Ira Roth was nothing but trouble anyway. He had been against the band since they first waked in to Venom Records almost a year ago. He had tried to rip them off but his former receptionist whose background was in entertainment management caught wind of what he was doing and helped them out. That good deed had gotten her fired and that’s how Tammy Powell wound up working for Stix Stonz and the Skeleton Bonz.

Then despite Tammy’s loyalty and dedication Roth had managed to still get the better of them with his usual slight of hand during contract negotiations. Tammy made good on that blunder when she beat Roth at his own game during renegotiations and now the band still stuck with a bad deal but way better than it once was. Roth though it seemed still had the upper hand.

Roth didn’t actually realize what he had or he wouldn’t have tortured the band so much. If he would just help them or get out of their way they would probably make him a lot of money. Many bands would have given p by now but this band had just rebounded at every turn.

“Give me Ira Roth please.” John Haddon said as he waited on the phone for Roth to pick up.

“Ira this is John Haddon. We’d like you to come down to Black Wolf Studios tomorrow and listen to what we have so far. We have the single “I Hate Myself 4 Lovin’ U” in the can mixed and mastered plus two songs you haven’t heard yet in enough of a finished form for us to show them to you.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow at eight am sharp.” Roth said and then hung up the phone.

Richie covered his hand over the bug he was still holding. “What should we do about this?” He asked.

"Throw it out and we pretend not to know anything about it.” Stix said, Then he added “but we  watch our backs. No business discussions in the studio and we trust no one.”

Everyone nodded and then Richie pulled out the bug and smashed it.  Cut the wires up and put them in separate trash bins outside the studio. No one would find enough of it to know what happened.

Ciara and Tammy were almost to the studio having no idea about the bug there or who Jimmy had caught in the office after they left.

Jimmy was contemplating what to do now. He had Rona Reeves, Roth’s personal secretary  dead to rights holding a new bug to replace the old one in the band’s offices. But was she working for herself, Jenkins or Roth? He knew he had the upper hand so he thought he’d see how far he could get.

“What are you doing here?” He figured he’d start with an easy one. How much she was flustered would help in knowing if she was working for someone else.

“What are you doing here?” She shot back unnerved at all.

“I came by because Tammy had a problem with the master, that you sent. After hearing her problem I sent her to the studio to get Richie and John to fix the original recording. I stayed behind to move some heavy boxes for them and pick up some extra recording money.”

“Once again I’ll ask you, what are you doing here?” Because what you’re holding in your hand is illegal.” Jimmy said and then he smiled just wickedly enough for Rona to tell that he had no qualms about turning her in right now.

“Alright, alright.” She sighed with resignation. “I was the one who put the bug in here initially on Jenkins’ orders. When Roth scolded Jenkins for the bug failing he called and blamed me for the failure and sent me out to repair it. I knew I had done it right and I now have proof y’all found it and tampered with it.”

Jimmy wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Did Rona have an angle or something on Jenkins or maybe even Roth that she could trade in exchange for letting her off the hook?

“What are you offering?” Jimmy asked wary of making any bargains with one of the devil’s minions but always looking for a leg up on Roth.

“Tammy and Ciara should be at the studio by now if that is truly where they went. Call them and I ‘ll give you something to tell them that will surely be worth letting me go for this. Especially if I agree to take it out completely anyway. You missed the one in Tammy’s office.” Rona said. Sounding very determined and sure of herself.

Jimmy eyed her carefully and dialed the number for the studio.

“Black Wolf Studios, how may I direct your call?” The receptionist said loud enough for Rona to hear over the receiver.

“Get me Tammy Powell, please she should have just arrived.” Jimmy said.

“May I tell her who is calling?” She replied.

“Tell her an old friend. She’ll know.” Jimmy said.

Tammy picked up the phone. “Hello, this is Tammy Powell”

"Hey there old friend, listen to this.” Jimmy said.

He proceeded to talk while Tammy listened.

Finally she hung up and walked back outside where the band had been huddling around their van deciding where to go for lunch.

“That was Jimmy.” Tammy said as she sat down on the bumper.

“Rona Reeves planted the bug at the office on orders for Jenkins.” She said and the band grew quiet.

“Here’s the interesting part. The bug you found in the studio isn’t Roth’s or Jenkins.

That’s was Rona’s insurance policy against both Jenkins and Roth.

I think she’s trying to takeover Venom Records.”