The Rescuer Ch. 03

The clapping sound from the audience should have been enough to force a decision but wasn't... for either the frozen figure in the huge doorway... or the concerned younger brother on the speakers.

Everett felt himself jump, as the crackle of the recently restored radios let thru a message that startled Carissa even worse.

Even coming over the speakers, Drake's instantly recognizable voice seemed tired, but was in total agreement.

"I certainly didn't give up an extra two hours each day this week, practicing that damn alternate ending, to not have it be performed for a real audience! My vote is yes! Hell yes!"

But from wherever Drake was speaking from, it still wasn't enough to elicit a final affirmative response from the stunned man shaking in the doorway. But suddenly another voice came thru, this one completely clear of static, and tipped the truly uncertain balance at last.

"... the electrical surge wasn't your fault... no one got hurt... precisely because you were so insistent on building in the extra safety systems... you started your new company to prove a point... pulling off the second finale will do even more than that... in front of the very people that matter the most to your future... a year from now... do you want to look back on tonight... and wonder about the mystery of what might have been?... you've trained these people... you designed all the special effects... you watched them all being installed... you just checked out all the safety systems again... your plans for the second finale are wonderful... just let it happen... there is nothing else you can do... or should do... except enjoy your own creation for a change... please believe me... when your older... it's the things you don't do... those are what come back to haunt you the most... trust me... please?... "

Everett felt his heart skip a few beats. He remembered the last time he had heard that particular tone in that other mystery man's voice, and he felt an overwhelming surge of sorrow and sympathy course thru him.

The crowd certainly had recognized Drake's flamboyant timbre, but they all looked so puzzled at each other, trying to figure out who the second man's identity was.

In the long silence, more than a few thought about the questions the mystery voice had just so quietly posed. Carissa especially, seemed to be wondering what had really happened to impart such a sad edge to those wise words.

His old friend, squeezing his leg, made him look down at her to witness her proud and happy smile. Maureen definitely knew the identity of the man behind that last message. The superintendent certainly did as well. The museum director, smiled over at him, too. Of all the rest of the entire audience, only Ellie seemed to come to the same conclusion he had.

Knowing that the sight of the crushed chair in the middle of the orchestra... and the thoughts of the life that would have been lost had shaken the special effects planner badly... the old woman decided to provide one last extra push for him.

Like the leader she had been all her life, Maureen's tiny wrinkled fist wavered up as high into the air as she could make it go.

Ellie immediately joined right in, and also raised up her right thumb. Suddenly it was like a wave of silent thankful gratitude sweeping thru the entire garden, until even the stuffy old British ex-pat himself broke his usual decorum. He yelled out an ancient military battle cry that soon had all of the students roaring to answer back at him.

The figure frozen in the doorway finally relented in the face of such well meaning support, and stepped aside, letting the huge group of robed backstage helpers stream back underground. The much taller woman came up and lead their chief away by the hand, presumably to get him to whatever viewing location he was going to choose.

The enormous middle door banged shut with a thunderous finality all of it's own, making him wince. Ellie turned her face back towards him, as she lowered her arm back down. Completely gone was the melancholy, excessively introspective and worried disposition that had plagued his assistant all night.

The smile on her face revealed just how beautiful and lovely she could be, when Ellie was her true and unburdened self.

A pang of jealousy struck the heart still beating too rapidly in his chest. All he could think of now was about Lowell, and his much deserved luck, at having been chosen to be the center of Ellie's affections. Everett felt even prouder of the dark haired girl, as she confidently spoke her next words.

"I'm more sorry than ever, for all the people who are outside these walls tonight! Could there be any other place, in the entire city, that is experiencing something as special and unique as we are? If there are people out there having as wonderful as time as us? I truly wish them well, and all the best in their own happiness!"

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Back Seat of a

Yellow Cab

Pulling away from

the restored Opera House

in a very troubled part of town

Just after the first set

of the special Blues Concert

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Keeley didn't care what her boyfriend thought, as she turned around in her seat to keep waving at William.

The very idea that she had been present for such a wonderful event, at the first ever concert in the fully restored Opera House, still wouldn't sink in. The local band that she had been wanting to see for so many years, and that had just signed a national contract, had certainly risen to the occasion.

Instead of the short opening set they had expected and planned for, the musicians had been given an extra twenty minutes to really stretch out their talent before the much larger than expected highly influential audience. Then to have the headliner himself come out early, and play with them, for an additional half hour?

It had been amazing!

What would her dad have given to have been sitting beside her! The legendary blues man had even taken a moment to properly thank everyone present. During the equipment switch over before the main act, he also directly praised William for all of his hard work, in bringing back the jewel of one of the city's most historically poor communities. The elderly musician revealed to all that he had actually played at the Opera House, many times, when he had first started his career. Long before he had moved to Chicago to pursue his own dreams.

As their cab finally pulled fully into the swarming crowd... also enjoying their own first annual and truly local Music and Food Festival... Seth finally let out a harrumph that was meant to get her back properly into her seat.

