I think I confused some people with the prologue. smirks So much the better.
TITLE: Identity Theft Chapter One? R
AUTHOR: Juliet3:16
EMAIL: RATING: R
CONTENT: VIOLENCE, ADULT LANGUAGE
CATEGORY: ADULT, ANGST, DRAMA
SPOILERS: Shortly after SummerSlam 2000
SUMMARY: Identity theft turns several lives upside down.
DISCLAIMER: I own none of the people in this fic, please don't sue.
DISTRIBUTION: WWOMB
Identity Theft
Chapter One.
Never Say Never
About mid 2003
Stephanie McMahon - Helmsley was not in a good mood.
"How the heck are they doing this?" she muttered, staring at her computer.
"Doing what, Steph?" a question called out, breaking Stephanie's concentration. She looked over toward the voice to find her brother, Shane at the door of her office.
"Stealing my bank account," she replied simply, turning back to the screen.
"Again!" Shane exclaimed, going to stand beside his sister to look at the screen. He stared at it with the type of disbelief she had a few moments earlier.
"Yes, again," Stephanie sighed with a mixture of exasperation and resignation. She almost expected the semi - regular siphoning of her accounts and trust funds by this point. She was getting tired of it; tired and angry. "Half a million this time."
"Shit!" Shane swore. Stephanie knew her brother was a man of few obscenities; yet, ever since the theft of his sister's identity came to light, the swear words came flying whenever the matter came up. "I thought the FBI put a trace out, so they would know who was doing this?"
"Every time they try to trace it electronically, they seem to lose the trace on the account's end. They're starting to think it maybe a professional hacker for hire."
"So somebody else is behind this?" Shane asked.
Stephanie gave him a cross look.
"Don't act so surprised," she responded, "you were the one speculating all along that the hack was professional and separate from the impersonators."
"Impersonator," Shane stated.
"Impersonators," Stephanie corrected her older brother. "Shane why can't you admit that Hunter's been dead for more than two years now. He died in an avalanche. The person with this woman is not him."
Shane sighed. He knew he should just subscribe to his sister's point of view and admit there was more than one impersonator. But he just could not shake the feelings he had. Maybe it was the paranoia that their late father instilled into him and his sister, or maybe it was the fact that the man his sister had married had not been the most honest man to begin with. Shane could never quite get over the instinct that it was way too easy that an avalanche could kill all but one of the Kliq.
Still, he decided to drop the subject for today. He really did not need to get into another argument with his sister about it. Especially with the mood she had to be in.
"Sorry," he apologized, "so, what, if anything else can the FBI do if they can't trace the hacks?"
"Well, their still going to try to trace the hacks, and hope they get lucky," she explained, "but they've also alerted the World Bank and most banks around the world. Their hoping a bank will alert authorities if one or two somebodies come in and make an unusually hefty withdrawal, especially anybody that looks even remotely like me."
"What makes the FBI think they'll attempt to even use a bank this time? I mean, they haven't the last couple of times."
There was still evidence last I checked of my impersonator still somewhere in Europe," Stephanie told her brother, "hopefully she does something stupid and shows her face in a populated area."
"Complete the list of enemies the FBI told you to make?" Shane asked.
"Way too many females for my peace of mind," Stephanie replied.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't fired a whole division," he started, then stopped at the glare his sister gave him. In a fit of jealous rage and grief over learning that Trish Stratus was in her husband's hotel room the day of the avalanche, Stephanie fired every single woman in the company; from the wrestlers and valets; right down to the makeup lady, Janet, and swore up and down that there would never be another woman in the company other than her for as long as she lived. To this day, despite Shane's best efforts there were still no women in the WWF. Every time Shane thought he was making progress, somebody would mention Trish Stratus or the possibility that her impostor could be a woman she fired and she would stand even more resolute on the subject than ever. Sometimes Shane wondered if things would ever change with his sister's "No woman" stance.
Stephanie kept her glare leveled at her brother, then pulled out a number of papers from her desk.
"Funny you should bring that up today," she retorted, "take a look at those contracts."
Shane sat down and flipped over the thin stack of papers with his fingers, glancing at the names on them.
