The future of my stories looked much different when I first started writing them. I only had a few ideas in mind at the time and figured it would end after just a couple. The seeds for a renewed romance between Chase and Dr. Judith Sands were planted early on, but ultimately abandoned when I realized that I would be able to write more than I had originally thought, so I decided to leave Chase single in order to work with possible attractions with some guest star characters. James Harris proved to have a strong life. What was only supposed to be a five-story guest appearance, ending with his breakdown and suicide on Christmas Eve, turned into him being one of my most-used characters throughout all of my stories, appearing in all but two episodes (my first one and "Fear," in which it was mentioned he had returned to Seattle to finalize his divorce.) Kendra's pregnancy was not thought up until late in my fan-fiction writing, so the stories from the time she learns she's pregnant to the final two are, of course, supposed to take place over nine months or so.
Now, you're probably asking yourself, "Mike, why are you quitting doing something you obviously enjoy?" Well, it's simple. I've pretty much written all the L.A. Heat stories I've had ideas for. The majority of my stories I wrote while I was still in college, spending time on the weekends and evenings and nights working on them. Now that I've graduated, my life may be going in new directions, so I will be busy with other things. Also, I'm just rather exhausted from having written so much constantly. These stories have been a big part of my life for over a year now, and I feel it's time to wrap things up and concentrate on other things, including going back to college to take some music classes.
But I'm not leaving you hanging the way we were when L.A. Heat first ended, with Chase lying bleeding on a dock with August at his side. In my last couple of stories, various threads have been woven: Chase and Alex's relationship, Kendra's pregnancy. In my final two-part finale, these loose ends are tied up. To keep things interesting, I also unveil a startling secret from Chase's past involving his former girlfriend, Jodi, that I think is susprising, shocking and a bit touching in showing how much Chase really loved her. "Storm Front" and "War Zone" are an explosive two-parter, and since I'm ending my run, I decided I wanted to go out with a bang.
"Okay, Michael. So what's in store for the website now that you're done writing stories for it?" Well, it's closing down. Haha! Just kidding. Actually, I still plan to keep the site updated for as long as I can. If I find out a new movie or show featuring Wolf Larson or Steven Williams, I'll post it. If I receive a fan-fiction from someone, I'll post it. If I find new pictures or get more interviews, I'll post them. I'm just ending my fan-fiction run to take a much-needed break.
However, that doesn't meant I'll never do another L.A. Heat again. Quite the contraty. Like I've already told a couple L.A. Heat fans, perhaps sometime next year (summer or fall), I'll return with a "reunion" story of sorts. I've had a really fun timing writing all of these stories and getting a sense of writing the characters, so I'd hate to leave them behind for good. So I will say that there is a highly-possible chance that another story will be posted next year sometime. But for now, I'm done with L.A. Heat fan-fic.
It's been a long run and I've had a lot of fun, but it's time for me to end it and concentrate on other things. I want to thank all who wrote in with their comments about my stories (and the website in general). They really made me feel that I was doing a good job and made me look forward to doing each story I wrote. I'll still be around to respond to your emails and answer any questions you might have about the website or the show.
Thanks for your support,
Mixing Chase and August with rangers Cordell Walker and Jimmy Trivette was a lot of fun, consider that the pairings on each show are pretty similar. Originally, it was just supposed to be Walker and Trivette, with rangers Sydney Cook and Francis Gage having a small cameo. But through luck, those two characters were worked into the main story. And incase you were wondering, I attempted to work in Alex Cahill, but decided I already had enough characters to worry about, so I left her out. The inclusion of Jodi in the story was something I had in mind from the very beginning. I, personally, always felt that the story between her and Chase was unfinished, so I wanted to do something that would end that story for sure. So I had her engaged and Chase realize for sure that their relationship was, in fact, over, and had no chance of starting up again. I'm not too good at writing fight scenes that involve martial arts, but I knew that, involving Walker and the gang, I would have to try my best. The climax was a challenge to write, with August, Walker and the gang taking on Westmiller's henchman, while Chase pursues Westmiller, attempting to escape with Jodi as his hostage.