But once away from the venue itself, the people gathered in the next section of closed off streets, suddenly looked different. The other historic buildings showed the wear and tear of long years, spent without much help to keep them sound.

The streets, curbs and sidewalks out here were all brand new, too. The vintage looking light poles were all lit up and looked just as wonderful. Even the sagging power lines were gone, having been safely buried underneath the new landscaping. There were no gaping holes where windows should have been, and only a few of the second and third floor openings were covered up with plywood.

Whatever the City Council's horrible original plan had been for this district... it had finally been stopped... and a much better, brighter and more appropriate future was well underway.

The money for the infrastructure improvements, long approved but denied release, finally began flowing last year. A bitter battle on the city council chamber floor, and the timely leak of some damning documents, had broken the stalemate. The revelation that the purposeful delay had been meant to financially benefit sitting council members, had amazingly brought two of them down from political power!

Apparently the idea had been to get the state and federal funds approved first, under the pretext of helping the existing poor community, but then drive those very people all out in favor of the 'right' developers. That pattern of crime had been repeatedly done in the city successfully, so many times in the past, that the politicians involved in this particular scheme had gotten a little sloppy.

Shelly gave a sigh of relief when the last of the people pushing and bumping against the sides of their cab got left behind. Crowds from this part of town at the best of times were unpredictable, but the rowdier and raunchier members had been especially vicious tonight. Luckily, a heavy dose of private security, local police and special gang units had been on hand.

If the organizers could just get this first event off without any real trouble, eventually it might turn into just another one of the city's many safe and well attended festivals.

The verbal taunts and abusive language they had been the targets of? Especially when Shelly had first stepped out of the cab to get to the concert inside? They had been bad enough. William himself had put a quick stop to that, and his bouncers had chucked quite a few people out of the waiting line they got ushered right past.

But it was the argument that her own boyfriend had started that had been so much worse, long after they had been led thru the bar, and shown to their premium seats in the converted old orchestra pit.

That had been the real turning point of the Blues inspired evening.

William had offered them the table for four, right up front, weeks ago. Just for the opening act though, when he had learned that his main guests of honor would unavoidably be arriving late at the airport. He felt that there was no use to it remaining empty, even for that short of time. As much as he had helped both Shelly and herself at the strip club, for so many years, they had done their best to be his real friend, too.

Along with the night shift house mom, William had formed the original core of the group of employees trying to keep the oldest and proudest gentleman's club in the city operating. The wages that he earned as head bouncer and security team leader, had all been poured into his desire to restore the old opera house from his earliest childhood memories. Neither Shelly or herself felt that they could refuse his kind invitation, nor had they wanted to.

But now as their cab finally left the last of the crowds inside and outside of the barricades? Keeley got a stark reminder of why this was still considered to be one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in the entire city.

Up ahead and totally blocking a parking lot entrance, an ambulance was surrounded by five squad cars, and a person was hurriedly being loaded into it's back doors. Luckily, or perhaps not, there wasn't a sheet covering the dark face writhing in pain. Sensing her boyfriend about to make one of his routine rude comments, Keeley elbowed him in the ribs first, then pointed at the equally dark face in the rearview mirror.

The reflected glances the two men exchanged next, proved that the actual words hadn't been really needed to express her boyfriend's opinion, that no one else in the cab shared. The tense and totally unnecessary moment passed, as the last of the newly minted historic district boundary was left behind, and the much rougher road thru the rest of the depressed neighborhood began again.

Finally the young cab driver brought up something much more important.

"I'm glad that you all enjoyed the first half of the concert so much, but we are running more than a bit behind schedule now. There's been some odd power outages, and a freak storm or something, back near where you guys started your night. Worse, the traffic signal lights almost everywhere in town, are still not working right. That, and two bad accidents on our direct route to your next destination, are going to make things very difficult."

Her boyfriend's eyes narrowed, almost as if he was expecting the news that they should probably skip whatever mystery locale was next. He wasn't having any of it.

"Are you saying you can't get us there? It's important! It really is! Even if it's just for a half hour, I think it would be worth it!"

The dark face, that had almost never deliberately turned all the way around, looked stressed as he continued to use his rearview mirror to peer back at all three of his passengers.

"... it's just not a destination that our cab company normally takes people to... not any more... it's not what it once was... some places... they just go bad... and don't really ever make it all the way back... "

The defensive and evasive tone in her boyfriend's voice, both her and Shelly knew all too well, and that made Seth's next statement highly suspect.

"That's just YOUR opinion! And this is neither the time or place for you to give it! You and your company agreed on the itinerary for tonight! In advance! We have this cab until we've gone everywhere I have paid for, and we get back home! It's not our fault the traffic's bad, and that the concert ran a little late! If you know of a way you can get us to the next spot, even close to on time? What's the fucking problem?"

Keeley looked directly into the dark eyes of the kind face. It had seemed so familiar to her, when they had first got in the cab at their too fancy apartment high rise building.

Something was very wrong.

Even as wonderful as tonight's experiences had been, at least so far, an odd emotional tension kept creeping in and threatening to ruin everything. But before they had left, and put all of their phones on the coffee table, both Shelly and herself had agreed not to pry about any of the unknown destinations.

