Zack was the oddity in his family, the spare part, the fifth wheel. He had dark hair and light blue crystal eyes that hooked you when you saw him. You could stare at them forever, so his Mother always said. Zach was the youngest, he was only ten, but his step siblings Aaron and Emily were way older. They'd never really warmed to him, neither had his Stepfather (David). David was an arrogant pig as far as Zach was concerned. He'd never met his own Father, his Mum didn't like to talk about him. But for some strange reason his Mum never looked him in the eye.
"Zack are you paying attention?" he teacher asked across the classroom.
In truth, no he hadn't been paying attention he'd been too busy doodling a dinosaur on his desk.
"Yes Mrs Stone" Zack lied.
"Ok, then maybe you can tell me who was the first president?" she asked smugly.
How was he supposed to know! In truth he didn't really care.
"Umm…" he began.
"George Washington" Mrs Stone snapped, "Detention lunch time".
Zach was well accustomed to being in detention, nothing new. Zach enjoyed creating mischief maybe to get attention. Living with an unloving family was hard, then a dark thought stuck him they were going to see his Granddad. He hated Zack; treated him like a criminal. Who needs family anyway, at least he had his Mother even though she'd never look at him in the eye.
The bell for break tolled shrieking like a banshee. Zach collected his belongings and made his way out of the classroom talking with his friends. Zach was reasonably popular he had four main friends, Jake, Lewis, Mark and Fran (Francesca). Fran wasn't girly like the other girls she was a proper tomboy.
"Did you finish the game I lent you?" Mark asked Zack.
"Nearly" he smiled blissfully unaware of his origins, "I'm just stuck on the last part".
"That's easy" Jake added.
"Yeah because you use the cheats" Fran smiled.
"I do not!" Jake grinned.
"Yes you do" Lewis joined in.
Zach loved being at school, away from his family. At the summer holidays he spent as much time out of the house as possible. But this weekend the whole family was going to his Granddad's 70th birthday in Miami. They lived in Washington so the family were taking a plane all the way to Miami. Zack wasn't looking forward to it at all. What he didn't get was 'why didn't they like him?'. Zack and his friends went into the playground and sat down on a bench and discussed the game. Liam the school bully walked up to them and stole Lewis' school bag. Zack got up and defended his friend.
"Give that back" he ordered.
"Make me" he grinned back.
Zack tried snatching the bag back but the bully was really strong. Zack took hold of the bag and glared deep into Liam's eyes with his hypnotic crystal ones. Something about Zack's eyes made him still for a moment then while Liam was distracted Zack tugged the bag and tossed it to Lewis. He loved intimidating people with his eyes.
…
Jackson Rippner sat silently alone in the pub waiting for his contact to arrive. It'd been 10 years and nine mouths since his encounter with Lisa. He remembered it well, he thought of it all the time. Jackson curiously thought what she's doing now, is she still working? Has she got a family? Is she still alive? His only failed assignment, it took a long time to build up his reputation again. Finally his contact had arrived an elderly gentlemen wearing a green suit and a brick-red tie. He walked up to Jackson's table and sat gruffly opposite him.
"Good afternoon Jackson" he sighed.
"Why have you brought me here?" Jackson asked, going straight to business.
"We have an assignment for you, you are to go to Miami and collect a package from this address (handing over a piece of paper) you will then hand it to us" he informed.
"I'm not a delivery boy" Jackson smirked sipping some more whiskey.
"This is a very special package we need top ops on this" he replied gruffly.
"Fine, how much money will you pay?" Jackson demanded.
" How about 800 000" he offered as Jackson nodded in agreement.
The elderly gentlemen stood up.
"I know you haven't been to Miami since the incident by don't let that cloud your judgment" he warned cautiously.
"That was over 10 years ago, I'm over it" Jackson lied.
"Well lets not make this a disaster eh? You leave this Friday, 1700 hours" he ordered and made his way out of the pub. Will the shadow of ten years past ever leave him? He didn't think so. It didn't matter how many flawless missions he completed Jackson still carried the Miami stigma. Lisa, Lisa, Lisa…
…
"See'ya on Monday" Jake waved from the School bus as Zack walked to his house. Great! A whole weekend with his family, this wasn't going to be fun at all. Zack entered the house and closed it quietly behind him. He didn't want to disturb any of his family, but too late. David walked towards him and stopped in front of him.
"You've got to pack you little shit" David smirked.
"I packed last night" Zack replied coldly.
"Then put your case next to Emily and Aaron's" he ordered returning to the living room.
Zack stormed up to his room to grab his suitcase and his heaved it downstairs and put it next to the others. He ran back up to his bedroom and switched on his laptop his Mum had brought him for Christmas. He was bored he had three hours to kill so he started typing random names into the internet. Finally he put his Mothers name and it came up with her. It was a 'USA Today" site so he clicked on it, the article was dated ten years ago. It said that his Mum had been threatened on a plane by a terrorist. But there was no picture of the evil man who did it, not even a name. Why had his Mum not told him this before? Why keep it secret? Suppose it was too painful to talk about he thought.
"Zack! You snotty little punk were leaving now" shouted his stepbrother (Aaron).
Zack switched off his laptop, ran down the stairs and grabbed his suitcase and heaved it into the car. His Mother and David sat in the front, Aaron and Emily sat in the middle and he sat in the back (six seat car). It was a half and hour drive to the airport, Zack just sat quietly and prepared for the weekend ahead.
…
Jackson was seated at the back of a cab, he was catching the 17:00 plane to Miami. Is this what he'd been reduced to; smuggling packages? It better be a bloody important package. It was embarrassing, it hurt his pride whenever the Lisa case was mentioned even through it was over ten years ago. The bleak spot of his career that bitch had made him look like a fool! None makes Jackson Rippner look like a fool.
"Here we are sir" the cabby announced.
Jackson paid the fair but didn't tip, it wasn't his style. He smartly made his way to the check in handing over his luggage. He passed a nacho restaurant and thought of Lisa and the Tex-Mex. He smiled a sad smile of long ago events.
…
Zack and his family walked across the gate; they'd just been to check in.
"Gate 3" Lisa mumbled under her breath, she didn't want to be late.
Zack just trailed along behind; as usual. When they finally reached the gate they'd only just made it. David handed everyone their tickets and Zack noticed he was sitting nowhere near the others. The quickly boarded the plane his family finding their seats in the opposite direction. His Mother drew him close and looked apologetic.
"If you need anything you know where to find me" she whispered.
Zack nodded in agreement then they went their separate ways. Zack quickly found his seat, he was sitting next to a man with dark hair and crystal blue eyes looking at him curiously…