Jack Mason was originally to be "played" by Robert Hays, but I went with Marc Singer instead since I watched The Beastmaster one night during the time I was working on this. Sarah Connolly, however, went through a number of cast changes, probably more so than any other character in my story. Original choice was E.R.'s Sherry Stringfield, and she was actually my main choice for much of while I was writing. Midway through, the choice switched to Krista Allen. From Allen it went to Rosalind Allen, back to Stringfield, Allen again, then Rosalind Allen, and finally back to Stringfield. Near the end of writing, I thought of Jeri Ryan, from Star Trek: Voyager, and thought she made the best "tough New York cop" of them all, so I went with her. And the climax, of course, is inspired by the climax of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. You just gotta love rocky bridge confrontations.
My favorite part of writing this story, however, was having James Harris temporarily move in which Sam Richardson while his apartment was being fumigated. Stuck with living together, the friends discover just how opposite they really are: Richardson a real cleanly, orderly guy, James more of a feet-on-the-coffee-table, glass-of-soda-without-a-coaster-type of guy. The final scene between them, in which James finally bursts and tells Richardson just what he thinks of his tedious house rules, was really fun to write.
At this point, I had already known that my stories would possibly be coming to an end, and I knew I wanted to end my stories with Chase finally meet the right girl, and it was in this story that I did just that. I spent some time, however, trying to figure out just who this character could be. I didn't want her to be a cop. We had already had that with Det. Nicole Stockman, but personally, I like to see cop characters involved with someone unrelated to their job. So I looked at other options: a television reporter? A newspaper reporter? A teacher? A television reporter was the choice I originally picked, but then changed my mind again and was really at a stand-still until I recalled another story I had that was dead at the time, a story that involved a film studio. One of the characters in that story was a female producer named Alexandria Clemmons. She was only meant to be in that one story, but I decided to revamp the character a little bit and use her to be Chase's ultimate soul mate.
Interestingly enough, Chase was never supposed to meet his girl while on a case. I had the idea at one point of having Chase on a popular cable dating show, in which someone's best friend sets them up on a blind date. It was supposed to be Kendra setting Chase up for a date with a girl she knew. For various reasons, that idea was abandoned, and I decided to just have Chase and the girl meet while he was nvestigating a case. The character, slightly renamed Alex Clairmont, became a television commercial director who aspires to be a big-time director. I also made her English, something I thought was a nice change, after seeing a picture of Victoria's Secret model Heather Stewart-Whyte and saying to myself, "This is Alex Clairmont." As for the rest of "Earthquake," the character of Chance McDonaldson was an original creation that was carried over from another unwritten episode in which Chase finds himself mistaken for a wanted man. I also thought about carrying over the mistaken identity concept to "Earthquake," but decided that I already had enough stuff to work with. This story is one of my favorites.
Title: "Death Game"
Title: "Die Hard Drive"
Title: "If I Die Before I Wake"
Title: "Lights, Camera, Murder"
Title: "London Calling"
Title: "Mountain High"
Title: "Musketeers Forever"
Title: "Rampage"
Title: "Rememberance"
Title: "Running Time"
Title: "Shadow of the Black Star"
A LETTER FROM THE WEBMASTER
Well, all good things must come to an end, right? And so must end my series of fan-fictions that I called "Season Three." To be perfectly honest, I think I've had a good long run with my stories, having done the first one in June 2000 and nearly one a month since then. (I think only one month went by without a story because of writer's block). But I never ever thought that I'd get this many fan-fictions done. And am amazed at how things progressed in the stories.
Michael
| 'TWAS THE CRIME BEFORE CHRISTMAS
| FEAR
| ROAD GAMES
| DEAD HEAT
| SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
| 9/11 |
| BLAST FROM THE PAST
| PLAYING WITH FIRE
| EARTHQUAKE
| DRIVER
| SUPERMODEL
| HALLOSCREAM |
| AN L.A. HEAT THANKSGIVING
| STORM FRONT (1)
| WAR ZONE (2) |
"Payback" Certainly not my best story, and if I had to rank them all, probably my least-favorite. It was my first story, so I hadn't really gotten the hang of how to write fan-fiction yet. The story was semi-inspired by Steven Seagal's The Glimmer Man (a person with a personal vendetta hiding his crimes in the M.O. of a serial killer), and the sub-plot involving the runaway girl was thrown in just to give me something to make the story last a little longer. And note that continuity glitch at the end: August tells Jensen that Richardson, as a result of injuries sustained during the story, won't be back for a couple days. Then in the very next scene, Richardson is present without any explanation for his remarkably-fast recovery! But at least Captain Jensen gets to show a tough side when the girl's abusive father comes looking for her.
