Sorry for the lateness, I'm in the middle of Midterms right now, but given that is been a while since I last updated, I thought I'd throw this one in for you all to read. Enjoy! -LadyStarlet09
Chapter 23 The Bad News
Two more weeks past before Jackson and Lisa manage to put aside their differences and resume the daily facade as "husband and wife" in the public eye. Given how much stress she had been put through since he unexpectedly whisked her away from her apartment in Miami, Jackson didn't really say too much to her, nor did he tell her where he was going on certain nights when the organization needed him to take care of a job. For all he knew, telling Lisa what he was doing would only make the situation worse for them both since she was trusting him with her life literally so she could remain alive.
Then came the unexpected call in the middle of night that changed everything. The bodyguards were taking a few hour's of fun at a local bar out of town to help get their minds away from work for a bit. Lisa was fast sleep in his bedroom. She didn't really feel like sleeping in her own bed due to some recent nightmares so he suggested that it would be better that she took his room for the night and he take the downstairs couch.
He had been working late on his laptop at the small dinning table over some blueprint layout of a recent plan he came up to take out senator Keef when his cellphone suddenly went off by his hand. Glancing at the caller ID, he found it was a blocked number. There was only one person who would call him at this late hour. Jackson's lips thinned as he allowed the phone to ring a few seconds longer. This person also never called him unless it was absolutely urgent which in most cases, the caller was often the beaer of bad news.
"What is it?" Jackson answered sharply before the call went to voice-mail. "Its been a rather long time since you and I last talked. What makes you think I'm willing to spend a second of my time to listen to the likes of you."
"It would be wiser to listen to what I need to say since it involves the young woman whom you are keeping watch over." Replied a soft female voice on the other end of the line. "Its her father, Mr. Reinsert. He's in critical condition at the Miami hospital after he had been attacked by unknown assailants while he was being escorted in an unmarked car to the holding facility in the lower part of town. He's still alive, but the doctors are still tending to his wounds as we speak. How they managed to find him, I can't say, but you need to move her as soon as possible. God only knows what they may have found out if he had accidentally allowed a small slip pass his lips."
"Lisa's father wouldn't betray a word if he had a gun held to his head as long as he knows his favorite daughter is in danger." Jackson replied tightly. "I've worked beside him before. The man has standers and morals integrated in what he does for the organization. Reinsert would know better then to further endanger her in any way. I'll see what I can do to increase security for him."
"And the daughter? She'd have to be notified but we can't allow her to see him in person, least the assailants come back for him to finish the job."
"Does the other one know where he's at?"
"No. She isn't even aware that he left home. The boss grew worried when he didn't show up at the meeting place and now he's pulling guns of how's going to explain himself to the organization board for this inconvenience."
"I'll give him a call after I try to figure things out. Right now, I need to talk to Lisa and reason with her before things start to get out of hand around here." Not waiting for the woman to reply, he snapped his phone shut, tossing it aside with a sigh. Rubbing his temples, Jackson felt like his head was going to explode from all the shit that was going on. Just when he thought things were going to plan, whoever was after Lisa decided that it was better to go after her father.
"I knew that something like this was going to happen!." Jackson said harshly, slamming his hand hard against the table before covering his eyes with a hand. Of all things to happen...Jackson shook his head before pushing himself to his feet. He really didn't want to do this by telling Lisa that her father was in the hospital, but he didn't want to take any chances of her trying to get a hold of her father and then panicking when he didn't pick up the phone. He made his way upstairs to him room and quietly opened the door. Gazing upon Leese, his heart squeezed at the innocent sight of her curled up in the fetal position with his spare pillow hugged tightly against her chest while she slept blissfully on, unaware that she was being watched by her protector.
He quietly closed the door behind him. Lisa mumbled something while she turned over onto her other side. Jackson swore under his breath while slowly walking up to the bed. He really didn't want to see her emotional side. He hurt him emotionally to see her cry. He smoothed some of her hair from her face while he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Leese?" He whispered softly against her ear. "Can you wake up? I need to talk to you about something."
