Here is my latest story which I shall try and keep ahead of as I post the chapters, however I do have my part time
commercial hand knitting job back so there could be delays between the chapters.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my two editors Laurie and Judy for their help and encouragement.

Okay, I have rambled on long enough now, here is chapter one
Regards Tracy (the kiwi frequent flyer from New Zealand)

(Side note: The story is posted in its entirety here)
 

                                           Chapter One

Laura was making final touches to the nursery which had been beautifully decorated in pink and white awaiting the
arrival any day now of her first child. Although they had moved to a house to have more room for a family, her
husband Detective David Starsky still insisted on keeping one part of the interior design similar to his previous
bachelor pad. He did not want to part with his mirrored ceiling bedroom. Laura had managed to talk her husband into
leaving all the other furniture behind at his previous house and together they were starting a new beginning to their
lives after Starsky had almost died in an assassination attempt on his life and that of his partner, Detective Kenneth
Hutchinson.

Every day Laura had learned to live with the fear that one day her husband may not come walking through the door
after a day's work, and every day she counted her blessings as he returned home to her safely. David was careful only
to call his wife Laura in the safety of their own house or in the company of David's partner, Ken. Anywhere else and
her name was Allison (the name which was given to her over 20 years ago after her father became involved too
deeply in a shady business and became a State Witness and was placed in the Witness Protection Program with his
family). But now all she had was her husband, her mother had died a few years earlier and her father was murdered 3
years ago, and at that time she owed her life to Starsky, when she was kidnapped by her father's murderers and used
as bait to get to her husband and his partner.

All of that was now behind them and they had a new life now. The nursery was now fully furnished and Laura was
placing the last of the soft toys in the baby's bassinet. Now and again a few pains would come and she knew the time
would soon arrive for the birth of their first child. Looking at her watch she could not help but worry slightly that her
husband was late coming home this evening, it was not unusual for her husband to be late but she still worried.

A smell of roses filled the air and she turned to see her husband standing behind her, a large smile on his face as
always. "Hi, how are my girls tonight?" he asked as he kissed his wife and held her in his arms.

"Fine, we're both fine" Laura smiled and then gasped as another pain hit her again.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Starsky could see his wife was in discomfort. "Time for the hospital ride?"

"No, no, its just the baby kicking again" Laura knew her husband was anxious about the next few days ahead and had
been with him every time he had made their planned journey to the hospital. Their practice runs to the hospital had
always taken 30 minutes and Starsky was always trying to discover alternative quicker routes but the journey still
averaged out at 30 minutes no matter which of their planned routes they had tried.

"You know, I don't think it would be a bad idea to go to the hospital just to check you're okay" Starsky was getting
worried seeing the complexion on Laura's face pale.

"I'm okay really, I've probably just been overdoing things today. I have the nursery all finished now" she smiled at
her husband as she showed him around the nursery. "See all done, and soon our daughter will be sleeping peacefully
in her bassinet.

The thousand watt smiled beamed again on Starsky's face "I'm the happiest man alive, a beautiful wife and our first
child on the way" as he cuddled her more. "I've brought home our dinner so you don't have to worry about cooking.
Instead of you cooking tonight, I thought we would have......"

"Let me guess you thought we would have, could it be pizza?" Laura smiled at him as she saw the pizza box on the
table in the living room.

"Well I thought for a change we could have pizza. It's been months since we last had a take-out meal"

Starsky helped Laura get comfortably seated and they both happily ate their pizza, the color returned to Laura as she
sat back and relaxed and Starsky filled her in on the days events. Laura always wanted to know everything her
husband and his partner were investigating.

"Finally the case is closed and now there is no more work to do on the Simon Marcos file. All the surviving members
have now been sentenced." Starsky still had the occasional nightmare about being in the hands of the cult again after
the plane crash a few months earlier. "At least now that is all behind me and I can move forward" Laura remembered
the nights her husband had woken in fright and would not tell her about the nightmares. She knew there would be
times he could not tell her what was bothering him so she never tried to get him to talk about those dreams.

