Jake grimaced. I took out Monster and Perez, I was the hero last night. All Tim did was stop a bullet. But she’s nestled with him like they’re a pair of lovebirds.

Life isn’t fair, he told himself. Not fair at all.

“The Last Act…”

“THE LAST ACT…”

The final week of the election campaign was a blurred furor of rallies, speeches, news media interviews.

The success of the MHD generator during the blackout made national headlines, while Senator Leeds’s involvement with organized crime rattled the state’s political structure.

Although neither Perez nor Monster would say a word to the police, the state’s criminal prosecution office reopened the investigation into the Sinclair deaths, and even Florida ruled that Dr. McGruder’s death was “suspicious.”

Senator Leeds stoutly denied any connection with the murders, claiming it was all a political smear campaign, but as Tomlinson Senior gleefully pointed out, the senator was on the defensive now.

“We’ve got him on the run!” Amy boasted cheerfully. “His poll numbers are sinking out of sight!”

Jake was interviewed by each of the state’s major TV news shows, and even a Public Broadcasting System team came in from New York to do a special report about the MHD generator.

With Bob Rogers feeding him details, Jake reeled off facts and figures about MHD power generation. Tim Younger, walking stiffly because of his bandaged ribs, groused and growled that he couldn’t get much work done because of all the reporters and photographers prowling around the big rig.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jake told Younger, with a happy grin. “Each minute on TV is worth a thousand hours of running the rig.”

Younger scowled at him.

Two days before the election, Senator Leeds called a major news conference.

“Maybe he’s going to concede?” Jake wondered.

“When pigs fly,” said the elder Tomlinson.

Jake was at the Tomlinson residence, in the library with the candidate’s father and a few of his elderly cronies. A good percentage of the state’s wealth is right here in this room, Jake said to himself as he watched the men—gray haired, white haired, no haired—settle themselves in armchairs to watch the televised news conference.

Tomlinson was on the other side of the state, where a mammoth rally was planned for the evening. With Amy. And Glynis is up in Lignite with Tim, Jake knew. I’m here with the rich and the arthritic.