My Brother's Killer

  Part way down the side of the building he finds a door. It's hanging off one hinge and sits open. The animal waste, feathers and hair around the area show wildlife have been using it for quite some time. He steps around the mess and makes his way into the building as quietly as possible.

  Inside, the sun falls through the large holes in the walls and roof flooding the place in clean natural light that seems out of place inside the rotting building. A thick layer of dirt and animal waste covers the entire floor and spreads over the massive machines which were left in place when whatever business was here shut down.

  The machines sit as almost ominous reminders of what was once a busy warehouse. Not old enough to have rusted as badly as the weather beaten roofing overhead, they still have a thick layer of grey paint underneath the dirt and grime - the years of lying dormant has had its effect.

  And the smell - overwhelming. The wind moves through but only pushes the stale smell of a decaying building in Max’s face. He’d gag if it wasn’t for his unwavering focus on the impending showdown.

  A bird enters through a hole and glides its way to a nest high up in the steel support structure. It beats its wings to a gentle landing and the sound travels across the otherwise quiet warehouse. A trickle of water can be heard while a sound of steel tapping on steel emanates from an unseen source.

  Max moves further in.

  Chains still hang from pulleys attached to girders on the ceiling. To one side of the main workshop floor are the offices. The two levels of office space cover the back wall, far from the front workshop area. Catwalks work their way along the upper floor and reach down both sides of the ceiling. Max spots a car partially hidden on his angle by machinery. A modern car. No more than five years old. Relatively clean and clearly not one that had been left behind when the business closed. This was the car that had gone unnoticed when the young family spent time on the warm evening at the playground. It had also gone unseen parked outside Alan and Irene's home when Max and Tahlia had joined them for dinner.

  Max continues his slow progression through the warehouse. Removing his gun from his belt, he’s now fully aware that Heath had told him the truth; he is here. Gun raised, he moves along peering into every corner and behind everything big enough to hide someone.

  He continues along for what feels like forever through the eerie decay of the warehouse. The silence in such a large space plays with his ears as he thinks he can hear the scurrying of a person, or rats, in the distance. His heart rate is near maximum and sweat is pouring from his brow.

  The quiet of the warehouse is shattered by an explosive sound which almost deafens him and forces him to duck and cover his ears with his hands. The first thing he does is drop his gun and in the panic he can’t even think to run so just crouches to the ground hoping he’s behind something big. Sparks fly off metal objects around him and part of the concrete floor is ripped up as a volley of bullets penetrates it at speed. A ricocheted piece of burning hot metal, a bullet, hits Max on the side of the head but lacks the force to do damage so bounces off, leaving a small cut. The sound is loud but brief. He looks for the gun, the shooter, his brother, but dares not reveal his own whereabouts.

  A voice from an unknown place fills Max’s ears. Impassioned. Furious. Full of hatred and anger. “MAX!” Max is shaken from his frozen state and takes what he hopes is cover behind a large machine in case the gun fire starts again. He is scared and can hardly move as his heart races, he yells back to his unseen brother, “What are you doing!?” He receives no response but can hear heavy, running footsteps from the steel catwalks above him.

  Max looks around in a panic. Nothing to be seen. He tries to use his phone but the adrenalin and shock has limited his motor skills, his fingers won’t work properly. He uses both hands on the phone just to hold it still but can't get a signal anyway. He freezes. Someone is standing over him. He looks up to see the barrel of a machine gun pointed at his head and behind it is Heath’s smiling face looking down at him. Max can't bring himself to make eye contact but his quick glance up reveals Heath's clean shaven face with the rest of his head covered in a thick beanie.

  Heath doesn't show emotion at this point. “It won’t work in here.” Max just puts one hand in the air as an act of surrender. Heath repeats himself, “The phone. It won't work in here.” Max places the phone on the floor then puts both hands above his head. He wants to tell his brother that Alan is outside calling for back-up but is too scared to talk with a weapon pointed at his face.

  “No, no. Keep the phone. You’ll need it. Hands down.” Max lowers his hands and picks up the phone. “Stand.” Max stands but does it slowly so as not to panic his brother. He places the mobile in his pocket.

  Heath lowers the gun and says with a smile, “Finally. I’ve waited years. Come along.”

  Heath points in a direction and Max walks.

  Max finally speaks, “You almost killed a cop.”

  “You’ve been suspended.”

  “I’m on leave. I’m still a cop.”

  “On top of all my other killings? Won’t matter. There’s a bigger picture.”

  “I have a family.”