The young driver was in a horrible spot. He had obviously also been told not to reveal any details about their night out, and he took in a deep breath as he slowly tried to explain.

"... getting you there... at least in time... it's going to be a little... weird... I don't like the place you've chosen to go next... and I won't back down from that... the only two fares I've ever had trouble with since I got this special gig... they went there too... but that doesn't matter... with all the construction zones, accidents, and power outages tonight... even to get to the next stop after this one... we should take the... alternate... route that my boss worked up for us this spring... "

Shelly clearly wasn't buying any of Seth's bullshit either, and politely chimed in to try to help out their upset driver.

"If we were already brave enough to accept William's invitation tonight, I'm sure that both Keeley and I are up for just about any sort of side trip! Especially if it ends up getting us to the restaurant on the lake, in time for our last reservation of the evening! What is it, exactly, about this new route that bothers you?"

When Keeley also nodded her agreement, an odd sort of resigned shrug accompanied their driver's abrupt change of lanes. The previous state of the houses all along the deeply potholed road had been bad enough. But when they got to the next possible side street, the road their cab driver turned down was even worse. Luckily whatever kind of special cab this was, the custom shocks and suspension still took up most of the bumps and shakes.

"My boss negotiated a route with some of the irrigation project and quarry sites, thru a place that had always been off limits before. To everyone. I've lived in this town all my life, and even I never knew it was possible to get all the way thru that mess, to the other side of town. This spring, at the end of one of our night shifts, a dozen of us from the new division were required to take the route, so we would be familiar with it. For future emergencies, they said. Only twice since then has any of us been ordered to drive across town that way. My two buddies didn't like the weird trip anymore the second time they took it. But there is one hard and fast rule! Absolutely no passengers are allowed thru there. Only just us drivers from the special new group. We are supposed to only use it when ordered to! So one of our special fleet vehicles, as a last resort, can get to a VIP fare pickup on time."

Seth wasn't going to give up his chance to prove a point... and if he'd only taken a second to really look around... he would have noticed the change of direction towards the city skyscrapers proved that he'd already won.

"So what is the point in that? You have plenty of other cabs! How could one new route, for just twelve drivers, make that much of a difference? Especially if you can't get paid for driving customers thru it?"

The dark face refused to look back into his rearview mirror again, choosing to use all of his concentration on avoiding the huge potholes in the road. Even so, Keeley could feel her breasts bounce inside her barely needed half bra. Shelly wasn't faring much better, as her clingy burgundy top barely kept her covered. The harsh beams of the cab's bright lights made it hard for their driver to tell the shallow holes from the ones that could easily ruin a tire.

"It's also used for big events. To transfer vehicles thru it. We have tons of extra regular drivers, more than any other company in the city. We can use the shortcut to get our entire fleet back across town for almost twice the pickups of our competitors. Just that one hard and fast rule. Only us twelve can actually drive the route, but with no passengers! Ever! Yet when I called in to tell my dispatcher that your concert was running late? They TOLD me to break that rule! I kept making calls, up our corporate ladder, until the actual owner called me back himself! For some reason, it's suddenly ok for me to take YOU three, thru our secret route? Why? Just who are you damn people?"

Keeley could certainly tell the young driver was more than a bit rattled, even scared, by the instructions he had been given. Not really knowing what to do, she tried to explain a little bit.

"If you are saying that you don't recognize Shelly, I don't believe you! Maybe it's just someone trying to impress her? Believe me, that sort of thing has happened often enough to her over the years! We are just her friends! I'm not special in any way! Certainly not enough that would warrant someone giving a damn whether I was late, or even totally missed out on a single one of our stops tonight! Trust me! I'm nobody!"

Seth harrumphed in that derisive way she hated so much, but the cab driver wisely decided not to comment on that statement, as he continued trying to explain his worries.

"No other cab, bus or limo company can use the route to transfer their vehicles. Just us. That museum you went to? While you were at the concert? There was an all access emergency call, for as many of our drivers and vehicles that we could prestage in that area. My company has summoned up every single full and part-time employee we could get a hold of! Our entire fleet, even the outdated cars we hardly ever use, are all headed that way! We are going to be the ONLY car going the wrong direction on that damned secret route! Why?"

The distressed tone in the driver's voice finally got to Seth as well, but after they all looked at each in silence, the cabbie continued again.

"This old neighborhood will get really run down first, then we'll hit the old industrial section, then where all the dirt's getting moved around. No matter how busy or slow the economy has gotten, there is ALWAYS something big going on down there at night. No one can make any real sense of it. Dirt gets dug up here, dumped over there, then shipped all across the city. Anywhere there's new construction, high rises, bridges, lakes, canals? Their extra dirt almost always seems to end back up in the restricted area? One acre of land can be completely overrun with equipment, but right next to it? Nothing has gotten touched in over a hundred years? This time at night, this whole extra trip will be so damn creepy! You'll start seeing what I mean, in just a few more seconds! Believe me!"