"Now we can both move forward and enjoy being a family" Laura smiled

Hutch was also glad the case was behind them now. He had arrived home with flowers and a bottle of champagne and
was happy his fiancée was not rostered on any flights that evening. Sonya was as happy as her fiancé that the case was
now behind them both. She had hated going into court to give evidence against the surviving cult members and just
wanted to forget about the crash that had almost changed her career. It had taken a while to get used to flying again
and not worry with each flight as to what might happen. The turbulence still worried her but she was getting used to it
again and was once again beginning to love her job like she had before the hi-jacking and crash.

She smiled as Hutch approached her and wrapped his arms around her lifting her off the floor.

Sonya had moved in with Hutch shortly after they had been released from the hospital, although their schedules did
not allow them to be together as often as they would have liked.

"Perfect timing, wouldn't you say" Sonya smiled.

"I thought we could have a quiet night in" Hutch whispered in her ear as he swept her off her feet and carried her
into the bedroom. Gently he lowered her down onto the bed. "Don't go anywhere" he smiled and quickly returned
with two champagne glasses and the chilled bottle. They were soon happily in each other's arms under the covers,
their clothes scattered around the bedroom floor, the champagne bottle was empty and only laughter could be heard
from the bedroom.

                                           Chapter Two

Sonya had left early the next morning as her current schedule had her on the early morning flights, she didn't mind too much at
least this way she had the next few evenings at home and she hoped Hutch would be able to spend those evenings with her.

The first early morning flight of the day left at 7am departed for Las Vegas and then onto Albuquerque. The business class
section was empty except for one man in his early 40s dressed in a finely pressed grey business suit his hair going bald on top,
beside him sat a younger man very solidly built and also dressed in an immaculate suit.

"Good morning Mr. Miller and Mr. Harris, would you like a glass of wine with your breakfast?" inquired Sonya as she placed
their breakfast menus in front of them.

"That would be a nice way to start the day" smiled Mr. Miller thinking of how fortunate he was to be finally out of prison where
he had been the past few years. "My business associate and I will have a glass of wine and the continental breakfast thank you"

Miller waited until Sonya was away out of hearing distance from them.

"Well my friend we have a lot of arranging to do, have you made contact with the others yet?"

"I have made arrangements for my team to meet up with us in New Mexico, we have accommodation there which is being ...."
Harris did not realize Sonya was approaching them and quickly stopped talking in mid sentence.

"Your breakfast gentlemen" as she placed the plates in front of the two men. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No thank you" they both replied and then waited for her to move away again.

"As I was saying there is accommodation there which is being prepared for our guest" Harris smiled at Miller.

Hutch had his usual 10 minute jog and was busy whisking up his blend of health food as he sat down to listen to the morning
news. He could not believe what he was hearing. ('Mr. Miller was released from prison yesterday afternoon after serving only
half his time, his lawyer obtained his early release after having the case reviewed') Hutch reached for the phone but it rang just
as he was about to pick it up.

"Hello."

"Hutch, have you heard the news?" his partner was on the other end of the phone and Hutch could tell Starsky was not at all
happy with the news he had heard either.

"Yea I've heard, I felt for sure he would serve his full time in prison."

Neither of the duo were happy with the news, Miller had tried to kill them when they moved in to closely on his business
empire. The duo had successfully cut off many of the drug connections along the California coast and managed to stay alive
despite Miller's attempts at having the detectives murdered. Upon his sentencing in the years earlier, Miller had verbally made
yet another death threat to the detectives vowing that he would see them dead when he was released.

Laura was wondering what all the fuss was about this man being let out of prison and saw that her husband was furious about
hearing of the early release. She waited patiently until he was finished with his phone call and then asked him. "Dave who is this
person, why are you so angry about this particular one?"

"Laura (he really liked being able to use her real name in the safety of their own home) this man should not have been released,
he tried to kill both Hutch and I, we have both received death threats from him. Starsky watched his wife as again she gasped
as the baby began kicking again. "Honey are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital yet?"

"No Dave really I'm okay, I'll just go back to bed for a bit and rest, I didn't get much sleep last night" Starsky still looked
worried wondering if he was doing the right thing leaving her. "Really honey I'm okay, besides if anything happens I'll phone you

and you can come and get me" she smiled at him trying her best to ease the worry he had for her.

"You sure?" Starsky was still concerned

"Yes I'm sure, now go to work." Laura gave her husband a quick kiss as he left the house and she watched him drive away. It
was going to be another warm summer's day as the sunlight was already streaming into the house as Laura pulled the curtains
back in the living room before returning to bed.

