Some Quality Time

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!

Chapter One

"Jack?" called Myra, knocking on the open door between their bedrooms. Her red-brown hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and she was covered in multi-colored flecks of paint from the top of her head to her bare feet.

Kyra looked up from her neatly made bed. She had been lying on her stomach while she recorded her thoughts in a leather-bound journal she had received earlier in the day from her mother. Both of her parents had once done the same thing—before she was born and before they had to run.

"Yeah?" she asked, disinterest showing through her tone of voice.

"Dad wants to see you." Myra flopped down in the plush chair seated in the corner.

"What's he want now?" Kyra questioned, scowling.

"I don't know. He just sent me up to get you."

Kyra slammed her journal shut and tucked it away in the hiding place under her bed. A combination lock secured her private thoughts and she stalked out of the half-decorated room. In two years, she still had yet to finish moving in.

She headed down the circular stairwell to the tiled entry hall. Her father had spent an obscene amount of money on a mansion when they had stopped moving around. He had also purchases an expensive second home in Ireland. Kyra and Myra had grown up in both Ireland and England, even though Kyra had been more in the States as had both their parents.

Kyra walked down a side hall to where her father's office was located. She knocked loudly on the heavy wooden door and glanced up at the security cameras for a brief moment.

"It's Jack," she announced, speaking into the intercom.

Jackson Rippner was a notorious security freak. Even in his own home, he was suspicious and edgy. She had grown used to his quirks over the years and even developed some of her own. Mainly, the one revolving around the knife strapped to her ankle.

Her father unlocked the door, his blue eyes scanning the hall before allowing her in. Kyra resisted the urge to roll her own crystalline eyes back. Even after nearly twenty years, he still looked the same as he had when he first met Lisa. His dark brown hair was cropped a little shorter, but Jackson was still an imposing man despite his lanky figure.

"Myra said you wanted to see me," she stated impatiently.

"Yes, yes I do. Sit down, Jack."

She sat down in one of the leather chairs in his dark office and stretched her long legs out in front of her as he moved to go behind his desk. He shot her a dark look when he tripped over her.

Rippner Family Rule #1: Never anger Jackson… she mentally recited without caring. She had broken all the rules at one point or another in her life.

"Lisa told me that you wanted to return to the States," he said sourly.

"Yeah? So?"

"You know exactly how I feel about that place."

"That's why I'd be going alone," she stated simply, crossing her slender and pale arms across her stomach. "I'm not asking for anyone to come with me."

"Jack, in the States, there are people who hunt people like us. None of us can ever go back there. It's not safe."

Kyra scoffed. "Right, like it's really any safer hiding in Europe. Give me a break…"

"Would I lie to you?"

Rippner Family Rule #2: Never tell a lie…

"No."

"Good. Now I have a gift for you." He stood up and picked up an elegantly wrapped gift from behind his desk. "Happy seventeenth birthday, Jack."

She hesitated momentarily after he placed the package in her lap. Kyra looked up at her father and he nodded eagerly. Slowly, every movement deliberate, she untied the bow, then started unwrapping the rectangular-shaped gift.

"I hope you'll like it."

As she tore the last of wrapping paper free, she stared at a wooden box with a plaque with her initials engraved upon it. She lifted the latches and raised the lid. Nestled inside the box, on soft folds of black velvet, was a shinning knife and a sheath as well as a brand-new handgun with bullets.

Shocked, Kyra looked at her father questioningly.

"Surely your blade must be growing dull and it's about you carried a gun. Legal or not, I don't care. I won't have you being hurt. I know you can use them both."

"You didn't—"

"Just don't tell your mother. You know how she feels about weapons."

She nodded. Her father had trained both her and Myra in self-defense starting at a young age and they were both proficient with weapons. Like her father, Kyra favored a well-made, sharp blade, but she was a decent shot with a gun. Myra had never cared much for weaponry, while she had soaked up all the knowledge her father had offered like a sponge.

Lisa, however, abhorred guns, knives, and all weapons. She had placed a weapons ban on all members of the household, yet both Kyra and her father walked around armed at all times. She understood that her mother had suffered at the hands of the same people her father had once worked for, but she was not about to become a victim because of her mother's fears.

"Thanks, dad," she croaked, her voice cracking. Like Jackson, she had a hard time expressing emotions, whereas her mother and sister always had hugs to spare.

"You're welcome," he said, nodding his head. "Now you'd better go hide them before Lisa finds out."

Sharing a conspiratory wink with her father, Kyra slipped out of the office. Once the door shut behind her, her anger returned. She knew that he was manipulating her, trying to bribe her into giving up her dreams, and she hated it. There was essentially nothing that she could do to stop him.

Kyra appreciated the gift, but she was once more dismayed by his stubborn refusal to allow her to travel. She had every intention of attending college in the States and not even her powerful father could stop her. In one year, she would legally be an adult and no longer have to listen to him and his rules.

Rippner Family Rule #3: Never abandon the family…

Author's Notes:

I actually managed to write and update back-to-back. Amazing. Anyways, enjoy this chapter and major thanks to everyone who's read/reviewed!