Sing For Your Supper
Sing for your supper, and you’ll get breakfast.
Songbirds gotta eat,
If their song is sweet to hear.
Sing for your luncheon and you’ll get dinner,
Dine with wine of choice,
If Romance is in your voice…
It was the latest nightclub to open in the town, and one with a big if rapidly more popular difference. Sing for Your Supper was a karaoke club, with rooms where small groups could eat, drink and murder songs to their heart’s content. Just to add to the “enjoyment” of the evening, all rooms had the groups recorded onto DVD so that they can see to their heart’s content just how wonderful or atrocious they were. Despite all this encouragement, it was fast becoming the most popular spot in the town – and attracting attention from some of the less desirable elements.
“How many parties do we have booked in for tonight, Jenny?”
“Two, Mister Harper – two rooms have been booked by a Japanese corporation, and one birthday party. The Japanese parties have already arrived, and the Goodnight party are due in fifteen minutes.”
“And the refreshments?”
“A sushi bar and suitable drinks are in the first two, and we’ll serve the buffet up for the six people in the other party when they arrive.”
“Very well then, Jenny – I need to go to a meeting, but I’ll be back in about four hours. Can I trust you to hold the fort down until then?”
“Of course Mister Harper – I’ll see you later.”
Jenny watched the club owner walk out of the building, and sat back down at the reception desk. From two of the rooms, she could hear the sound of Japanese businessman relaxing in the only way they seemed to know how – sake and singing. She shook her head and went back to her magazine, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Becky Goodnight and her five friends.
“Ms Goodnight? Welcome to Sing for Your Supper,” Jenny said, “If you would like to come this way?”
Becky followed the receptionist towards one of the back rooms. The six girls were all wearing t-shirts with a picture of Becky on the front, and the caption “About to be placed in holy slavery” underneath. Becky and her best friend Tanya were wearing jeans with the legs tucked into knee length leather boots – red in Becky’s case, black in Tanya’s. Connie and Sashay were wearing black leather skirts and gold ankle boots, while the final two If and Poppy were wearing denim shorts and strapped sandals.
“Ladies,” Jenny said as she opened the door, “Drinks are available at the bar, and as you can see a buffet has been laid out for you. The machine works by selecting a track on the screen, and you may go from there. Please, enjoy yourselves, and let me know if you require anything else.” Jenny closed the door on them and returned to the front desk.
“All right then,” Tanya shouted out, “Crack open the bubbly and let’s get this hen night off to a start!” She looked at the screen, picked a track and grabbed the mike as she started to sing
I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want…
“Why do they always start with something like that?” Jenny said to herself as she picked up her magazine, only to put it down again when the door opened.
“May I hlpppmmmsddsvppv!!”
She would have said something if the masked man leading the group of six had not pushed a small sponge ball into her mouth and pulled her hands behind her back. AS her hands were bound together, she watched as another gang member checked the bookings.
“Our targets are in rooms 1 and 2, but there’s another group in room 3.”
“You three – go and take care of the other party, but discreetly,” the leader said, and three of the gang took the bags they were carrying and walked down the corridor. “Now, you just stay nice and quiet,” he said to Jenny, “and you may live through this. Take her into the back office and make her comfortable.”
Hit me baby one more…. Time!
Sasha threw her hands in the air and gave a deep bow as she finished her song, and the other five stood up and clapped her. So they all had their backs to the door when the three masked men slipped in and closed the door silently behind them. All except Sasha, who stood there looking at them as the colour drained from her face.
“What’s up Sash?” Becky said and turned around.
“Good evening ladies,” one of the masked men said, and all six screamed. “Please, be quiet and listen very carefully.” He moved over and turned up the volume on the karaoke machine before selecting a track.
Mamma just killed a man….
“Sit down, please, with your hands where I can see them.”
The six girls looked at the other two gang members, who had produced small pistols and were now holding them in their hands, and sat down on the bench,
“Now, our business tonight is actually not with your young ladies, but I am afraid you have stumbled into a situation you do not want to be part of. So, for your own safety, we are going to have to make sure you can’t leave this room for a little while.”
“But it’s my hen weekend,” Becky said, “You can’t mean to stop us having fun!”
“Only for a little while, I assure you. Look – why you don’t all get yourselves a glass of champagne and we’ll try to make this as painless as possible. First, however, my colleagues are going to take the entire cutlery away. If you could?”
One of the men gathered up all the knives and forks from the food table, while the other took a bottle of champagne round and filled the glasses of the girls.
“So what are you going to do?” Fi asked.
“Well, I suggest you decide amongst yourselves what order you are going to sing your next song in, and then you carry on and enjoy your talents. Who wants to go first?”
The six looked at each other, and then Connie stood up and went over to the stage.
“What is your name?” the man asked.
“Connie.”
“Well, Connie, let’s hear what you have to sing.”
She looked at the screen and selected her track.
It’s been sixteen hours and fifteen days, since you took your love away….
In the back room, Jenny sat on the floor, her wrists bound behind her back and her ankles crossed in front of her and bound together. A length of rope had been tied around her arms, then passed down in front of her and tied around her ankles as well. A length of white tape held the sponge ball in place in her mouth.
