A quick shout out to those who reviewed the last chapter, Wenham-Wonderer, Mini Nicka, BregoBeauty and lastly Hidden-Rose15. Thanks for your comments, they mean so much (and the little voice inside my head thanks you too). Before the power outage I think I had over 1000 hits and now there are over 400 so thanks to everyone who is reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter too…don't forget you can leave your comments. Good or Bad, I'll read them all.

Chapter 10

Lisa walked down the hallway and into the ladies washroom; only when she was in a stall did she allow herself to cry for Charles Keefe and his family. She hadn't been lying to Jackson when she said that he was a good man; he was the one man besides her father who had known about the rape 2 years earlier. Lisa and his family had become good friends over the years and his wife had been there to support her after she had been attacked. A few minutes later she stepped out of the stall and splashed cold water over her face to wash away the tearstains and relieve some of the puffiness in her eyes.

Jackson felt bad for Keefe's family and he felt bad for Lisa. He had seen it in her eyes on the plane when she told him that Keefe was a good man; he was not only another person who regularly stayed at the Lux, but also a friend. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise at this thought; just how much of a friend was he? No. Lisa wasn't the type of woman who would have an affair with a married man. He shrugged that thought out of his mind. He could see Lisa coming back to the interrogation room from the washroom she had retreated to, he could also see someone standing at the information desk looking in Lisa's direction. He turned his attention to Ned and the police detective.

"I will not testify against my former employers," he stated, "this will only put Lisa in more danger. They know about our history by now and they will use her to get to me."

"So what do you propose Mr. Rippner? Can we offer you a 8 by 8 cell or would you like to upgrade to a 10 by 10 cell?"

Jackson looked at Ned and gave him an apologetic look; Ned knew exactly what he was about to do. Lisa walked into the room and observed the scene before her; Jackson rose to his feet and looked into the detective's eyes.

"Perhaps another time detective, but at the moment I have other places to be," he said quickly removing the gun from the holster and grabbing Lisa rather forcefully.

Lisa screamed as Jackson held onto her tightly and dragged her out of the room toward the exit, the gun held up against her ribs pressing in hard. Every gun in the station was trained on them, the chief telling his men not to shoot and trying to talk Jackson into letting her go. Jackson looked at the man standing at the information desk and glared at him, he was wearing an expensive suit and had a smirk on his face daring Jackson to comply.

"Follow my lead Leese," Jackson hissed into her ear, "When we get outside take my hand and don't let go," he guided her attention toward the man in the suit as they exited the building.

"Fine; but give me the damn gun," she whispered to a startled Jackson, "You did say you were a lousy shot right?"

"Yes I did," he said handing her the gun and taking her other hand in his.

They ran to an unmarked police car and got in, hot wired it and tore out of the parking lot; with both the man in the suit chasing them in his black Mercedes and at least a half dozen other police officers hot on their trail.

"I can't believe you just did that Jackson…what the hell were you thinking?" Lisa shouted at him while he drove

"Let me see…I saw that bastard at the desk, you coming back to the room and he looked me in the eye and smiled. He was there to kill us!"

"Surely we were safe in the police station…out here we are wide open" she shouted again.

"The people I work for have someone paid off everywhere," he said stressing the word everywhere. "It would only be a matter of time before he was allowed access to us."

After losing the police and their other escort Jackson made a sharp left turn causing Lisa to crash into his side even with her seatbelt on. They were near a large shopping mall; he abruptly hit the brakes skidding the car to a stop near the northwest corner of the parking lot.

"Come on Leese, we've gotta ditch this car and get another," he said unbuckling his seatbelt.

Lisa did the same and they stepped out of the car heading towards the parking lot; Lisa still had the gun, which was now safely tucked into the waistband of her skirt. 'Why am I doing this?' Lisa thought to herself anger now seeping to the surface. She let go of Jackson's hand and stopped causing him to turn and face her.

