C James (the old goat) has released Chapter 44 of Let the Music Play in its entirety. Will Instinct survive? Will Dimitri become swiss cheese? Will there be a cliffhanger? Read away, goat lover.

Helen :hugs: still I want Dimitri to have a slow death.

Whew! Cliffhanger alert! All is not lost.

Great Chapter CJ

Thanks

I glad that everything is well in Telluride .

I will wait a while before posting some thoughts though.

Just thought I'd mention the ending, a stand off about to happen at an abandoned mine entrance. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

Steve

Two cliffhangers in a row... though I suspected it would be. Well, at least Eric is not dead. Still, he is injured, and that means there's still a price to pay!

Speaking of which, CJ has been even more cruel to poor Chase. He's been kidnapped by a psychopath. The tactic with the phone is such a typical one, but it was nicely done. Great chapter, you EEEVIL goat.

Wow... I can't believe what happened!

Eric's ok (kinda) and Helen might live to torture Eric another day.

The Air Force is kinda lacking on their part (thats why if I ever have to go into hiding, I rather have some Marines protecting my butt )

Как всегда CJames, ваше злейшая козочка но изумительный автор (As always CJames your an evil goat but an amazing author!)

*Figured I'd add a little Ruskie flavor in honour of the title

Er, Timmy. Chase is the one who's been kidnapped.

Speaking of cliffhangers, this time we had a cliff-faller. SUV going over the cliff. And just look at how much thought CJ has put into this story by letting us know way back when that The Shadows were into rock climbing. Until now it's just been for fun. Now it'll really serve a purpose.

I find it implausible the AF guy didn't hear all the commotion at the ranch.

As much as I hate TheBitch™ I do hope she survives, but it sure doesn't look good for her right now.

So, which city gets nuked? NYC, LA or neither?

Another great chapter CJ. Thanks.

Oops, I fixed it, but he was cruel to Brandon as well. I mean... the love of his life was kidnapped. Only the goat is capable of such evil as far as I know.

Isn't one of the teams looking for the nuke in New York?

I think Helen might die, still I would love to really see that dimitri realizes, that the whole band is still alive, and he's gonna die

..........Aha, I did mention the 'quality' of the Air Force as protectors a while back. The Air Force has been inept through out this story, reminds me of elevator background music playing while the elevator is falling. Another mine?? (FTL) The story is close to ending when a mine comes into play. Dimitri knows he is trapped and will die, I doubt he will use the AK-47 for anything more than luring Brandon into the mine. Then he will go for hand to hand with his knife, greatly underestimating Brandons' fighting skills...it will Dimitri whose eyes will dim and fade when Brandon plunges the knife!!

CJames is not only treating hic characters badly, but us readers as well. Cliffhangers over cliffhangers, false announcements about later publishing, absolutely mean "sneek previews". Booooh !
If he wouldnt be such an execptional author, i would not talk to him anymore after this

But well, this was just another excellent chapter ! And maybe he will even spare Helen (although it doesn't look good at all, and i fear the worst). Good move on Chase not telling the truth... that saved his life - at least for now. Now I just hope they can finally kill Dimitri without wounding or losing more of our friends....
Ohhh the tension.. another week to wait.
Maybe I should think about not to read CJames next sequel before it is completely posted...

...........Don't do that, how else can we roast a goat without all of the support we derive weekly from his painful cliffhangers. Weekly fixes for both the reader and the diabolical evil cliffwriting goat are a must, gotta have my fix.

Ten of us had voted that it was too soon to tell and it looks like we were correct. This chapter kept me riveted to my desk while I read this, tho I did have to hide it quickly once or twice. Couldn't get much work done due to some server problems.

Besides hanging around cliffs, has anyone else noticed that CJ likes to hang around in mine shafts also? This is what, the fourth time in just this story.

Great read CJ.

I really like the chapter and can not wait to see that scumbag finally get his!

Poor Chase & Brandon, after everything is done and settled those two should just come out and get married. California has made it legal at least for now, go boys and do it.

