My Return

Tuesday, March 4th, 2014
1:55 PM
Los Angeles, California

Anna Stone
Can I get a glass of water or something?

The agents all look at each other, one of them nodding his head at a mirror that covers an entire wall of the room I’m being held in. I fidget in my seat, trying to alleviate the pressure that the handcuffs are putting on my wrists. It doesn’t change anything though, the cuffs still feel like they’re cutting off all the circulation in my hands. After a few seconds of awkward silent waiting, a man walks in with a glass and a pitcher of water. He pours me a glass and sets it down in front of me. I smile at him as I lean in and lift my hands up, grasping the glass with both hands and drinking the water. God I was thirstier than I expected.

Agent Jackson
So...Ms. Stone. You’re in a lot of serious trouble here. I hope you have a pretty good reason for coming back to America.

Anna Stone
What, you think I wanted to stay in Mexico with that fucking psychopath? Of course I came back here. I got out as soon as I could. I wish it could’ve been a lot sooner, but what can you do right? You guys know how fucking insane and dangerous Brandon is.

Agent Jackson
So that’s your story? Are you sure that’s the way you want to go with this?

Anna Stone
It’s not a story, it’s the truth.

Agent Jackson
And would you care to share this truth on record?

Anna Stone
Absolutely. You all know I used to be married to Brandon, but we drifted apart after we divorced and remarried. He came back into my life, but he was nowhere near the same. Everything about him seemed different. But he forced me to help him with work for the cartel when he was just starting there. He threatened to kill my entire family. He tortured my parents, my brother, he had my husband murdered. My life was hell because of him, but I couldn’t do anything except do what he said. You have to understand how powerful his connections were. Especially as he rose through the ranks. You saw what happened when you tried to arrest him. There was nothing I could do.

Agent Jackson
So for the last year that the two of you were still living in the United States, you were being forced by Brandon to work alongside him, is that correct?

Anna Stone
Correct.

Agent Jackson
And yet here you are. So what happened when Brandon escaped from our custody? He brought you with him to Mexico we know that much. How did he hold you there against your will?

Anna Stone
With chains? I don’t know what you think happened there. Clearly you think I helped Brandon down there but I was his prisoner. I spent a full year in some underground compound, chained to a radiator. Brandon would occasionally come see me. He talk to me and do other...things. That was our relationship for a year. That was all we did together.

Agent Jackson
And how did you escape?

Anna Stone
Well three days ago it was my birthday. Brandon was gone to meet with someone, I don’t know where or who or anything. But he left this young guard with me, and we had talked a bit in the past. I convinced him to let me sit at a real table and eat some real food since it was my birthday. I think he liked me too, he had guarded me in the past and I was extra nice to him in the hopes that I could eventually use it to my advantage. Anyways, unchained me and led me to some small kitchen area and actually gave me food. One of the other guards left the room, and it was just him and I. He tried making a move on me, and I was lucky enough that he was young and dumb and I was able to catch him in a choke and choke him out cold quickly. So I took his gun, and ran through this hallway into a door. It led to some tunnel, and I just kept running until I hit the end, climbed up a ladder, and ended up in some flop house bathroom.

Agent Jackson
And after that is when you ended up at the embassy?

Anna Stone
Yeah I had no idea where I was. There might have been people in the house, I have no idea. But I just climbed out the window and ran through the backyard, hopped a fence, looked across the street, and was literally staring at the U.S. Consulate in Hermosillo. And now I’m here.

Agent Jackson
Wait, so you mean to tell me that the Cartel has a flophouse a block away from our embassy?

Anna Stone
If you’d like I can show it to you.

Agent Jackson
Hold that thought. Before we get into what you think you can offer, we have one more question. If all of what you’re saying is true, then Brandon never loved you or wanted to marry you or any of the reasons we all thought. So why do you think he forced you to come with him?

Anna Stone
I don’t fucking know. Maybe because he couldn’t handle that he lost me, maybe because he wanted one part of his old life to be with him in this one, I don’t know. Look, even if I was lying about all of this, and I’m not, does it really matter? I came back because I wanted to help you guys find him. I could have gone to my island, I could’ve gone to Cuba, I could’ve stayed hidden forever. But I didn’t. Whether you believe my story or not is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that I have information that you can use to wipe out the entire Cartel.

Agent Jackson
Alright, let’s get to that.

The agent motioned for the room to clear out. All except for two other men left the room. One of them was DEA, and the other wasn’t wearing any identification, but I assume he was from Homeland Security or something. Agent Jackson leaned over and turned off the microphone in the room, then walked over and shut off the video camera. Jackson sat back down across from me.

Agent Jackson
Alright. Full disclosure, we know your story is legit. We know that Brandon has men in our organization, but we also have men inside Brandon’s organization. They have vouched for your story. Apparently Brandon is none too happy that you’re out. You’re safe as long as you’re with us. But we need to stop this as soon as possible. Any information you have you need to tell us now. We know that Brandon has connections inside this organization. Whatever you tell us will stay between the ones that we are certain we can trust. So, what do you have.

