The Way to Eden

"She's bad news, Tar," Todd said when he called his sister late in the evening. "I saw her fight and she LOVES to cut her adversaries. She even cackles like a witch when they go down."

"Jeff said she wasn't that bad," she answered while she bent to pick up a pair of Shannon's shorts from the floor and pack them for their trip to the next arena. "I knew something smelled funny about this."

"Not even Beelz had that crazed a look in his eyes."

"Well then now I KNOW she's crazy."

"What're we going to do?"

"I called Dad before you checked in," she sighed. "He and Mom are checking into it. Mom said he might have picked up Henry's trail in Miami. That would put him right in line with Sergei's talent."

"Damn."

"I know," she agreed nodding appreciatively to her husband as he emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his lean waist. "And there's more disturbing news. Apparently there's been some activity in Henry's international accounts. To the tune of ten mil."

"Shit!"

"I concur."

"This feels really bad," Todd murmured. "I'm on Jeff but he avoids me as much as possible these days. And I don't have your knack of controlling his moods."

"You have to keep tabs on him," she answered turning back to her conversation. "If we switch places now, he'll get more evasive even with me. I know how rebellious he is and we can't risk pushing him too far at this point."

Shannon, who was pulling on a pair of boxers at this point, stopped and stared at her intensely. She didn't want to alarm him, but knew from experience that keeping information from him would only piss him off. And this did concern a man who was like a brother to him.

"You're convinced Sin and Henry are connected, aren't you?" Todd asked softly.

"What does your gut tell you?"

"That he's figured out the perfect way to destroy you."

"Exactly," she said morosely. "He believes that by killing one of my best friends he'll send me into a downward spiral. He'll probably be close by so he can watch and gloat."

"Or gloat and then kill you," Todd said in a cold tone. "I'll finish him myself."

"No, don't," she said sadly sitting on the bed beside Shannon and taking his hand gently. "I keep telling you that you can't become like him. No matter how attractive it seems the end doesn't justify the means. You're my brother and we escaped that world TOGETHER. We need to work together to keep ourselves from getting sucked back into it."

Shannon's face was pulled into a deep frown as he took in all of the information. Tara knew he worried about Jeff as much as Matt did. She had to figure out how to save the younger Hardy before things got out of hand.

"I can tell you one thing," Todd replied darkly. "Dad's not going to standby and let him hurt you."

"And therein lies the key to his plan," she said. "Henry gets this woman, a fighter, to eliminate Jeff, which destroys me. Then Justin and Sven go after her in a fit revenge, ruining them as well. Don't you see how he's using manipulation to get to us? He knows Jeff wouldn't resist Sin and uses that as the catalyst."

Todd whistled into the earpiece. "Sickeningly genius."

"You said it."

"So, what do we do?"

"I think I know, but I need to discuss it with Shannon first."

"I'll wait for your call."

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Eden dried her long hair with a towel and let it hand damply down her back. She rubbed some lotion on her legs then lay back on her bed to muse over her current predicament. Jeff's charm wasn't something she could ignore. She had no experience in handling boyish charm and he seemed to be blessed with an exceptionally large dose of it. It wasn't easy keeping her mind on killing him when she was starting to develop weird feelings for him.

She chose to turn her mind to the strange man she'd seen earlier to take her mind off of Jeff. He'd seemed familiar to her, though she couldn't quite place how she'd know him. He wasn't one of Sergei's performers, that's for sure. Fighters in her club specialized in martial arts so they were lean and quick. This guy looked big and brawny, like a wrestler. Maybe that's where she saw him. He must be one of those Indy guys, though, because she would have remembered if she'd seen him on television. Well, hopefully he wouldn't try to join Sergei's club soon, as she decided he'd be a formidable and unmerciful adversary. She wouldn't be able to resist challenging him and she needed to keep her goal within sight.

Speaking of her goal, maybe it would be better to confront him rather than avoid him when she felt pangs of attraction. It might help to convince him further of her need for help and make it easier to set him up for the final blow. Grinning, Eden picked up her phone.

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Andrew's phone jingled softly on the nightstand beside Stacy's side of the bed. He was so tired he didn't even stir, but Stacy did. He heard her click it on answer in a sleep-laden voice.

"Tara?" she queried softly. "Yeah, he's right here. Hold on."

She turned over to face him in the darkened room and handed him the phone. Andrew knew Tara wouldn't call this late unless it was important so he sat up and took the phone.

"Hey, kiddo," he greeted her uncertainly. "What's wrong?"