As for our Bassist and the remainder of the band, Eric nearly died, he needs to get his priorities straighten sooner or later and find some one more than a one night stand. I think if Helen and Jon heals, it should be fine.

Jan, that could be something to do with the goat in his real life. As authors, we often leave pieces of ourselves in our stories. This is probably an example of that.

Now, I must say that I disagree with YaP. I happen to like serials, and there is no way I would want to wait to read it, because his stories are too much fun to read, including the evil cliffhangers. When there was an evil cliffhanger in Chapter 19, I defended its usage while others were angry.

...........I can see the goat walking them down the isle.

The one thing that bothers me through this whole thing is the lack of body armor. Personally if my life was in danger from assassins I'd be wearing the stuff. It appears that none of the protectees were.

You are right the Air-Force is being inept. As soon as I heard that this group was being attacked for thier knowledge, even if they didn't want them, there would be snipers in the hills. What they don't know can't hurt me right?

I don't know how effective body armor would be. They know there has been 2 attempts on their lives. in the first attack the armor would have only added weight, the second well. The second didn't proceed far enough to determine the threat. Additionally I liken Instincts current protection status to a bunch of chickens running around. Sure we, as readers, have all the information. however that information is disseminated between three groups in the narrative. To further complicate the matter the three are not sharing information and are more apt to be fighting amongst each other then to pro actively protect the band.

That said, body armor will do little to stave off a head shot, and only certain types of bullet proof vests can withstand punctures from a knife.

........Exactly!! The group has linked Jerry/Scar to the nuke detonation in Australia to the Air Force, the US is being black mailed by Scar, and our esteemed General leaves them unguarded (by the military) when National Security is at stake? Of course if they were being guarded by the military Dimitri would have simply left.

Regarding the Yap/ Tiger discussion about serials, I must say I really like it this way. It's a feature of popular literature to have serials and cliffhangers, and from the interaction with readers this creates, this compares to the 19th century's writers and the mail they got. Conan Doyle had to revive Sherlock Holmes whom he had killed because of the readers' pressure. We can get our way if CJ actually kills Helen. Readers of CJ's stories, unite and take over!

but SPiCH just doesn't have the same ring....

I wonder what other acronym we can come up with that ends in CH

.........Sorry, I think it is too late to save Helen, besides some of the 'readers' almost demanded her death, seems she is more misunderstood than Jerry was. But it would have been fun to have found an acronym to save her.

People like Helen never die. They just go on living. It's simply a matter of will.

I think it would have been far more exciting had the band's manager been male...perhaps even a gay man.

There would have been more pool parties!

I'm preparing myself for the climax!

Superb chapter, CJ, as always.

Conner

.......Hey Conner, long time!! Nah, Helen was the perfect character as the manager of the rock group. But please continue, didn't mean to interrupt!!

Ben, the key word in Conner's statement was "the" not "a".

Conner, if the author has no morals, and the bribe is sufficient, he can be induced to kill any character. That said, CJ was insulted at the amount of money I offered him. Meh, I didn't think TheBitch™ was worth more than what I offered. S

..........I knew I could count on you to spot it!

Well, of course I love CJs writing too much to really wait for a story to be finished before I start reading it. I don't think i could withstand even if i tried ;-).
Not only torturing us with cliffhangers (and yes, I agree, its a very valid rhetorical device, and I can't really blame CJ for using it), but teasing us with misleading announcements (about posting late after a really steep cliffhanger) and rather evil "peek previews" is a bit excessive...

Regarding Helen: It would be great if she would survive. I agree, she is the "fighter type".. and maybe she can make it. Pretty please CJames, let them all survive . I would like to meet them all again in the sequel

YaP (Yet another Pete ;-))

............The former corpman had looked her over and slowly shook his head, the type of injury Helen substained is too major for survival. Stronger men have succumbed to lesser injuries.