Nothing compares to you!
“Connie, that was wonderful. Girls, give her a big hand.”
The other five clapped as Connie put the microphone on the stand and weakly smiled.
“Now, please, come over and join me. Which of you will be next?”
Fi raised her hand.
“And you are?”
“Fiona, but my friends call me Fi.”
“Well, Fi, why don’t you sing for us? Connie, I have to ask you to put your hands behind your back now.”
As Fi started singing, the man took a zip tie from the bag the three had put down, crossed Connie’s wrists behind her back and pulled it tightly so that she found it impossible to move them apart. Helping her to sit on the bench, the man used another tie to hold her ankles together, and then her legs above her knees. He had to fold her skirt up slightly to do that, but he replaced the hem after he had secured her thighs. Finally, he took a small sponge ball and pushed it into her mouth before covering her lips with white tape.
AS he stood up, Fi put the microphone down and quietly walked over to join the man. “I guess you’re going to do this to me now?”
“I’m afraid so, but don’t worry, it won’t hurt. Which of you ladies would like to go next?”
In one of the other rooms, the other three gang members were holding at gunpoint the party of four Japanese businessmen and their partners, forcing the men to hand over their wallets while the partners were bound and gagged. It transpired that they too were an innocent party in all this. The third room was completely unaware of the fate that awaited them.
Release me, and let me love again.
Tanya put down the microphone and looked at her four friends. Sasha and Connie were sat on the bench, bound by the wrists, ankles and thighs and gagged, with a further zip tie holding their calves together so that they were joined. Fi and Poppy were sat on the floor, also bound and gagged, but with their backs to each other and their arms linked with zip ties.
“Your turn, bride to be” the man said, and as Tanya allowed her wrists to be tied. Becky started to sing her last song. Her voice quivered as she watched her best friend being secured against her will, but she started to give forth
Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree…
The men silently closed the door behind them, and met their fellow gang members in the corridor. They nodded to each other, then opened the door to the other occupied room and ran in, shouting as they did so.
Two hours later, Mister Harper returned to the club only to be met by an eerie silence and an empty reception desk.
“Jenny, are you there?”
Although he didn’t hear a reply, he could hear backing coming from the back office, so he walked round and opened the door.
Jenny was kicking against the wall with her platform sandals. The blouse she was wearing had started to come undone, and a black lace bra was peeking through the front, and her skirt had ridden up to show matching knickers. She looked at her boos and tried to scream out.
“Here, let me take that tape off” he said, and he knelt beside her and gently peeled away the gag. She spat out the now sodden ball, and took a few moments to catch her breath,
“Thank you,” she finally said, “I’ve been trying to get free for hours.”
“What happened?”
“I was ambushed a gang of six men. They pushed me in here, tied me up, and then walked out. I have no idea where they went or what happened to the other parties.”
“Call the police, Penny – I’ll check on the other rooms.”
In the first room, Mister Harper found the four Japanese couples, each bound back to back with their partner and gagged, but otherwise unharmed. He ungagged and released one of the couples, then left them to free their companions while he moved on.
In the second room, he found Becky and the other girls trying to get loose from the tight ties they had been placed in. Becky and Tanya were sat on the stage, but not secured together, so he came over and pulled the gag off Becky’s mouth.
“Miss Goodnight, are you all right?”
“Yes,” Becky croaked, “they just tied us up and didn’t take anything. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Mister Harper said as he removed the gags from the other girls. “I need to check one more room, then I’ll find some scissors and come back to free you girls.”
Running out of the room, he opened the third door along to reveal….. Nothing. The room was empty. There were signs of a struggle, and it was obvious someone had been there, but now it was empty, save for the detritus on the floor and one solitary picture. He stooped down and looked at the picture of six masked men, and wondered just what the hell had happened there.
In a quiet house set some way back from the main road, a well dressed man was sat enjoying a brandy when there was a knock on the door.
“Enter.”
A tall man dressed in a butler’s uniform entered.
“Excuse me sir, but you asked to be informed when they arrived.”
“Ah yes – thank you, I will join them shortly.”
He swirled the glass around, threw the remains of the drink down his throat, then stood up and walked out of the door and down the corridor. Unlocking a door, he went through and descended a staircase into a cellar.
The six man gang were standing there, checking equipment and talking.
“Were you successful?”
“Yes, sir. I am afraid there were two other groups there – a business party and a hen night. We subdued both of them, but they don’t know what the real purpose of our visit was.”
“And where are they?”
“Through here, Sir.”
The gang leader walked to a door, and opened it to allow the man to enter. In the adjoining room were three Japanese women, dressed identically in white sleeveless blouses, leather min-skirts and knee length boots, and all bound and gagged.
“Excellent,” the man said as the door was closed behind them. “So this is the Amiyami Trio, currently the hottest band in Japan? Ladies, thank you for coming here tonight. Please forgive the method, but I wanted to discuss a … business proposition with you.”
The three pushed themselves back, with a terrified look on their faces, as the man sat down and lit a cigarette. “Ladies, I would like you to sing for your supper, as it were…”