Chapter 7

The restaurant had that abandoned air to it that is common with places that usually only become busy at night. In the bright light of day the décor seemed somehow tacky rather than rich, the red of the napkins just too bright against the white linen table cloths and the peacock feathers overly dramatic in the gilt coloured oversized pots. Without the buzz of quiet conversation and the warming light of the candles on each table the large room seemed empty and cold, even though outside the thermometer was touching 90 in the shade.

The Royal Phoenix didn't often open its door to paying patrons during the day. Sometimes it catered for special occasions. Occasionally there was a family wedding, or a gathering of one of old man Lin's clubs, but mostly, the doors to the restaurant remained firmly locked against the outside world, the building giving closed shutters to the public. It was a time when the big room seemed to rest and sleep and gather itself for the time when the sun went down.

It was also a convenient place for Kim to gather with the rest of the members of the Red Dragons and plan their operations. Old man Lin knew of his son's dealings, although not in detail. Having been brought up in China as the son of a medium wealthy business man, the elder Lin, Kim's father, was used to Tongs –the societies that ruled the mainland of his home country. To belong to a Tong was as familiar as breathing, but whereas at one time Lin had been the snakehead of his band, now he studiously ignored the goings on of his son. What old man Lin didn't know about the Red Dragons wouldn't harm him and although he didn't stop Kim from using the restaurant during the day as his base of operations, he wisely kept out of the way and let the younger man get on with business.

Right now that business involved raised voices and a machine-gun quick spatter of heated Mandarin. Kim was angry and the rest of his group remained silent and wisely refused to become involved. The object of Kim's anger, however, was giving as good as she got. Jade shared her brother's temper and although she was tiny and could not have hurt her sibling with blows, her words stung as much as any whip slash may have done.

The previous day, Kim had hightailed it back to the restaurant after his encounter with the curly haired cop in the alleyway. He'd been pleased with himself for giving Starsky the beating Kim felt he richly deserved, but as he later sat in one of the booths drinking green tea, he realised that he had in some way incriminated himself. He also realised that his operation had become known to the police of the 9th precinct and he cursed his mole for not being more careful. Sooner or later, that mole was going to pay for his mistake. In the meantime, Kim realised he would have to rein in his operations for a while, lay low and play the waiting game.

That was until he saw those same two cops that chased him appear at his restaurant that night. It was bad enough that he had the authorities swimming in his soup, but when he then found his sister flirting dangerously with them, his temperature soared and his temper snapped. Kim was sensible enough not to cause a scene in the restaurant that night, but stupidly he had sent his two doormen after Starsky and Hutch. That had been another mistake and he berated himself for it, although what was done was done. Kim could do nothing about his own mistakes and like any cocksure young man, he chose to ignore them. He could, however, remind his sister of the error of her own ways.

'I don't want you anywhere near the restaurant again. You are confined to the house, do you have that?' Kim yelled.

'This is America brother, not our village in China. Remember "home of the brave and land of the free"? You have no right to keep me locked away.'

'You're my sister and as head of this family I have every right, especially when you conduct yourself like a common whore. Maybe I should swap your white dress for a green one. Then maybe you could dress the part too?'

Jade glared at her brother, not intimidated in the slightest by his harsh words and raised voice. 'Head of the family? The last time I looked our father was still alive and kicking. He is the only head of the family in my eyes. When you grow up, then maybe I will listen to you, in the meantime go ahead and play at gangs with your friends. I have serious work to do running this place' she sneered.

Kim was on his feet in a second and grabbed Jade around the upper arms, his grip strong and crushing so that she felt his fingertips drilling into her flesh. She refused to show the pain she felt, however and that seemed to inflame Kim's temper more. He fixed her with a steely gaze, drew back his hand and slapped her hard across her face. Jade's head snapped sideways and she fell to the floor, holding her cheek as she looked up at the man with open disdain in her eyes.

'That's your answer to everything isn't it? If you don't agree with it then you have to damage it in some way. Well you can beat me into the middle of next week if you wish, but tonight I will be back at my desk running the restaurant with a clear conscience. Will you be able to sleep as well in your bed?'