  “So did I, once. Hold that thought though.” They stop near Heath's car. “Here.” Heath says as he calls his brother to a halt.

  “You going to kill me too?”

  “Not exactly.” Heath replies with an evil grin.

  Max finally feels able say what he couldn’t before, “My partner is outside. Calling for back up.”

  Heath isn’t falling for it, “No, he’s not.” Heath scoffs but he’s agitated now. "Max please don’t lie to me. You’ve played into my game since the start. The clues. The big ones were pretty damn obvious. The things I left for you, saying, ‘It’s me. I’m here. Come and get me!’ The fact I told you exactly where to find me was pretty nice of me. Admit it.

  “This isn’t about us.”

  “Yes it is! Every single dead person was to get us together here. Right now.”

  “You killed a child, brother?”

  “No matter. Collateral. I needed you here.”

  “You could have asked.”

  Heath laughs.

  “Not really. There’s more going on. This only works if people believe your life is in danger. Which it is by the way.”

  “You are going to kill me.” It was a statement not a question.

  “Kind of. You remember what I asked you a while back? What would I have done to get your attention if you weren’t a cop? Would I have killed people? The quick answer is, Yes. But it doesn’t matter now because here we are. Here...” Heath puts his gun down and removes his beanie to reveal his close cropped hair matched with his clean shaven face - exactly like Max’s. They’re a mirror image of each other.

  Max finally understands the part he plays in his brother’s game. He's horrified.

  Heath laughs, “I’ve done this before. I can do it again. If I could fool everyone when we were kids it’ll be easy to fool everyone now.”

  “What the hell are you doing? We never fooled them. They knew. They just went along with it.”

  “NO! I was good. I can do it again! I’ve studied you for years. I know just about every conversation you’ve had for the last three years.”

  “You’re crazy!”

  Heath laughs. “Maybe so but I watched you as a teenager making mistake after mistake in how you lived your life. I watch you now, an adult, making the exact same mistakes.”

  Max panics. He can't let this happen. His mind is full of a million thoughts. He attacks.

  They fight. Punches are thrown. Kicks. Elbows. Knees into stomachs. Their hits are mostly accurate but it's a mess. Neither are specifically trained to fight so they attack each other wildly and without too much thought. They roll on the floor as they kick and punch. Blood soon flows from their faces.

  Heath comes out better off and they separate; sizing each other up to see the damage they’ve done. Breathing heavily as they catch their breath. Both have
blood stained faces and bruises starting to grow.

  “Surprised? You could always beat me, when we were children.”

  “I won’t let you win.”

  Heath smirks. “Pull a gun then. Or did I see you drop it before?”

  Max reaches behind his back hoping to fool his brother. He acts like a cop, “Heath Bruce Myer, you are under arrest...” Heath puts one hand behind his back as well, like he's also reaching for a gun, “...for multiple counts of murder.”

  Stand-off.

  Max pretends to draw and Heath does the same. Only Heath actually had something behind his back. He throws a spanner hitting Max in the head and knocking him to his knees. Through his blurred vision Max sees Heath moving to the machine gun he placed to the side. Max is up and running - away. Heath reaches his weapon, picks it up and fires as Max rounds a corner and disappears. The gun totting brother takes the opportunity to laugh and change the cartridge. After which he moves slowly through the warehouse - gun raised, ready to fire. Moving forward he sees Max search for, and retrieve, the gun he dropped, then run on. Heath doesn't take a shot but could have.

  Heath follows. Moments later, he rounds a corner. He’s near the offices at the back of the warehouse. He can see Max crawling out a door with his gun up, scanning for his enemy. Before Max can turn in his direction, Heath jumps behind a giant machine and approaches from another way. His knowledge of the building works in his favour.

  Heath pokes his head around a machine to see Max a few metres in front of him, his back to him, walking in the other direction. He steps forward and fires a single bullet into his brother’s back. Though not at vital organs. Max falls and drops his gun. He screams in pain as he hits the floor.

  Heath stands over his brother once again, “You can’t win this time.”

  He places the gun down and picks Max up by his shirt so they are face to face. He holds him against a pole with a hand around his throat. Max tries to fight but the pain is too much. “I’ve called the cops,” he growls.

  “I’ll be dead before they get here.”

  The pain of the bullet in Max’s side confirms to him that if they fight again he’ll lose badly. He tries a different approach, saying, “This doesn’t have to happen.”

  Heath smiles at his brother, “Max, beg. Beg for your life.” The smile turns to a look of contempt as he screams, BEG FOR YOUR LIFE!!!”