"Revenge" Much like "Earthquake," this story has quite a bit of history behind it. It originated as a Nash Bridges script I had written back in early 1998, with the intention of submitting it to the producers, hoping to sell it to the show. Obviously, that never happened, and the story sat on a disc for about two years. After I finished my first L.A. Heat story, "Payback," I came across the Nash Bridges script (also called "Revenge") while looking for something else and decided to adapt it as my second L.A. Heat story. I made the necessary changes to the characters and some other things (locations, story, etc.) and was forced to add a sub-plot. In the original version, it's simply Nash Bridges' daugther who is abducted. In the L.A. Heat version, the character became a young aspiring female artist whom Chase has met and may become involved in. The rest of the story is pretty much exactly as was originally written, with only the variations mentioned above done in order to fit a different show. This episode also introduces Det. James Harris for the first time, which was supposed to be his first of five appearances (see my notes on "Blast From the Past" for more information). Since in the original Nash Bridges story there was the group of investigators, I needed someone else to replace one of the characters when I adapted the story to this show. I had wanted to introduce my own original character to work with, so I brought in Harris as a Seattle detective who has transfered to Los Angeles and meets Chase and August just as this case is beginning, and he gets his first taste of L.A. heat.
"Texas Heat" I always thought it would be cool to see L.A. Heat crossover with another show. First I considered Nash Bridges, but I wanted the characters to get out of California and go to another state. New York seemed like the ideal choice, but the only NY-based show I was familiar with was NYPD Blue, and I didn't think the show's two distinct styles would blend well together. So I decided to crossover with another favorite show, Walker, Texas Ranger, and take the boys to Dallas, Texas. I also added a touch of realism early in the story. I had just read part of retired detective Mark Fuhrman's "Murder In Brentwood" (about his investigation of the O.J. Simpson case). The murders at the beginning, Chase and August's arrival at the crime scene, going to see Douglas Westmiller, and discovering what they find there, were all inspired by the events as related by Fuhrman in his book, from arriving at the Brentwood murder scene to discovering blood in ex-husband Simpsons's car back at his house.
"The Servants of Darkness" I knew I had to tap into Halloween for L.A. Heat, and the resulting story was "The Servants of Darkness" (title courtesy of Jake Reilly). I decided to have some fun and give the characters costumes they would end up wearing for the majority of the episode: Chase as James Bond, August as Blade, Captain Jensen as Dick Tracy, and Judith Sands as a silver screen scarlet. James Harris even appears wearing a Batman costume, an in-joke reference since Kevin Conroy "plays" James, and Conroy is the voice of the animated Batman. Of course, since this story is on paper (or on-line, if you will) and not the screen, it's easy to forget the characters are supposed to be in costume most of the time. And being the huge fan of the Halloween film series that I am, nearly every guest character in the story is named after a character from the series, from FBI Agent Laura Strode to main baddy Nick Castle (who played the infamous Michael Myers to unbeatable perfection in the original 1978 Halloween).
"Retribution" One of my favorites. I felt Chase didn't get enough personal episodes on the show, so this was my way of getting personal with him, delving into a previous relationship of his and having him come up against the man who killed his father before his very eyes when he was just a little kid. It was always planned from the beginning to kill Catherine Chang off halfway through the story, adding a shock factor and furthur fueling Chase's determination to finally nail murderous Jack Nelson once and for all. I liked exploring a part of Chase's past in which he had been in a really serious relationship that could have headed toward marriage. My favorite sequence is the sting to catch Jack midway through the story, in which Chase and Catherine pursue Jack from a housing development and wind up in a tense standoff below the famous Hollywood sign that ends with the shocking shooting of Catherine, who later dies at the hospital. Aftewards, I was tempted to have Chase go renegade again like he had in the series finale, "Armageddon," but instead decided to show Chase maintaining control and heading up the operation to catch Jack.
