"You’ll see that you’re wrong, and I’ve always been right.You’ll finally admit that I’m better than you."
Keller scoffed, and his scoffing turned into a dark chuckle."Do you really think you know half as much as I do?Do you really believe the words that are coming out of your mouth?You really are a fool, Dr.Payne.I shall give you one minute to state your case, and once you do, I will tear it apart, and then I will kill you."
"Okay, one minute," Alison said nervously."When does that minute start?"
"It already did," Keller sneered."The clock is ticking, Alison."
"Okay, okay, okay," Alison said, composing herself even though she knew what she was going to say, and she was sure that it didn't matter what she said now.He wouldn’t listen to reason, but she had to delay him as long as she could until Moore was roused, and it could come down to a matter of seconds."I have a lot that I want to say to you, Dr.Keller, but what it all boils down to is humanity."
Alison paused, using every delay tactic she could think of without being too obvious.
"Go on?"Keller said, rolling his eyes, after a few seconds had passed.
"You have killed people who have not committed any crimes since being released from jail, and that counts as being reformed in my opinion.People change.I believe that there is good in everyone, and most people are good.If you can't see the growth and change in people, then I would argue that it displays your own sociopathic tendencies."
"She calls me a sociopath," Keller said with a grin.
"What would you call it?"Alison asked."If you walked into your own office and spoke about what you had done over the last few weeks, how would you diagnose yourself?"
Keller smiled and chuckled."Have we not all thought this of ourselves at some point in our careers?Self-diagnosis is rife with bias, but let me take you at your challenge and see if I agree with you."Keller tapped the side of his head."Perhaps you’re right, Dr.Payne.Your argument is fair.Perhaps I have sociopathic tendencies, and the conclusion to be drawn from that is I am a sociopath.Then I would posit that I can't control what I do to you next."
"Then where does that leave us?"Alison asked quickly before he could advance any further."If you are a sociopath and you mean to kill me because of that, then can you trust your own views on the justice system?Can you be sure that you are driven by the truth and not your sociopathic tendencies?"
Keller laughed."Oh, I’m going to miss you, Dr.Payne.No one has come into my office with such out-of-the-box thinking in a long time.I do enjoy conversations like this.You have me in loops, so you do.Perhaps you have proven your point, and perhaps you haven’t, but no matter how you look at it, I’m going to kill you.That’s the best part, isn’t it?This all ends with your death."
"So, you don't care about being right?"Alison challenged.Moore was moving on the floor, and Alison raised her voice to try to mask any sounds she made."Can you really be better than me when you’re wrong?"
"I will live while you will die," Keller said."It doesn’t really matter who is right and wrong anymore.Being alive is better than being dead, and that means I still win."
"You don't win!"Alison stated."This is not a win, and when you are lying in your bed many years from now, you will realize that you have nothing.Kill me now, and I really will become a martyr.Kill me, and when people look at you and then at me, they will know I was right, and all you will have done is push people to my side, and you will have to live with that forever."
"How about we put it to the test?"Keller snarled, finally advancing.
Alison knew she had done all she could, and she raised her arms to try to fend him off and perhaps buy a few precious seconds.She looked only at Keller, not daring to look away.She had seen Moore trying to roll over a few seconds ago, but she couldn’t detect any movement from the floor out of the corner of her eye.
Keller became a wild animal before her, his eyes flashing as much as the blade in the sunlight from the window.Alison pushed her back into the wall behind her, hoping to flatten herself more.
He raised the knife above his head and took one final step to close the gap.There was nowhere else for Alison to go, and nothing else she could say that would stop or delay Keller from stabbing her in a frenzy, as he had done with Michael Rodriguez.Would she be able to fend off any of the blows before she was stabbed in the chest?
Alison didn't close her eyes.She was not afraid of death, and she wouldn’t cower from the man before her with his knife.
Then, crack!
Keller brought the knife down, but at an awkward angle, spinning as he stabbed, and he stuck the knife point into the wall to her left before dragging it down in a ragged line and collapsed to the floor.The redness bloomed on his shoulder.
Alison looked to the other side of the room, where Moore lay with her gun pointed to where Keller had stood just a moment ago.Moore pushed herself to her feet with a grunt and stumbled across the room, a small trickle of blood on her forehead.She pointed the gun down at Keller, but he didn't move.
He still breathed, but he didn't try to get back up.His fingers unfurled from the knife, and the weapon dropped to the ground.
His reign of terror was over.
EPILOGUE
Four days later…
Alison sat in Victoria’s office, waiting for her to speak.Derek was behind her, standing in the corner, watching over her like a sentinel.He hadn’t left her side since she had left Keller's office.Keller was still in the hospital, but the surgery had gone well, and he would be transferred to a high-security facility as soon as he was well enough.
"Okay," Victoria said, clasping her hands together and leaning forward on her desk."Are you sure you’re up to this?You could release a statement if you wanted to, and no one would think any less of you."
