun nguhi linh! Chet!"

Hutch kept his hand on the walking stick as he fought off another wave of dizziness washed over him. He could feel something… blood… start to soak the bandage on his arm. Starsky's back was ramming him into the tree, pressing hard on his chest, making it increasingly hard to breathe. "Starsk… Starsky"

"Quiet Jake!" was the hissed response.

"Starsky… you're… (pant) squishing… me (pant) I can't…breathe…" The pressure on his chest suddenly decreased and he gratefully sucked in the smoke filled air, which made him break into a coughing fit.

"Quiet dammit! You're gonna expose the whole platoon with noise! Christ Jake, ain't ya learned nothin'?" Starsky's words were harshly whispered into his ear.

Another explosion caused dirt to rain on them. More gunfire went off. Starsky returned it.

It dawned on Hutch exactly what was going on. In a flash of insight, all was made clear to him. Colby was deliberately getting Starsky to fire at him, talking in – (what he could only guess was Vietnamese) to further throw Starsky off into the ever-intensifying flashbacks. Hutch guessed the reason for doing that was to get Starsky to waste all of his ammo. Then Colby could close in on them and make good on his promise of torturing and killing the both of them.

XXXX

Fullerton Airport Fire

IC Johnston heard the planes before he saw them. The droning was music to his ears. With any luck, they could drop their loads on the spots he designated before the wind from the front arrived. They were already behind the eight ball on this one and could really use a break right now. The front wasn't due for nearly a half an hour yet, but he knew that weather forecasts were not terribly accurate. Maybe one day they would have better ways of forecasting the weather.

Further thought on bettering the forecasting of weather was forgotten and a breeze wafted past him, flapping the flag on the pole not too far from where he was. At the sharp snap of cloth, he lifted his head and stared at the flag. First it waved fitfully, wafting this way and that on its tether. Another gust, stronger this time furled and unfurled Old Glory. The cloth made a popping sound as the wind began to play with it.

A strong gust caught the flag and pushed it straight out. It looked as if someone had grabbed hold of the flag and was pulling it directly away from the flagpole. Johnston gulped at the lump in his throat, attempting to force it down. The front had arrived. The wind would bring the fire to roaring life.

XXXX

Elk Meadow

"Starsk?" Hutch whispered softly to the brunet. He knew, now, not to startle his friend. He needed Starsky to talk to him, but under these circumstances, it was going to have to wait. He licked his dry lips and tried to ignore his pounding headache, which was throbbing in time with the pulses of pain from his right arm.

Starsky had called him 'Jake' a few times now. He had never heard of Starsky talk about anyone named Jake before, but then, he had never talked about Nam before either. Obviously Starsky and Jake had been close. And just as obviously, something bad had happened to Jake and the situation they were in now, must closely resemble the circumstances that were giving Starsky flashbacks.

He had rarely seen Starsky so… intense before. He remembered when he had been running that satchel of money all over downtown, running from phone to phone at the twisted behest of kidnappers. When they had thought he had betrayed them, they had shot him.

Thankfully, he had been wearing a bulletproof vest. The powerful slug had shoved him through a glass door, cutting his arm and forehead, knocking the wind out of him. He could easily recall his first painful attempts to breathe. The next instant, Starsky was there, shoving people roughly out of his way to get to his side. The brunet's face had been a mass of panic until Hutch had reached out to touch him. His friend had slumped down on the pavement, still clutching a handful of his sweat and bloodstained shirt.

Then later, he heard from the uniformed police and read witness statements about how Starsky had raced after the kidnappers and skillfully shot and exploded the gas tank on the car, which was rapidly engulfed in flames that killed the kidnapers. Bystanders had been frightened by what they called 'excessive force' and demanded that he turn in his badge. There was even an inquiry into that charge. But Starsky had been exonerated of any wrongdoing and the charge of using excessive force was dropped. Still, there was talk around the precinct for months about Starsky being a loose cannon.

Hutch hated to admit it, but at this moment, he could understand their fear. He had dismissed it at the time, but now he understood it. This was not saying he was currently afraid of Starsky, he wasn't now, nor would he ever be afraid of his best friend. He was afraid FOR his friend. And he didn't know how to change the situation. He was blind and injured. He was the only reason Starsky was here in the first place.

He also knew he had to pull Starsky out of his flashbacks and keep him out; their lives depended on it. Then he had to find the reason for them and eliminate it. He felt his resolve strengthen. Heneeded was a plan and having a plan always calmed him down. Hutch took a calming breath.