"'Twas The Crime Before Christmas" I love Christmas-themed stories, and I definitely took hold of the opportunity to write my own for L.A. Heat. I worked hard to give the story a feeling of holiday spirit, and I wanted to end the story in a way that shows how all the major characters were spending the holidays: Jensen at a neighbor's party, August and Kendra sharing a quiet Christmas Eve by the fire, and Chase receiving a surprise present from Jodi. Of course, James has the saddest scene, spending Christmas alone for the first time in years as he dwells over divorce papers. Something a lot of readers don't know is the original fate of James Harris. I had planned from the very beginning for James, after learning of his doomed marriage, to ultimately have a breakdown and end up committing suicide on Christmas Eve. I thought it would be interesting to see something like that in the world of L.A. Heat, and right up to time I was writing the story, that's how everything was going to end for him. Then, during writing, I threw in a reference to James having a past with the CIA just so I could get past some writer's block, with the intention to kill him off at the end of the story still in mind. But as I continued writing, the thought of James being a former CIA agent became intriguing to me. It began to make me think deeper about his character and what I could do with him. I later decided I would keep him alive to explore his background furthur at a later time (the resulting story of which was the--to me--disappointing "Blast From the Past"). After deciding to save James' life, I had intended for him to ultimately become involved with Rebecca Masterson, the woman who had presented him with the divorce papers. But I later decided to have James eventually get involved with someone unrelated to that sad moment in his life.
"Fear" I'm a huge Batman fan, and one of my favorite villains is The Scarecrow. I'm not really sure how the concept of "Fear" came to be, but I was pretty pleased with the results. I knew early on in my writing of these fan-fics that I wanted to give August a brother, so I took the opportunity with this story to do just that, reuniting August with his brother, Frank, after many years of separation. I thought having Frank never like August's choice to be a cop was a good way to mix in some personal drama, which drives August to the point that he gets drunk and actually punches Chase. My only disappointment is that, for a story with an obvious Batman influence, Kevin Conroy was absent from this story, since I had sent his James Harris back up to Seattle to deal with his divorce. If another story had been done before this one, James would have been present in the story. I wanted the villain to have sort of a Bond villain-esque feel to him, which is why I cast stage and film actor Christopher Ecclstone in the part. And just so you know, John Diehl's Larry is no relation to his Larry from Miami Vice. I knew he had been on that show, but never knew that was his character's name. It's just a coincidence.
"Road Games" I've always like cops-transporting-witnesses stories, so I wanted to do one. The idea for "Road Games" had been on my mind since my early stories, but it wasn't until I happened to watch my copy of Narrow Margin one night that I decided to start fleshing out the idea. One thing I wanted to do was have each act feature a big chase sequence. I feared it would get too repetitive, but I think it came out okay, as I tried to do something different in each sequence. Lance Henriksen always makes a great villain, so I wanted to use him and thought he would perfect for this story. Arnold Vosloo, I think, could possibly be considered too big of a star to appear on L.A. Heat, though. A few years ago, before The Mummy, it might have worked, but I'm not sure about now. But in any event, these stories are my fantasies, so I just said "What the heck?" and cast him anyway. Tracy Needham's small part as Stacey Townson was meant to continue throughout the following episodes, becoming a recurring character who would help the detectives out from time to time, getting information for them and such. For various reasons, her character never returned after this story.
"Dead Heat" This story was sort of a work of passion for me because it was the first (and only) one that I actually did research for. At the time the story was written, I was taking an Anthropology class in college, and we had some reading assignments in an Anthropological journal to complete. One of the entries we had to read was a story on zombies, which talked about the real-life incidents that inspired the novel (and subsequent film) The Serpent and The Rainbow. As I read the article, I became fascinated by the world of Haitian voodoo and the theories of zombification. At the same time, I was looking for an L.A. Heat story with a twist, something different than the usual gun-toting bad guys. I decided to explore the possibility of a story featuring zombies, and used the article and theories discussed in detail in it as the basis. I wanted to take a realistic approach to how these zombies could be in existence in my story, and as a result of taking that approach to their creation, I was not able to have the climactic zombie massacre that I had originally hoped for. The story turned out to be one of my favorites, with a wild freeway chase sequence that I had a blast writing. "Dead Heat" also gave me the chance to get James Harris involved with someone, which I did because I needed something for him to be doing in this story. I kept Jennifer Brennan a mystery for most of the episode because she was still a mystery to me. I really had no idea of who she was going to turn out to be.