I don't like how the bad guys keep getting away. Dimitri keeps escaping to easily. Someone, anyone, just kill his a** already! If I have to sit through one more of his assassin monologue thoughts I think I'll kill MYSELF.

........But Dimitri is a trained KGB assassin and serial killer to boot, his instinct for survival is extraordinary high. I'm not sure how long he spent in the cabin, had the boys not been armed, Dimitri would have killed them all and escaped before the bikers knew what was happening. The precious time he lost as a result of the boys intervention barely allowed the time to get out with a hostage. On that note, I thought the bikers response was extremely slow, the spotters should have the seen Dimitri kill the 1st deputy on the porch and shot at him. That would have at leeast alerted everyone inside.

Yes, but don't forget that it is CJames who wrote this . He made us think (especially with that evil peek preview) that Eric was hit badly.. but it only was a minor injury.. and the former corpman may be wrong in is assessment. Helen is a strong women.. some of those that can endure even more than strong men !



I agree its about time Dimitri is caught.. but I don't think we will have to wait too long for that to happen. He is trapped. If Chase can get away somehow, or the bikers can get a free shot at him without risking to it Chase, he is history....
(but well, one never knows what CJames still has up the sleve for Dimitri..)

Now we know why CJ brought The Shadows to the ranch. He wanted them for their rock climbing abilities.

Great chapter CJ! ...but if you are going to write a sequel you can't kill ALL the characters unless of course you plan to make them into zombies for Halloween. Somehow I don't think you would like gay zombies. Would you?

Yep! That's why I mentioned earlier about how much forethought CJ puts into his stories. The rock climbing scene earlier on in LTMP seemed unnecessary at the time. Now we know it was just more of the master's foreshadowing! As mad as we pretend to get at CJ sometimes I never lose sight of what a superb and thorough author he is.

I have to disagree with the last bit. The spotters are unlikely to be keeping a constant watch on the house itself. They would have noticed the police vehicle showing up, but then ignore it on the reasonable assumption it was just the change of shift. The shade of the porch would have also partially obscured the ability of anyone watching to have seen what happened. It was possible they saw, but quite realistic that they didn't notice. Remember the first killing was quick and quiet.

.........That's plausible, but given the mistrust of the cops and the bikers, which Dimitri used to his advantage in killing off "Barney". You would have thought they would scrutinized the house until seeing the shift leave. But your right, they were busy looking elsewhere....Damn Dimitri is lucky!!

Also Eric's rock climbing injury in chapters 19-20 was necessary for Jerry to smuggle the kryton (sp?) switches into Australia.

Not necessary, but it certainly made it easier for him

Okay, since nobody else bit at this one , I'll give it a stab

Brotherhood to
Impede &
Thwart
Cruelty to
Helen

Hopefully that works for ya Steve, I know it will for Gary .


Not too sure if she is a goner or not. A few years back a friend was cut with a hockey skate straight across the inside of his elbow and cut an artery. With direct pressure on a spurting cut, he eventually passed out from shock and loss of blood. The ambulance arrived and rushed him to the hospital with just a saline drip. By the time we showered, changed and got to the hospital they were discharging him.

CJ really has only given us a former medics personal opinion, not that of a doctor or current paramedic/medic. I'm sure all is going to work out for our favourite girl character and she'll be back in no time flat.

Steve

Helen from wildone and gary

I will you forever and ever Steve!

Erm, wait a minute. That doesn't work for me at all!

Brotherhood to
Implement
Torture of the
C*** known as
Helen

There. That works much better for me.

Good point!

HAHA, Steve, I love the new acronym!



Good chapter, looking forward to the next!

.......I would highly value a former Vietnam medic's opinion, especially on gunshot wounds. They have seen too many wounded and are apt at seeing foregone conclusions.

BTW I think BiTCH is perfect!!

Poor Helen... She takes a bullet for Eric and she's still derided.
BTW, the "c**t" remark concerns me; from what I understand, some may see that as similar to a racial epithet. It's also one of our filtered words on the forums, so please, don't use it here. Thanks.

