PART THREE: THE LAST STAND

Chapter Ten: All Good Things

I'd waited a long time for this.

And now I stood on the deck of the stricken Rapture, its deck slicked with corpses and flame and rubble. A gun clenched in my hand. And Senator West, the most powerful man in New York city, standing in front of me.

No regrets. I had little time left.

I raised my gun.

"Is that it, then?" the Senator said, backing away from the podium. Behind him a hunk of stage collapsed into the flames. Smoke plumed high into the dawn air. "You're going to kill me, just like that?"

I sneered. "That's right, Senator," I said. "It's over. All of it. The medical services have the vaccine. It'll be in mass production by dawn. Your apocalypse isn't going to happen." I released the safety on the gun. "And you're the only loose end left."

"Oh, don't be a fool, Max!" West screamed, backing off. "This is not some trivial human game we are playing here! This is the will of God! And you, one man, can not stand in its path!"

"Watch me," I said, and shot the Senator.

He screamed as the bullet punched a hole in his ankle. Blood trickled down around him.

"Damn you, Payne!" he cried, and turned to run.

I leapt on to the stage and gave pursuit.

He ran towards the bow of the ship, the city spread out before us, the murky Hudson glittering brightly in the hazy summer dawn. Blood trickled in small droplets from his stricken ankle, each about the size of a dime. As he stumbled to the edge of the ship, he cried out – insane ramblings, nothings.

"The city will fall!" he screamed. "Sodom and Gomorrah! All going to fall!"

He reached into his jacket and whipped out an ancient revolver. Three shots, fired one handed, hurtled past my head. Then West was running in his gormless, stumbling way, running to the edge of the ship with the blood leaking out of his leg.

Finally he fell against the railing along the bow, its point a jagged finger against the shimmering glass of the city. With desperate eyes he looked up at me as I slowly advanced, my head swimming, my gun raised.

"Over, Payne!" he continued. "All over!"

"That's right," I said calmly. "It is."

"You think you can stop the hand of God, you demon? You think this is your victory?"

"No." I released the safety. "Not my victory. But if by doing this I can save enough lives to make up for those I've taken, then to hell with everything else. This isn't victory, Senator. This is redemption."

He chuckled madly, and it degenerated into wild laughter. "Redemption? Don't make me laugh, Payne." A wild, mad grin spread across West's face. "You think this is some personal vendetta? Some mission you charged yourself with?"

I raised the gun, daring him to continue.

The grin didn't fade. Instead it took on a victorious air. "You've been led every step of the way, Payne. You're a pawn. Nothing but a small player in a game you don't understand."

"What?" I balked.

"Who do you think tipped off Sax about the Miasma base, huh? Why do you think you were discharged early from work on the day Hades took your men out?"

I stared at him blankly. "Just what are you saying?"

"It was Grant!" he cried. "Simon Grant! He tipped off Mona about the Miasma base. He wanted to lead Sax to me. To take care of me, so that his own little scheme could be carried off… the prevention of the reformation of the Inner Circle!"

"I'm taking it that was your plan," I said. "All this religious crap was a cover-up."

"No, Payne," the Senator said, shaking his head. "The Inner Circle has always worked to do God's work. To keep the faith deep within government. Over recent years it has drifted from God, its leaders tempted by greed and dark temptations. This great act would set it back on its true path." He swung one arm around in an arc, taking in the empty ship. "These people, the good people of New York… all of them were set to join me in the new Inner Circle. An Inner Circle that would control our new world and set it back on to the path of righteousness."

"Sure," I said, shaking my head. "Guess all good things come to an end, huh?"

"Grant was a former member of the Circle," West continued, barely hearing me. "He knew what I was planning. He agreed to aid me in the reformation, but when he understood my plans, his greed took over him. He hired Sax, through an agent of his, to corrupt my scheme, to put an end to it. Just as well I had Mack Luther on my side to take care of her."

I'd heard enough. "She wanted to do the right thing…"

"You're kidding yourself," the Senator laughed. "She was a stone fox, right up until the end. A cold killer, being led up front." And before I could respond, he'd whipped out his revolver. "And now, Mr Payne, it is time for you to die."

He fired a single shot.

It blasted through my chest. I cried out and fell to my knees, clutching at my heart. Hot blood curdled at the back of my throat. My head pounded, vision grew cloudy.

"You're wrong," I murmured. "Wrong about Sax."

West was laughing again, and raising the gun again. "Sax had it coming, Max, and you know it as well as I!"

I whipped out my gun with what was left of my strength. I opened fire, three shots, all fired through blurry vision, but my whole soul poured into every one – everything I'd ever fought for, all the hate, all the rage, focussed into one bullet.

West's gun flew out of his hand and he fell backwards, blood flying up into the crisp morning air. He tilted over the banister and vanished out of sight.

I pushed myself to my feet, staggered forward. Blood was running merrily down my chest, hot and sticky. If I didn't get a tourniquet on those wounds soon, it would all be over. It no longer mattered.

I stood over the railing, and stared down into the desperate eyes of Senator West.

He clutched on to the edge of the ship by damp, blood-slicked fingertips, the boat cutting through the churning foam below. I gently stepped up to the railing, and aimed my gun at him.

"Wait, Payne!" he cried. "Please! Dear God, Payne, stop!"

I calmly released the safety.

"Listen!" he screamed. "I can offer you anything! I can make all the charges go away! You can escape, a free man! Anything, Payne! Anything but this!"

"There's nothing you can give me that you haven't taken away," I sneered.

I pulled the trigger.

West's fingers were blown to red mist, and he tumbled screaming into the churning waves.

I fell backwards, to the deck. Couldn't have watched if I'd wanted to. Too weak. But the screaming went on for a long, long time, as West was dragged under the waves and into the ship's propellers.

I let my head fall back, felt the heat of the dawn on my face. Before me New York glittered in the sun, like a fresh jewel.

I reached for my shirt and ripped off a strip.