Dream City Ch. 15

The following day soon to be ex-mayor Cole got treated for his wounds; skin grafts, hair plugs, and organ cloning costing a big fortune. Even though the recordings from Karen Styles were destroyed in the fire, there was a little backup plan I knew nothing about. Sadie, bless her heart, had her phone on and recorded the entire conversation in the park. Afterwards, the recording was sent to every news station in town, and from then on everyone went down like dominoes.

Cole was bringing in powerful new drugs from overseas, selling them to any drug kingpin in town as well as the rest of the country. He was also shipping advanced weaponry to foreign nations, much like the ones I had a taste of during my assignment. The docks were quarantined by the Coast Guard and soon the feds came along making tons of arrests. The Navy formed a blockade, preventing any more shipments from crossing american waters. Cops from both Dream City and Creakton were rounded up for taking part in delivering the merchandise to their top customers.

The head honcho who ran Seagull Island, along with some of his prison guards were paid off to release Anton, Zane, and Nick. They're all inmates themselves and probably won't last a day or two. The doctor who treated Jenny was also paid off, along with members of the staff who arranged her release; all losing their jobs and arrested just for being the stupid fucks they were.

The owner of Sassy's Grave was taken away for holding Prudence captive. Howard The Coward was also taken in, though he denied taking part of it nor having any knowledge whatsoever.

Cole's wounded aide admitted taking part in the killing of Karen Styles. Her body was found in the sewers, skinned to the bone. Everybody got fucked, I mean way up the ass. As for Cole, there was enough to lock him up for a thousand years; probably wished I did put him out of his misery.

Karen Styles was labeled a hero for her bravery and sacrifice. In Dream Square a memorial plague was put together in tribute to her accomplishments. Her family attended the ceremony, proud of what she'd done.

As the days followed I took a well deserved rest after my little adventure. Sadie handed me my reward, giving half of it to Razor as promised; more than enough to pay for the repairs to my car. Big Mo did an excellent job and took back the air cycle; she was shocked I didn't leave a single scratch on it. Bottom line I was back behind the wheel and it felt great.

Three nights later I dropped by at Saturn's Moon, discovering the entire block filled with people both young and old. Sadie decided to make tonight's performance extra special for the fans, something she had never done before. She and the boys decided to take their music to the top, literally. As I said, Sadie always gets what she wants.

The instruments and speakers were all set up on the rooftop; more than enough room for an orchestra to play. Frankie Fear did a few warm ups on his drum set with Bobby X and Lee Sting tuning their guitars.

I took the spiral stairway leading up to the roof where Prudence waited on Sadie to wish her luck. Most importantly she wanted to thank me personally for what I did for her.

"Hey, kiddo," I said, "sticking around for the show?"

"I wouldn't dream of missing it," she said.

"How you doing?"

"Much better now that I'm free. Forgive me, but I never had the chance to thank you for saving me."

"It was nothing; I just came at the right time."

"Nonsense. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for risking your life for me."

"My pleasure. Now, do me a favor and stay out of trouble. Looking for you was hard work."

"I'll try my best, and again, thank you."

Prudence once again gave me a bear hug, only this time I wasn't in any pain.

"Take care," she said, "Mr. Octane."

"It's Johnny."

"Of course it is."

Prudence headed out, catching up to Sadie, standing by the foot of the stairs. The two siblings embraced without even a single filthy word coming out of their mouths. Prudence made her way down, leaving the two of us alone where I got a view of Sadie in sequins once again; her dress, go go boots, and eye patch all in the shade of green.

"That was nice," I said, mentioning what just happened.

"Not as nice as what I saw," said Sadie, "you're almost like a big brother to her."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

Sadie needed to laugh to lighten up the mood. Tonight she was a nervous wreck and I've rarely seen her like this before. In all her performances she was calm and cool, never letting anything stand in her way. It didn't make things any better when she heard the crowd chanting the band's name.

"I must be daft," she said. "Do you think going up to the roof is a bit over the top?"

"No, not at all," I said, giving her my honest opinion. "The Beatles did it."

"Except they did it in the freezing cold."

"Would you rather do it in the freezing cold?"

"In this dress? I think not."

"What are you worried about, forgetting the lyrics?"

"That's the least of my worries."

"Hey, relax. You're not going to be chased by choppers or missiles this time, and you don't have to worry about saving my life tonight; that charade is over. Tonight, it's all about you and you never disappoint your people."

"We had one hell of an adventure, you and I."

"Yeah, don't remind me. Listen, are you sure you don't have any other relatives that I may have to rescue by any chance?"

"I can assure you Prude and I are all that's left, as far as I'm concerned."

"Well, that helps."

"You staying for the show?"

"I'll be here, and after that I'm going home, go into a deep sleep, and get ready for my next hunt."

"Don't work too hard."

"No promises."

Sadie caressed my cheek, giving me a kiss right in the lips; wet and nice and so warm to the touch. I just hoped she didn't smear her lipstick; not like the crowd would notice anyway.

