Chapter 12
"L—Leese?" Jackson croaked out her name as he tried to focus on her face. His muddled brain couldn't understand how she was here. She was on the truck when it – unless she wasn't? Why wouldn't she have left with the other passengers? Why would she stay?
He realized his mistake when Alexis followed his eyeline and whipped around to stare amazed at the woman on the balcony. His involuntary reaction had alerted her to Lisa's presence. He reluctantly tore his eyes away from Lisa and looked fearfully at Alexis. She was looking back and forth between them with astonished, unfettered rage, spluttering for words and finally settling on an enraged roar as she threw the pipe behind her.
"He is MINE!" she screamed in Kirill's general direction as she started toward the stairs. "Get your men together – we are leaving as soon as they are both dead!" Jackson looked on helpless from his chains as Alexis took the stairs at a run. With one last look, he saw Lisa turn into the office and slam the door behind her.
Lisa frantically turned the lock, but she knew that wouldn't hold Alexis for long. Hands shaking, she ran to the desk and ripped the phone off the receiver. She dialed clumsily and waited breathlessly as it rang twice.
"Lux Atlantic resort, this is Cynthia."
"Cynthia!" Lisa could have cried when her friend answered, "Put me through to Keefe's room!"
"Lisa? What's going on?"
BANG. BANG. Lisa jumped. Alexis had reached the door and begun kicking it in. Lisa started looking around for something – anything – she could use to defend herself when she inevitably broke through the flimsy lock. She shouted into the phone, "You have got to get Keefe out of that room!"
There was a brief pause on Cynthia's end as she tried to understand, "But you already changed him…?"
Lisa groaned, "No, it's got nothing to…" BANG. BANG. The door was starting to splinter. Lisa tried to shove one of the chairs to block the door without disconnecting the phone but the cord was too short. Desperate, she said, "Look, I think something is going to happen. You… listen, pull the fire alarm!"
The tone of the call changed. Cynthia asked, "What the hell? Are you—"
Lisa picked up the phone and took it with her as she went to block the door. She held the handset with her shoulder as she put her body weight in front of the door. BANG. BANG. Just then, the lock broke and the door came open. Lisa pushed with everything she had, but she was off balance holding the phone. Alexis managed to get a foot in to block the door from closing again. Lisa was losing and she knew it. Alexis reached an arm around and knocked the phone to the floor as she tried to grab for Lisa's hair. Lisa didn't know if the call had dropped or if Cynthia could still hear her but she cried out as she pushed against the door, hoping her message would get through. "Evacuate the hotel! Get everyone out! You've got to go up there now and physically tell them! Tell them that Keefe is a target! Cynthia, Keefe is a target! Somebody is going to kill him!"
With another burst of strength Alexis shoved her way into the room and knocked Lisa to the floor next to the phone. Very faintly, she heard Cynthia say, "Oh shit," and the line went dead. Lisa couldn't help but smile and closed her eyes in a silent prayer she hadn't been too late.
"What the fuck are you so happy about?" Alexis gripped Lisa's shoulder and pulled her to her feet, only to punch her in the stomach as soon as she was vertical.
Lisa doubled over and clutched her stomach as Alexis took a step back. "You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm ending this, whatever this is, you and Jackie have going on. Are you even a mark? Or did he plant you to bring me down?"
As she rambled, Alexis paced back and forth and Lisa noticed she wasn't aware she had left a path to the door. Slowly she raised herself up and shifted on her feet to be ready to run.
Alexis continued to ramble, "Something happened in that prison, this isn't the Jackie I used to know. He would never work with someone like you."
Lisa's eyes flicked toward the door at the mention of Jackson. Was he dead?
"Oh, he's not dead," Alexis' smile returned, cold and predatory, "I wanted him to see what I'm gonna do to you first."
Lisa was scared. But she knew what had to happen next. She squared her shoulders, looked Alexis in the eye and clearly said, "No you won't." Then she turned and fled the room.
She took advantage of the two seconds Alexis needed to react to her unexpected move. As she left the room with Alexis on her heels, she threw a chair behind her, not turning to look over her shoulder as she heard her trip over it and fall to the ground. Unsure where to go next, Lisa turned to the right and ran up some stairs; away from Jackson in case she inadvertently put him in more danger.
As she neared the top of the stairs she heard Alexis coming after her. She grabbed the nearest object, a fire extinguisher on the wall, and threw it down the stairs behind her. Alexis barely dodged it and kept climbing. Lisa was almost off the stairs when she felt her grab her ankle. She turned and kicked, purposefully implanting the heel from her right shoe into Alexis' thigh. Alexis screamed in pain and Lisa grabbed her by the shoulders and used the height difference on the stairs to deliver a head butt.
With her head reeling, Lisa barely saw Alexis tumble down the stairs with her shoe in her thigh. Lisa took a second to breathe hoping this was over, but Alexis ripped the shoe out of her thigh and started back up the stairs. Lisa fled, but not before she saw her pull a knife out of a stirrup on her ankle.
Normally a knife that size would make Lisa freeze, but she was still running on adrenaline – and maybe something else. She ran down the hall and skidded to a stop in front of a door. Through the room she could see some scaffolding through the window on the outside of the building. Making up her mind, she reached down and pulled off her other shoe and flung it into the room across the hall as a diversion. Alexis was still huffing up the stairs and Lisa ran to the window.
Once she climbed out the window, Lisa could see she was standing on a tiny ledge on the side of the building. She edged slowly and quietly along the edge until she could grip with both hands on the scaffolding. She could hear Alexis making her way through the upstairs rooms and knew she didn't have much time. With a deep breath, she swung her leg out and found a foothold. After a few shaky moments, she finally made it to the ground. She crept along the side of the building until she found what she was looking for – a door back inside where she knew Jackson needed her help.
But the warehouse was too quiet. As Lisa looked around she couldn't see any of the Russians working for Alexis. With a wary glance up the stairs to the mezzanine, she made her way toward the spot where she had last seen Jackson. He was gone.
