Author's Note: Thanks again to all my reviewers! I really don't think that I can say that enough, so I'll say it one more time. Thank you all! That's really all I wanted to say so I'll stop rambling and get to the chapter...don't forget to review for me!
Chapter Five: Deja vu
"Why are we here?" Lisa demanded, shaking Jackson violently by the arm and drawing Mellmott's attention to them.
Jackson quickly seized her by her forearm and dragged her around to the back of the car where he pinned her between himself and the trunk. "Look," he said, his eyes burning into hers, "my colleagues need the floor plans to a building that your father designed a few years back."
"So go to the firm." Lisa hissed, starting to walk away only to have Jackson immediately grab her and slam her once again against the trunk.
"They tried that. Apparently, the original architect holds the rights to the design therefore after retirement they get to take the plans with them as a sort of keepsake."
Lisa looked from Jackson to Mellmott, who was standing far too close to her father's house for her liking, then she looked to the front door and finally back to Jackson. "Then let me go in and get them. Tell me what plans you need and I'll go get them."
Jackson chuckled, "Hey, Leese, have I ever struck you as a stupid man?"
Her eyes scanned the darkened street for any signs of help. Nothing. Maybe she could reason with Jackson. He was a logical thinker, male driven and all that. "My father has insomnia, okay. He's awake right now and I don't want anything to happen to him."
"Nothing's going to happen to him." Jackson assured her, "We go in. You introduce us as old friends. We get the plans. We leave. Life goes on."
"You honestly think that he doesn't remember shooting you?" Lisa said, "He might be getting kinda old, but he isn't senile."
"Lisa, it's this...or I send you into that house alone with Mellmott," Lisa swore she saw concern flash in his eyes, "And I won't do that."
Frustrated, Lisa rubbed both of her hands over her face hard and weighed her options...or lack thereof. She didn't want her dad to get hurt but she couldn't see a way around taking Jackson in with her. She returned her gaze to Jackson, tears brimming on the edges of her eyelids. "Promise me that you won't let him hurt my dad."
"Done." Jackson answered without hesitation. He had no interest in hurting her father. He just needed those plans so that he could get this assignment over with...and whisk Lisa away in the middle of the night without anyone noticing so he could have her all to himself.
His promise comforted Lisa. It was odd that she let anything he said to her be taken in a good way, but it was Jackson and she knew that he would keep his promise to her. He always had before. As soon as they were in that house, she knew that he would do whatever was necessary in order to get the job done, but he would also keep her father safe. The reason she knew this; he had said that he would.
Jackson kept a firm grip on her elbow as he walked her to the front door, and it was a long walk. With every step she took, she could feel her dread building up in the pit of her stomach. It was one thing for Jackson to come after her; hell she had been waiting for the son of a bitch, practically longing for him for the past year and a half. But this other guy getting near her or her father was something completely different. She didn't know him, had never dealt with him and what she had seen of him was hardly something to write home to mom about. She and Jackson stepped up to the front door where she rang the doorbell, earning her questioning look from Mellmott.
"Don't you have a key to your own house?" he snickered.
Lisa's eyes narrowed into slits as she looked at him, "I don't have my purse, moron."
"Why you..."
"Mellmott." Jackson warned, "Lisa, you kids play nice."
The door swung inward revealing a very confused looking Joe Reisert. "Lisa, honey, what going..."
His question was cut short when Mellmott shouldered his way into the house, knocking the older man out of the way as he did so. Jackson fought off the urge to simply chase Mellmott down, slit his throat and be freed of his idiocy. Instead, he shuffled Lisa inside, releasing his hold on her so that she could see to her father and make sure that he was all right. Mellmott was already ravaging through the house, tearing things apart and sending papers flying everywhere.
Joe didn't even seem to care. All of his attention was focused on staying in between the strangers in his house, one of whom looked vaguely familiar, and his most precious possession, his daughter. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he was perceptive enough to realize that there was a possibility that she was in danger. If there were a list of priorities of his life, her name would be right beside the number one in big bold faced letters, make no mistake about it.
