PART ONE: The Shadow Before

Chapter One: Symphony of the Night

As I stepped out of the doors of my apartment block, I passed through a wall of heat that felt like all the fires of hell. Outside the city was blazing, and it wasn't holding up against the heat. The asphalt underfoot had cracked and buckled. Those who had spent the daytime out on the porch had retreated to the safety of their indoor air conditioning. I had the street to myself. I wiped the moisture off my brow and tried to adjust to air that felt as cloying as the inside of an oven.

Mona and I were leaving New York. My car waited a short way away. Mona had agreed to hide in the trunk until we were safely out of the city. Smuggling her out could be difficult. As it turned out, getting Mona out the apartment would be the least of our problems.

We had decided to separate. She left through the back exit and promised me that she would find her own way out. I had strict instructions to wait by my car. I knew trusting her wasn't the ideal solution, but I no longer had a choice. If we were doing this, we were doing it together.

As I made my way across the crumbling streets, I tried to shake off a crushing guilt. Was this running away from my problems? Was I turning my back on everything – not just the nightmares, but the commitments? Was I cutting off whatever me and Michelle had left in this world? Above me a halogen street-light burst rudely into life, a gentle hum filling the thick air. Almost instantly a family of mites gathered around it. Made me think of myself. Was I just blindly following the light, thinking that it would solve all my problems?

I fought to shake these feelings off. When I left New York, the Max Payne who had committed those atrocities, the broken and shaken man, would be a distant memory. I could start again. And maybe I could banish the nightmares once and for all. That was the light I was aiming for. Maybe it would burn me on the way there, but I was willing to take that risk.

I reached the edge of the apartment plaza, the old brick buildings behind me crouching lower like a slumbering beast. Before me lay the streets of Manhattan – crumbling, scorched and desolate. My way out of here.

I almost dismissed the first gun shot. Not until it thudded loudly into the windshield of the hulking old Mustang just yards away from me, leaving a vast spider-web of cracks on the dusty glass. I stared in horror at the brilliant white bullet-hole, but only for a split-second. Animal instinct took over and I dived behind the rusty automobile as another bullet ricocheted off the asphalt right where I had been standing, leaving a brief trail of brilliant sparks.

I reached for my Beretta. What the hell was going on? Was this Mona's doing?

I cautiously peered around the edge of the car, my gun held close. I scanned the scenery ahead of me. Looming apartment blocks, their dark forms pitted with dull lights. Parked-up cars on the sidewalk. Distant water towers and antennas, all shrouded in the early twilight darkness, all set against the bleak purple sky. A thousand nooks and crannies to conceal a sniper. If he'd had a little more skill my head would have been reduced to red dust by now. I had to lure him out somehow, but as soon as I left my cover I knew he'd take aim – and there was no way he would miss this time. I'd had my two chances.

Only one chance to get out of this alive. I reached for my cell phone, tucked away in the recesses of my leather jacket.

"Mona?" I whispered hoarsely, surprised at the weakness of my voice.

"What is it, Max?" she replied.

I need you, I thought. I'm helpless without you. "I'm under fire. You need to check out the area for me."

"Okay," she replied. "Where are you?"

"Behind an old Mustang, on the corner of Fourth and D. Please, Mona…" I gasped. "Please hurry."

I hung up.

Slowly I peered around the edge of the car again, and what I saw almost made my heart stop. Three men were approaching the car. In the bright white streetlights I could make out their firearms. Looked like Kalashnikovs. Some pretty heavy duty firepower, especially considering…

I took another glance, unable to believe my eyes. They were wearing police uniforms! They were cops! As I crouched back behind the car, I tried to make sense of what I had seen. But it didn't fit. It was like an old painting, the watches melting on the branch – two images you're so used to seeing, but suddenly overlapping each other in a way you could never imagine. Those guns weren't police issue. But they were coming for me. Which left me with two choices. And no way was I about to bring down a cop.

No time to think. Holding my Beretta high, I leapt to the left, for the safety of a nearby alley. The hail of bullets whispered past me, a clattering symphony mingling with the cries of surprise from the cops.

I fell hard against a brick wall, deep in the shadows. The lane led to a small back door in the apartment block and a chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire. By the time I got to the top of that fence, the cops would have cut me in half. Left with one course of action, and time was running out. Outside the lane the cops were coming to their senses.

"There!" one cried. "Down the lane!"

"Nail him!" another replied.

A clatter of footsteps, growing louder. Gaining on me.

I sprinted for the peeling green door, muttering desperate prayers. Behind me the cops were reaching the edge of the lane and they were reaching for their shooters. I leapt over the small concrete staircase and grabbed the latch on the door.

As I did, my heart sunk.

Locked.

Nowhere to run. No choice.

I rolled for cover behind the concrete staircase. It would buy me a few more precious seconds, seconds that were rapidly running dry.

And the footsteps were growing closer…

To be continued…