Part Fourteen
Lita stood tensely in front of the door, anxious to get her mission over with, but hesitant to begin. What happened from here would be
up to her, and she wanted more than anything to be successful. She needed to do this for the boys and for Stephanie, but most of all,
for herself. This was her chance to prove to herself that she wasn't a washed up has-been, nor was she a fragile flower to be
handled carefully. She had grown stronger each day, and tonight Bischoff and his cronies would know just exactly how intelligent,
stealthy, and dangerous she could be. Gaining her confidence back through her moment of self-talk, Lita took a deep breath, squared
her shoulders and knocked soundly on the door to Eric Bischoff's makeshift office for the night. "Here goes nothing, guys, so wish
me luck," she said, knowing that her friends could hear her words.
"Enter!" came the gruff response from behind the door.
Back in their locker room, Matt and Jeff Hardy sat tensely, gathered around the electronic listening device. Both of them had a set of
oversized headphones on, allowing them to hear every word their friend said. At her last statement, Jeff looked up at his brother, who had an intense frown on his face. "She's going to be fine, Matt."
"I know, Jeff. I just want to get this over with."
Jeff nodded, then pressed a switch on the box and spoke, "Hurricane, you copy?"
Shane Helms sat on one of the sound equipment trunks at the far end of the hallway that led to Eric Bischoff's office. He had a set of
headphones on, bopping his head to music as he held what appeared to be a CD player in his lap. To anyone else, he appeared just like
any other wrestler not scheduled to perform that night, simply hanging out backstage killing the time. In reality however, Shane wasn't listening to music, but rather was holding a two-way radio designed to look like a walkman. He picked up the disc player, holding it a little closer as he pressed "play" and answered, "Ten-four, my friend. I have a beautiful redhead in my sights. She's outside the door now."
"Great," Jeff said. "Maintain visual contact. We'll radio again in a minute with an update, or buzz us if you see anything happen."
"You got it," Shane said, then returned to bopping his head to the "pretend" music in his ears.
Back in the locker room, Jeff switched the dial one more time and called Edge. "Edge, you copy?"
"I'm here. I'm in Steph's office with her. Say the word and we're ready to move. Just remember, the more time you give us, the
better." To keep the peace, Stephanie and Eric's offices were on completely opposite sides of the arena.
"The plan's just starting man, Lita's going in. We'll keep you updated."
Jeff switched the dial back to Lita's unit, listening intently as he heard Lita enter Bischoff's office.
"Excuse me, um, Eric?" she said, tentatively stepping inside the room.
Eric Bischoff turned his head towards the pretty redhead, distracting him from what appeared to be an private conversation with Sean "Chief" Morley.
"We're busy here Lita," Morley said rudely. "What do you want?"
"Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could speak with Mr. Bischoff?"
"I said we're busy, Lita. Is there a problem?" Morley stated, folding his arms across his chest.
"No, no, that's ok, Chief," Eric said, waving his associate off. "It's ok. I'm sure she wouldn't have come here if it wasn't important." Eric stood up and walked around his desk, coming closer to the diva. Lita had to force herself to remain planted where she was, fighting the natural instinct to take a step backward. He reminded her of a slithering snake. She knew there was no way he could see the mic hidden beneath her top, so she put a fake smile on her face.
"Thank you, sir. It is important." She looked over at Morley, not wanting anyone else around for her conversation. "Um, do we think
we could speak in private? This is kind of personal."
"Of course, Lita," Bischoff said, turning to Morley. "Chief, why don't you step out and get us some coffee if you don't mind. We'll
continue our conversation later."
Morley looked at his boss with slight disbelief. Lita couldn'tbelieve how pompous he had become. Yeah, he'd always been somewhat
full of himself, but he'd really gone over the top since he'd joined Raw. She was glad he was leaving the room. Morley just muttered, "Sure, boss. I'll be back in ten," and headed towards the door. He stopped when he reached Lita and boldly stared her down. The redhead held her head high, returning a hard gaze of her own. Lita watched as Sean stepped around her and exited the room.
"So, Lita," Bischoff said, drawing the redhead's attention back to the task at hand. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Well, Mr. Bischoff…"
"Please, call me Eric," he interrupted, pointing towards the chair opposite his desk.