"Jack?" She replied sleepily. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
He couldn't help but smirk at her comment. Of all the things that she could have asked, she still had enough feelings to be concern about his well-being. He caressed her face gently with the back of his hand. "No, love." He replied. "But," He paused, hesitating when her eyes starting to clear as she became more wide awake. "Its your father, Lisa." He continued in a steady voice. As expected, Lisa sat straight up with a look of fear in her eyes. He had to grab a hold of her arms to prevent her from bolting from the bed. "Please, just listen to me." Jackson begged her. "I thought it would be best to tell you what happened to him. But understand that whatever I say to you right now, I cannot allow you to make any contact with him whatsoever out of fear for both of your safety."
"What happened to my father!" She cried, beating at his chest with her fist. Jackson let out a growl as his own frustration began to build. He pushed her down against the pillows, pinning her arms above her head while holding his full weight on hers with his own body. "Jackson!"
"Lisa, listen to me." He said softly. "I'm doing the best I can to find out exactly what happened from my informants, but you got to listen to me and not be out of control. This is how people get killed when they panic and don't think with their fucking heads."
He felt her movement's still but her green eyes were still wide with fear. Jackson cursed once more, looking away for a brief moment to gather his thoughts before looking down at her. He saw the tall-tell tears starting to gather at the corner of her eyes. He brushed them away with his free hand. "Your father has been admitted to the Miami hospital in critical condition. Apparently he was leaving his home to meet up with someone important." Jackson on purposely left out the real reason because he didn't feel he could trust her with the knowledge that her father was working double for both the police and the organization at the same time. "He was driving when several people from a different car forced him to pull over and started beating him up."
"Jack, I need to call him to at least find out if he's ok." She cried. Jackson shook his head no. She let out a foul curse and tried fighting against him, but he only tighten his hold on her and pressed more of his weight until she had no other choice but to cease.
"Lisa, did you not just hear what I had just told you? I can't allow you to talk with your father at all unless you want his head to be blown off and yours."
"I hate you, Jackson!" Lisa screamed at him, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I hate all of this!"
Jackson took a deep breath as he listened to her starting to cry under him. Looking down, he felt pity stirring within himself, something that he thought he no longer possessed anymore since he had been killing so many people for a long time without a single thought. He tilted her head back with his hand, firmly holding her chin when she tried to turn her face from his. He ignored her verbal protest and bent his head forward to brush her lips with his. Lisa instantly responded to him by relaxing and kissing back hungrily while he slowly let go of her hands and cupped her face between his palms. Her cheeks were still wet from her tears and he could taste the saltiness upon her lips as he deepened the kiss further before pulling away slightly to get a good look at her face.
There was still that hint of fear within her eyes, but at least he saw reasoning within them as well. "Lisa, I promise that I will do everything to help protect your father with my connections back in Miami. I will have them move him to a secured location where he can get the best medical attention, but I cannot, and will not, for the your sake and his, allow you to make contact with him in any shape or form. Whoever attacked him might be the ones who could be after you as well. So I'm asking you as a person to person," He forced her to stare into his blue eyes. "Can you promise me that you will not talk to your father until its safe for you to do so?"
"I-I don't know if I could keep such a promise, Jack." She admitted truthfully. "I mean, he's my father. I can't just let him go like that without at least knowing that he's going to be okay."
"Leese, I know that this is hard for you. But what am I going to do if your actions unintentionally got the both you killed or even perhaps your sister as well?"
Lisa turned her gaze at the ceiling. She felt like her mind was going to overload from all the pent up emotions she had been keeping within her ever since he walked back into her life. All she wanted from the very beginning before he came along and turned everything upside down, was to live a normal life as possible. But none of it was ever going to happen since someone wanted her dead and apparently wasn't afraid to go after the ones she cared for so much. And perhaps, was even willing to go after Jackson himself just to get a little closer to the kill.
She took a deep shaky breath and let it out slowly before returning her gaze upon the only man she was willing to trust even after what all the emotional and physical trauma he had committed upon her soul and body, minus rape since that already happened to her when she was a young teenager. For all the darkness that was within his soul, she knew Jackson wouldn't dare hurt her body in such a brutal fashion since he worshiped the ground she walked on and was willing to put his own life on the line for hers.
"Jack." She whispered as her eyes began to sting with tears. "Just promise me that when its safe enough for him, I can at least see him in person and tell him that I'm alright for myself. I owe him that at least since its been almost two to three months since you took me away from everything and everyone I knew and loved. He needs to know that his baby girl is alive and well before I go back into hiding again."
