Part Eleven

"About time for what? It's me, Chris. Do you have any news?" The caller on the other end was Chris Jericho.

"Oh, man. I'm sorry. I thought you were that maniac Raven. We're thinking he's going to call again any minute." Matt motioned to Jeff to turn off the equipment.

"What? He called? What'd he say? Is Lita ok?"

"Whoa, slow down. Yes, he called Jeff's cell phone about 3:30 this morning. He rambled on for a minute about making us suffer then hung up on us."

"Did you get any info off the tracking device?"

"Some. We know he is or was still in North Carolina."

"What about Li?"

"He didn't let us speak to her, but I'm pretty sure she was there and she's ok. Call it a feeling if you will, but he didn't allude that he had hurt her."

"He better not touch her," Chris said, "or he'll have me and half the WWE roster to face."

"Thanks for being there for us, man. We really appreciate your support."

"No problem. How's the new undisputed champion doing?"

"Jeff? He's actually the calmer one of us right now."

Chris smiled a half-smile into the phone, "Hey man, we all know what she means to you, to both of you. Hang in there."

"Yeah, we will. Vince has been great about all this too. Even though Jeff's the champ, he's still giving him the time off to deal with this."

"That's cool. Well, listen, I don't want to tie up your phone. Let me know if anything goes down, ok?"

"You got it."

"And if you need backup, I'm on the first plane there. Understood?"

"Understood. Thanks Jericho. You're a great friend."

"You too. Talk to you later, Hardy."

Matt clicked off the phone and turned to look at his brother. "It's nice to know we've got true friends." Jeff nodded and headed back into the other room to study the maps again, Matt following behind him.

"Dammit," he said. "It's still busy." Raven had taken up his pacing again, a habit Lita was beginning to find annoying. She wanted to respond, but was hesitant. It wasn't but a few minutes ago he had told her pretty forcefully to shut up. Oh well, she always was a risk-taker.

"I take it you were calling one of the boys?" she asked quietly.

Raven stopped and looked at her. "It's busy. Maybe your little boyfriend has a new girlfriend by now," he said snidely.

"Matt's not my boyfriend," she said evenly.

"Well, now. Someone's a little defensive. I thought I told you to shut up."

"I never was very good at taking direction. Besides, you'd get bored here if we didn't talk. Lord knows there's nothing else to do. How'd you find this place anyway?"

Raven spoke without thinking. "I was in the gas station, when I heard these two old geezers talking about how one couldn't wait for hunting season to open up so he could come out to his cabin. He was telling the other one how to get here. All I had to do was listen and remember."

"Wow. And they say elephants never forget. I guess it's true about ravens too," she remarked.

"Funny. You got it all, don't you? Looks, brains, and a sense of humor."

Lita overlooked the comment. "Since you're so smart, what's next? You can't keep me out here forever. Even if you outwit the cops, eventually the hunters would come here and find us, seeing how you're trespassing on their property."

"I don't intend to keep you here forever. Besides, hunting season doesn't open until November."

"Well, then. Why don't you just untie me from this chair, and I'll head back to town like nothing ever happened. We'll just call it even then." Lita grinned, knowing he would be irked.

To her surprise, Raven smiled back. "I'll just do that. I know what you're doing Lita. You're quite transparent in your plotting."

"Who, me? Just because I'm tired of being the pawn in your stupid little game is no reason to accuse me of plotting against you."

"Keep smarting off. It makes me care about what happens to you less and less."

"See. I knew you cared. You're not a monster, Raven. I know that. Deep inside there somewhere is the guy I met long ago who cares about people. It's ok that your emotions got the best of you. I will forgive you, if you stop this now."

Raven seemed to be contemplating what she was saying. He looked down at the floor, hesitant to make eye contact with her. Lita pressed on.

"It's not too late, Raven. It's never too late. Let me go."

Raven looked up at her then. "I'm sorry Lita. I can't. I've got to finish what I've started. My pride is at stake. It's all I have left." With that, he picked up the cell phone again and pushed the redial button, walking to the other side of the room. Lita was left in the middle of the room, wondering if she would ever be able to get through to him, or if she was doomed to a more sinister fate, all because pride had reared it's ugly head.

TBC