Kim glared down at the woman. It had felt good to hit her. She had no obedience and no respect. If they had been back home in China he would have paraded her through the streets and sold her to the highest bidder and for a tiny moment he regretted that he lived in America. The country had a lot to offer but it also protected the weak and gave rights to those who, in Kim's eyes, deserved none.

'Get out' he snarled. 'Get out of my sight and don't come back until we open tonight. I will have Shing and Quon watch you even more carefully this evening. You may think you have freedom here sister, but as to what degree of freedom…. I own you and don't forget it.'

Jade got up and rose on tiptoe to stare into her brother's eyes, contempt dripping from her every word as she smiled mirthlessly at him. 'You own nothing. You have your little friends and you have your money, but at least I have integrity, and my own conscience is clear.'

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'Chest hurting again buddy?' Hutch looked sideways as Starsky rubbed surreptitiously at his side and took a careful breath in. It was pointless lying to Hutch and the brunet felt bad for being bad tempered earlier on in the day.

'No more'n your arm must be hurtin'. What say we call it a day huh? We can both get early nights and maybe tomorrow the thought of Patterdale in cahoots with Kim won't seem quite so bad.

Hutch snickered and quickly turned the snicker into a cough and Starsky turned with questioning eyes. 'What?'

'What's so funny?'

Hutch took a second to compose himself. 'Cahoots. Did you just say cahoots?'

'Yeah! It's a perfectly good word, what's wrong with cahoots?'

The blond straightened his face. It was a long standing thread of a joke between them that occasionally Starsky would pick up a word that was so out of character for him and use it whenever he got a chance. 'It's a wonderful word buddy. Um….where'd ya dig that one up from?'

Starsky gave a dignified sigh. 'I was watching Lawrence of Arabia on the TV. It happened to come up and…. Anyway, don't change the subject. I need a shower a beer and an early night. Does that sound good?'

'Sounds great to me.' And in truth Hutch felt as bad as Starsky looked. Whether it was the after shock of his bullet wound, or whether it was the sudden sickening knowledge that one of the longest serving guys in the team had turned dirty, he didn't know, but Hutch too felt as though he had sandpaper beneath his eyelids and molasses flowing through his veins. 'Home and an early night is good, but what about "all I want to eat is Chinese?" huh?'

Starsky wiggled his eyebrows. 'Who says I have to eat at the restaurant to have a Chinese?'

'Starsk, that is both gross and disrespectful. And how the hell would you get her away from that huge minder anyway?'

The brunet looked defeated. 'Ok, maybe tomorrow. But remember, Captain Marvel always gets his man' Starsky said darkly as he pulled up outside Venice Place. 'See you tomorrow Pal?'

Hutch got out and peered in through the car window, trying to ignore the paint stripper splashes across the hood of the otherwise immaculate car. 'Get some rest Starsk. I'll see you bright and early in the morning.'

Starsky grunted. 'I'll see you early but I don't promise to be bright.'

Ten minutes later saw Starsky back at his own place on Ridgeway. He parked the TransAm up under the shade of the big tree outside his house and made his way inside. Something inside him felt wrong. He felt itchy and ill at ease even though he was dog tired and aching in places he hadn't ached for months. Listlessly, the brunet went to the fridge and got himself a beer, but the thought of food right then turned his stomach. The one thing that had been praying on his mind during the day finally surfaced and made his heart beat faster as he slumped into the chair by the door.

Sure, it had come as a shock to find out that Patterdale may be dirty and of course he was still angry at himself for not being able to take Kim in a fight, but those issues paled into insignificance compared to the real worry in Starsky's mind.

He had played the old game with Hutch. He had intimated that he was going to do more than just eat at the Royal Phoenix. He had hinted that he wanted Jade –and not just as a waitress. That was the old Starsky, the one who never passed up an opportunity to romance a woman. In the old days, he'd had a reputation to uphold and there were few women officers at the metro who had not succumbed to his charms at least once. Only Minnie Caplan gave as good as she got from the curly haired cop and theirs was a relationship based on the knowledge that Minnie would never give in to Starsky.