"Ivory . . . Jacqueline . . . Molly Holly . . . "Shane muttered, "Jazz?"
"She's from the old ECW," Stephanie explained, ignoring the annoyed look she had gotten from Shane.
"Steph, these are all female."
"Very astute observation, big brother," Stephanie smirked. At Shane's further confusion, Stephanie went further: "I just decided you were right. In order to compete with WCW, then we need what they don't have: A solid women's division."
Shane suspected there was more to Stephanie's sudden turnabout than simply competition, but was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He continued to look at the names on the contracts her sister drawn up. One name made him stop short.
"Trish Stratus!" Shane exclaimed. "I thought you said and I quote: 'That bitch would have to resurrect Dad and Hunter and show up with them on each arm before I let her back into the company.' Okay Steph, what's really going on here?"
Stephanie fought not to squirm. She knew Shane already suspected she had an ulterior motive for hiring/rehiring so many women wrestlers and she knew seeing Stratus' name would only serve to confirm it in her brother's mind. She had been hoping that he would miss that particular name.
"Well," Steph stammered out. "She's done pretty well for herself in the Indies. She could be a very good contender for the Women's title instead of the eye candy she was last go around. Plus - "
"Steph . . . " Shane said warningly.
"Well, the FBI said to find someway to whittle down the suspect list," Stephanie finally caved and admitted her plot to her brother.
"Stephanie!" Shane admonished his baby sister. He could not believe she would pull something like that! "It's like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit! What? Are you going to take the carrots from the rabbits once the right one has bitten?"
Stephanie looked offended by the suggestion.
"If you're asking if I'm going to terminate the contracts once the impostor is found," Stephanie said witheringly, "the answer is now. Besides the lawsuits something like that would probably unleash, I figured this would kill two birds with one stone: I narrow down the suspect list, which could be moot by the way since she could be somebody not even on my suspect list, and we can strike out at Eric and WCW and create the one thing he doesn't. A legitimate Women's Wrestling Division."
Shane sighed. He knew his sister had a point, but he still thought it was playing with a lot of people's lives either way. He continued to look through the contracts his sister proffered him. In the midst of familiar and unfamiliar names, he noticed one major name missing.
"Where's Lita's?" Shane asked.
This time it was Stephanie's turn to sigh.
"If you can figure that out, let me know," she grumbled, "I sent it out, but I haven't seen it come back."
Shane opened his mouth to offer a comment, when Stephanie's phone rang.
"Hello," the younger of the two McMahon siblings answered.
"Yes, this is she," she said, listening to whomever it was on the other end. Shane watched Stephanie's face become more and more animated.
"Really?" Where?" Stephanie asked excitedly, grabbing a pen and notepad from her desk. "Uh - huh, uh - huh. Yes, yes. Do I have to come over there or wait for them to be brought here?" She listened for a beat. "I can be there in a couple of days. Yes, thank you Agent Long. Bye - bye."
"Well?" Shane asked as Stephanie hung up the phone then dialed another number.
"Yes, this is Stephanie McMahon Helmsley. I want our fasted plane fueled for a trip to London in exactly three hours. Yes, I'm serious. London. Three hours. Thank you," Stephanie hung up and began taking things from her desk and putting them in her purse.
"Steph?" he broke in, causing her to pause only briefly.
"They found them!" Stephanie explained, going into her desk and looking for things she would need for her trip. "They caught them just outside of London. They're fighting extradition back to the US, saying that they aren't the people the FBI is looking for. They want me to come over and see if they or at least, the female, are ones from my suspect list."
"That's great!" Shane responded truthfully.
"Now, I've got to get home and packed. Hopefully they realized I was serious about that plane leaving in three hours. Will you be all right helming all the shows while I'm gone? I know Marissa - "
"Is still in the early stages of pregnancy and the doctor said everything was fine," Shane assured his sister. "Everything will be fine. Go and nail these people."
"Thanks," Stephanie smiled, giving her brother a peck on the cheek before heading out the door to grab a few things from her home before she got on the plane.
Okay that's it for this chapter. All I can say is at least one of the impostors will be revealed soon, if I haven't given it away already. Blushes
More soon!