Shane sat quietly in the sitting room of a five-room hotel suite in downtown Manhattan watching news coverage of his father and brother-in-law's funerals. His absence had been mentioned by several of the news commentators which caused him to smile. They could speculate all they wanted. The truth was that he knew his presence would not be permitted by either his mother or sister. Stephanie, in fact, would probably have torn his throat out with her bare hands if he'd appeared.

He nodded to himself when he saw his mother speaking with a blonde-haired man who was openly grieving. Shawn Michaels was going to be a problem no matter how many times he'd told Shane he would tend to his own business. Shawn had been Hunter's best friend and confidant for decades. There was no way he would forgive or forget Hunter's death.

But Shawn wasn't the hot-head of his youth. And he also had a wife and children to protect. No, Shawn would wait as long as it took to make an opportunity count. Since he had never wanted more authority than he already possessed, Shawn wouldn't be the one to make a move against him. He'd work quietly behind the scenes and support someone else to eliminate him.

Shane wasn't a betting man; but if he had to put money down on someone, he'd pick El Idolo to be Shawn's front man. But there would need to be others as well. Shawn was no fool. He would've realized Shane had been planning this for a long time and had lined up allies of his own.

Sighing, Shane turned off the television. He needed to clear his head for the conversation he would need to have in a few hours.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Good afternoon. Welcome to our daily noon broadcast." Charly Caruso briefly smiled. "None of the news is particularly good today. So, our apologies if we're not our usual perky selves."

Roman saw McIntyre roll his eyes as he smirked at Jericho. Black sat quietly in his chair, watching the television screen.

"Earlier today, the bodies of Vincent McMahon and his son-in-law, Hunter Helmsley, were laid to rest on Long Island in a brief private graveside service." The camera cut away from Charly to a recording of the funeral service taken from apparently a long distance from the gravesite. As the reporter chatted, Roman recognized Vince's wife with her arm around Stephanie. Hunter's daughters were standing next to them surrounded by a blonde-haired man and a woman. Roman recognized the man as Shawn Michaels and the woman probably as his wife.

"Michaels showed up for the funeral," Roman quietly commented. "He and Stephanie are going to give Shane problems." He paused then added, "Maybe Linda as well although I think her focus is going to be more on her grandchildren. At least for a while."

"As we've reported, the bodies of Vince McMahon and Hunter Helmsley were found last week along with the body Robert Lashley, an associate of Mr. Helmsley. Their deaths have been ruled as homicides, and the investigation continues." Charly glanced down at the papers on her desk then continued.

"As we reported briefly yesterday, former Channel 11 News station manager, William Gunn agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors and pled guilty yesterday to eight counts of statutory rape and eight counts of possession of child pornography. He allocated to all charges in court. Per the agreement, Mr. Gunn will attend mandatory counseling for his sex addiction. Sentencing will occur after a preliminary psychiatric examination." Charly deeply sighed. "Mr. Gunn came to Channel 11 several years ago. During that time, those of us who worked with and for Mr. Gunn held him in the highest esteem both professionally and personally. We are devastated at his admission to these charges. A man we felt was our friend, our mentor, our boss is not the man we thought him to be."

Roman wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Jericho mutter, "No shit".

"Our third story is just as difficult to report." Charly's voice momentarily wavered. "As you know, former Channel 11 news reporter Wade Barrett recently transferred to Baltimore. Early this morning, his body was found along the Baltimore Harbor area. According to the police report, he'd been shot two times. There was no indication of robbery. We'll continue to report on this story as details become available." She took a deep breath. "We'll be back after this commercial break."

Barrett's picture appeared on the screen with the years of his birth and death.

Roman clicked the television off. "Any problems on the street?"

McIntyre and Black shook their heads. "Whoever's now in charge has a firm grip on the Authority's operation here at least," McIntyre answered. "On another matter, I got a message from one of our contacts in the DA's office. Details are a little sketchy, but it appears the Administration was very impressed by 3C's recent presentation. The DA, who is also doing the job of the City Attorney, is writing up the purchase bid. Most likely 3C will get the contract."