He could hear Starsky moving quietly beside him and figured the brunet was watching for Colby. He carefully patted his pockets, not really knowing what he was searching for until he found the coin in his pants pocket. His sensitive fingers could feel it was Starsky's trick coin. He struggled to keep the grin off of his face. He knew just how he was going to get Starsky back in the present and with a little luck, keep him there.

XXXX

Colby kept a mental count in his head the number of rounds Starsky had fired. The man had shot 7 times. Half of his clip was gone. If he had another clip on him, that meant Starsky potentially had 21 rounds left. Unless the detective had fired a round or two during the hand grenades going off… it was still too dangerous to get closer. He only had a couple of grenades left and he didn't want to seriously injure the pair with the grenade blasts. He wanted the pleasure of injuring them all to himself.

It had been fun to watch Starsky go a little nuts at the sound of Vietnamese words. Hell, he wasn't even sure he got the words correct or not. Though it didn't seem to really matter what he said, as long as it was in Vietnamese, it had a dramatic effect on his former friend. He was glad that he had gotten a look at Starsky's military records. It had been very enlightening.

A gust of wind pushed a blanket of smoke towards him, obscuring his view of the pair. The smoke stung his eyes and burned his nostrils and he fought off a coughing fit, well aware that Starsky was more then capable of locating him and shooting him regardless of the smoke. He pushed backwards and used the smoke to change positions. He knew the pair would be on the move as well.

XXXX

Starsky stiffened as a cloud of smoke rolled up the incline at them and he knew it was time to leave this position and find a different place to hide. The enemy was out there changing their position. He knew that they had to get out of this area; it was about to be over run. He grabbed the blond and forced him to crawl away in front of him as he kept up a rear guard defense position. He nudged and pushed his friend before him, making for the source of the smoke, it would cover their retreat, so he kept them headed down the hill from their current position.

He calculated how many bullets he had expended in that little skirmish back there. He quickly patted his pockets and found he was out of clips. He had just 8 rounds left in his gun. He debated about keeping two rounds, just in case they ran out of other options. He recalled all the horror stories about what happened to POWs. He wasn't sure he could kill his friend to spare him from the hands of the VC. He gulped hard at the very thought of it. Only as a last resort, the very last resort.

XXXX

Hutch allowed himself to be moved along. Starsky pushing at him every few steps, nudging him in the direction he wanted to go. When he felt confident that it was fairly safe, he whipped around on his knees and held the coin out in front of him, like a talisman to ward off evil. He clenched it in his left hand, fearful he would drop it.

Silence

Hutch was about to speak when he heard Starsky say "Hey… that's mine… gimme that." and the coin was snatched from his hand.

He hesitated for a long moment then asked "Starsk? Are you with me? Huh?"

"Yeah… yeah, I am... How'd we get down here?" He sounded like he was coming out of a daze.

Hutch closed his sightless eyes and sat down hard. It worked, thank god. "We crawled."

"We crawled?" Puzzlement was evident in the brunet's voice.

"That's how we got here. You had another flashback" Hutch held up a single digit on his left hand, a silent warning not to interrupt. "You are going to tell me all about Nam, when we get outta here-"

"An' I told ya before no!"

"You owe me" Hutch gritted his teeth and continued. "That coin is the reason I'm here. It's the reason I got hurt. It's your fault… you said so yourself" He hated to send Starsky on a guilt trip, but he was running out of options. He needed… no, Starsky needed to talk about Vietnam. But first, they had to get the hell away from Colby.

Hutchlistened carefully. In the distance, he could hear the crackle of the fire. A gentle gust of wind pushed more smoke and heat from the flames towards them. He heard the dry rustle of leaves on the trees, but not a sound from his friend.

He broke the silence "Starsk?"

"Okay" The single word was whispered.

Hutch closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Okay, well buddy… Colby's out there, he's speaking in Vietnamese and chucking grenades at us. It feels like the fire is below us… Now, how the hell do we get outta this mess?"

A stranger's voice broke in before Starsky could speak "Well, the first thing you need to do, is to leave here. Now."

The duo whipped around to face the interloper.

XXXX

Through the breaks in the smoke, Colby watched his former friends. They seemed to be talking to someone. He focused the binoculars. Then refocused them. Damn smoke. He couldn't see the person or object they were looking at. He edged closer.

TBC

Author Notes: I found these Vietnamese translations on the Internet. My most humble apologies if I got the meanings wrong. No harm or insult to anyone is intended.

Luua – fire

Ma kwai – demon

Kon lun- pig

Nguhi linh – solider

Chet – die/dead