"Ok… Eric," Lita said, forcing a smile. "I'd rather stand, though. Thank you."
"Fine. What's on your mind?"
"Well, as you know, I'm returning to commentate with Coach on Heat this week. I start tonight. He and I are getting together shortly
to go over what we plan to talk about on air."
"And?"
"And, recently, some documents kind of fell into my lap that I thought might be interesting to share with the public."
"What kind of documents?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I think you might have an interest in these, Eric," she said, holding out the manila folder with the copies from his diary. She passed them to him. He opened the folder, and she watched as an incredulous look appeared on his face.
"Where did you get these?" he demanded.
"They were left for me under my hotel room door one night."
"What? You're lying."
"Nope. They were accompanied by a note that said you had some big plans, and whoever left them for me doesn't agree with them. The
note suggested I share your info with the general public … on the air. So, Eric," she said, emphasizing his name, "should I? It is a pay per view, so Coach and I will be live tonight."
"This is garbage, Lita. There's nothing here. I want to know though, who stole my diary?" His voice was agitated.
"Oh, but you see Eric," Lita said, stepping closer to his desk now. "I don't think it's garbage. I've looked at that information. Now, I'm no stock broker mind you, but it looks to me like you've had quite a few financial transactions lately." Shereached out and took the folder back out of his hands again, thumbing through the pages. "And, you know, I've researched some of these numbers. They seem to be very close friends of yours. You must have a little Investor's Club' going, huh? You seem to give great advice."
"What are you insinuating, Lita?" He rose to his feet, stepping around the desk to stand in front of her.
"Oh, I'm not insinuating anything, Eric. I don't have to. You're whole plan to take over the WWE is all right here in these pages." She was cut off when he snatched the pages out of her hand. Involuntarily, she gasped.
Back in their locker room, Matt and Jeff listened intently to the conversation. The wheels on the tape recording unit hummed as Lita
and Eric's conversation was recorded. "C'mon, Lita. Finish it up and get out of there," Jeff mumbled, his hands gripping the table in
front of him.
"Maybe we should move in," Matt commented, looking at his brother. Jeff didn't answer, just shook his head negatively.
Back in Bischoff's office, Eric snatched the folder back out of Lita's hands. "These don't belong to you," he hissed. "And I'd suggest you just forget about anything you think you might know."
"Now, why would I want to do that? Besides, do you really think I wouldn't make more copies? Now, really. I expected more from you."
"What is it you really want, Lita?" he sneered.
"Are you planning on taking over the company?" she asked outright.
Eric eyed her carefully. "So what if I am? Why would you care?"
"Because," she said, stepping even closer to him. "I want in."
Eric laughed abruptly. "What? You're kidding me. Why would you want that?"
"Well, you see, I've been sidelined as of late with my injury. As you know, you don't wrestle, you don't get paid. Besides, once I
figured out what you're doing, I figured I could get a nice little raise." She smiled sweetly at her statement, hoping she looked
convincing.
"Now, Lita. You can't be hurting financially. Isn't your little Hardy Boy taking care of you while you're home nursing your boo-boo? Besides, you start back to work this week."
"Matt broke up with me when he jumped to Smackdown," she said distastefully. "I haven't spoke to him since. Besides, this is about more than money, Eric." Looking him in the eyes, she said, "This is my chance to gain some real power. With you taking over the WWE, I figured you could use someone a little smarter than that bonehead Morley by your side."
Eric reached out and ran his hands through Lita's hair, continuing to brush his hands down her bare arms. Inside, she shivered with
disgust, but allowed his actions. "I will admit, you are a hell of a lot more attractive than the Chief. But, Lita," he said, bringing his hands back up her arms and across her neck, cupping her face in his hands, "I don't know if I believe you. You've always been such a little goody-two-shoes. I can't believe you'd abandon your ties with the Carolina crew so freely. How do I know you're not setting me up? Prove it to me."
Lita's mind raced as she thought about how to answer him. She didn't want to do anything she'd later regret. She knew she had enough information for Stephanie and the boys on tape, so she struggled to come up with a way to get out of this now, while she still had her dignity and was in one piece.