                                          Chapter Three
 
Starsky arrived at the police garage the same time as his partner was getting out of his car.

"Hey Starsk, you been speeding again?" Hutch knew his partner should have taken at least another 10 minutes to get there.
"Are you practicing for your fast drive to the hospital?"

"I don't drive that fast" grinned his partner "and as regard to the hospital driving I think I've got that down to 20 minutes instead
of 30 minutes, I found another alternative route" Hutch knew all too well the driving habits of his partner. Alternative routes
usually meant going down a street the wrong way or taking a detour through an alley here and there.

"Just don't drive too fast with Allison in labor otherwise you might find yourself delivering your daughter instead of the hospital
staff"

As they both entered the squad room they heard Starsky's phone ring and at the same time Dobey was yelling at them to get
into his office.

"Starsky, Hutchinson I want you two in here now!" Dobey was not at all happy either of hearing of the early release of Miller
from the State Prison. As both partners entered Dobey's office they saw two other men there in business suits who looked like
they could be Federal Agents. Starsky did not have time to sit down at all as Minnie came into the office telling him Allison was
on the phone.

"Sorry Capt, this call I have got to take."

"Starsky get back in here" bellowed Dobey but it was too late Starsky was out of the office and on the phone and a few
seconds later running out the door.

"Well Captain, looks like the time has come, I think little Sarah has decided to make her arrival into the world" smiled Hutch
beaming at the thought of his partner now finally settled down with a wife and very soon a daughter.

"Hutchinson, this is not the time for your partner to be running out of a meeting, these men are here to discuss the issue of Miller

being released from prison last night." Dobey was very uptight and Hutch opened his mouth to start speaking but thought he
would wait until his boss had calmed down.

"Detective Hutchinson, we have information that you and your partner Detective Starsky are in grave danger. Our information
sources have told us that Miller is putting a team together to silence you both permanently and we are here to arrange security
measures to be put in place."

Hutch looked at Dobey and could not believe he was hearing such talk coming from the Federal Agents. Had they not heard of

the past years on the force, the attempts on the lives of both partners?

"And just how do you expect us to do our job. We still have to get out on the street and track down our suspects. And as for
security measures, that is a laugh. Have you not heard that one hit attempt took place right outside this building. My partner and

I can look after ourselves, we don't need anyone's help" Hutch had risen from his seat and was half way out the door of
Dobey's office when the next words brought him back into the room.

"Maybe not for yourself or your partner Detective but what about the security of your fiancée and your partner's wife and
baby?"

The limousine left the airport at Albuquerque and transported the two men to a ranch near Taos. During their late morning
journey Harris started to make the calls to his colleagues to arrange for them to all meet up together. Miller did not know whom

Harris was hiring but only knew they had a common interest. All parties concerned had past encounters with the two detectives

in LA and everyone wanted the same thing - to see both detectives no longer a threat to the criminal world and to silence them
permanently. Miller was pleased to see his ranch was still kept well run during his time in prison and took great delight in
breathing in the fresh country air.

Once inside his study Miller wasted no time in discussing business with Harris. Both men were seated on opposite sides of the
desk and all the information Miller had requested from his sources had been supplied.

"I have here the address of Detective David Starsky and also the address of his partner Detective Kenneth Hutchinson. Make
sure when you make your move on the partners that they are not together at the time. I will leave it up to you on how you make

your move" Both men looked at the two addresses one was in the Venice Beach area the other across town in the hill suburbs.
"Whichever partner you decide to move on first, bring that one here it will be fun keeping the other partner searching for his
friend"

"Well when do you expect your team to arrive?" Miller inquired from Harris. Looking at his watch Harris knew some of the
team was close to arriving. They all should be here late this evening, we can start making our way to LA tomorrow morning
once the team have rested up and met each other" Harris smiled at the thought of getting his own back for the time Starsky and
Hutch had arrested him. He had a massive headache and was badly bruised for several days after the dumpster he was in, was
picked up by the crane Starsky was driving and dumped to the ground. He had served his time in prison and was pleased to
have the opportunity to deal out some of his own revenge on the duo. All he wanted now, though, was to get out of the
business suit and as he removed the jacket and shirt Miller saw all the fish tattoos on Harris's lower arms.
  continued here
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