Holley said, " I don"t know any Croyd."

"I do," said Jack. "I mean, I know who you are."

The voice chuckled. "I"m in a bit of a hurry, and I"m trying to be subtle, so why don"t the two of you come on in and shut the door."

The two men did so. Croyd snapped on a penlight and let the beam play briefly across their faces. "Okay, you"re who you say." He set the light down on the makeup table but didn"t turn it off. "I"ve got some information for your niece,"

he said to Jack, "but her office doesn"t know where she is, and I don"t have time to wait around on her."

"Okay," said Jack. "Tell me. I"ll get it to her. She"s jumping around like a frog in a tub of McIlheney"s, what with about ten thousand things to get done before tomorrow night."

"She asked me to look into Shrike Music," said Croyd. "Oh, yeah?" Holley sounded interested.

"I thought it might be one of the Gambione fronts; you know, a Mafia laundering operation."

"So?" said Jack. "Are Rosemary Muldoon"s hands dirty there too?"

"No," said Croyd. ""I don"t think so. Whatever Shrike is-and I think it"s dirty as h.e.l.l-I really don"t think it"s connected with the Gambiones or the other Families. Tell Cordelia Chaisson that."

"Anything else?" said Jack.

"Yeah. As far as I could follow the trail back, I got some hints that the brain behind Shrike is Loophole. You know, the lawyer, St. John Latham. If I"m right, you better tell your niece to be real careful. With Loophole, I"m talking one dangerous son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h."

"Okay," Jack said. "I"ll tell her."

"If you find out more-" Holley said.

"I won"t. I"ve got my own problems to deal with." Croyd"s chuckle was very dry.

"Oh," said Holley. "Well, thanks anyhow. At least I know my songs aren"t tied up in pasta."

"Listen," said Croyd, some animation coming into his voice. ""Shake, Rattle and Roll" is one of the best rockers ever recorded. Don"t let anyone ever tell you different. I just wanted to say that before I took off."

"Well," said Holley. "Thank you very much." He strode forward in the darkness, toward the makeup table. "I"ll shake the hand of any man who tells me that."

"What can I say?" said Croyd. "I"ve liked your work for a long time now. Glad you"re back."

Jack had the impression of a pale albino face in the dark. Pink eyes flashed as the penlight snapped off.

"Good luck with the concert." Then Croyd"s indistinct form was out the door and gone.

"Okay," said Jack, "let"s see if we can round up a fresh light bulb." He winced.

The pain was coming back, the pain and something else. In the darkness he touched his own face. The skin felt scaly. The virus was eroding his control. It was getting harder to remain- He didn"t like filling in the blank. Human was the word he was looking for.

Sat.u.r.day.

The audio ocean combers of U2 crashed over them. The Edge"s picking fingers had healed just fine for tonight. Bono swung into "With or Without You" with his exuberant neversing-the-song-the-same-way-twice voice in great form.

C.C. abruptly stared at Buddy Holley with concern. She reached out to steady him. Jack moved in from the other side. "What"s wrong, babe?" She touched his forehead with the back of her right hand. "You"re burning up."

Bagabond looked concerned. "You need a doc?"

The four of them stepped back as a cameraman with a SteadiCam double-timed by, heading for the stage.

Holley straightened. "It"s okay. I"m all right. Just a little flop-sweat."

"You sure?" said C.C. skeptically.

"I guess," said Holley, "maybe I was feeling some momentary melancholy." His three companions registered uniform incomprehension. "Waitin" to go on out there, it"s getting to me in a strang way. I"m looking at all this and I"m thinking about Ritchie and the Bopper and how they both went down with Bobby Fuller in that Beechcraft back in "68 when Bobby was tryin" his comeback tour.

Lord, I do miss "em."

"You"re alive," said Bagabond. "They"re not."

Holley stared at her. Then he slowly smiled. "That"s putting it straight." He looked past the curtains toward the full house. "Yep, I"m alive."

"You"re gon" sit down for a bit," said Jack. "Rest just a while."

"Remind me," said Holley. "When do I go on?"

"The Coward Brothers are on next. Then Little Steven and me," said C.C. "I"ll warm "em up for you. You"ll be up before Girls With Guns and the Boss."

