In The Line of Fire by Matthew Purchase

Time can never stand still nor can we travel back to the past. Sometimes no matter how much you want to go back and change what has gone on, you are powerless. One day you can be a high flying rockstar the next you are a police officer. Well that is if you are Lance Truman.

During the 1980’s, Lance had been lead singer in the band Rancid Rabies, which came with a choice of women and all the drugs in the world. The vicious New York street brawls he incited and the hatred of the law construed within his mixture of words and sounds. It is unthinkable that as the rebellious teenager in the early 80’s that by the time he hit 30 he was working in a police station and beginning his rise up the ranks. Lance moved to England in 1985 after 3 years living the high life. Soon his music career was starting to slide and he was moving into organised crime. Joining up with petty northern gangs and travelling south participating in arranged gang brawls.

By the time his 21st birthday happened on the 18th August 1986, he had been arrested 4 times. At times he could escape from the wars on the street with no marks on him or like the day before his birthday he could end up with blood draped all over his face. The taste of the claret liquid penetrating his tongue so much that he had to spit on the floor and then drink a pint of beer.  Soon though his non-musical activities were hitting the headlines. Soon his record sales slumped so bad that he was now struggling to live off his fame. The money he had earned since appearing as a fresh faced teen in the sizzling summer of 1981, had been poured down the drain on a mixture of the finest treats. Cocaine, now a high profile rockstar status, had leaked almost half of his earnings whereas alcohol and prostitutes accounted for nearly a quarter.

As he slipped out of the spotlight, he contemplated suicide. The cold edge of the sharp knife had barely pricked his skin when he tossed it aside, straight into a carefully placed glass vase. Shattering the glass and slicing the flowers as it continued the passage into the wall. He lay slumped in his flat with alcohol and his last ounce of cocaine. Soon he was in a magical place, where all seemed right but as he began to come to some hours later, he made a decision that would stun the world.