Chapter Eight

Captain Dobey threw open the door between his office and the bull pen and strode in. It was almost deserted: the only detectives sitting in the room were Starsky and Hutch as everyone else was out investigating cases or answering call-outs.

"Glad you two are here," Dobey said. He looked at Starsky. "I'm about to take you off light duties son. Think you can handle it?"

Starsky's eyes shone with excitement. "Ready as I'll ever be Cap!"

Dobey's look broadened to include Hutch. "Think he's ready?...Are you?"

Dobey had been their Captain for too long not to know them inside out and he knew that it wasn't just Starsky that had needed time to recuperate and face his demons.

Hutch nodded and affirmed: "We're both ready."

"Well, I hope so because Callaghan and Bailey have got themselves caught in a stand-off with armed gunmen in a warehouse off Grant Street. Jewellery store robbery that went bad. Dobson and Smith are on their way as back-up but I want you two there as well."

"How many gunmen?" Hutch asked as he shoved his jacket on and headed towards the door.

"Four. Get on over there. Help Callaghan and Dobson contain them. Don't play heroes and I'll get SWAT on the move."

"No problem Cap," Starsky nodded at Dobey, as he followed his partner out of the room. "We'll get the job done."

Starsky's heart was beating fast as he jogged down the stairs beside Hutch. He was sure he was ready but a little voice niggled in the back of his head, reminding him that it was a long time since he'd seen any action. What if his nerve failed him?

As if he could read his mind, Hutch said, "You'll be fine Starsk. No-one else I want watching my back."

"Thanks buddy."

The two detectives hurried out to Hutch's car and took off in a cloud of smoke. Starsky slammed the Mars light on the roof and hung on to the dashboard as the car screamed round the first corner. It took them less than ten minutes to get to the scene.

They could see Dobson's car abandoned across the mouth of an alleyway, doors open, Mars light still flashing. They pulled up behind it and pulled their guns out of their holsters ready for action.

Further down the alleyway, they could see Dobson and Smith pinned down behind Callaghan's car, which had obviously been driven down the alley and then abandoned at the edge of a large concrete wasteland leading up to a large disused warehouse. They heard a couple of shots then it went quiet. Starsky opened his door and slipped out of his seat, keeping low. Hutch did the same and they crept their way up to join Dobson and Smith.

"How you guys doing?" Starsky asked.

"Great. You?" Len Dobson's voice was light but he looked relieved to see both of them, as did Smith.

"Terrific."

Hutch tried to look around the car to see where Callaghan and his rookie were located and had to duck back down when a shot rang out.

"What's the story?" he asked Dobson.

"All I know is Joe and the rookie intercepted these guys coming out of a jewellery store. Chased them here and called us in for back up. The thieves, four of them all armed to the teeth, drove down this alleyway and up to that warehouse over there. Exits from the building are all on the side. It's got a solid back wall that faces the old canned meat factory so at least we know they can't get out without us seeing them. There's a lot of cover between us and them: old sheds, cars and junk. Joe and the rookie must have used that to move up closer before we got here. I guess they were trying to make sure they didn't escape down the alleyway on the west side of the yard. When we got here, there were a lot of bullets flying around, then it went more or less quiet. I haven't seen them or heard from Joe or Bailey for ten minutes. No idea if they're hurt…or worse. I called for an ambulance, just in case. Just hope we don't need the coroner's wagon too."

Hutch clapped a hand on Dobson's shoulder. "Don't go there. I'm sure they're okay. Just keeping their heads down."

Starsky looked at the three men. "What do you want to do? SWAT should be here soon and can take over."

"That would be the smart move," Hutch said.

"But Callaghan and Bailey might be hurt and need assistance," Starsky said quietly, meeting Hutch's eyes.

"And then there's that," Hutch agreed.

Hutch exchanged looks with Starsky and they both nodded, agreeing the plan without saying a word.

"Len, you're with me. We'll go up the right side. Smith, you follow Starsky and keep close to him, you hear."

The rookie had been silent until now but he answered, at first with a stammer but with his voice getting stronger as he spoke, "Y-yes, sir. You can count on me."

"Ready to cover us Starsk?"

"Ready. Pinball on ten?"

"Yep…and now!"