Jackson was embarrassed at the way Mellmott was rummaging aimlessly through Mr. Reisert's home. He was supposed to be a professional and he seemed to have absolutely no idea as to how to handle himself in this situation.
"Mellmott...can I show you a far easier way to handle this particular type of job?" Jackson called, sounding amazingly like an impatient school teacher.
Mellmott ceased what he was doing and turned to Jackson, his breathing heavy, sweat glistening on his forehead. Jackson did not care for the way his gaze seemed to settle almost immediately on Lisa. The look in his eyes made him very nervous for her safety. Jackson turned to where Lisa was helping her father to his feet.
"What's going on, sweetie?" he was asking her.
"Mr. Reisert," Jackson said, all business, "We were wondering if you wouldn't mind parting with one of your designs?"
"You can have anything you want. Take anything." Joe said.
Upon hearing the words, Jackson's eyes unwittingly scanned over Lisa's lovely figure. Joe noticed this, and wrapped a protective arm around his daughter and adding to his statement, "Just leave my daughter and I alone."
Jackson snapped himself out of it, "Fair enough." he lied. He couldn't leave Lisa alone even if he wanted to...which he didn't. "Now, if you would tell us where it is that you keep them."
Joe pointed up the stairs. Jackson made a big show of inhaling and exhaling. He looked up the stairs, then back at Joe and bowed his head as a gentleman might do. "After you." he said.
Joe looked back and forth from Jackson and Mellmott like he was terrified they were going to lash out and seize his daughter by the hair and drag her away. He nudged her up the stairs ahead of him and led his two assailants to hie personal office.
Jackson couldn't help but try and sneak a peek up Lisa's swishing black skirt as she climbed the staircase, but that Joe was a clever man and had soon positioned himself directly behind her, blocking Jackson's view. It made Jackson chuckle to himself. He liked the old man.
He took a look around the house as he ascended the stairs, his eyes settling on the door that he had once held Lisa pinned against just before he had thrown her over the banister and down the very stairs they were walking up. He had thought that he had her beaten at that moment. He smiled at the memory and glanced up to see Lisa standing at the top of the stairs looking down at him. Gorgeous little Lisa, she was full of surprises.
Once they were in the office, Jackson turned to Mellmott and spoke as if telling a small puppy to fetch, "Now, find the papers."
Mellmott went for the very cabinet that Lisa just happened to be standing in front of, his eyes roaming over the length of her and Jackson swiftly moved to pull her out of Mellmott's path by her arms. He handed her immediately over to her father. Though he knew that he should keep his attention focused on Mellmott and his search for the floor plans, he couldn't stop himself from observing Lisa and her father. Joe had more or less tucked Lisa in behind him to act as a sort of human shield between her and them. He kept one hand firmly locked on her arm as though he were afraid that she would disappear if he let go. Jackson felt himself go into a kind of awe. It was amazing, a parent's love. After ten minutes, the office had been completely wrecked and they still had not found the plans that they needed.
"They're not here." Mellmott finally said.
Jackson ran both of his hands back through his hair and released a loud sigh. He was getting impatient which was never a good thing. "All right, Mr. Reisert. We really need to find these plans."
Lisa shrieked as Mellmott all of the sudden grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her to him. "And I'm gonna hurt the pretty one here if you don't tell us where they are!"
Jackson's temper flared the moment that Mellmott had touched her. In a flash, Mellmott had his gun drawn and had it digging into Lisa's temple. Jackson turned his face back to Lisa's father, but his eyes lingered for a moment on Lisa herself and the panic that was steadily growing in her eyes.
"Let her go." Joe demanded.
"Mr. Reisert, we don't want to hurt your lovely daughter," Jackson said in earnest, "but my associate here will if you don't give us the plans to the Brantley Building."
Joe's eyes seemed to glaze over in instant confusion, "The Brantley Building?" he asked, drawing Lisa's attention.
"Yes." Jackson nodded.
"But," Joe said, "I didn't design the Brantley Building."
"What do you mean you didn't design the Brantley Building?" Jackson asked.
