Plot summary

It's five years after the death of Albert Ganz. San Francisco cop Jack Cates is at the Hunter's Point Raceway, checking out Tyrone Burroughs, who, for some reason, is giving some money to mechanic Arthur Brock.When Jack pulls his gun on them, Brock pulls out a gun and starts firing, and Jack shoots Brock dead in self defense as Burroughs escapes with the money. Jack then picks up a picture from the scene -- and it's a picture of Reggie Hammond.Among those who show up at the scene are fellow cops Ben Kehoe and Frank Cruise, and also Blake Wilson, the head of the Internal Affairs division. Jack tells Wilson that he shot Brock in self defense, but Cruise says that he can't find Brock's gun.For the past four years, Jack has been after a drug kingpin called the Ice Man, and Wilson believes that the Ice Man is a figment of Jack's imagination. The shooting of Arthur Brock was the result of one of Jack's attempts to get a lead on who the Ice Man may be.Jack goes to the prison to visit Reggie, who is still in prison. Reggie is scheduled to be released for good on the next day. Reggie has served 5 extra years in prison after being falsely accused of stealing the prison's payroll.After getting hit in the face with a basketball by Reggie for refusing to promise Reggie his $500,000 unless Reggie helps him find the Ice Man, Jack discovers that Wilson plans to prosecute him on a charge of third degree manslaughter for the Arthur Brock shooting, with Wilson claiming that it was not self defense. Jack is placed on suspension.On the next day, as Reggie is being released, Jack tells Reggie about how he has been pursuing the Ice Man for the past four years, and that the Ice Man now wants Reggie dead. That's why Burroughs was giving money to Arthur Brock -- a contract has been put out on Reggie. Reggie still refuses to help Jack, unless Jack gives him his $500,000, which is the same money Albert Ganz was after 5 years ago.Reggie boards the bus that will be transporting him away from prison, and Cates goes to a bar to look over some pictures. Two bikers park across the street from the bar, and one of them walks up to a window and shoots Jack, then the bikers leave. A few minutes later, the bikers pull up beside the prison bus and open fire on Reggie, causing the bus to crash.At the hospital, Jack, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, has Reggie released into his custody. Jack wants to know why the Ice Man wants Reggie dead, but Reggie refuses to talk unless he gets his money. Reggie is supposed to be on his way to Florida to join his uncle's used car business, but instead, he's with Jack.That night, Jack takes Reggie to Jack's house, where Reggie's Porsche is parked out front, and Jack has installed a car alarm on it. When Reggie presses the car alarm button on the key ring, a bomb in the Porsche explodes. Jack's attitude about it causes Reggie to once again walk away from him.At the police station, Jack talks to Wilson, then when he goes out to his car, Reggie is waiting for him. Reggie tells Jack that the Ice Man was the drug dealer that the $500,000 was stolen from by Reggie, Albert Ganz, and their partners Billy Bear, Henry Wong, and Luther.Reggie then tells Jack that he recognized one of the bikers who attacked the prison bus as Richard "Cherry" Ganz, Albert Ganz's enraged brother, who wants revenge on Jack and Reggie for Albert Ganz's death.Jack and Reggie head to a bar called Barnstormer's, where Jack questions a barmaid who was harassed by Cherry and the other biker, Willie Hickok. Cherry and Hickok were with Burroughs at the time. Cherry and Hickok had been hired to kill Reggie, and when Brock was killed, Burroughs was trying to hire Brock as backup just in case Cherry and Willie fail.The barmaid tells Jack that Cherry and Hickok wanted to know where they could find their old girlfriend Angel Lee, who used to work at Barnstormer's, and then she tells Jack that Angel lives at the King Mei hotel in the Chinatown section of San Francisco, and Angel is now a dancer at the Bird Cage Club.Jack ends up in a bar fight with a man that he put in prison two years ago, and when Jack loses the advantage and starts getting beat up, Reggie saves Jack by shooting one of the assailants in the left kneecap. Jack and Reggie go outside, where Jack complains about forgetting to take his spare gun inside the bar with him, and he punches Reggie for the basketball incident, and Reggie once again walks away from Jack.At the King Mei hotel, Jack finds Reggie waiting there, and Reggie says that he's going to stay with Jack this time. But before they do anything, Reggie gets back at Jack by punching Jack in the left arm, right where Jack's bulletproof vest couldn't stop one of Cherry's shots from leaving a deep and painful bruise that goes down to the bone.Jack explains that he punched Reggie outside of the bar in order to get even for the basketball, and Reggie says "Give me my money back, and you can hit me in my face with the ball."While Jack waits downstairs, Reggie goes up to the fourth floor to Angel's room. But Willie, who is inside, fires shots through the door at Reggie, and Cherry shows up and sees Jack. Cherry is stunned, because he thought Jack was dead after he shot Jack. Cherry pulls out his gun and starts firing at Jack. When Cherry and Willie run out of bullets, they flee.Outside the hotel, after cops including Cruise have arrived, Jack and Reggie talk to Angel, who tells them that Cherry and Willie's contact man is Malcolm Price (Ted Markland), one of the higher-ups in the Western Brotherhood biker gang of Los Angeles.On the next day, they go to the prison to visit Reggie's friend Kirkland Smith. Reggie owes Kirkland some money, and Kirkland is losing his patience with Reggie on that.Kirkland tells Jack and Reggie a little bit about Malcolm Price. Kirkland explains that if anyone wants Cherry and Willie to do a hit, they would have to go through Malcolm. Kirkland also tells Jack and Reggie that Malcolm is staying at the Sunset Motel on the beltway. But before Jack and Reggie can get to the motel, the Ice Man shows up and kills Malcolm by shooting Malcolm 16 times.After Jack and Reggie show up at the morgue to see Malcolm, Reggie finally tells Jack why the Ice Man wants Reggie dead -- Reggie has seen the Ice Man's face before, and he can identify the Ice Man. The Ice Man wants Reggie dead so Reggie can't identify him.After hearing what Reggie has to say, Jack thinks Wilson is the ice man. Jack takes Reggie to the court house to get a look at Wilson -- and upon seeing Wilson, Reggie tells Jack that Wilson is not the Ice Man.Meanwhile, Cherry and Hickok kill Burroughs. Later that same day, Jack, who now thinks that he may never clear his name and find the Ice Man, starts emptying his locker at the police station, and finally gives Reggie his money.That night, while Reggie is giving the money that he owes Kirkland to Kirkland's daughter Amy Smith, Cherry and Willie kidnap Reggie and Amy, and take them to the Bird Cage Club, where they meet with Cruise. Cruise orders Cherry and Willie to kill Reggie and Amy, but then Jack shows up. And Reggie identifies the Ice Man as Ben Kehoe.Jack realizes that Kehoe had Cruise pick up Brock's gun at the track because Kehoe wanted Jack out of the way. This leads to a wild shootout that takes place in the Bird Cage club.First, Jack shoots Cruise dead, and then Reggie shoots Hickok dead. In a confrontation with Cherry, Reggie knocks Cherry through a window, causing Cherry to plunge to his death, and then Kehoe grabs Reggie and holds an Uzi to Reggie's head.Reggie sarcastically begs Jack to shoot him, so Jack does as he is told, and fires a shot into Reggie's shoulder. As soon as Reggie slides downward out of the way, Jack fires seven more shots, killing Kehoe.Later, there are no hard feelings between Reggie and Jack, who finally become friends, and Jack has cleared his name.