Total Strangers
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!
Chapter One
Three days later, I was catching a red-eye to Miami, Florida.
My birth father's address had been found in my mother's belongings. Apparently, he would be expecting me. A plane ticket had also been found, made out in my name, and for the flight I was now waiting to board.
My mother had planned this. She'd known she was going to send me to my father. I wonder if she'd planned on dying and known I'd be going alone.
After all these years it was strange to know his name. I'd been begging for the past five years to know my father's name. Just his name. I'd thought about asking for a picture as well, but knowing his name always seemed more important.
Both my wishes came true. There was a picture with the ticket as well. Scrawled on the back was his name—Jackson Rippner.
He took one long look at the flight board and cursed.
It wasn't bad enough that he was stuck in the middle of nowhere—now his flight was delayed.
And you had to come to this particular funeral why?
With a sigh, Jackson Rippner backed away from the board. Planes and airports were really starting to tick him off. Both were unfortunate side-effects of his career. Most of his day was spent traveling from one destination to another. He'd racked up more than his fair share of frequent-flyer miles in the last five years.
At thirty-years-old, Jackson had spent more than half his life in airports across the globe. His official title was manager but lately it was being to feel more like babysitter. His latest job seemed to be calling more on skills used by teachers across the nation with unruly children than managing methods.
Damn Russians… they can't do anything right... he griped.
Sarah Gardner was only supposed to be monitored and instead his incompetent employee had been seen by her. Before she could do anything, his employee had murdered the almost fifty-year-old woman.
Now he was in the middle of God-forsaken Texas, trapped by a freak storm that had delayed his already late flight home.
The good news was the aforementioned employee was now lying in the middle of the desert somewhere with only scorpions, spiders, and snakes for company. A few days of Texas sunshine and the corpse would be charred and the continued exposure would reduce the Russian to little more than a pile of bones.
Never again do I work with Russians…
My guardian at the moment is one of my mom's old friends. She's tried really hard to take care of me for the last three days, but she's really clueless about what to do with me. I think she's relieved that she gets to send me to Miami to be with my father.
Don't take this wrong way—she's sweet, really—but she has no idea what to say or do. She's trying too hard to be my mom. No one can replace her so it's hard to see her struggle with trying to be my mom.
I wave good-bye to her as she leaves with my new keeper, a woman named Mary, who works for the airline. She has to go back to work and can't take the time off to accompany me to Miami.
That's fine with me. I need to be alone.
In my jacket pocket I finger the picture my mother left. Did she leave this so that I could recognize him? Is he going to be waiting for me at the gate when I arrive at Miami? Does he even know who I am?
I have so many questions for him. I wish my mom was here with me.
Prying the picture out of my pocket, I stare at his face. How old was this picture? Does he even look like that anymore? I remember seeing photographs of my mother when she was younger—she would've been his age then. Surely this is an old photograph—this is what my father looked like when I was born.
His brown hair is long, yet it's neatly combed. He's wearing a suit and he looks comfortable in it. And he's got these gorgeous blue eyes… they're the same color as mine. Well, my eyes are blue, but his are most crystalline and liquid than mine.
I can't blame her for falling in love with him. He's handsome, but how could he leave her? Leave me? What kind of man can do that?
He sat at the bar, sipping his Scotch, while waiting for news on his flight or a report from one of his associates in Miami.
"Hello, Jack," a woman said, sliding onto the seat beside him. Her auburn curls shown even in the dim light of the Tex-Mex. She grinned at her, green eyes twinkling as she motioned to the bar tender and ordered her drink—a grapefruit sea breeze.
"Fancy meeting you here, Leese…"
"Did you really think you could follow me to Texas and I wouldn't know it? I hadn't realized you were so dense."
Jackson shook his head. Lisa Reisert had always been a mystery to him. It was a fluke that they'd even met as teenagers. And now they'd worked together for a good seven years. She was perhaps the only woman in the company that could put up with him on a daily basis.
"Leese, I'm sorry about what happened—"
"Don't start," she ordered, pointing her finger at him as her drink arrived. She took a long sip before looking up at him again. "I thought you'd said you'd be careful."
"I was. How was I supposed to know that he wouldn't listen to my orders?"
"She's alone now, Jackson. We agreed that it was better for her to stay there than to be with us, remember?"
He sighed. He'd never been pleased with the arrangement they'd made. It was too risky.
"I know. Sometimes I wish we could just settle down…"
"You know they'd kill us if we did," Lisa said sadly, reaching for his hand. "They'd kill her too."
"What are we going to do now?"
"The back-up plan should already be in motion. Louise should have her in custody by now. She's safe."
Jackson nodded. "Okay. Let's finish this job and get home already."
"Agreed."
Author's Notes:
I'm so sorry about the length between updates! I didn't intend to do that!
As some of you know, my flash drive with all of my writing (novels, fan fics, etc) died almost two weeks ago and has yet to have the data recovered. Naturally, I was very upset and I'm just now relaxing enough that I can write again. I was so upset I physically couldn't write if you can imagine it.
Plus I was trying to figure out specifics for this story since I could've taken it in one of at least three directions. I think this will be one of the more interesting ways.
Enjoy and please read/review! Once again, I apologize for making you all wait!
Lily- Thank you! Enjoy the story: )
