Crossover

The Heist

'So you're telling me,' Benjamin said, 'that you can't play the drums at all.'

Ash gritted her teeth. 'I wasn't supposed to have to. Tognetti was supposed to be on before me.'

'Then what were all those lessons for?'

She was about to reply when the stage door swung open. Applause echoed through the halls of the conservatorium. A man with an earpiece and a lanyard leaned through the gap. 'You'll be on in two minutes, Miss Burnett.'

Ash tried to look confident and aloof. 'Thank you.'

The man disappeared and the stage door swung shut, muffling the claps and whistles of the audience. Ash put the phone back to her ear.

'What am I going to do?' she hissed.

Benjamin sounded amused. 'My guess is, you're going to go out on stage and play the drums.'

'But I don't know how!'

'Then do what you do best,' Benjamin said. 'Fake it.'

'Thanks. You've been really helpful.'

'Any time.'

Ash looked up at the TV, which displayed footage from inside the auditorium. Her drum kit had been set up by the backstage crew. The master of ceremonies was speaking from behind a podium. Ash guessed he was introducing her.

The stagehand opened the door again and beckoned silently. Ash followed him into the wings, dread curdling in her guts.

From her spot behind the thick velvet curtains, she could see the stage but not the audience. The drum kit gleamed, alone in the centre of the stage.

The master of ceremonies' voice boomed through the auditorium. '...headlined at the Tokyo International Arts Festival,' he was saying, 'featured at the Sunset Celebration of Percussion and named best new female artist at the New Jersey Soloist Music Awards — please join me in welcoming to the stage Daniella Burnett!'

The audience started clapping.

Ash looked back at the stagehand. He made a shooing gesture. 'Go!'

She walked out onto the stage. A spotlight fixed upon her as soon as she emerged from behind the curtain. She walked out to the drum kit, trying to look like she knew what she was doing.

She sat down on the foam rubber stool and looked out at the audience. A sea of expectant faces stared back at her.

Ashley's eyes widened. There must be a thousand people in here, she thought.

The drum sticks rested on the largest tom. She picked them up and twirled them in her fingers. A hush fell over the crowd.

From the three lessons she had taken, Ash knew how to produce a rock beat and a swing waltz. But she wasn't very good at either of those things, and if she attempted them now, she would surely be exposed as an amateur.

She raised one of the sticks high in the air.

Hesitated.

Here goes nothing, she thought.

She brought the stick crashing down on the snare drum. The crack echoed out across the auditorium. She was relieved to discover that although the drum was stuffed with her escape equipment, this wasn't evident from the sound.

Ash slammed the stick into the high hat twice before hitting the snare again. Then she tried some quiet taps on the floor tom before hitting the splash cymbal with all her strength.

The audience remained in a state of silent hypnosis.

They're buying it, Ash thought.

She went all out, bashing the sticks against every drum and every cymbal. With her foot, she stomped on the kick drum pedal to make what she hoped sounded a bit like a heart beat. None of the strikes seemed to fit with any of the others. She hoped this would be mistaken for complex rhythm, rather than no rhythm.