"Eric, now, I can't believe you don't trust me. I already told you, I'm not with Matt anymore. I do still hang with Jeff. He's a sweet boy, but somewhat clueless. The Carolina crew, as you called it, has basically disbanded over the last year. And I'm smart enough to know that I have to look out for myself." She ran her fingers up his shirt then tapped her fingers against his chest. "I want to be the one in control of my career, Eric. I'm not stupid, in fact, I'm quite the opposite. I'm smart enough to know that to get ahead, I need to align myself with the right people. You're that people."
Eric smirked, looking her up and down as if trying to decide if he believed her or not. Without warning, he reached out and grabbed
her by the back of the head, pulling her against him as he descended on her, catching her mouth with his. "Hmmpf," was her muffled cry
as she screamed into his mouth. Lita instinctively fought him, trying to push him away from her. She broke the unwanted kiss, pushing him off as she took involuntary steps backward then turned to move away. As she was wiping her mouth with her sleeve, he caught her arm, spinning her back around and pulling her close to him.
"Let me go, Eric," she said defiantly.
"I don't think so, Lita. You failed the test darling. Real gold-digging women usually love it when I kiss them."
"Ugh. Like who?" she attempted to jerk her arm free again, but he held her tighter applying pressure.
"Like me," came the snide voice entering from around the corner of the room. Victoria entered the room, walking up to stand beside
Bischoff, rubbing her arm up and down his arm. "I heard part of your plan, you stupid bitch. I came to your room earlier to ask you
to interview me on air, but you were too busy plotting with Dumb and Dumber. I thought Mr. Bischoff might want to know when his
employees are being disloyal." She reached up and kissed Bischoff on the cheek before heading for the door. She stopped beside Lita
and whispered evilly, "Better me in his good graces than you." With that, she turned and exited the room into the hall. Lita shot daggers at the women's champion as she left.
"So, Lita. Your plan failed. So what are we going to do now? You're not going to stop me, and I don't trust you. I'd say we're at an impasse, aren't we?"
"Let me go, Eric. You're hurting me." She knew that statement would probably cause Matt and Jeff to go ballistic, but she didn't
care. She was angry now. Time to call in the reinforcements. Forcefully, she jerked her arm away from him. Rubbing her sore arm,
she stood her ground and said, "Sometimes, you just got to live for the moment', ya know? I'll be going now."
Hardy's locker room
Matt and Jeff bolted upright. Matt had been sitting hunched over the machine, glued to every word. He hadn't liked how the conversation had turned, but was determined to let Lita handle it on her own as long as he could. But she had just used their code word,
signaling she needed or wanted help. They had to act now.
Jeff flipped the dial to Shane's frequency and spoke forcefully, "Shane! You copy? Get in there, now! She just called for help! Get her out. We're on our way!"
"Got it," came Shane's reply. He was gone again just as quickly.
Jeff flipped the dial once more. "Edge, it's Jeff. Meet us at Bischoff's office. Lita used the code. We might need backup from you, man." With that, Jeff and Matt tore off their headphones and ran towards their door. Jeff didn't even wait for Edge's confirmation that he'd received the message.
Bischoff's office
Bischoff reached out and grabbed Lita by the hair, pulling her back to him. She cried out in pain by the sudden movement. "You're not
going anywhere," he sneered. "And I'll be needing this," he abruptly reached out and ripped the front of her shirt, revealing the mic taped to her tank top underneath. Lita cried out in surprise as he ripped the listening device from the top she wore underneath her shirt. "We can't have anybody listening, now can we? I saw your little device when I was kissing you."
Lita snarled her nose at the man who held her. "Too late, you moron. I'm sure my friends already have everything they need to put
you away."
Eric's face turned red as the severity of the situation began to sink in. He tossed the unit into the pitcher of water sitting on his side table and grabbed Lita by the arm, leading her towards the back door of the office. Lita struggled against him, fighting the whole way. "Let me go!" she screamed, but he was much larger and was stronger. She kicked at him with her feet, trying to get away.
Eric's temper got the best of him. He reached out and struck her across the face, jarring her temporarily. "I'm afraid you've got to come with me." With that, he drug her towards the back door.
TBC