"Survival of the Fittest" I love "man hunting man" stories, the reigning king of them still being the original 1929 short story The Most Dangerous Game. The problem I had was getting the characters out into some remote place to be hunted. The first draft featured Chase, August, and (a reluctant) James tagging along for a weekend camping trip, lead by Kendra as part of a school program for bullied kids. Deciding that sounded a little too cliched, I scratched that and worked to come up with something else. Instead, a criminal who had killed the son of Los Angeles's mayor has fled to New York, where he's busted by a tough female cop named Sarah Connolly. Chase, August, and James arrive to transport him back, but Sarah refuses to let them take all the credit and invites herself along to L.A. with them to make sure New York gets a proper share in the limelight for playing a role in the capture. During the flight back, the plane crashes in a remote snow-capped mountain region, and the detectives find themselves as human prey in a hunt lead by criminal Jack Mason and his goons. I thought that sounded like a much better set up, and I must say, it was quite a challenge to write a story in which the detectives have no weapons and have to rely on traveling by foot for most of the story.
"9/11" When 9/11 happened, the thought never even occured to me to do an L.A. Heat story depicting it, and the thought was never in my mind for many months. But as the first year anniversary approached, I began to wonder if I should write something. I couldn't think of any ideas for a story, so I decided to follow the pattern of "Halloscream" and "An L.A. Heat Thanksgiving" and just do a short story, though this is even shorter than those. I came up with the idea to just show the characters reacting on that September morning as Chase and August arrive at the station to start their day, while James--on his day off--watches the events unfold at home alongside Jennifer. I didn't set out to make any statements or political views, just show the characters reacting to the horrible images on the television. When I first posted the story, I placed it after "War Zone." But I later decided to place it between the two stories that would put it in chronological order with September 11th, and I changed the title from "The Day The World Stopped Turning."
"Blast From The Past" "Blast From the Past" was, to me, a big disappointment. Though I was okay with it, I was less than completely satisfied, as it turned out to not be the story I had originally set out to do. The concept remained the same: Chase and August investigate a case that has a mysterious connection to their good friend James Harris, a link that delves into his past history with the CIA, and he ultimately becomes a suspect in the murder of another agent. I was not satisfied with this story for one major reason: James Harris. We came away knowing pretty much nothing new. The original intention of the story was to flesh out his character more, revealing his background and giving him more development. As it turns out, the only thing we're told about James is something that's quite possibly a lie, since it's related to the detectives by the villain as a means of trying to convince them James isn't as good as they think he is. I did enjoy giving James such a good deal of "screen time" since the story was focused primarily on his past, but I just didn't like the way it turned out in regards to revealing more about him. Second, I hate seeing the good guy's girl used as bait. It's an old, tiresome cliche, yet I fell for it and wrote it into the story only because I had no other way for Drax to go about putting pressure on James to comply. I did like having the Michael Anderson character, because I like characters whose allegience seem to change from scene to scene, and while you kind of like them, you're not sure if you should be rooting for their survival or ultimate demise. I enjoyed writing a character like that. So "Blast From the Past" is sort of in the middle for me: I don't entirely hate it, but I don't entirely like it either.
"Playing With Fire" "Playing With Fire" is kind of mixed for me. I like some parts, but wasn't happy with others. I tried not to repeat the same type of stories in my fics, but I regretfully admit to using a plot for revenge on more than one occasion. I had had the title for some time and built the story around it, having Chase and August go undercover as fire-fighters to nab a suspected serial killer who seems to be killing firemen. The discovery of one of the fire-fighters being forensic scientist Annie Mason's sister was a carrie-over from another failed story, in which a case of the detectives reunited Annie with her estranged sister. I thought having the reader suspect the dead girl's husband as the killer would be a nice decoy for the revelation of the killer being the girl's loving brother instead. I should have had the guy go out in flame and glory, but I decided to play against cliche. Most of the time, whenever someone in a film or TV have an exercise in something early on, you can always rest assured that the character will be faced with something later on that forces them to put their training to the test. Well, I wanted to throw readers for a loop with that, so I decided to have Chase and August never need to put their training to use.
"Earthquake" "Earthquake" is one of the few stories that has some history behind it. It started as a story called "Manhunt," which opens with Chase and August transporting a suspect. But then an earthquake jolts the city and creates a situation that allows the criminal to escape, and the detectives must track him down again. That idea was ultimately abandoned and put on the back burner for awhile while I worked with other stories. At one point, I decided to brush off "Manhunt" and see what I could do with it, since it was a concept I liked. Changing things around a bit, the story was retitled "Quake" and featured Chase and August attempting to catch a professional hitman. Again, the story went nowhere, so it spent some more time on-hold. Finally, I pulled it out again and decided to take another look at it. The third time is, as they say, a charm. After some more tinkering, the story was retitled "Earthquake" and had the detectives trying to uncover the identity of a sniper who is taking out specific targets, with a huge quake hitting the city and the occasional aftershock. Working in a sub-plot for James Harris, I had him and a friend spend the majority of the story in a neighboring apartment building attempting to rescue those trapped after the complex was hit hard by the earthquake. But I decided to add some more mess to the mix, so I added the plot point of the city's uniform cops being on strike (the Blue Flu), forcing the detectives to take care of minor stuff like a PCP-addicted leopard man and a suicidal jumper.
