Page 153 of Naughty Dreams
“Good.” DJ nodded to Roy. “Thanks.”
“Any time.”
“Really?”
“No.”
DJ snorted and Roy left the stage. G and Warren rose to join him and trailed him to the exit without saying a word. At least not until they were through the door.
“They might notthinkyou’re sleeping together,” G murmured. “But there’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that youshouldbe.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It was almost showtime. Roy made his final rounds, noting everything was as it should be, and everyone was in place.
DJ had had a succession of people going through his dressing room. Reporters granted a pre-show interview, a visit from some record execs, plus a meet and greet with a fan, a ten-year-old girl with end stage cancer, in a wheelchair.
DJ hadn’t allowed any reporters to be present, but he let the parents and the girl take a bunch of pictures, including a selfie of DJ and the girl doing the “rock on” hand gesture, with tongues stuck out and eyes rolling wildly.
Dory was a good man, through and through.
He’d have a packed schedule, before and after this show. The loss of the band and DJ’s startling “comeback” made him ratings gold, and everyone wanted a piece. Tonight he’d been willing to let Moss capitalize on that in limited ways, since the exposure would be good for Hal, Sy and Trey, their career tracks.
By the time the arena was full, the energy pumping in the air was off the chart, that earthquake of noise and movement a constant vibration through Roy’s feet, no matter where he was on his patrols. But he’d been doing this long enough to look forand find his own calm center. Tonight, he’d need it more than ever. He was going into battle, and his wits needed to be sharp.
You’re out there, asshole. I can feel it.
The major advantage the stalker had was Roy didn’t know what he was going to do.
He didn’t have long to wait to find out.
On the fourth song of the setlist, DJ was doing a guitar solo at the end of the center extension, the rest of the band backing him up on the main stage, when a ripple went through the crowd, and cheers turned to alarmed cries.
Since it was standing room only, rows were a fluid or totally absent thing, but the disturbance was impossible to miss.
Several feet away from the left diagonal stage arm, a line of flames shot up, as if the ground had broken open to invite the fires of hell to the metal concert.
But unlike what was flashing on poles around Sy’s drum kit, it wasn’t special effects.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!”
Fans scrambled, all hell breaking loose as the dreaded word was shrieked by dozens of voices. People whose clothes had caught fire stumbled into others, spreading the contagion.
Meanwhile, the line of flames raced toward the other diagonal arm, the accelerant poured to create a half circle of fire between those two points. In a matter of seconds, it had trapped over a thousand panicked people between it and the most obvious escape route.
The main stage and three extensions from it.
The fans rolled toward them like an ocean wave, gathering force and intensity.
Roy had leaped from the main stage onto the highest platform built upon it. He smelled acrid smoke, and noted it billowing out from the backstage area.Shit.The bastard had set more than one fire.
DJ, his guitar abandoned, was on his belly at the end of the center arm, pulling up people in danger of being trampled by the mass of those fighting forward behind them.
Sy had done the same, skidding to the edge of the stage closest to his kit. A couple roadies were with him, though Roy noted Trey and Hal had been corralled by Henry’s guys and ushered out of the chaos.
Roy jumped down and headed for DJ, but as he charged forward, he used his thunderous vocal range to direct the people rushing past him toward marked exits. The stalker’s target might be DJ, but hundreds could be killed if they didn’t manage the crowd.
Roy’s people had realized the same thing. Roy saw Johnny shoving people back so he could get a limp and bleeding man up onto the stage. As long as they were able to keep DJ in their sights, they had to stop to help those in imminent mortal danger.