Anna Stone
I have only one thing to offer, but it’s the offer of a fucking lifetime. I can get you every single powerful member of the Cartel in the same building, at the same time. One shot to take them all out. It’s going to be protected out the ass so you’ll need a lot of men, and you’ll need to move quickly.

Agent Jackson
Where and when will this meeting be?

Anna Stone
March 19th. As for where, give me a map

Agent Jackson turns around and grabs a map from the DEA agent. Jackson unrolls it onto the table and I look around the map, before pointing to a building just on the edge of Hermosillo.

Anna Stone
This is where they usually meet. But they are going to move it to a new location. They don’t think I know about the second spot but I overheard two guards talking about it. That is their backup meeting point, right there.

I point to a house on the map. Agent Jackson circles it and shows it to the DEA agent and the other man in the room. Both of them look at it and pull out their phones, snapping a picture of the location.

Anna Stone
There’s no way they’ll change the time, they meet like this once a year and there is just no way that they can reorganize. However, I would anticipate with me having run away, there will be a lot of extra security around the compound. So you guys would need to bring a lot of extra force. But I can’t stress this enough. This will be the only time that you guys will be able to get the entire cartel all at once. You have the ability to take it out completely. If all of these people are killed, the Cartel dies. There won’t be anyone left with the power or ability to take over leadership. You’ll destroy the largest cartel in the world.

Agent Jackson
We’re going to have to verify this with our men down there, but if this is true, this is enormous. We’ve been waiting for a chance like this for years. If this all checks out, you’ll be granted a full pardon for any charges that have been laid against you. We’ll come out with a story that you were working undercover for the DEA to avoid major public backlash. There should be no problem for safety, as the Cartel will be gone and therefore you won’t face danger from them. I think that is everything. For the meantime you’ll be staying here in custody, in case we need to question you some more.

Anna Stone
Sounds good to me.

Agent Jackson
Thank you Ms. Stone. We know how hard this must be to go against your ex-husband like this when you two were so publicly close for so long.

Anna Stone
Look, like I said, this Brandon was nothing like the Brandon I knew. It was almost like he was a different person. The man held me hostage for half a year. I don’t give a shit what happens to him.

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014
11:08 AM
Caye Chapel Island, Belize

I stepped off of the plane and walked down the stairs to the tarmac of the Caye Chapel Island airport. A few workers were there to greet me and help me out. They were being very nice, which was surprising since I hadn’t been there in half a year. But I did own the island. So I guess they had to be nice to me. This was the one thing I was happy that the government gave back to me. You can take away my money, my houses, but don’t touch my island.

I walked over to and got into my car, which I had parked here over six months ago. How incredible that it was still here and that I still had the key. As I began the short drive home from the airport to my house, the phone in my car rang. I answered it as I laughed to myself.

Anna Stone
Hello?

Director Jones
Ms. Stone? It’s Director Jones from the FBI. Did I catch you at a bad time?

Anna Stone
Nope, just driving home now

Director Jones
Must feel nice to finally be home and free after all these months of captivity.

Anna Stone
Oh you have no idea.

Director Jones
Listen Ms. Stone. I just wanted to thank you again for everything that you did for the Bureau. Without your help none of this would’ve been possible. If you hadn’t come to us, the Cartel would still be running business through Mexico, the United States, and the entire world. Brandon Macdonald died a coward’s death, hiding behind his security and dying rather than facing repercussions for what he did. After what he did to you, I’m sure you were quite relieved to hear that.

Anna Stone
I was just happy to know it was finally over and that I could go home. I’m beginning to forget what a normal life is like.

Director Jones
Well Ms. Stone, enjoy it. You’ve been pardoned and in fact the Bureau owes you a favor. Keep that in mind if there is ever anything you need. And remember, if for any reason you feel scared or threatened, give me a call, or stop by our office and I’ll personally make sure to help.

Anna Stone
Thank you sir. I appreciate the gesture.

Director Jones
You have a nice day now.

I hung up the phone just as I pulled into my driveway. Man did my house ever look good considering how long I’d been away. I guess people on the island decided to keep it looking nice for tourists. Turning off the engine, I stepped out of the car and walked up to my front door. Once again, the key still worked. Suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised at this point.

I stepped inside the house and walked towards the living room. It sounded like the TV was on. That could mean one of two things. One really good, and one not so good. I called out to figure out which it was going to be.

Anna Stone
Hello?

Man’s Voice
Well it’s about time.

It was the good one.

Anna Stone
Ugh, you have no idea.

I walked into the living room where the man who was talking to me stood. I walked over to him and embraced him deeply. It had been so long since I’d seen him, but it felt like no time at all. After all that had happened, it was almost surreal for him to be here.

Anna Stone
I gotta say, I had my doubts about this working.

Brandon Macdonald
Come on Anna, it’s us. It always works out.

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Anna Stone
Man this is tough.