Okay, hrmmm, good points about Dimitri's assault; I should have been clearer. I just re-read that part and muttered "oh, Crap!"
I remembered to say that the lone outside deputy was not visible from inside THE house, but I neglected to say that his post was not clearly visible from the Biker's location (the Jacobs Ranch, a few hundred yards to the south). It says he was sitting on a log beside (so at the side of) the house, and was the front faces the road (to the east, per the text) he could either be on the north or south side. I thought i had said "north" at some point, but I didn't. It would be the most sensible location; it would cover the area blocked to the biker observers yet also cover the driveway. However, I SHOULD have specified it. I hate to change posted text for anything other than typos, but I'm considering doing so in this case. My apologies for the ommision; that was sloppy on my part. Unless anyone comes up with a good reason not to, I'll make a change to the posted text and make it clear that the exterior deputy is on the north side of the house. (I took pains to specify, more than once, that the Jacobs ranch is to the south, for that very reason, and here I go and goof up the thing I was doing that for. Duh!)

The Biker's response time was due to the distance. A couple hundred yards (per the text) means Dimitri was right; if his plan had worked, he'd have had time to get out. His plan was high-risk, but workable *IF* nothing went wrong (but it did). Dimitri's attack was a classic asymmetric strategy; rely on assumptions to get to the target, bypassing permiter defenses instead of going force-on-force.

As for the Air Force, did they goof? Yep! They made bad assumptions. They assumed that the threat was over after the first attack because, firstly, the attacker was dead, and secondly, the reason for the attack was gone; the information had been transfered.
Did they overlook the glaring fact that a second attacker might be out there and not know the attack was futile? Yes, they did.
That might seem like an outrageous mistake, but it isn't. It;s called operational chaos. During an emergency, things like that happen all the time. For example, the two F-16's scrambled out of Langley on 9-11 headed over a hundred miles out to sea instead of heading for Washington (or guarding the naval facilities at Hampton roads) because no one thought to give them a heading after takeoff? Well, it actually happened! There are countless examples of such mistakes (by no means limited to the US military, or any military for that matter).

Things like that happen in an operational environment all the time. I had them goof mainly because, in real life, both the good guys and the bad guys make mistakes. Dimitri and The Scar have made some, and so has the military, and so has Instinct.

Also, bear in mind; the Air Force already has what it needs from Instinct, so they are no longer a national security asset. Under those circumstances, I think arranging for a protective detail plus the fact that they were protected by a small army made sense. The only other option would be to sequester them on a military base somewhere. (and having civilians on a military base during a DEFCON 1 would be problematic in and of itself). The normal option would be to stick them in the Federal Witness Protection program, but Instinct's fame precludes that option.

And now I can finally explain why Chapter 19 had an, errr, somewhat tense ending. (The reported death).
Think about it.... had it not, would the Shadow's rock-climbing ability have been as well remembered? I needed something to drum home a few things, their rock-climbing being one. There was another long-term thing too, but that you haven't seen it yet.

CJ

Going back and making changes in the posted text is fine with me. I'm sure there are way more people who have yet to read LTMP than have already read it. They should gain from what you've learned via posting it and getting feedback from your fans.

As for your last line all I can say is you're being a tease as usual.

Who? Me? a tease?

OK, I did some editing on Chapter 43... Just to one sentence, which now reads;

I added the "north side" and also the bit between the dashes, to clarify the situation. My sincere thanks to everyone who raised and discussed that issue.

Yes, a tease. And one who is standing way too close to the edge of a cliff for his own good cause I'm in the mood to give you a hard kick in the behind and see if goats can fly.

I keep wondering why some of the bikers were not around (closer to) Instinct's house. I understand that no one knew that a threat remained and that the cops and bikers did not play well together, but if the situation required three cops in and near the house, why not some biker patrols around the outside of the house? Why not some bikers at the entrance to the drive? Many of them are ex-military; they know about perimeter security.

......Poor goat!! this simply won't go away!!