"Jeff."

"Jeff's wrong?"

"Well, yes, but that's beside the point," she replied. "Look, Henry's resurfaced and I think he's formulated a plan to kill Jeff."

"WHAT!?" Andrew shrieked.

Stacy sat up now, too, and turned on the lights. She studied her boyfriend carefully as she listened to his side of the conversation. Andrew knew he couldn't get away with keeping anything from her, and truthfully he didn't want to. She'd become an important part of his life now. Plus, she'd become very good friends with Tara and would want to know what was going on with her friend, so he clicked the phone to speaker for her. She gave him a grateful smile.

Tara was silent for a moment probably trying to decide how to explain to Andrew, one of the small tight knit group of men she considered her brothers, what was going on. He knew she wouldn't have called him if she could have avoided it. She was very protective of those she considered family.

"Jeff's been in contact with this female martial arts fighter in Florida called Original Sin," she began tightly. It was obvious she didn't approve of the woman. "Justin's working on her real identity. The club is run by one of Henry's friends, Sergei Esperanza. Sven traced Henry's movements to Miami, not far from the club's base."

"You think there's a connection?" Andrew asked following her train of thought.

"I think there has to be," she answered. "Henry shows up in the area and suddenly Jeff's got a new . . . project on his hands."

"Maybe it is just a coincidence?" Stacy asked tentatively. "You know how much Jeff likes to go to the fight clubs."

"Hey, chickie," Tara said suddenly. "I'm sorry I bothered you two, but I don't know what else to do short of beating Jeff into compliance."

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked pulling Stacy into his lap.

"Todd's been trying to keep an eye on Jeff, but the Rainbow colored joker avoids him."

"That sounds like Jeff."

"Mmm," Tara grunted. "If I go there, he'll be worse than ever, so I need to rally the troops to keep tabs on him."

"You really think this is serious, don't you?" Andrew asked softly. "You think that Henry's coming after us instead of trying to escape Vince and the police?"

"Henry withdrew ten million dollars from his overseas accounts," she replied. "He knows what killing one of you will do to me and my dads. Jeff's yen for fight club women made him the most convenient target."

"Oh my God," Stacy breathed.

"Yeah," Tara agreed. "I have a counter plan but I need to know where Jeff is at all times for it to work."

"How's Matt handling it all?"

"He was freaking out before when we told him," she admitted. "Shannon and I calmed him as best as we could. I can understand completely why he's going crazy."

"It's not your fault," Andrew said between gritted teeth.

Tara remained silent.

"I mean it, kid," he growled. "It's not your fault this psycho is back."

"He's back for me."

"He's back for all of us," Stacy said. "Would it have been better to let him continue to kill his fighters and attack unsuspecting wrestlers?"

"No, but . . ."

"There IS no 'but'," Andrew pounced. "You need to stay focused. Letting these old feelings creep up is going to distract you." He knew she'd respond to this tact and had used it unabashedly in the past.

"You're right," she sighed, and he and Stacy breathed a bit easier.

"What can we do on this end?" Stacy asked.

"I need you to coordinate with Shane on keeping tabs on Jeff," Tara said, putting on her business tone. It wasn't quite the Russian accented Rio, but as close to her as Tara got these days. "You'll probably need help from some of the boys with this. But try not to let it get around the locker room."

"Translation: no Triple H and friends," Stacy said with a grin.

"Yeah," Tara answered. "They're the last idiots I need to be worrying about right now. Matt's talking to Shane as we speak. I suggest keeping the group just to Jeff's closer contacts: Chris, Jay, Booker, Goldie, Lance, etc."

"Agreed," Andrew replied. "Tell Matt to have Shane call me when he's done.

"Thanks, Drew."

"Any time, kiddo."

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Jeff was in his room dozing off in front of the television when his phone rang. He'd decided to stay in tonight to keep from running into Tara's brother again. Jeff could swear the guy was following him sometimes and it unnerved him. Thinking the call might be from Shane telling him he wasn't coming back to the room tonight, Jeff yawned and reached for the offending shrill sleepily.

"'Lo?"

"Jeff?"

His eyes immediately popped open with sudden alert. Well, this was certainly unexpected. "Sin, baby?"

She chuckled softly on the other end of the line. "Surprised you, didn't I?" she asked in a sultry voice he'd never heard from her before.

"Uh, yeah, ya did," he confessed with a small smile.

"I hope not unpleasantly."

"No," he said as he settled back down into his bed. "Yaw neva an unpleasan' surprise."