Part Sixteen

"Stop it, Eric," Lita said, trying to shrug away from Bischoff as he pulled her down the hallway. "This is stupid, let me go."

"Nope," he said, tightening his grip on her arm. "You got me into this, I'm going to use you to help me get out of it."

"How?" she asked, still struggling. "By adding kidnapping charges?"

"Shut up." He turned the corner and pulled her through the hall and out into what looked to be the loading area and docks. The arena
they were in was huge; so huge this side had virtually been abandoned. The area currently was filled with empty trunks. Lita
recognized them as the trunks the production crew used to transport the ring and media equipment in.

"Here." He pushed her down between the trunks. She jumped up to run, but he was quicker than her and pulled her back into their
hiding place. "What happened to your ponytail holder?"

Thinking fast, Lita answered, "I lost it in the office, you moron. You jerked me out of there so hard it came loose. I left it on the
floor in there."

Bischoff nodded. "Whatever," he said, taking his cell phone out of his pocket. He pressed a few numbers and waited for the person he
was calling to pick up.

What Bischoff didn't know was that Lita purposefully had pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair, dropping it in one of the hallways
in an attempt to leave her friends a trail of bread crumbs, so to speak. She knew that if Matt or Jeff saw it, they'd recognize the
purple and green scrunchy immediately as hers. She had also ditched one of her dangling earrings and each of her bracelets
intermittently along the way. She prayed now that her hints would help the boys find her.

"Yeah, it's me," Bischoff said tersely into the phone." This whole thing is blowing up fast. No.. no… there's no time for that. Trust
me on this. Grab the car and pull it around to the loading docks. We gotta get out of here now." With that, he pressed the off button
on his phone and slid it back into the pocket of his leather jacket.

"You're not going to get out of this Bischoff," Lita said, crossingher arms across her chest.

"Correction, dear. I will get out of this. Because I always get everything I want. Didn't you know that? I've got the McMahon's in
my hip pocket. They're too stupid to realize they've been pawns in my game. Vince and Linda are out of the country, Shane's off
managing his little side company, and Steph thinks she's actually my competition. What a hoot!"

"You don't get it, do you? I've got evidence that says otherwise."

"Not for long, sweetie. We're going to take a little vacation while the paperwork settles. I've already launched this plan in motion. You are too late. Tonight was simply the night we were going to let everyone else in on it. When we return, it will be "Bischoff's Wrestling Federation," he said, holding his hands in the air to punctuate each word as if he was seeing an illuminated sign. "What do you think? Should we call it the "BWF"? That kind of has a nice ring to it."

"Your delusional," Lita said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm going to be very, very rich and powerful. You said that yourself. And I was thinking," he said, reaching out to walk
his fingers up her bare arms, "You'd make a great women's champion for the new fed. All you got to do is treat the new boss nicely,"
he smirked.

Lita slapped his hands away from her, attempting to stand up, but Bischoff held her in place. "You're a disgusting pig, Eric. You're
crazy if you think I'd ever do anything with you. Just back off."

He simply chuckled. "Now, now Red. You'll change your tune later. My offer still stands," he said, reaching out and caressing her
cheek. "They always do," he smiled.

Lita shrugged his hands away from her face. "Do not call me Red," she spat. "That nickname is reserved for the people that I actually
care about and that care about me."

"Oh, you referring to your little Hardy boys? I'm sure they're down for the count by now sweetie. I informed the Chief to make sure
they were handled properly prior to your little visit. They're taking nice long naps by now. I believe my instructions were "no less than comatose in the hospital."

Lita gasped involuntarily. No, this couldn't be true. They had planned everything out perfectly. She said a silent prayer for their safety. That damn Victoria, she'd get her after this was all over, no matter who owned the company. If it hadn't been for her, Eric wouldn't have been tipped off.

"Liar," she said coldly, hoping to call his bluff.

"You wish, honey. But I've got the Chief and 3 Minute Warning taking care of business back at the office. Just settle down, our ride out of here will be here momentarily."

In the Hallway

"Jeff, which way you think they went?" Matt asked his brother. The frustration was growing as they feverishly ran through the halls,
checking every locker room as they looked for their friend.

"I don't know man," he answered, running his hands through his colorful hair. "There's at least three different halls here. He could have gone any direction." They were at an intersection point, with three different options of where to go next.

"Look, what's that?" Matt spotted something in the empty hall on the right. That particular hall was empty, so the forgotten item
looked out of place. He jogged over to the small round cloth. His eyes grew wide as it dawned on him what it was. "Jeff! This way,"
he hollered to his brother, who joined him.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Look," he said, holding up the ponytail holder. "It's Lita's. I'm sure. They went this way."

Matt clutched the scrunchy is in his hand and took off with Jeff at his side, more determined than ever to find their missing
friend. "We're coming, Lita. We're coming."

TBC