- The short story is homage to the films “True Lies” (1994) with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, “S.W.A.T.” (2003) with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson, “The Siege” (1998) with Denzel Washington and “Die Hard” (1988) with Bruce Willis. On the imdb.com website we can also read, that Arnold was considered for one of the “S.W.A.T.” lead roles. Also, surprisingly, there was a character named Greg Velasquez in “S.W.A.T.”, who was too a lieutenant, as his namesake in “Traffic Department 2192” PC arcade game.
- It is the longest story in the “Grisha Konov” (tm) series and also the least realistic.
- The phrase “Merci beaucoup pour votre comprehension et pour votre collaboration!” is a phrase used often in the intercom messages in Quebec schools.
- The “Abdulla Al-Sahid“ character is loosely based on the “Abdulla” character from the popular Russian western “Beloye Solntse Pustyni”. “Al-Sahid” was a fictional Arab name created by the Author (based on the name of “Sahid” from the same film), but later the Author noticed the same name in the Russian war film “Muzhskaya Rabota”, so we can presume, that this name is a real existing one.
- The #1 the Author refers to is Osama bin Laden, the #1 wanted terrorist and Taliban forces commander during the invasion of Afghanistan by the USA some time after the 11 september attacks in 2001. The “#1” itself is a reference to the “Babylon 5” saga, where one of the characters is always referred to in such a manner.
- The story is based on the Al-Quaida’s warning, saying, that there will be terrorist attacks on “Place Ville-Marie” in Montreal.
- The term “legende” in the phrase “Mais, le groupe A avait sa propre legende.” is a reference to Alexander Bushkov’s books, appreciated greatly by the Author.
- The sniper rifle case Abdulla brings with him is a reference to the Hitman’s sniper rifle case from the game “Hitman”.
- The “Claude Fortin” character is a totally fictional character. “Fortin” is a common name in Quebec. A Plastic Arts teacher in the Author’s Accueil was called Fortin.
- Claude Fortin’s phrase “Pourquoi ai-je choisi ce boulot?” is the reference to the book “Terminator 1”, where one of the characters killed by the Terminator thinks almost the same thing moments before his death.
- Abdulla’s right-hand man’s name (“Sallah”) is taken from the PC quest/adventure game “Quest for Glory 3: Wages of War” of the “Quest for Glory” (tm) series created by Sierra, where one of the characters (a Katta race representative, who is basically a big straight walking and talking cat) is called like that.
- The scene, where Abdulla kills the school director is a reference to “Die Hard” (1988) with Bruce Wills, mainly, to the scene, where the head terrorist kills the Nakatomi president.
- The “lieutenant Pierre Desrosiers” character is a totally fictional character. His first and second names are common names in Quebec. There weren’t any prototype for this character.
- The name “Shamir” (the terrorist, who was fooled by Grisha) is taken from the PC quest/adventure game “King’s Quest 6” of the “King’s Quest” (tm) series created by Sierra. There was a genie (a jinn) named Shamir Shamazel in this game, who opposed the main character by order of his master.
- The name “Hamid” (the operator of the radio equipment) is taken from the Ukrainian author Volodymyr Malyk’s books about the adventures of the Ukrainian Cossack Arsen Zvenyhora (a tetralogy). In the books a Turkish warrior Hamid was Arsen’s arch-nemesis, his ultimate enemy. He was killed by Arsen at the end of the book two of the tetralogy.
- The phrase “Tout se deroule selon le plan!” is one of the American writer Kilgore Trout (
Килгор_Траут) favorite phrases. It was used in the short story, because, at one point, it was the Author’s favorite phrase too.
- The term “equipement radio” is taken straightly from the PC quest/adventure game “KGB” created by Cryo Interactive, which still remains one of the Author favorite quest games.
- The phrase “La cavalerie est arrivee!” is also taken from the same book about the Revolution in Russia, mentioned in the Trivia section for the first short story.
- The SWAT team equipment is all real existing except the mentioned M-40A2 sniper rifle and the “Guardian” automatic pistol.