IWF closing it’s doors. On one side of things, this came out of nowhere. IWF was doing well, we still had fans coming out every night to watch us put on a show. People were buying our merch, our pay-per-views, everything. Or so we all thought at least. Apparently things weren’t as great as they seemed. But who knows, nobody ever really told me the reason it was closing other than “money issues”. So yeah, it’s safe to say that to most people, this came out of nowhere.

On the other side of things, it’s pretty amazing that it even made it this far. I was married to Brandon when he and Corey Casey first got together and decided to form the Insurgency Wrestling Federation. He had no idea how to run a wrestling company. Corey had even less of an idea. They were just two guys who loved the sport, and were too stubborn to join anywhere else and have to bend to their rules. So Brandon fronted up a bunch of money, Corey talked around to some people for interest and everything, and then IWF was born. Of course it wouldn’t have been possible without Chuck Matthews and ME. As if anyone would give them such a huge TV deal with absolutely no proof that they could make it successful. But Chuck was a friend, he was on board, and boom, IWF was born.

I’ve been with the company on and off basically since the start. I was the first ever IWF play-by-play commentator, and I can say without a doubt that Chuck and I were the best announce team IWF ever had. It was easy, Chuck was my friend and it was basically like having a conversation about a match going on. He always made it fun, and I like to think that I also contributed to the telling of the story that was every match I called. There were definitely some great ones.

After that, I hung around as Chuck’s manager for a while. I worked as a trainer for IWF. Eventually, after much of the very original few members had retired or moved on, I decided that I would give wrestling a go. While I was only wrestling in IWF for a short while, man oh man was it ever fun. And I don’t mean to brag, but I was pretty damn good in the short time I was there. See back then the women were still more or less in a category of their own. We fought each other for the most part. Sure there were often intergender matches, but those were few and far between. And no woman ever had a big feud with a guy. So I went mostly unchallenged in the early stages of my wrestling career. Having been trained by some of the greatest wrestlers of all time, I was pretty much ahead of the curve when it came to women wrestling in IWF. And I know this sounds like I’m bragging and shit, but seriously, go look at what I did early on in IWF and you’ll understand that I’m just speaking the truth.

Anyways, eventually I had pretty much had enough. I lost my Queen of Wrestling championship at Ragnarok after a weird distraction win, but my head was never in that match. I had my sights set on a much bigger goal. The Path to Valhalla match was that night. There was a match that nobody could stop me from entering. I knew that that was the best place to showcase what I really could do. And so I got distracted by someone in my title match, and lost the title. But I really didn’t care. Because I knew I was going to win Path to Valhalla. And I knew that I would be main eventing From the Ashes. Against a man. I was going to put the women of IWF in the spotlight once and for all.

And that is exactly what I did. When I won the right to main event From the Ashes, Chad Mason was the IWF Champion. But I didn’t want to fight Chad. He was a fine champion sure, but he wasn’t the best in the company at the time. That honor belonged to one Stygian. The man who ended my ex-husband’s career at the time. The one who ended Corey Casey’s career. The man who never truly lost his IWF Championship. I wanted to fight him. I was going to show the world that I could compete with the best of the best.

And that’s exactly what I did. No, I didn’t beat Stygian. But I gave him a damn fight. The dude is over a foot taller and probably two hundred pounds heavier than I am. He’s also a man. But I gave him a fight, I put him on his back, I did all the things people thought impossible. I showed the world that I was one of the best wrestlers on the entire roster. No, scratch that. One of the best wrestlers in the entire world.

Unfortunately that was the end of my wrestling career. Injuries from that match plus back to back to back personal issues took their toll on me. The only thing that I could really still do was commentate. But then, IWF had to close it’s doors. And I decided that one final match wouldn’t hurt. In fact, I owe it to my fans that never got to see where I’d truly go. One more match, one last time. Old school IWF style. Hawk’s Nest.

I don’t have much to say about my opponents. What is there to say really? I’m fighting some of the best. Stygian, I’ve touched on him. He’s insane. He’s big, he’s bad, he’s one talented fucking wrestler. James Shark is arguably the greatest IWF superstar ever. There’s absolutely nothing he hasn’t done in that ring. Ruben Ricardo Leon was here from the beginning. He’s one of the few wrestlers in the history of IWF that I’d probably call a friend. Him and Brandon had some incredible battles, and it’s unfortunate that they can’t have one more. Ruben, I hope I’m the next best thing (WINK). Hawk, I don’t even know what to say about you. You were one of my best friends. I haven’t seen you in a long time though. But then again I haven’t seen anyone. I’ve waited a long time to get the chance to punch you in the face though. So I’m very much looking forward to that.

This wasn’t much I know. I really don’t have anything to say about the guys in this match other than it’s the best of the best in IWF lore, and I get the chance to be a part of it. One of the biggest matches on what will be the biggest and best show that IWF has ever put on. Nobody is going to walk away disappointed from the final Insurgency Wrestling Federation show. We’re going out with a bang. Let’s do it guys. Let’s put on a show one last time.