"Comfortable in the hammock, huh? Heavy-hitter company." Holley shook his head.

"You know how the world would change if somebody nuked this club tonight? Not a bit." He staggered. "Well, maybe just a little bitty bit."

"You"re gonna sit down," said C.C. firmly.

Jack looked toward the stage. This was probably the only rock concert he"d been to that wasn"t choked with smoke. But in the confined s.p.a.ce of the Funhouse, the management, the Health Department, and some of the performers had begged for abstinence. The tech crew was using a fog machine to get the right lighting.

With the lights in his face Jack could see nothing. But he knew who was out there.

Cordelia was sitting next to the small, roped-off s.p.a.ce where the floor director was sequestered with her video monitors. Everything looked good. The satellite feeds were webbing the globe satisfactorily, though G.o.d only knew if any eyes out there were actually watching.

Every seat was taken. People had paid two grand just for standing room. Cordelia had checked around her chair before U2 had been announced. The table immediately behind her was occupied by New Jersey"s junior U.S. senator, the senator"s wife--Hoboken"s head of cultural development-a hot, teen heartthrob actor, and the actor"s ICM agent. The next table to the left held Senator Hartmann and his party. Tachyon was back there too. A beaming Xavier Desmond was right up front.

Off to her right, Miranda and Ichiko had seen her looking and had waved and smiled. Cordelia had smiled back. Luz Alcala and Polly Rettig, GF&G"s top management, also sat at Cordelia"s table. Now and then they said appropriately laudatory things to her. Obviously they were enjoying how the benefit concert was progressing. Boffo, thought Cordelia. That"s how Variety will describe this.

Dey better d.a.m.n better.

U2 ended its set and the Irish quartet trooped offstage. The applause thundered on, and they came back for a quick encore. That had been budgeted into the schedule. It was a.s.sumed.

After the encore the screen dropped down from the Funhouse"s ceiling, barely missing the Louma crane, and the slick, donated media spot for the New York AIDS Project blazed forth. This was the commercial. No one minded. Cordelia wondered if she should go backstage and check that all was in order. No, she decided. She needed to be in place where she was-waiting for hideous crises. No use seeking them out.

The Coward Brothers came out to a storm of applause. T-Bone and Elvis burned the place up with "People"s Limousine" and another sixteen minutes that flashed by like no time at all.

Between sets, when the broadcast had gone to a taped message, the lighting director turned the spots on the Funhouse"s mirror b.a.l.l.s and chandelier. The interior of the club exploded in a phantasmagoria of shattered light.

Little Steven and his band came on. The roadies had been fast and accurate. The musicians plugged into the house system and were off. Little Steven had a new scarf for each song in the set. The crowd loved it.

It was C.C. Ryder"s time. She held the neck of her shining black twelve-string with both hands.

"Don"t strangle it," said Holley. He wrapped his hands loosely around hers.

"Break a leg." Jack gave her a hug. Bagabond didn"t seem to mind.

The latter hugged C.C. in turn for a few seconds and said, "You"ll be great."

"If I"m not," said C.C., "I hope this time I"m an express."

Jack knew she was referring to her years-ago wild card transformation when trauma had catalyzed her into becoming a more than reasonable facsimile of a local subway car.

C.C. hit the stage running and never stopped. It was as though she was casting a net of power over the audience. There was a moment at first when she faltered.

But then she seemed to gather strength. It was as though energy were flowing out into the people in their seats, then being amplified and broadcast back to the singer. The magic, Jack thought, of genuine empathy.

She started with one of her old standards, then quickly segued into her new ballads. Her twenty minutes flashed past for Jack. C.C. ended with the song she had publicly debuted at the first rehearsal.

Baby, you never have to fold "Cause what you"ve got Is a winning hand...

... Is a winning hand, came the refrain. Never forget. C.C. bowed her head. The applause had megatonnage. When she came offstage, she waited until she was past the curtains before collapsing. Jack and Bagabond both caught her. "What"s the matter?" said Bagabond. "Oh, C.C."

"Nothing," said C.C. She grinned up at them, her face lined with exhaustion.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Okay," Cordelia muttered as the Jokertown Clinic spot unspooled above her.