"What are you doing Leese?" he asked angrily

"That's what I'd like to know? What the hell am I doing? Just a few hours ago I was a just a woman returning home on a red eye flight from her grandmother's funeral when all of a sudden her life is completely turned around when she meets a handsome stranger in the check-in line up, decides to have a drink with him and then he terrorizes her into making a call that will have a man killed thus causing her to have to run for her life now…oh and did I mention that this man just happens to be her ex-boyfriend who just so happened to leave her 9 years ago alone and pregnant!" she said shouting at him.

Her words hit Jackson harder than any slap in the face would have; he had an uneasy feeling of guilt creep upon him but wouldn't let her see it. He walked up to her grabbing her arm not so gently and pulled her towards him.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry Lisa?" he said glaring into her green eyes, which were beginning to shimmer with tears

"Until I believe you Jack! I'm not brave like you, if bravery is what you call this," she snarled at him.

"It's survival Leese," he hissed at her.

"Well I have to think about my son also, it's not just me anymore and hasn't been for a long time."

"I am also thinking about our son, his survival and ours," Jackson said, "I lost you both once before because I was foolish but I won't lose either of you again," he said.

Lisa saw that there was fear in his eyes, fear for himself and for her and Jaden, in that moment she saw that he would stop at nothing to protect them. He still held her arm tightly but she moved her free arm around his neck and pulled his lips towards hers locking him in a passionate kiss. This kiss was like no other kiss they had shared in the last few hours, this kiss held an unspoken promise to it from both Jackson and Lisa. Jackson let go of Lisa's other arm and wrapped his arms around her sliding one hand up her back to grasp her hair, the other gently caressing her lower back making her moan. When she moaned he slid his tongue into her mouth deepening the kiss. When they broke apart completely breathless Lisa glanced at him with her lopsided grin and he laughed.

"Wow, that was some kiss. Does that mean I'm forgiven?" he asked her still holding her close

"For now, but I think we had better hurry and steal another car before your associate over there finds us," she said pointing through the trees.

Jackson took her hand in his, quickly placing a kiss on her knuckles and then led her behind the trees to a black Chevy Camaro five stalls down; Lisa pulled the gun from where it sat in her waistband and turned off the safety just in case they might need it. The guy was looking the other way when Jackson stepped out from behind the tree line, saw that the driver of the car had been stupid enough to leave the door unlocked, motioned for Lisa to climb in and followed her. He crouched down in the seat while Lisa found the wires they would need to hotwire the car and exposed them. She sparked the two Jackson told her to and the car fired up, twisting the two together she sat up and quickly put on her seatbelt.

The man spun around when he heard the black Camaro at the far northwest corner of the parking lot start up. He un-holstered his gun and aimed it at the passenger side of the car as it sped toward him; the bullet missed them entirely but Lisa's didn't miss her target as he felt something hot and painful burrow into his chest. Lisa pulled the gun in and set it upon her lap and looked at Jackson as they drove out of the parking lot.

"That's two people I've killed today," she stated quietly.

"It was either you or them in both situations, don't forget that. You are not a killer by nature," Jackson said to her.

"Are you a killer by nature?"

"I think you know the answer to that already, you know me better than anyone. Just remind me never to get on your bad side if there's a gun around okay?"

"Alright, don't get on my bad side when there's a gun around. Where are we going now?" she asked him

"To get Jaden and your father," he stated.

"Before we do, we have some unfinished business Jackson."

"What's that?"

"Your retirement…we need to make sure that there will be no one else sent after us."

"I'll take care of that, don't worry."

"No you won't…we will. I want to make sure that they never come after us again," she said looking straight ahead.

After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…or the woman whose family is threatened.

TBC

A/N Wow! Is it just me or have Lisa and Jackson suddenly changed into two different people? I like that Lisa's getting stronger, at least this keeps in line with the end of the film where she fights back. Again, I know I'm OOC now, but this is so much fun…I just write what my little muse (really it's just the voice in my head) tells me to. Just what is going to happen now? Even I don't know for sure yet…stay tuned.