Starsky and Smith jumped up and fired their guns into the alleyway towards the front of the warehouse as Hutch and Dobson ran hell-for-leather towards the cover of an old shed on the right side of the alley.

There was an answering round of shotgun fire. Starsky and Smith ducked their heads down.

"Now what?" Smith asked as he reloaded his gun.

"Now, it's our turn on seven, eight, nine, go!"

Starsky jack-rabbited out from behind the car, moving under the umbrella of Hutch and Dobson's covering fire, and ran five yards towards a pile of old oil barrels and planks of wood. Smith followed him, keeping as low as he could. Gunfire followed the move. Starsky looked for Hutch and spotted his face peeking out from the doorway of the shed. He gave Starsky a wait signal. Starsky nodded back.

"Joe? You and Bailey okay?" Hutch shouted as loud as he could.

There was a pause and then a young man's voice answered, "Joe's hit. He's passed out. I'm trying to stop the bleeding."

"Help's on the way kid," Hutch reassured the strained voice.

Starsky peered left, trying to locate where the voice was coming from and finally spotted a pair of legs behind a collapsed outbuilding. He got Hutch's attention and signalled what he wanted to do. Hutch gave him a thumbs-up.

Starsky turned to the rookie next to him. "Kid, you and me are going to try and get over there to help Bailey and Callaghan. Hutch and Dobson 'll cover us. You up for it?"

"Yep."

"Be ready. When I say now, we go." Starsky signalled to Hutch again and counted down from five then he shouted, "Now." He zig-zagged between rubbish and old cars, keeping as low as he could. There was a hail of bullets and one or two hit the ground behind him. He dove for cover and rolled under the edge of a piece of metal roofing that had obviously come off the collapsed building where he'd seen Callaghan's legs. He heard a scraping sound behind him as Smith rolled in behind him.

"You all right kid?"

Breathing hard, Smith replied, "Yeah, fine. You?"

"Peachy," Starsky grinned at him. "Let's wriggle our way over to Bailey."

The two of them commando crawled their way under loose piles of wood and rubbish until they came to a little opening where they found Bailey and Callaghan sitting. Callaghan was propped up against the remains of a wooden crate. Bailey was holding his wadded up shirt to his partner's shoulder.

"How's it going Bailey?" Starsky asked.

"Better now you guys are here," Bailey said. "Joe needs an ambulance."

Starsky reassured him. "There's one on its way but it looks like you've taken good care of your partner in the meantime."

"Thanks."

Smith looked Bailey up and down and asked, "You okay Sam?"

Bailey smiled reassuringly at him. "Yeah, I'm all right man. Don't sweat it. Thanks for coming to back us up."

"Glad you're okay," Smith commented.

Starsky heard Hutch shouting: "What's the news Starsk?"

"Joe's got a Hutch special but he'll live," Starsky shouted back.

"What's a Hutch special?" Bailey asked.

"Shot in the shoulder. Lost count how many times Hutch has been hit there," Starsky said with a grin, "And he's still here. Joe'll be fine."

There was the sound of a gun, giving covering fire and answering shotgun rounds. Starsky knew that meant that was Hutch separating from Dobson to get in a better position in case an offensive move was called for.

Starsky heard Hutch shouting again, this time towards the warehouse: "You in the warehouse! You may as well give up. SWAT's on the way. You've injured a cop but he's alive. Come out now. Don't make things worse for yourselves. No-one needs to die today."

"He keeps hoping the bad guys'll see reason," Starsky commented. "Eternal optimist."

There was a hail of bullets, strafing the area towards Hutch's hiding place.

"And there's the answer," Starsky said. He wriggled along the ground until he was able to see an opening towards the front of the warehouse. He heard Smith following behind. He stuck his head out for a second and noted that the opening was hidden from direct view of the front windows. He reckoned he could just about sneak his way to the corner of the building if he bent low then it would a short run to get down the side.

"Hutch?" he yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Think we should get a beer tonight, around ten. In the meantime, I'm gonna follow my natural leanings and relax," Starsky shouted then dropped his voice to whisper to Smith. "I'm heading left towards that corner as soon as Hutch starts shooting. Follow me, close."

Hutch yelled back: "Beer at ten sounds good buddy. My natural thinking says we should all relax for five."

"Good luck," Bailey whispered.