"Driver" Chase and August have gone undercover as everything from computer executives to transvestite hookers. But only August ever got to go undercover as a tough guy, notorious East Coast criminal Jake Rheams in the episode "Faces of Death." I wanted to see Chase goes undercover as a bad-ass, so I created this story especially for that. Original titles included "Need For Speed" and "The Driver."
"Supermodel" "Supermodel" was probably my most exhausting story (plot-wise) because the story turned out to be so complex that even I was confused by some parts, forcing me to go back and attempt to simplify it while maintaining a bit of mystery. Frederique is one of my favorite supermodels, and she was the first and only choice I ever had for the part. What follows after her rich husband's murder, for which she is blamed, is a complex story with more twists than a pretzel factory, complete with a surprise appearance by August's dad that I wasn't satisfied with. I wanted him to have a good-size part, but he's hardly even in it, as the case turned out to be nearly the sole focus of the story. Though I set out from the beginning to have a revelation that the model was behind everything, I was tempted throughout the writing of it to reveal she was, in fact, framed by someone else. I thought maybe some readers would be disappointed to got through the whole story and realize the "innocent" character was, in fact, guilty, and had been playing the detectives from square one. But towards the end of my writing, I decided to stick with my original intentions and make her turn out to be the one who had called the shots all along, and I think it worked out great.
"Halloscream" Without a doubt, one of the most fun stories I had, but really one of the most tiresome, as I wrote it in two(!) days. I hadn't planned a Halloween story for 2001, but I came up with this idea at the last minute, leaving me just a couple days to finish it. As a result of knowing I had such little time, I decided to just write it as a real short story. At the time, I was watching the Family Channel series Scariest Places on Earth every week and had caught a rerun of the "X-Cops" episode of The X-Files. I thought of how cool it would be to see an episode of L.A. Heat filmed like Cops, but put in the setting of a Scariest Places on Earth-like series. So I created a fictional cable series of my own that placed Chase, August, Kendra, Alex, and James in a real Hollywood mansion that is reported to be really haunted. Adding to the "reality" of this series, I cast veteran actor David Warner as the host of the program, playing himself. I had a lot of fun placing these characters in a different environment and doing something that involved scares and suspense instead of the usual gunplay.
"An L.A. Heat Thanksgiving" My second short story that, like "Halloscream," was a last-minute idea that I wrote just days before posting. I loved the opening of "Strip Show," in which the detectives were undercover, Chase dressed as a clown and August as a giant hot dog, so I wanted to put them on another humiliating stakeout. This time, Chase is a pilgrim and August is a giant turkey. Once the teaser is over, the story moves to Thanksgiving day. No case, no office work, just a group of friends gathering for Thanksgiving dinner. Alex Clairmont, August and Kendra, and James and Jennifer get together at Chase's house to celebrate the holiday and express what they're most thankful for.
"Storm Front (1)" The end is near. That's how I felt going into this story. Everything I had started in the previous few stories would be wrapping up in this and it's sequel, "War Zone." In a way, I sort of felt sad writing this story knowing the end was so near. Sort of like watching an episode of one of you favorite TV shows and knowing it's the last one because the network has cancelled it. Taking a cue from Lethal Weapon 3, I pitted Chase and August against someone who could be considered every bit their equal: a former cop. Joshua Riggs is a ruthless criminal who has crossed paths with Chase McDonald once before, an encounter that also reveals a startling secret about Chase's former girlfriend, Jodi.
