Chapter 7

Jackson got up and took Lisa's purse out of the overhead compartment and handed it to her. She took it and looked at him confused; he closed the compartment and sat back down beside her.

"Alright; the nearest I can tell is that your being involved in all this is just convenience. I severed all ties with you when I left that night…and before you say anything," he said placing his finger on her lips, "Yes I left to protect you. I knew about the baby, I found the pregnancy test in your old Macbeth text that night. That bastard had threatened you; he said you were a liability, one that could be used against me."

"Jackson, you could have told me," she said quietly.

"And have you look at me then the way you are now? I think someone found out that you were the manager at the Lux and that this would be a perfect job to test my loyalty after all these years."

"By someone you mean your boss right?"

"Exactly," he said pulling out the book in his inside breast pocket, "You have always been with me Leese, right here; I've never loved anyone the way I do you. Only when I took the picture out to look at it 8 weeks ago, when all this mess started, the picture was not in the place it has been for the last 9 years, someone has seen it and knows we have a connection."

"So you are a pawn in this game also; now there's a turn of events I'll bet you didn't plan on," she said trying to hide the smirk on her face. "So what are we going to do now?"

"We aren't going to do anything, I'm going to finish this job and retire as was promised to me."

"We are going to do something, together. You pulled me into this Jackson by forcing me to make the call that will murder a man and his family; I'm not going anywhere."

"Fine, but you realize for there to be no retribution Keefe and his family have to die? It's the only way that we will both be free."

"There has to be another way," she mused.

Jackson looked at Lisa as the wheels in her mind turned, trying to come up with a solution; he smiled at her and then took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips gently placing a kiss on her knuckles. The younger stewardess from earlier noticed this small display of affection and giggled quietly to herself as she walked past them with the refreshment cart. Lisa looked into Jackson's blue eyes and felt her face begin to blush, she hadn't felt this way in years and the memories of everything Jackson had done to torment her on this red eye flight went away as she leaned in to kiss him. Jackson was taken aback by the kiss at first but quickly took control of the situation by pulling her toward him as far at their seats would allow as he deepened the kiss; for the first time in years he felt sure that everything would work out, that he, Lisa and Jaden would be a family the way he had wanted to be the night he walked away.

Lisa placed one hand on Jackson's neck and ran her fingers through his hair; the other clutched his shirt as he pulled her to him deepening the kiss. For the first time since the rape she wasn't afraid, she knew that everything would be okay. Obviously she and Jackson had a lot of stuff to sort out and work through but she somehow knew that they would be able to. When they finally parted, both desperately needing to breathe, Jackson looked into her green eyes which were slightly clouded over with desire as were his. She was the first to speak.

"I take it you handed me my purse because you'd like to see a picture of your son?" she asked breathlessly

"Well you didn't have any out in your apartment" he replied with one of his trademark smirks.

"Just a sec then," she said placing a quick kiss on his lips and then reaching down for her purse.

She took out her wallet and handed it to Jackson; there in what had to be one of the best school pictures Jackson had ever seen was Jaden smiling at him with the same lopsided smile Lisa got when she was being silly.

"He has your eyes and your silly smile," he said laughing.

"He might have my eyes and smile, but he's got your hair, nose, lips and build. He's very much your duplicate," she said taking his hand in hers and giving it a squeeze.

Jackson looked at their hands intertwined and then back to the picture of Jaden. The fasten seatbelt sign came on as the plane began it's descent into Miami airport; he looked at Lisa's profile in the morning sunlight as she now stared straight ahead waiting for the plane to touch down. He took her credit card out of the pocket on his jacket, took the airplane phone, swiped the card and dialled the hotel.

"Good morning Lux Atlantic Miami; this is Cynthia. How may I help you?"

"Tell Keefe's security team to turn around and go somewhere else, he's going to be assassinated if you don't," Jackson said hanging up the phone.

Lisa stared at him, jaw hanging open.

"What have you done?"

"You wanted to save Keefe didn't you?"

"Well yes, but what about my father and Jaden; won't they kill them now?"

"Not if we hurry. Don't grab anything when we land, just take my hand and run; okay?"

"Okay," she said taking his hand and placing her other hand on the belt buckle.

What neither Jackson nor Lisa knew was that a few rows behind them on the opposite side of the plane someone was picking up their own telephone and making a phone call themselves.

"This is Lena, Rippner and his bitch appear to be back together. He's called the hotel to warn them about the hit. Take care of the father, leave the kid until they get there," she hung up the phone and waited for the plane to land.

Once they had landed Jackson and Lisa both undid their seatbelts and stood up to get off as quickly as possible.

"RIPPNER," Lena shouted.

"Shit, come on Leese," he said dragging her behind him.

Jackson and Lisa tore out of the plane and into the terminal running as fast as they could; Lena on their heels the entire time.

"Who is she Jackson?" Lisa asked between breaths

"Someone I worked with in the organization. I should have known, dammit," he said harshly as he pulled her around a corner to hide. "Where are your shoes?" he asked her noticing she was only in her stockings.

"Back on the plane; it's a little hard to run in heels you know."

He quietly chuckled and then pressed himself against Lisa as Lena came into his line of sight; she ran right past them.

"She's gone?" Lisa asked

"She won't be far away; how did I lose control of the situation so much?"

"I think it was when we were in that cramped washroom; you really hate to lose control don't you?"

"Yes, we had better get to your dad's place fast. She is the only other voice that my 'dog' will listen to and she's probably called him already," he said as they walked to the door passing the airport bar.

"Here she comes again; let's go and let me take care of her alright?"

"What are you going to do?"

"You might be surprised," she said producing the knife she had taken from the bar as they went by.

Jackson and Lisa slowed their pace enough to let Lena catch up to them; she placed a gun at Lisa's back and Lisa tensed up.

"Nice and slow now, let's not attract any further attention to ourselves than we have to. Rippner you disappoint me, I thought you knew better than to mix business with pleasure."

"Shut up Lena," he said curtly.

"Is my father dead?" Lisa asked fearfully

"He should be, but don't worry; you'll both see your son before he dies. The organization wants you to watch us kill them both Jackson," she said to them as they entered the parking garage.

Lisa tightened her grip on the knife and clenched her jaw. Before Lena knew what was happening Lisa spun around and thrust the knife into Lena's neck, blood began to flow freely from the wound. Jackson grabbed the gun out of her hand as she threw her hands to her throat and glared icily at Lisa.

"You probably wouldn't understand this, but there's nothing more dangerous than a mother whose child is being threatened," she said as Lena fell to the ground and stopped breathing.

They ran to the nearest car and got in, hotwired it and took off for Joe Reisert's house; praying that they weren't too late.

"When we all get out of this; Lucy, you've got some explaining to do," he said using their old joke to bring her out of her shock.

"I just killed someone and all you can do is joke?"

"It was self defence Leese; don't you forget that."

"Right; self defence. It was me or her."

"That's right; now I don't suppose you know how to use one of these things do you?" he asked handing her the gun. "I wasn't joking when I said I was a lousy shot."

"I've fired one before; I'll see how much I remember."

"Good; because we're here and my guy is not in his car."

A/N Oh my god, do you think they will make it in time. Review if you want to know.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, it means so much to know that people are still interested; I love opening my e-mail and seeing all those review alerts. Thanks again.