"I mean that I didn't design the Brantley Building," Joe reapeated, "Mike Crestworth did the Brantley Building."
Jackson felt as though a rug had just been pulled out from beneath his feet as Lisa looked to him, her pretty face beginning to tremble as her fear began to take over. Something was wrong, and she could tell it just as easily as he could.
"You're telling me that another man from your firm did the Brantley Building, not you?" Jackson asked. Easy enough mistake. Names got mixed up, no biggie.
"No," Joe said, "Crestworth has never worked for my firm."
Or not. "What's going on?" Jackson said.
"Oh, Rippner," Mellmott called, tightening his arm around Lisa's small frame, "I think I can explain what's going on for you."
Jackson watched uneasily as Mellmott nuzzled his face into Lisa's hair much like a pig did when it rooted around in its own filth.
"You see, my esteemed employers, your former ones as the case may be, were less than happy with the results of that whole Keefe fiasco. They want you dealt with." he went on gleefully, swinging the gun out to point it at Jackson's chest.
"All right," Jackson said, brandishing his cocky smirk with full force at Mellmott, "So deal with me."
"No, I don't think I will yet. You see, they want this pretty little thing dealt with as well." Mellmott said, gesturing to Lisa, "And I want you to see what I'm gonna do to her before I kill you."
The very insinuation of it made Jackson furious, but he calmed himself as he focused on Lisa. She though well under pressure and he knew it. He watched her slide her fingers along her father's desk with ease and almost completely unnoticeably. One major mistake that Mellmott had inknowingly just made, he had underestimated exactly how dangerous Lisa really was.
"I want you to see me do everything you weren't man enough to do." Mellmott was saying at the same time reaching down and groping Lisa's breast. His touch made her physically cringe as she felt the bile rising at the back of her throat. She involuntarily gagged when his lips brushed against the outer shell of her ear. He disgusted her to her very depths and she fought to keep from even think about him oozing him way inside of her. "And this bitch is gonna love it!"
As soon as he had made the statement, Lisa brought the mechanical pencil she had palmed from her father's desk down hard, ramming it into his thigh. Mellmott howled in agony, distracting him enough that Jackson was able to grab hold of a large hard plastic cylindrical tube which he then swung like a baseball bat and knocked the gun from Mellmott's hand. He grabbed Lisa and pulled her away from Mellmott's grasp and herded her and her father out of the office and down the stairs.
"I'm getting an interesting sense of deja vu after that one." Jackson said with his trademark smirk.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like that." Lisa grinned.
"Oh, very much." Jackson finished.
Lisa didn't need to look back at him to know that that smirk was on his face. It was amazing, how well she felt that she knew him. It should have shocked her more, but for some reason, it didn't.
They could hear Mellmott lumbering around the office. He was about five more seconds from coming pounding down the stairs after them and Lisa wanted her dad out of the house before that happened.
"Dad," Lisa said, "get in your car, go to the airport and get on the first plane that you can to mom's. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"No, you're coming with me." Joe said.
"I can't dad." she said, shaking her head, "I'll be safer with Jackson, he'll come for me first." The reality of that statement hit her like a slap in the face, something inside of her knew that Jackson would protect her.
"But..." Joe started.
"Don't argue with me, just go!" Lisa exclaimed, "I love you. I'll see you soon." She kissed her father on the cheek and shoved him out the front door, then turned to Jackson. "We have to keep him away from my dad."
Jackson looked around, "All right." He said, grabbing her by the arm and leading her through the kitchen and up the other set of stairs. They heard Mellmott's foot hit the top stair and Jackson made sure to knock over a small end table to get his attention and the footsteps stopped as Mellmott paused to listen for more noise. Jackson let a door creak just loud enough the Mellmott heard it, but he couldn't figure out where the noise had come from. He was not aware that Jackson had slipped just around the corner from him. He came back off the step and moved to walk around the corner just as Jackson sprang forward and delivered a quick thrust to his throat, sending him crashing down the stairs gasping for breath along the way.