"War Zone (2)" My big finale, and a real fun time. As a result of having so much stuff to wrap up, this story was unusually long, with six acts instead of the usual four. Whereas part one, "Storm Front," built up to this, "War Zone" is basically one extended climax as everything in the detectives' power is used to apprehend Joshua Riggs. Knowing this would be my last story for some time, I pulled out all the stops with everything I could think of: Riggs targeting the detectives for death; an assault on Chase's house by a helicopter; the attempted murder of Kendra while she lies asleep in her hospital bed; the attempting bombing of James Harris' apartment building; the attempted murders of detectives Sam Richardson and Jack Lawson; the kidnapping of Captain Jensen; the shocking bombing of the police station; the huge dock assault between seemingly the entire Los Angeles police department and Riggs' criminal force; a brutal fight between August and Riggs' right-hand man, Asa Cross; and a fast-charged speed boat chase through Los Angeles harbor as Chase pursues Riggs for the final showdown. Not only all of that, but just about every major recurring character from the show and my own original characters appear. I packed them all in for this final story. Joshua Riggs was not going out quietly, and that's what I wanted to do, go out with a huge bang that ended my stories in the finest L.A. Heat tradition.
UNWRITTEN STORIES
Title: "A Case of Mistaken Identity"
Synopsis: It seems like a typical morning as Chase drives to work. Suddenly, a carfull of masked men bare down on him with guns blazing. Chase barely escapes, and while evading a seemingly-endless series of attempts on his life throughout the day, discovers that he's been mistaken for someone else. He and August race to find the real target before he's killed.
Synopsis: Howard Payne, the first criminal Chase ever arrested, is released from prison. Claiming to be reformed of his former criminal ways, Payne is secretly plotting revenge. Kidnapping August and Alex, he puts them each in a hidden location and gives Chase only 24 hours to solve a series of clues in order to save their lives.
Synopsis: August visits a computer company to get information on a suspect when terrorists seize the building. He manages to avoid capture and tries to stay alive as he fights back, keeping in contact via walkie-talkie with Chase, who's outside coordinating with an army of S.W.A.T. and F.B.I. (Obviously inspired by Die Hard, with martial artist Richard Norton in mind as the lead terrorist.)
Synopsis: Chase and August investigate when a young woman dies under strange circumstance at a dream research facility run by a mysterious doctor. (I had planned this to be another story posted for Halloween, "starring" Robert Englund as Dr. Freddy Myers, Heather Langenkamp as the girl's sister, and John Saxon as their father.)
Synopsis: Chase and August are visiting Alex on a studio backlot when big screen action star John Tyson, known for his short temper and demeanor, dies filming a stunt for his new movie. The detectives discover a host of suspects: the leading lady, his agent, the director, the writer, and the producer. Meanwhile, James goes to San Francisco where his father, a death row inmate, wants to make up with his son before his execution.
Synopsis: A call in the middle of the night from her brother prompts Alex to return to England, where one of his latest schemes has gotten him into trouble with a tough crime boss. Chase travels to England with her, and when she's abducted, he and her brother must race against time to save her.
Synopsis: Finally getting some much-needed time off, Chase decides to spend a week with Alex at a ski resort. Back in Los Angeles, August and James investigate an apparently random killing, only to discover the killer has more people on his list and that Chase is in danger.
Synopsis: The death of a beloved bank teller reunites three best friends who had made a pact in high school to stay together forever, but untimately drifted apart over the years. As Chase and August investigate, the friends learn that the suspect may be someone from their past.
Synopsis: Chase and August are on the trail of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, a young thrill-seeking couple who are on a wild crime spree across Los Angeles. August feels personally responsible for the fate of the girl when he
discovers she is the daugther of his friend.
Synopsis: During a raid on a drug house, Lt. Michael Donovan, a decoated and popular detective, is shot and
killed. Following his funeral, Chase, August, and others gather at Sevens to relive some of their memories of the celebrated decetive's most famous cases. (This was going to be an anthology in which the majority of each Act was a flashback of someone remembering a particular moment, which the story ending as the detectives get a lead and track down the gunman. Mark Hamill was to "star" as Lt. Donovoan.)
Synopsis: While investigating a beachside murder, Chase answers the victim's ringing cellphone. Learning the person on the other end is the dead man's contact, Chase pretends to be the victim and soon finds himself in the middle of a deadly plot involving gun running.
Synopsis: A museum robbery puts the detectives on the trail of the Black Star Ninja, a cunning warrior who always leaves a ninja star at the scene of his crimes. The case brings in Lee Chang, a detective from Toyko who is involved in a case there in which the shadowy culprit is the main suspect. As the detectives search for the mysterious criminal, they're swept up in a plot involving a criminal empire.
