NBA Dramatique, Prelude 26

The Band had been on a tour of small clubs before kicking off the full U.S. tour, and they had stopped in an out-lying city to play in front of a few hundred people. They had been playing for over an hour. The crowd was packed tightly into the little club and sweat covered each member of the audience. Large fans blew out into the crowd to try and keep as few as possible from fainting. The guys on stage baked under the hot lights, and they were at least as soaked with sweat as the people who watched them, if not more so. The band had paused between songs to catch their breaths, and the lead singer went to the mike with a casual step.

"I'd like to take a moment to introduce the band." The crowd cheered and the room echoed with the high-pitched screams of young girls. "On the bass guitar, let's hear it for Mehmet." Polite cheers.

"On rhythm guitar, the Red Shredder, the Machine Gun, AK-47, - Andrei! He's still got a free pass, ladies!" Screams and squeals.

"The beast on the drums, bringing the beats, we just call him The Boozer!" loud applause, mostly from dudes.

"On lead guitar, the man with the plan, the star on guitar, Deron!" Loud screams and whistles and the approval of envious men.

"And my name is Kyle. I like to sing for you." The ladies in the audience drowned out the other gender with loud screams of desire, and breasts were bared with great excitement. The Band then launched into another song, and the show went on for another hour.

Afterward, the Band was cooling off backstage. A long table of refreshments was in a state of disarray from the many fans, and groupies, and local reporters, and bloggers, and radio guys, and contest winners who had all helped themselves to the drinks and the food before the members of the Band had gotten to lay a finger on any of it. Everyone had finally cleared out and the Band looked exhausted, with shirts cast off and sweat-soaked towels hung over their shoulders. Their manager, Jerry, came into the room to address the guys now that he had successfully removed all of the unwanted elements.

"Alright, men. You did a great job tonight. I think the Trojan Horse plan is going to work wonders. I've lined up the tour so that we'll have access to venues on bases or near known outposts. In some cases I've even booked multiple dates. We'll procure legitimate finances through the shows. Morris and Ronnie will work the crowd from the floor, either spreading propaganda, picking pockets, or straight-up mugging. Fesenko and Brevin will fleece the venue of equipment that can be sold. The main idea is that we stay covert and under the radar as much as we can, then as forces succumb to financial attrition, we use our cash reserves to fund explosives for the overt strikes."

The Band remained silent. There was no need to ask questions or offer comments. Jerry was a cunning and experienced terrorist.