Jackson grabbed Lisa by the wrist and dragged her into her bedroom where he deposited her to the far side of the bed, pushing her to her knees behind it out of sight. They heard Mellmott hulking his way back up the stairs, still coughing, in search of them. Jackson held a finger to his lips to indicate for her to be quiet and then he disappeared from the room. Lisa's breathing was shaky and loud, so she focused all of her attention on trying to be silent for Jackson's sake.
She heard her bedroom door squeak open and gentle footsteps entered. It wasn't Jackson, of that she was certain. He would have let her know that it was him. It would have been so easy just to freeze there, but instead she let her stress management training kick in and flattened herself onto her stomach and slid underneath the bed. She watched Mellmott's shoes make their way around her bed and she consciously slid her body to the opposite side as him. Just as she suspected that he would, he dropped to his knee and peered under at her.
A scream burst from her throat against her will as she shot out from under the bed and out of the room. She charged into her bathroom and slammed the door behind her. There was suddenly an arm that stretched out, wrapped around her and pulled her into the bathrub. Jackson knelt down, pulling her down in front of him, tucking her between his knees and draping one arm over her protectively. Lisa felt her body immediately respond, relaxing back against him. Just the sight of him was a comfort. She cursed herself for not having taken the time to grab herself a weapon, but she had been too afraid of Mellmott...or rather of his gun. Jackson was his own weapon, he didn't really need much else and she knew it. Just being beside she felt safer. They listened as Mellmott entered the bathroom and Jackson silently drew his knife. Lisa's eyes hit the blade and she involontarily gasped at the sight. Jackson's face tightened as he quickly clasped his free hand a little too firmly over her mouth and braced himself in ready position for what he knew was coming.
Sure enough, the shower curtain was ripped open and before Mellmott had the chance to aim the gun, Jackson lunged for him, slashing him in the arm with the edge of his knife. Both men fell to the floor, Jackson lost his hold on the dagger and it went skidding out the door. The same happened with Mellmott's gun and the opposite door so the two men were rolling around on the tiles trying to strangle each other. Mellmott was about twice Jackson's size, so once he got on top he used his body mass to pin the leaner man and get his bulky hands around his throat. Over Mellmott's shoulder, Jackson saw the shower curtain suddenly fall and not a second later, the end of the rod slammed into the side of Mellmott's head, knocking him off of Jackson. Lisa stood over the both, her eyes wild and her breathing shallow.
"Let's go!" Jackson said, leaping to his feet and taking hold of her to usher her out of the bathroom.
Halfway down the stairs, Jackson spotted his knife. He grabbed it and turned to head back up and finish the job. Lisa spotted him make the turn and knew what he was about to do. The fear the Mellmott had already gotten to his gun and was just waiting for Jackson to come back so that he could kill him hit her. She didn't want to lose him. She didn't want him to leave her alone. She reached out and caught him by the wrist.
"No, Jackson, please!" she exclaimed.
Jackson took a long look at her pleading face and, against his gut instincts which were to kill, he gave in. He followed her down the stairs and out the front door where they both jumped into the Lexus and peeled out of the driveway just in time to see Mellmott emerge from the house. He fired two shots after them, then began looking around for another vehicle.
"To the airport?" Jackson asked.
"No," Lisa replied, "we can't lead him to my dad."
"Well, then where the hell are we supposed to go?"
Lisa struggled to think. She needed to get her mind clear but it just wasn't cooperating. If she could just calm down enough to think straight, she could get them out of this, she knew it. Jackson was swerving dangerously down the road, darting in and out from between cars, just missing clipping about five of them within the span of two minutes. How was she supposed to think with the sound of squealing brakes and blaring horns ringing in her ears? Then the answer dawned on her as she imagined an epiphany might. There was a place that she had the full run of, she could maneuver them easily from place to place seeing that she knew it like the back of her hand. There was security, video cameras, and with Jackson there, they could do anything.
"Back to the hotel!"
Author's Note: Well? Don't keep me waiting too long, please! Let me know if you think that I'm slacking on anything, deal?