"Until we meet again," she said, "soldier boy."

"Knock 'em dead, angel," I said.

"I intend to."

Sadie opened up the door, stepped right out in the open in view of the crowd, roaring by the very sight of her.

Later on I was in the crowd listening to the band doing two songs, back to back like a medley of sorts. The entire block was electric; I'd never seen a crowd this big just to see the band play. Many were prepared with their camera phones, filming every minute of the band's performance. The rooftops above me were also filled with people and their phones; they would cherish this moment until death calls upon them.

After the band stopped playing, Sadie took the time to speak to the crowd, keeping the excitement going even though she had to remind them that it would soon be time to call it quits.

"Hello everybody," she said, with the crowd responding back with cheers and whistling. "I said hello everybody!" The crowd roared once again, but Sadie was far from done.

I stood there getting an earful out of the crowd. I was sure somewhere in there were Annie and Marcus, having the time of their lives.

"Oh, yeah!" Sadie shouted.

"Oh, yeah!" The crowd repeated.

"Oh, hell yeah!"

"Oh, hell yeah!"

"Ooh, right!"

"Ooh, right!"

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

Yeah, that was Sadie, a show stopper in her own right. The noise was so deafening my ears started ringing.

"Ole ole ole ole!" She continued, singing at the top of her lungs.

"Ole ole ole ole!" The crowd followed along.

"Ole ole!"

"Ole ole!"

"Le."

"Le."

"Le."

"Le."

"Fantastic."

The crowd just ate it up, showing their ever growing support. There was no question Sadie was in top form; the ability to entertain the crowd in her own way possible. The rock goddess enjoyed herself or maybe showed off a bit. Either way the crowd loved her.

"All right," she said, "now that we got that out of the way, it's time to get down to business. As many of you know it's the anniversary of the opening of Saturn's Moon, and we wanted to make this a very special occasion." The crowd responds with a warm ovation.

"We love you, Sadie!" Shouted some kid.

"I love you, too. I love all of you. Now I know all you blokes are here to see me, but what about the ladies? You came here for these fine gentleman in back of me, am I right?"

The women in the crowd screamed and whistled at Sadie's band mates. I can only imagine how many of them would die to jump into each of their pants. One woman shouted, "I love you, Bobby!"

"Aren't they beautiful?" Sadie asked the women. "You want to take them home to your mum, tonight?" Their intense screaming was enough to wake the dead. "Anyway, I want to say is that we enjoyed having you here, but it's time we called it a night. By now someone has called the police and-."

The crowd interrupted her, booing at what they didn't want to hear. There were thumbs down and middle fingers up for the boys in blue.

"Now, now," said Sadie, attempting to keep the crowd calm, "there's no need for that. Do not pick a fight with them or start a riot, all right? You were all well behaved so let's keep it that way, sound good?" The mood changed after those kind words were spoken. "We have time for one more song, though. This is a very special song, and I would like to dedicate it to the one man who came in my time of need. He's a hero. He's my hero. The song is called, 'Time Waits For Us.'"

I was flattered yet somewhat embarrassed that Sadie would do such a thing. I was no hero; just a guy being at the right place at the right time. I was lucky she didn't mention my name or point me out to the crowd; all that attention I did not need nor want.

The song started out slow; Lee Sting leading the way on bass. Sadie began singing those first few lyrics to the warm ovation of the crowd. But soon Frankie Fear banged his drums and Bobby X took charge on lead guitar, suddenly turning the block into a party of the ages. Everyone clapped and danced and screamed and flashed their cameras, getting as many shots they could gather.

Sadie kept it going, twirling her broken mic stand and tossing it in the air; spun around and caught the damn thing in one hand. She looked down on the crowd below, pointed right at them and straight at the night sky, getting them to scream as loud as they could. Sadie zeroed in on those on the rooftops across the street; pointing right at them and the night sky, lifting up their screams as if conducting an orchestra.

The band gave it all they had. Sadie showed no signs of exhaustion; she could have gone on all night if she wanted to. She danced, shook her head, played the mic stand like a guitar; anything she could think of left the entire block in total bedlam.

The party would soon end; the flashing strobe lights of patrol cars were just blocks away. Sadie had noticed and needed to end it as quickly as possible. She spotted me putting two fingers to my head, giving a little salute just for her. Sadie responded blowing me a kiss; the guy next to me thought it was just for him.

I made my way through the crowd, heading towards my vehicle parked three blocks away. The police drew near, but the show had just ended and the crowd roared in complete delight.

Before calling it a night, Sadie spoke to them one last time and said, "good night! I would like to say thank you on behalf of the band and myself and I hope you enjoyed your evening. May you live to see your dreams."

By the time the cops arrived at their destination the crowd had already dispersed without incident. As for me it was straight home to bed, but not before drinking a few cold ones to put me out.

By morning I'll be one hundred percent for my next hunt; this time it'll be another less difficult assignment. I certainly deserved an extended break from the recent action I experienced in this hellhole of a city I call home. The city of dreams. Dream City was what they called it.