Starsky and Smith sat up on their haunches, ready to move. Starsky counted off ten seconds in his head then, as Hutch and Dobson started firing, he and Smith bent double and scuttled towards the edge of the warehouse. They cleared their cover and dashed for the side of the building, making it in a few breathless seconds. Starsky pinned himself to the wall, gun up, ready to fire at any sign of movement. There was only silence.

"I don't think they saw us. Let's see if we can get in behind them through that door towards the rear," Starsky said as he crept along the wall, ducking every time they came across dusty windows.

In the distance, he could hear sirens approaching. "Cavalry's nearly here."

Smith tapped his shoulder. "Should we wait for SWAT?"

"We're here now and, besides, Hutch'll be ready to go in the other side in about a minute."

"How d'you know that?"

"Haven't got time to explain right now kid but I promise I'll fill you in later." Starsky jumped to the other side of the door. "Open the door on three, I'll go in first."

"One, two, three."

Smith flung the door inwards. Gun out in front of him, Starsky slipped in through the opening and headed left. Smith followed and went right. They paused, letting their eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. They could see lines of ancient wooden shelving heading away from them. Starsky pointed to the nearest one, indicating that he would go down one side and Smith should go down the other parallel to him and trying to keep each other in sight.

As they crept along either side of the wooden unit, Starsky heard footsteps ahead. He quickened his pace, walking on the balls of his feet to cut down the noise his own steps made. Smith kept pace with him. Starsky neared the end of the unit and risked a quick look. The man had his back to him but was too far away to take by surprise. He indicated to Smith that he could see one of the gunmen.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose at the front of the warehouse. There was a sound that reminded Starsky of the noise made by a car compactor. Hutch and Dobson must be making their move to attract attention away from Starsky and Smith. The gunman cocked his head listening, deliberating whether to go help his companions or keep covering the back of the warehouse. He started to move towards the front of the building.

Counting down from three on his fingers, Starsky jumped out and shouted, "Police. Freeze!"

The gunman swung round, firing his shotgun in the direction of the shout. The shotgun blast narrowly missed Starsky, who was already firing, and made a shelf behind him explode in a shower of splinters. The curly haired detective hit the gunman in the chest knocking him off his feet. He dashed towards him and kicked the gun out of his hand. Smith was right beside him. Starsky kept his gun trained on the perp while Smith pushed him onto his front and cuffed him.

Taking the shotgun with them, the two of them ran towards the gunfight going on at the front of the warehouse, keeping to the edge of the building, trying to make sure they wouldn't be seen until they wanted to be. Suddenly there was silence. As they rounded the edge of a shelving unit, they saw what had caused the crashing sound previously. Someone, and Starsky's money was on Hutch, had driven the gunmen's own van through the front door and into the warehouse. One perp was knocked out on the ground, Dobson was just handcuffing another and Hutch was just disarming the third.

Hutch looked up as Starsky approached and breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared his partner was unscathed. He clicked the handcuffs on the man in front of him then asked, "All right partner?"

"Yep. You?"

"Never better," Hutch said with a smile.

Starsky gave him a broad grin. "We've got the last one handcuffed at the back of the building," he informed Hutch. "I take it you drove through the front door Blintz?"

"Yeah Gordo, it seemed like a good strategy. Tried and tested, you might say."

Starsky's grin got bigger and he nodded, before turning to Smith. "Kid, I'll go get the one we collared. You can go see how Bailey is getting on with Joe."

Smith nodded and hurried out to see how his friend and the injured detective were doing. Starsky headed to the back of the building to get the gunman they'd left handcuffed and bring him back to join the others.

There was the sound of running feet and a SWAT team entered, guns at the ready. As soon as they assessed the threat was finished, they stood down and helped with the round up and let the ambulance crews do their job.

Once the scene was secure, Starsky and Hutch went to their car, ready to head back to the precinct to fill in the inevitable paperwork. Before he started the engine, Hutch wanted to know how Starsky was doing.

"Well buddy, how're you feeling?"

"Terrific … and you did great!"

Hutch grinned. "We did great…It felt like we got our timing exactly right."

Starsky slapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, ain't no stopping us now Blintz. The magic is back. Look out bad guys!"

Starsky's enthusiasm and joy were infectious and Hutch couldn't stop grinning as he started the car and reversed out of the alleyway.