Memory Lane

From Forever Knight Wiki

"Memory Lane" is a nickname that is given by Metropolitan Police cadets at the Police Academy to an obstacle course that is designed to test their reflexes and reaction to potential danger.

As the students at the Academy proceed along the Lane, cut-out figures and dummies pop up and out. Some of them represent threats, being shown with guns, knives, or other weapons. To these, the cadets are expected to respond with force. However, there are numerous other figures that represent innocent bystanders: they are children, or other police officers, or positioned in such a way as to indicate that they do not represent a threat. To these, the cadets are expected not to respond with force. As each figure pops out, the decision one way or the other has to be made at speed.

In Hunters, MacAvoy—a washed-out former student at the Police Academy—decides to take revenge on those whom he thinks were unfairly given jobs on the force when he was denied one. One of his former friends at the Academy is Don Schanke, now a Homicide detective and Nick Knight's partner. Schanke is placed under protection in a hidden location. To lure him out, MacAvoy places an advertisement in Police Special, a weekly newspaper that Schanke loves to read: the ad implies a threat to Schanke's family if he fails to meet MacAvoy at "Memory Lane".

Remembering the old Police Academy nickname for the obstacle course, Schanke drives over there. MacAvoy has set the "threats" in motion, hoping to hide among them and take him by surprise. But Schanke spots him in time, and shoots him.