AN: Knight Rider and all related characters are property of Glen Larson and Universal. I'm just borrowing them for a while. Highlander (tv series) is property of Rysher/Davis-Panzer, and I'm just borrowing it, too.
AN2: In the rules of fairy, or unorthodox, chess, a 'rider' is a piece that can move an unlimited distance in one direction, providing there are no pieces in the way (wikipedia). The 'nightrider' is one of the most popular pieces in fairy chess.
My life closed twice before its close-
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me.
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
--Emily Dickinson
It wasn't supposed to end like this, Michael thought, as the gun wavered in the man's hand before him. Not again, anyway...
He held out a hand. "Give me the gun. You don't want to do this."
The gunman backed up a step, eyebrow twitching. His tongue darted nervously between his dry lips. "I can't go back to prison, man."
Michael kept his eyes level, resisting the urge to glance at the business end of the weapon aimed directly at his chest. "I know. But if you do this, there's no turning back. Now give it to me, nice and slow."
The gun wavered again. "I--"
Michael lunged a split second before the gun went off. The bullet ripped through his lungs, nicked his aorta, and exited out of the top of his spinal column. With a soft "Uhh," he crumpled to the asphalt, feeling a surge of warmth rise into his throat and out his mouth and nose.
Through the ringing in his ears, Michael heard a clatter of metal against blacktop. "Oh, God," the gunman whimpered. "I'm sorry, man, I'm so sorry..." The whimper trailed off, only to be replaced by a scuffle of worn sneakers as the gunman took off running.
He won't get far, blurred the thought against Michael's brain, as his life continued to drain away.
The last thing he saw was KITT's hubcap as the Trans Am screeched to a stop beside him.
"Michael! Michaelllll...Miiiiiichaelllll..."
KITT, I'm sorry...