Jackson was about to say no when he paused for a moment while she looked up at him. The look she gave him was something that made him think about all the denying he had been telling himself for the past four years. At first, after he had been locked up in a secluded cell for the first three weeks of his incarceration period, Jackson had tried to come up with all the reasons of why he shouldn't have allowed his Leese to walk away from him while still breathing after all the shit she pulled on him during the Red Eye flight.
Hate gave way to anger, anger gave way to hate until all of it eventually dissipated into a mulling feeling of loneliness and yearning for her touch and smile as he sat all alone in his cell with only her tiny pearl ring for company laying against his breast. Seeing her face right now with that same feeling reflecting from it made Jackson wonder if perhaps she was feeling very lonely as well, despite the well company she got from both Romeo and Terry. He didn't allow her to make friends at work or whenever they were out and about because he didn't trust anyone except himself and his bodyguards.
"Alright, I promise that you can see once he's safely secured at a safe site. But for now, you are just going to have to trust my word that he's going to be alright until then." Lisa pushed herself up and leaned herself against him, wrapping her arms around his waist while burying her face against his warm chest. Jackson stiffened for a moment at the unexpected gesture before he held her tightly to him, rocking her back and forth gently like a small child while telling her that everything was going to be alright.
How long they stayed like that, he wasn't sure until a soft knock startled him out of his deep thoughts. Looking up, he found it was only Romeo checking up on them. The older bodyguards silently motioned with his hand towards Lisa who had fallen asleep within her lover's arms. Jackson shook his head no and slowly slid her back onto the bed before pulling up the covers to her chin.
He placed a soft kiss upon her lips before straightening up. Romeo waited until Jackson walked out of the room to speak in the hallway. "I got a call from Steven. He informed me of what happened to the girl's father. Its a pity that he's in critical condition." Romeo looked over Jackson's shoulder towards the partially open door. "It must be really hard on her to be forced in such a predicament like this. If I were her, I'd want to do the same and find out if he's ok."
"I know, don't we all." Jackson sighed while rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Its just our hands are still tied tight behind us until then."
Romeo switched his gaze back at the younger man. "You don't look too well. Perhaps you should get at least a few hours of sleep before doing whatever it is that you have to do." Romeo comment with a disapproving sound. Jackson shook his head no, but the older man started to push him towards the stairs insistently. "You are going to be the death of your own self if you don't at least take good care of your own mental and physical well being."
"Like I haven't heard that one before, Romeo." Jackson yawned sleepily as they descended the stairs. Terry was sitting at the dining table, polishing the guns and reloading the bullet chambers when he looked up at them entering the living room. Jackson nodded approvingly. "Good to see that you are well versed with how to take apart a gun there." He grunted while falling onto the couch. "Now that I mention it, I am yet to see the two of you use your own firearms."
Romeo chuckled at the slight grimace Terry made behind Jackson's back. "Terry isn't good with a gun, but if he wanted to, he'd make his bullets land where they need to be just as long as he keeps his mind clear. I've already killed about forty people with my own gun within my career of working for the organization as both a freelancer and assigned bodyguard."
"And I'm sure its going to add to your kill score once I get my hands on the people who are after Lisa and her father." Jackson said while closing her eyes. "Oh, and while I'm still thinking out loud, we might need to move her again due to the current situation with her father, but I'm not sure where we should go."
Romeo exchanged looked with Terry. "Again?" They both said together.
"Yes, again. Do you two have a problem with it?" Jackson affirmed, turning his head around to look at them both. They shook their heads. "Good, then since we got that out of the way, Terry you can take up the watch and Romeo can go keep an eye on the cameras."
Both bodyguards groaned out loud but started moving about regardless while Jackson settled down for his few hours of sleep he could catch. As he forced his mind to separate from his conscious, he gave a small thought to make sure to wired Lisa's phone in the morning so he could monitor her phone calls from now on. He didn't want to take any chances again that she might be pulling a fast one on him again by verbally saying she promised to not call her father or sister, when in fact she was planning on to doing it anyway and putting them once more into further danger then what he has to deal with now.