Lisa choked in surprise. Jackson held her head in his large hands and his hot lips were urgently pressed to hers. He showed no signs of letting her go and she suddenly realized she didn't want him to. While she couldn't say she approved of his methods, she couldn't deny the fact he seemed genuinely afraid for her safety and was assuring it the only way he knew how. His anger from before was now colored by newly understood fear and she couldn't help but return his kiss.

He gasped as she began to move her lips in response to his and she desperately swallowed that gasp. Her arms moved around his neck and across his shoulders with no apparent goal other than to touch as much of him as possible. She could feel his tongue begging for entrance and she returned the gesture as they truly tasted each other for the first time. With his left hand firmly pressed against her face his right slowly drifted down her cheek and towards her breast. She involuntarily arched her back in an effort to allow him access but his hand went to his waistband instead. Without breaking contact with her lips she felt him yank at something, then felt hard plastic at her own waistband. She felt the familiar weight of the monster pen and her eyes flew open.

Breaking the kiss she looked down to confirm he had actually given her makeshift weapon back to her. She caught a glimpse before he pulled her shirt back over her waist to conceal it. She met his eyes and he gave her a small nod with a serious look. In that look, with those chillingly beautiful eyes, he told her everything he wasn't able to say. His regret over her pain was apparent, but more powerful she saw a familiar message. FIGHT! And she knew she wouldn't be fighting alone.

Lisa followed his eye line up and for the first time noticed a small camera mounted in the corner. Their position afforded them privacy but his concerned face told her it wouldn't last long. He glanced over his shoulder toward the door and she knew they would have company in a matter of seconds. Jackson pulled away reluctantly but Lisa wasn't ready to let him go. She pulled him back for one more kiss. It was softer, more grateful and regrettably short. When she pulled back she smirked at his raised eyebrows and then slapped him across the face.

Jackson stumbled back into view of the camera clutching his cheek. He glared at her before catching on to her game. He stomped back toward her and yanked her, albeit more gently than before, back to the chair. He tossed her onto the hard plastic a second before the door opened and admitted a slightly out of breath Russian guard.

Lisa didn't look at Jackson as her wrists were manacled in front of her but she knew he was also avoiding obvious eye contact. If they were going to beat this they needed every advantage available, even if it meant ignoring everything from the last two minutes. The guard lead her out of the tiny room and locked the door behind them, leaving Jackson a prisoner. Lisa swallowed hard, knowing he had given her his only means of defense, a flimsy novelty pen. But Lisa couldn't think about that right now. She needed to find a phone, she needed to warn Keefe. She needed to save her father.

She was frog-marched back to the tractor trailer by her solitary guard, obviously not rating higher on the security checklist. Just as before the truck was unguarded, simply locked up on the end of the compound. The guard stood her off to the side as he fumbled in his pocket for the keys to unlock the back door. Tingling from head-to-toe Lisa knew this was her chance. Shakily she reached with her handcuffed hands to her waist and pulled out the pen. Gripping it tightly she waited until the guard turned to unlock the door and swung with all her strength, lodging the pen in his esophagus.

It was so graphic Lisa almost forgot what to do next. He dropped to his knees, wheezing and clutching wildly at his throat. Coming to her senses she used her knee to knock him to the ground and with shaky hands grabbed his keys from where he had dropped them. First she unlocked her own cuffs, all the while keeping an eye on the gasping Russian at her feet. He was struggling but the obstruction in his windpipe seemed to have incapacitated him for the moment. Finally her cuffs slipped off and she spun to the truck.

Jackson paced his cell, completely useless in his prison until Alexis saw fit to release him. He slowed his step, realizing she could just as easily leave him here to rot. She got what she needed out of him and now with no phone he had no way to call for help. All he had to save him from Alexis' wrath was Lisa... and he didn't need to be thinking about that right now.

The grains of an idea started to swirl in his mind and Jackson slowly contemplated his next move. It was extremely risky but if he could regain control of the situation there would be a chance. Squaring his shoulders, he walked to the table, pulled out a chair and pounded his fist on the table. The loud bang reverberated around the small room and it was followed by another. And another. And another. And another.

Alexis was like a child in many ways; dangle something shiny in front of her and she is bound to be attracted to it. Or in her case, dangle something broken and she will show up to play. After a couple minutes of pounding the table the door swung open and she stood silhouetted in the doorway. Kirill and another guard stood behind her, effectively blocking the door as a means of escape.

"Awwa, Jackie-boy. Did you think I'd forgotten you?"

Jackson's only response was to fall quiet.

He heard her laugh, a startlingly terrifying sound, as she moved into the room. She stayed out of his eye line but Jackson could feel her getting closer. "I'm afraid I'm terribly busy today or we could have more time to play catch up. As it is, I-"

Jackson stood up suddenly and faced her, effectively cutting off her banter. "Do you know what they did to me?"

The giddy look in her eyes was sickening. She came close now and if he hadn't been prepared he might have shuddered. "In Tadmoor you mean? The prison certainly has a reputation-"

"You'd like it there. Maybe for your next vacation."

She flashed her toothy grin.

Jackson realized he was reeling in a shark. Toss chum in the water and she wouldn't leave until she had her jaws around his throat. "Did you know, when they took me? Did you know where you were sending me?"

