Author's Notes: I thought I'd add a few author's notes to the story, for anyone that was curious.
After Ashes of the Phoenix, I wanted to wind up the OSO storyline, but as I rewatched the original series, I was always perplexed by the lack of a Manon ending. Coleman Luck, the writer of the Manon episodes, stated on Facebook that the Manon episodes were indeed meant to be a trilogy but he didn't recall what he had intended for the ending in the original plot arc since he hadn't written it due to the Equalizer being cancelled.
And, so I went back and watched and rewatched Memories of Manon and the Mystery of Manon, and I noted two things. The first is that Coleman Luck clearly set up Ben Silver for a role in what happened to Manon, though Silver is also meant to be a dear friend of McCall and Control. Ben is set up in very subtle ways in the episodes, but I think it is clear to any viewer with an eye for detail that that was the direction Coleman was going in. The second point is that the episodes really begin to test the friendship of McCall and Control, and friendship is the central theme around which all of these vignettes in the Phoenix universe revolve, so after McCall goes to such great lengths to save his friend in AoP, I wanted to test the other side of the boundaries in Midnight.
The story grows very dark in every conceivable way, and that is alluded to the in the title (much as the title of AoP should have given you a head's up about what I was up to). My second allusion to the depths to which the story sinks is the opening of Part I on the Ides of March. Of course I set up the reader in that chapter, as I did in AoP, but this one pays off much sooner than AoP, which was much harder to craft due to running two plotlines - the one the reader thinks is happening and what is really happening. Here, the subplot theme of human sex trafficking was very dark , and it was the one area I felt myself censoring the details because the text deals with children, so I tried to wash out the details and suggest them instead, as I thought that was more appropriate for the subject matter. The subplot was meant to anchor the story by using a traditional Equalizer episode theme. The topic of sex trafficking was originally tackled in the episode The Lock Box with Adam Ant.
The backstory of Manon's experience is meant to be very disturbing to flesh out how she attains her mental state when she finally appears in Mystery of Manon. The theme of darkness runs through Control and McCall's encounters, almost tearing their friendship completely asunder. If you consider Control's life, it is inevitably a very lonely one, constantly being pulled from multiple directions, and McCall's friendship is a crutch he cherishes. So, for him to have that friendship unilaterally dissolved, his relationship with his goddaughter in peril, his professional life under great stress, the realities of what has happened to Manon, and again the theme of friendship with Manon crushed by the events of the story, he would be under a lot of stress. That stress culminates in the moment where he sits down at his desk and toys, somewhat unconsciously, with the idea of suicide, which I tried to subtlety gesture at but when I re-read it later, I felt that the gesture was a bit lost in the text. In any event, the story was meant to explore the mental and emotional boundaries of these characters.
With respect to the plot, I felt simply making Ben Silver the guilty party was too easy, and I didn't really believe that McCall or Control would misread or misjudge someone's character so much that they would allow someone who would purposely set up Manon into their inner circle. So, the challenge of this story was first to show where the sleight of hand in the episodes had happened in pointing so directly at Control while covertly establishing Ben Silver's guilt. And the next challenge was to rehabilitate Ben Silver enough to show that although he was complicit, he didn't really have any free choice in the matter - Trent had taken away any real options that he had. And I think it should go without saying that Control's enigmatic character clearly walks a boundary between the light and the dark, right and wrong, but ultimately in so many episodes, he is persuaded by McCall or his own conscience to err on the side of the good. He always has reasons he feels are valid for taking certain actions, and it is pretty inconceivable that he would set up Manon given his character in the series. So, this story is meant to connect all those themes in ways that I don't think are contrary to Coleman Luck's vision of the characters in the first two parts of the trilogy.
The payoff to Midnight's darkness is the next story, which is much more lighthearted, which is a bit outside of the EQ style, but one writes to have fun, right? So, I get to caricature their characters a little as they travel, a bit of a reference to the tongue-in-cheek escapades abroad discussed in Counterfire.
The one detail I did not address in this story from the Manon episodes was never aired in the episodes but if you watch the teaser, McCall believes someone else's body was in Manon's casket. And, I didn't deal with that because the plot was already so complicated that I didn't want to introduce that in, although I am thinking of bringing it in somewhere down the line.
I hope you like the poem at the beginning, it was a gem to find, and it really reminded me of what Manon might write to McCall if she were going to write him a love note in the past 20 years.
The reference to Korean Airlines flight 007 was a real flight, it was shot down by the Soviets accidentally, killing all 269 passengers aboard.
Tommy Li is a series character from the episode China Rain. Piotra, Petrovich, Runfelov, and Radig are also mentioned in the original series in Encounter in a Closed Room (this one I could be wrong on the episode title).
The sex trafficking story is based on a Dateline story I watched years ago. The character of Vadim is taken from that documentary; the trafficking victim had been convinced into trafficking in Eastern Europe by trying to make money for her younger sibling who required a heart operation.
Brish was created to be, specifically, the Soviet counterpart to Control. They both know the rules of the game. They respect each other, and they realize that a known enemy is better than an unknown one. It is a sort of uneasy respect that gives both of their organizations some stability. Brish is more corruptible than Control and falls prey to his vices easier.
Control's penthouse makes more of an appearance here than in AoP, but it was originally introduced to shield the audience from Control's "other" house, the Brownstone, which is mentioned only in passing and which we don't get to see inside. The device preserves his enigma and shows how cut off he is from family and friends, how cold his work is, and how very aloof he must be to stay alive.
Control's illness wraps up his injured status from AoP, but the illness is really a device to start pulling him away from the Company and setting up the next storyline in Nomad. It also serves as a balance between the power he gains with the coup over the OSO and the continuing reminder of his mortality and how much is left to be done if he is unable to keep the hounds at bay.
The last thing I'd say, if you read these stories together, you might be able to tell that I initially started AoP with a clear vision of where I wanted to go, but the stories have insisted upon plot choices that I wouldn't have otherwise made, so they really have begun to take their own path, though I still have a general plot arc in my mind for the rest of the stories. There will be at least one more after Nomad. Midnight took a new path I hadn't intended upon, but Nomad will resolve/clarify some of the plot allusions that are created in AoP.
I hope you enjoyed it. I know not everyone who loves EQ has had a chance to pick up the full series that has been released on DVD, but if you get a chance and are able to watch the Manon episodes, hit me up with an email. I'd love to hear what other fans think of the plotline from those episodes.