That was before Gunther.

Whilst lying in his hospital bed recovering from the shots, with morphine pumping around his body and the endorphins from the pain meds kicking in, Starsky felt invincible. The pretty nurses who looked after him, bathed him, changed his dressings and kept him company during the wee small hours of the morning, when the pain and fevers were at their worst were a tempting reminder of the life he knew he had to get back to. They were always there as a temptation and Starsky had flirted as he always had, although his body had never responded to their hands across his chest or abdomen…..or lower.

But that was the pain meds, right? Morphine will do that to a guy – won't it?

As the weeks progressed and Starsky started to get up and about, the nurses gave way to Fiona, his personal physiotherapist, supplied by the police department to rehabilitate their officer. She had been a stunner, and in her tight pants and tee shirt top, she had set Starsky's pulse racing long before he started his exercises. But he'd never once experienced that ache and that pressure in his groin that told him that he was ready to honour the woman with more than words.

But that was the pain from the exercises, right? Muscle pain and bone crushing fatigue will do that to a guy – won't it?

The months wore on and Starsky had felt like a recluse. Without the initial strength to go out without someone to accompany him, he had occupied his time with his camera, or his books or his music. Mozart had become his daily companion and when he did go out with Hutch, it was such a relief to be out of his house, that he spent more time with his blond partner and Huggy than with girls.

But that was because he wanted jokes with his friends, right? He wasn't shying away from anything – was he?'

But now the ugly truth was hitting home. In the twelve months since Starsky had been shot, he had not once had time alone with a woman in a romantic setting. Whilst he was sure he could still charm a woman with his words and with his looks, there were other things that worried the brunet.

The first was that whilst women always told him that they found scars sexy, he didn't know how they would react to the road map that was now emblazoned across his chest and back. Sure Terri always liked to run her fingers over the puckered wound on his left shoulder and back. She used to kiss it and tell him it was a badge of honour that turned her on, but that was different. That was one bullet wound and was small and neat and had caused him a life threatening loss of blood, but a reasonably small operation to put him right.

What he suffered at the hands of Gunther's goons eclipsed that my miles. Five slugs had torn through his body in a diagonal line from left shoulder down through his chest and abdomen. That meant multiple surgeries, multiple incisions…..and multiple scars. Starsky doubted that even his beloved Terri would have looked at his body and said anything other than "Shit". His scars were not a badge of courage. To Starsky they were a constant reminder of how his life had been almost ripped away from him and how his confidence had been shattered.

His second problem fed from the first. Confidence in his abilities to do his job was one thing. Confidence in his ability to be with a woman was something else, and something that up until now Starsky had refused to face up to. When he was on his own, his body responded to pictures of women, or the soft porn magazines he sometimes read as it always had, although the feelings in his groin were not as intense nor did they last as long as they had done before. Would that happen "in the field" as it were? Would Starsky's body respond to a woman as it had in the past? Would he get that deep, low ache in his belly and would he have that insistent rod of flesh hard and hot and ready when the time came?

Only a date with a woman would answer that question. Only a night with a beautiful woman would allow the brunet to explore what his body could or could not do. Hutch had tried to get him dates. His partner had tried to set him up with women and always Starsky had had a clever retort or some excuse as to why he couldn't go out.

Up until now.

Starsky's first look at Jade had sent a familiar thrill down his spine and a stirring in his jeans. Not strong, but the first time that Little Davey had shown an interest in the outside world for a year. Now the curly haired cop stared at his bottle of beer morosely and faced up to his fears.

Did he have the confidence to try this? Did he have the confidence to go and ask Jade for a date, knowing that if she accepted then it may lead to other things?

Did he want to find out, or was Dave Starsky a coward?

With that thought ringing in his ears, Starsky slammed the beer down on the table, stalked stiff backed into the bathroom and started to run a shower. If he didn't do this tonight, then he may never do it.

Jade had no idea what was coming to her.