- The M-40A2 sniper rifle is a real existing one (it was considered as a non-existent by the Author before). Though, in the short story it is slightly different and its creation is attributed to the Canadian scientists. You can read about it here:
http://www.awcsystech.com/om40a2.htm
- The “Guardian” automatic pistol was specifically imagined by the Author to give a little futuristic look to the story. It doesn’t exist in the real life. However, a pistol with the magazine capacity of 26 rounds does exist. It’s the UHC Ruger P89 Silver Spring Airsoft Gun. You can read about it here:
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/AP-UA-954CH.htm
- The “sergeant Martin Lapointe” character is loosely based on the “sergeant “Hondo” Harrelson” from the film “S.W.A.T.” (2003). In the short story he carries the M4 assault rifle, as did “Hondo” in the film. As “Hondo”, he was too a SWAT team leader. His second name “Lapointe” is a reference to the famous Quebec singer Eric Lapointe.
- The characters of “agent Marcotte” and “agent Parcotte” are loosely based on the characters of “agent Johnson” and “special agent Johnson” from “Die Hard” (1988). The name “Marcotte” is a real existing one, while “Parcotte” is a fictional one created by the Author.
- The scene, where the helicopter delivers two SWAT team members on the roof of the school building is based on the similar scene from “S.W.A.T.” (2003), in where the SWAT team members are lowered down by cables (from the helicopters) on the roof of the bank building captured by the robbers.
- The phrase “La peur donne des ailes aux gens!” is the French translation of the phrase “The fear gives men wings!” used in the third person PC 3D action game “Max Payne”.
- The agent Parcotte’s phrase “Tout est possible dans cette affaire!” is one of the Author’s favorite phrases.
- The “La Stade des Etoiles” location is loosely based on the Olympic Stadium of Montreal.
- The agent Marcotte’s phrase “Mais, assez de bavarder!” is one of the Author’s father’s favorite phrases.
- The last scene, where Abdulla kills Konov is based on the similar scene from the Russian film “Sezon Ohoty”, where one of the criminals shoots the main character’s girlfriend with a sniper rifle.
- Deleted scenes. The phrase “La porte tomba par terre, arrachee de ses gonds…” is a reference to the book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, mainly, to the scene, where Hagrid breaks the door to the new Dursley’s safehouse to find Harry.
- The name “Omar” (Sallah’s right-hand man) is taken from the PC quest/adventure game “Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis” of the “Indiana Jones” (tm) series created by Lucas Arts. A character named Omar Al-Jabbar (from Algeria) was one of Indy’s allies in the game.
- The name “Safar” (the terrorist, who was a spokesperson to the police forces) is a real existing Turkish name. One of the Author’s classmates father’s name was Safar.
- The scene of Sallah’s death was based on the scene of the “Green” character’s death from the book “Statskiy Sovetnik” by Boris Akounin, who is one of the Author’s favorite writers.
- HQ stands for Headquarters.
- The name “Emir” is taken from the PC quest/adventure game “Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire” of the “Quest for Glory” (tm) series created by Sierra. Emir is actually the Arab word for “king” (the emir – king - of Raseir existed in the game), but it was used as a name in the short story.
- The “reconnaissance plane” mentioned in the sixth deleted scene is based on the U.S. AWAC spy plane.
- Once again a short story about Grisha Konov served as a prediction of something. In this case, it predicted the horrible events in Beslan, Russia in the end of 2004. The story itself was written in the summer of 2003.
- The story can’t be considered realistic nowadays for the Canadian society, but the Author set it in the future (although a not too distant one).
- This was supposed to be the last short story in the “Grisha Konov” (tm) series. The ending was done like that, because, at one point, the Author was tired of writing the “Grisha Konov” (tm) short stories and wanted to finish with them for always. The death of Grisha Konov was an excellent way to put an end to the “Grisha Konov” (tm) cycle. So it was done and much time passed before the author “resurrected” Grisha Konov.
Влад_Багров_Брат_3
Килгор_Траут
Пришедшая_Из_Дождя), a real person from the Author’s life.