Alexis shook her head. "Honestly, I thought they'd kill you. I served you up on a little platter and that job earned me my shiny sheriffs badge and carte blanche to choose any job I wanted. How do you think I got here? You know the saying - omelets and eggs."

Jackson grimaced and it was only half an act. "So you came upon the Turing Chip?"

Her face got deadly serious. She met Kirill's eyes over Jackson's shoulder and from that look he knew she hadn't found it yet. Warily, she nodded. "How do you know about the Turing Chip? What do you know?"

Jackson was ready for this question. He racked his brain to remember what the African warlord he tortured a couple months ago had served up about the chip. By the time Jackson was done with him the man had served up every secret he had, even ones that had nothing to do with his diamond mining operation. It had been a guess - Jackson didn't like to guess but he was out of options. He had only heard of one other chip that could do what Alexis had said earlier, "a computer chip with a code that can hack any system." "I know it dropped out of sight in New York about 5 months ago. I worked a similar job a couple months ago when they thought it might be in Spain. How do you think I drew the short straw for a political assassination on US soil? I'm being punished."

Alexis laughed but he could tell he had struck a nerve.

He continued, "I just hope you have a plan B because it doesn't look like you're having much luck with Boris back there. Probably doesn't even know what he's looking for. I, on the other hand, did a month of research on the Turing Chip. Who do you really want to count on? A guy who got his ass handed to him by a Treadstone psycho or your old pal Jackie?"

Alexis turned her back. "Why should I believe you?"

"I don't lie."

She searched his face but he could tell she remembered this little quirk. Suddenly she walked past him out of the room. For a moment Jackson's stomach fell and he thought he had missed his chance. She spoke over her shoulder without slowing down, "Well lets see what you've got. Bring him."

It wasn't his imagination that the grip on his left arm from Kirill was tighter than his other jailer. He had thrown the big man under the bus back there but he hadn't really had much of a choice. He had no doubt he would have done the same in a similar position. Jackson smirked, well maybe not. Kirill didn't really seem one to talk himself out a situation. He didn't really seem one to talk much at all. Their odd caravan following after Alexis lead him through the bowels of the factory and back out into the morning Mexican sun.

They approached the plane and Jackson started running through the next phase of his plan. As they searched the plane he would acquire a phone and secretly get a message to the CIA field office. Whatever the opposite of deja-vu feels like, Jackson was feeling it with every bone in his body. Never would he have pictured himself in this situation, but here he was. He wasn't emotional enough to call it a change of heart, or even a side effect from whatever he was feeling about Lisa. It was just a feeling of finality. Jackson was done. He was done being a pawn. He didn't want to owe his life to the same people who all but took it away. He would take them down if it took his last breath. It was just a bonus that he got to start with Alexis.

Lisa. Jackson knew she was somewhere on the other side of the compound with the other hostages. He didn't know if she had been able to escape or if she was still waiting for her chance to use the pen he slipped her. It was all he had to offer her at the time, but he was starting to stop underestimating her. He knew if she had the opportunity she would use it.

"Alright Jackie-boy," Alexis would have sounded giddy if not for the sociopathic undertones her voice always carried, "tell us what we're looking for... if you can."

Jackson had to think fast. He hadn't actually gotten any information about what the chip might look like from the warlord. "It will be concealed in another electronic. Cell phones, computers, the like. It will interface with the operating system to avoid suspicion."

Alexis harrumphed and Jackson swallowed. She clearly had her doubts about his description but she tossed her head toward the pile of cell phones confiscated from the passengers. "Better get started then."

As the team poured over the cell phones Jackson subtly slipped one into his pocket. He avoided looking over his shoulder like a criminal even though every instinct told him he was about to be found out. After everyone seemed thoroughly distracted by their search Jackson slipped away toward the back of the plane. He drew the curtain closed behind him and frantically began dialing. Once again he felt her presence before he saw her, but this time it was in the form of her fist.

Her punch was very fast and very powerful. Jackson was standing one minute and flat on his back the next. Alexis stood over him and Jackson felt exposed, like a beta dog belly up to his alpha. Almost as an after thought she kicked the phone out of his reach and stood over him picking at her nails for a minute before quietly saying, "Jackie. I don't have time for your games today. I'm starting to wish they had killed you four years ago. I ought to kill you now, but considering the lengths you seem to be willing to go for this girl, no don't bother denying it, I think there's something you'll want to see." She looked up at the guards and motioned to Jackson at her feet.

Jackson was hauled to his feet and dragged after her. His gamble had failed. He lost control of the narrative and once again he found himself in cuffs. Goddamn Lisa. She had turned him into a hero; a hero who was completely useless at his job. How did she have this kind of sway over him? She was everything he hated. She was a liar. She didn't follow directions. She pushed back. Lisa was...

"Look over there Jackie," Alexis pointed a manicured finger toward a cloud of dust traveling away from the factory. It was the tractor trailer! Lisa must have overcome her guard and was making a break for it with the hostages. Lisa was...

His reaction was slow. The sudden mushroom cloud of fire and smoke scalded his eyes and he forgot to breathe.

Lisa was... dead.

A/N: I know I'm cruel. Such a long wait and then I leave off with this... A very sincere thank you to those of you who expressed interest in this fic. It's been a long time coming.