A/N: Sorry this took so long, guys. I've had a weird month, so I haven't really been in the mood to update. Now things are getting back to normal, so I'm hoping updates will be much quicker from now on.

Chapter Five

Lisa flopped down on the floor, letting everyone else find actual furniture. She was still a people pleaser, but this time with a little bit of an edge. Jackson sat down next to her, much to her dismay. She was his, that was clear, with the crack of his kneecap as he lowered himself to the ground.

She sighed and began to edge away from him. He put one firm hand over her wrist. Get yourself together, she told herself firmly.

He let go when it became clear that she wasn't going anywhere. Rebecca began to cry softly, sitting crossed-legged on one of the queen beds. A single tear fell on a dark blue flower in the center of the bedspread. Lisa's heart hurt for her. She shouldn't have to deal with any of this. Her mother reached over and grabbed some Kleenex.

"What's the meaning of all this?" Mr. Killmore asked, a clear edge to his voice. Lisa had to admire his bravery (or stupidity, she wasn't sure which) in the situation.

"So glad you asked that," one of the men in suits said. "It seems as if you have a good chance of being elected in two weeks. Congratulations. The problem is, due to the stupidity of our friend here," (and with this, he jerked his head towards Jackson) "things didn't quite go according to plan, and Keefe is going free."

"But you must have gotten what you wanted," Killmore said, as if trying to reason with a two year old with a nasty temper. "I mean, your friend was declared not guilty, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, but that's not the issue. One of your main campaign promises has dealt with terrorism and the way that the "Red Eye" case was handled. Obviously we can't have you win or sharing your platform on the issue, because that would be bad for us."

"So what are you suggesting?" Reinold asked impatiently.

"Either someone offers to kill you, or we'll hold the entire hotel hostage until someone does it for us."

Mrs. Reinold gasped and held Rebecca close to her; this time Rebecca didn't protest.

"Why don't you do whatever you need to right now," Mr. Reinold said standing. "Save a lot of trouble. Let all the innocent people go free."

"Well, it's not as if we don't see the merit in all that, but, first, tracing our fingerprints on the gun isn't good for us. And also, our friend was a bit reckless here." This time the man pointed to a larger man with absolutely no warmth in his eyes. "Killed all your secret service agents and several of the hotel patrons were witnesses to murder. Can't have any of them running to the police, now, can we?"

Lisa had always thought that "the silence was deafening" was a cliché, but it wasn't. It was truth.

And then it hit her. The plane, the house back there was Jackson's territory. The hotel was hers. She knew every nook and crevice of the old hotel, and the recent additions. Every escape. Every secret. She forced herself to keep a deadpanned expression. If Jackson Rippner had been paying attention, he might have caught on to something. But he was distracted, and Lisa was a fairly decent actress. She even looked down as if she felt hopeless, too. For the first time since the plane, however, Lisa Reisert was not without hope.

"You should return to the lobby," said a dark haired man by the window. "That's where all the people are sitting."

Without another word, the two families stood and were escorted out by the thugs.

Jackson eyed her, almost suspiciously, as he stood up to join his friends. "Remember, Lise--" he started.

"Don't get cute, maybe? Is that what you were going to say?" Lisa retorted. "You know, Jack, maybe you should get yourself another tagline."

Jackson stood, apparently unsure what to make of this. For one frightening moment, Lisa thought he might attack her, but he just stood there. Lisa was almost positive she heard one of Jackson's cronies snort.

The group left her alone in the hotel. Almost compulsively, Lisa straightened the towels on the rod and checked the door. She'd have to get someone in here; some of the paint was peeling. She turned the bathroom lights out and rearranged the flowers a hotel staff member had placed on the bedside table. Lisa Reisert had people to reassure and a war to fight. After checking everything again to make sure it was in a safe spot, Lisa straightened her back, tossed her curls out of her face, left the room, and got into the elevator. The first step on her agenda was calming all of those people and making sure the cronies didn't hurt them.

The next was getting rid of Jackson Rippner.

What awaited Lisa was a bunch of hysterical people. Cynthia had evidently shown up, and of course she was close to hysterics.

"You're not helping anything," Lisa hissed, crossing her arms and looking out over the mass of people sitting on the floor. Some obnoxious kid was playing with the plant display in the middle of the lobby. He looked about thirteen or fourteen and didn't seem too upset at the recent developments. Some of the younger children were running around. They were too young to understand. A teenager had taken out her i-pod and had started singing along. Some of the older kids were crying while mothers held them. Men were asking the hotel staff for more information.

Cynthia looked at Lisa, her characteristically large eyes even larger than normal. "They came down here and I didn't know what to do. It's been mayhem."

"Don't panic. I've got a plan."

"You do? That's good," Cynthia said, looking encouraged. "What is it?"

"I don't know yet."

"Good," Cynthia said sarcastically. "I'm glad of that."

Lisa ignored Cynthia and the young boy playing with the plant and stood on the rim of the plant display. She was slightly afraid of falling-- high heels and narrow rims didn't really go together. "Can I have your attention, please," she said in a loud voice, one she didn't know she had.

Everyone was silent for the moment and peered up at her curiously. A baby wailed in the background. Lisa hoped Jackson or one of his friends wasn't harrassing the poor thing. "I need everyone to stay calm. I know you're all frightened, but the hotel staff and I have everything under control." A few of the staff members looked at her from against the wall as if to say, I sure hope you have everything under control, because I sure don't. She took a deep breath. "There's breakfast-type food in the staff area, since we serve continental breakfasts. Unfortunately, we don't have much else, so please be patient with us. We're going to be here for probably a pretty long time, so if you have questions, please see me or another staff member. I'd recommend you go back to your rooms and get blankets and pillows to make yourself comfortable."

She was impressed with herself just then-- Lisa was frightened out of her mind, but she felt as if she'd been fairly calm during the announcement.

"And we're counting every single one of you," said a thug from the floor. He had a naturally much louder voice than she did. He made sure they saw his gun as everyone began shuffling around and moving. "So all of you had better make it back. I wouldn't be at all hesitant to use this thing on someone."

The silence was eerie.

She watched absently as her patrons got up to go. Several hitmen stood by the doors to count how many had left. Lisa was exhausted. Her arm hurt from where Jackson had wrenched it behind her this morning, her knees hurt from falling to the ground, and her back hurt from being so stressed out. She wished she could curl in a corner and make it all go away.

"Nice leadership skills," Jackson said from behind her. She wished she'd stop flinching every time she heard that deep voice. "Next time, though, I wish you'd be a little more brief." He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around so she was facing him. She stared up at him defiantly. She refused to give in to fear. "Where did that come from, field hockey? Were you a star on the field?"

Lisa refused to answer him, becoming angrier by the minute.

"You'd better get used to it," Jackson said sternly. "Me and you, stuck in this hotel for a very long time. The games are only beginning." His blue eyes seemed to be examining her soul, to see if she was ready for it. "Games are fun, Lise."

He let go of her, and she watched in horror as he began ushering hostages back into the lobby.