  Tears stream freely down Max's face. “Heath. Please. Please don’t do this.”

  “I’m sorry brother.” Heath almost sounds genuinely saddened by their situation. “It has already happened. I’m already dead and you are going to have a new life.”

  “No. No. You’re about to take my life!”

  “No, my dearest brother. I’m about to live your life. You can’t keep going on as you have. You don’t deserve any of it.”

  “Heath listen.” Max does his best to appeal to Heath’s misunderstanding of their childhood as he says, “Whatever you thought happened when we were kids isn’t right. We only tried being each other a few times and people knew all along.”

  Heath screams. “LIAR! We did it all the time when you weren’t treating me like I was nothing. When we were friends.”

  “No. Nobody fell for it.”

  Heath is defiant. “They did! They all did! Christina…”

  “Christina was five!”

  Heath slams his brother against the pole he’s holding him against. “Shut up! I fooled your friends.”

  “Only the first time. You know what we did after that? I had a password I’d say to them whenever I’d see them. If I didn’t say it, they knew it was you not me.”

  Heath is devastated. He thinks back and his mouth moves as though he’s trying to say something but no words come out. “You’re a liar. But that doesn’t change when you did that to me.”

  “What? Did what?”

  Heath begins to cry. “Annie Bellow.”

  Max didn’t need Heath to clarify who Annie Bellow is. He only had one female friend as a teen. He asks, “What about her?”

  “She was my girlfriend. Don’t pretend like you don’t remember. You pretended to be me and slept with her.”

  Max protests again. “What the hell are you talking about? No I didn’t!”

  “You did! That’s rape! You knew that I wouldn’t stay with her after that. How could I?”

  “I remember, she said you flipped out and yelled at her for no reason and said you never wanted to see her again. She had no idea why.”

  “You took from me the two girls I loved. I couldn’t let you hurt me again. I’ve haven’t loved since - because of you. I hate you.”

  “Tahlia…”

  Heath interrupts. “I will love her though. I will love her so much more than you ever did, or could. Don’t worry, I will make her happy again.”

  “She’ll know. They’ll all find out.”

  Heath still allows tears to flow freely down his cheeks, “I hope not, but I’ll take care of her and love her and protect her until they do. All I’m doing, you see, is taking out of your life what’s ruining it and putting back what it deserves.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “Max. I want to be somebody. I always did the right thing. I played it right and I’m a nobody. A nothing. I can't be that anymore. I'm more than that. I can be if I'm given a chance. I just need a chance.”

  “What?”

  “I should have done it different. Everything different. I did it wrong Max. Everything was wrong but I can make it right.”

  “Wrong? Because you were good?”

  “No. Wrong because I was weak.”

  “Heath…“

  Heath leans in and almost whispers, “You don’t deserve what you have. I do. I am Detective Max Myers, I killed my brother, the serial killer, today.”

  Max breathes deep and through the pain, he screams. Anchoring one foot on the pole behind him he pushes forward with all the energy he has left. He knocks Heath to the ground and lands on him, throwing punches despite the pain shooting through his body. All Heath can do is hold his arms up to cover his face. As Max covers his brother in punches he's energized by the sound of approaching sirens.

  Outside the abandoned warehouse, police cars are arriving and surround the building. A tactical van pulls up. Uniformed cops make their way into surrounding warehouses to clear them out. They'll lock down the street. Earl and Carl arrive.

  The tactical unit flows out of the van and fluidly moves toward the locked gate which they quickly open. The narrow side door through which Max accessed the building forces them into single file but not for long and they spread out as they enter after disbursing a round of flash grenades.

  Inside, after a quick search, they find a blood soaked and bruised Max standing with his police badge held high above his hand. His white shirt, now torn and red with blood, hanging loose from his body.

  At his feet they see Heath lying dead on the ground. A bullet wound to his head brought the horror to an end. Max, tired and sore, looks down with pity at his brother.

  Outside in the fenced off parking lot of the abandoned warehouse, Max is lying barely conscious on a stretcher as paramedics wheel him to an ambulance. Earl stands next to it as they load Max in. “Why are you here, Max? This was really stupid.” Max turns his head slightly and looks at Earl. Through the bloodied and bruised face, Earl can make out an expression showing the young detective just doesn’t care. “Earl. I quit. Let Barry know.”

  Max lifts his mobile, dialling Tahlia. Her phone rings out and as it connects to voice mail Max rolls his eyes. “Hey. It’s me. Just wanted to hear from you. And...” Lost for words he hangs up.