"Buddy Holley"s next." In spite of what Uncle Jack said, she wondered if she should cross her fingers. Maybe toes too.

"Hold on a sec," said the floor director. She leaned toward Cordelia. "Change in plans."

s.h.i.t, thought Cordelia. "What?"

"Seems .to be a minor rebellion among the musicians. It"s still getting sorted out."

"Better be quick." Cordelia glanced at the LED counting down on the director"s console. "Like in about twenty-two seconds."

"But I"m supposed to go on now," said Buddy Holley stubbornly.

"The deal is," said Jack, "both the Boss and Girls With Guns have decided they want to go now and let you be the final act."

Bagabond glanced beyond them. "The Boss and that girl Tami are arm wrestling.

Looks like she"s winning."

"But it"s my gig," said Holley.

"Shut the f.u.c.k up," said the Girls With Guns" leader, Tami, as she strutted up, rubbing her right shoulder. She uttered the words with considerable affection.

"Him and I"-she gestured at the Boss, who was ruefully grinning--"we both figure we learned most all we know from you. So you"re gonna be the climax. That"s it, Bud." She leaned up on tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. Holley looked startled.

The stage director was signaling frantically.

The gla.s.s eyes of the SteadiCams implacably zoomed in. Girls With Guns upped the energy ante by tearing out the heart of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart"s bubblegum standard "I Wonder What She"s Doing Tonight," stomping it into jam, smearing the residue on their sneering lips, and just generally raising h.e.l.l. They ended up with "Proud Flesh," a razor-edged anthem of romance and nihilism.

"So," said Tami to the Boss as she led her sisters swaggering offstage, "top that."

The Boss did his best.

Oh, G.o.d, thought Cordelia as the echoes finally died. She watched the Boss raise his guitar in one hand and elevate a fist with the other. Let Buddy work out.

Please. The Boss gave the audience another bow, then led his band backstage.

Cordelia blinked. She thought she"d seen St. John Latham at a table in the back of the club. Latham, Strauss"s cash is as good as anyone else"s, she thought.

The problem was, Latham seemed to be staring directly at her.

She sighed as the penultimate PSA faded to black and the director cued in the Louma. The monitor showed a wide tracking shot sweeping back and up from the stage.

"And ... go!" said the director into her mike. Please, Cordelia again mentally implored.

"h.e.l.lo, Lubbock!" Buddy Holley said to the immediate audience and their five hundred million electronic shadows. The crowd smiled.

Jack smiled too from his vantage at the edge of the stage. He crouched down to avoid getting in the way of the camera dollying past on its track. The pain was gnawing regularly at his gut, and he didn"t know how long he"d be able to hold this position. He realized that what he wanted now more than anything else was simply to lie down. He wanted to rest. Soon enough, he thought morbidly. I"ll rest all I want. For good.

Holley hit his first note, then brushed his fingers across the chord. The magic Buddy Holley touch. Now it might be a standard technique, but three decades before, it had signaled a revolution.

Rou-ou-ou-ou-ough beast The characteristic hiccup was still there, though no one in the paying audience had ever heard this Buddy Holley tune before.

When the moon slides low And lo-ove rubs thin I"ll be knockin"

Askin" to be let in To Jack it seemed a little like vintage Dylan. Maybe a dash of Lou Reed. But most of it was just pure Holley.

Rou-ou-ou-ou-ough beast-almost a wail.

Jack realized he could easily cry.

When my friends Like my center Cannot hold And every feeling I got Has just been sold He was crying.

I"m the rough beast"s prey In the rough beast"s way Buddy Holley"s Telecaster sobbed. Not in self-pity, but in honest grief.

Without friends without love Forever Jack loved the music, but the pain was horrendous. When he could no longer withstand it, he got up and quietly left. He missed the encore.

Cordelia was already looking ahead to the final extravagant encore when every performer would come onto the stage and all would stand there with hands and arms linked. She blinked and registered a double take as she realized Buddy Holley looked about ready to fall flat on his face as he stood there taking the applause from his final song. She was close enough that she could see the flush in his face. Holley staggered. Oh, Jesus, she thought, he"s sick. He"s going to collapse.