"As soon as it's possible, get a copy of the purchase bid documents," Roman decided. "Given the city Administration, I'm pretty sure it's all legal. But I'm interested to know how much it favors 3C and what items it covers. I'll have our legal team review it."

Jericho chuckled. "Marko's hoping it'll be for IT equipment and programming so we can try reverse engineering."

Roman briefly smiled. "Where's Marko today?"

"Working from his house," Jericho answered. "Given all that's going on, I thought it best for him to do that for a few days." He widely grinned. "Besides, it'll give him some time to bond with his new dog."

"A dog?" Black stared at Jericho. "He now has a dog?"

Jericho happily nodded. "Saddest-looking basset hound you'd ever want to see. Yesterday, Marko asked me to take him to the animal shelter to look at getting a dog. He told the people there that he wanted an older dog…one that nobody seemed to want. They took him to the basset hound who seemed terrified of people. They warned him that sometimes he'd be so scared that he would pee on the floor." Jericho smile faded. "Marko said that was okay. Accidents happen. I left to run some errands, and when I got back about an hour later, Marko was filling out the paperwork and the dog was sitting on his lap. Oh, and Marko renamed him Lucky."

Black's eyebrows raised as McIntyre barked out a laugh.

"Thanks for the update," Roman drily spoke. "Keep me informed of any changes on the streets. Mr. Black, a few moments, please. Jericho, please close the door." When they were alone in the office, Roman smiled. "Very nice work in Baltimore, Mr. Black."

Black calmly nodded. "Mr. Strickland did the job just as required. To be honest, I'm surprised by him. He comes across as just another street thug, but he's very well-spoken and educated. I believe with a little mentoring he could move up from the streets."

Roman slowly nodded. "Keep an eye on him. We'll see how he handles a few more…requests."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hello, Mom. Thanks for taking my call." Shane noted his mother's reddened eyes, but silently admitted that's all Linda would show him.

"At least you had the decency to not show up for the funerals," Linda coldly replied.

Shane shrugged. "It would just have provided another spectacle for the press…and others."

Linda studied him for a few seconds. "I don't think you have any regrets. Are you that cold-hearted?"

"Of course, I have regrets," Shane admitted. "I regret Dad and I grew further and further apart. I regret I never got along with Hunter. But then, he never got along with me. And you know very well that Stephanie and I were never close. I regret my nieces have lost their father. Whatever else Hunter was, he was a good father to them." He paused then continued, "We all have regrets at some point in our lives. If not now, then at some point in the future."

"I'm taking Stephanie and the girls back to France with me," Linda said after a few moments of silence. "I'm closing up the house here on Long Island for the immediate future. It's in my name, you know."

Shane silently nodded. He'd said good-bye to his childhood home years ago.

"Everything I have will go to Stephanie and her children with the exception of a few bequests to your sons," Linda firmly added. "I hope you'll be able to provide for them on your own."

Shane briefly smiled. "Thanks for thinking about them."

Linda slowly shook her head. "I don't know you any more Shane and want nothing to do with you."

"Let's be honest, Mom," Shane evenly replied. "You never knew me. Neither did Dad. It was always about Stephanie. I made peace with that a long time ago and realized I would have to go my own way. And I did."

Linda abruptly terminated the Skype call.

Shane sighed and terminated the call on his end. He slowly got to his feet and walked to stare out the windows at the Manhattan skyline. Yes, he had some regrets; but he was a realist. He'd done what he'd had to do. He was unaware of the passage of time until he heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in." He turned to see Shinsuke quietly closing the door behind him.

"The pilot wishes to know our departure schedule," Shinsuke quietly said in Japanese.

Shane replied in the same language. "Tell the pilot to be ready to depart between ten and eleven tomorrow morning. Back to Davenport." He hesitated then continued. "We'll discuss security arrangements during the flight."