Always Look Forward

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!

Chapter Five

It was drafty and dark.

Lisa blinked and blinked, trying in vain to clear her head and figure out where she was. She could hear Jackson pacing and muttering nearby. She resisted the urge to cry out to him. She had a sneaking suspicion that her headache was somehow related to her beloved husband. Had Jack attacked her?

"No!" Jackson yelled again. "I will not kill Lisa! I love her!"

"You're pathetic," Lisa muttered.

Jack. Jackson was fighting with Jack. It was only a matter of time before Jack realized that she was awake and decided to kill her.

Lisa shifted slightly. Why was everything so dark? Where was she to begin with?

That's when she remembered the attack at their house and running. She remembered that Henrietta and JR were missing. She was their only hope of escaping the company with Jackson indisposed.

Jackson…. Her beloved Jackson… Why was he always fighting with Jack? Who was Jack—was he Jackson or a part of him? Was Jack the manager side or was it only Jackson? Was it Jackson who hurt her—or Jack?

"I won't kill her…" hissed Jackson's voice in the darkness.

'Yes, you will… You'll kill your lovely wife…' Jack replied, using a colder tone of Jackson's voice.

"Lisa! Run!" Jackson warned her. He was losing the battle with Jack.

Lisa slowly struggled to her sore feet, cursing her attire. Why couldn't she ever have to run in jeans and sneakers? What was it always heels and skirts? Oh well, she needed to run no matter what. Her children were in danger and she did not want to be caught by Jack. She hated having to leave Jackson alone to battle his inner demon, but she had no other choice.

"I… 2… 3…" whispered Lisa, before taking off into the darkness, headed away from Jackson's voice. She did not know where she was going, but she would eventually figure that out. All that mattered was escaping at the moment. Escaping from Jackson or Jack—whoever he was.

"Lisa!" Jackson yelled after her, his footsteps following hers.

Her heart began to beat faster. He was going to catch her. She was going to die. It was the red eye flight all over again.

Her hand brushed against cold stone, which fell away, throwing her out into the dark night. Lisa scrambled to her feet and took off again. She was not going to let herself be caught.

Silver shone in her eyes, reflected by the moonlight.

It was Jackson's car, parked outside the safe house that was anything but safe. She ran to it, and yanked the driver's side door open. The keys lay on the center console, where Jackson had tossed them earlier.

"Just in case," she whispered with a scoff, echoing Jackson's words.

Lisa inserted the key into the ignition and started the powerful engine up.

"Lisa!" a voice called from outside and she turned to see Jackson pounding on the door.

She jammed the lock button, locking her husband out. His blue eyes held a certain coldness to them—not emotion as they normally did. His long dark hair was mess, falling into his eyes. The corners of his mouth were turned ever so slightly into a twisted smirk as he grinned at her through the glass. This was not her Jackson.

"Lisa! Let me in! Goddamn it, Lisa! Let me in!" he yelled, voice raspy and harsh.

Lisa shook her head 'no'. Acting on an impulse, she put the car in reverse and hit the gas, zooming away from the crazy man who looked like her beloved Jackson but acted nothing like him.

Jackson fell to the ground, but quickly recovered and sprinted after her.

Fear grew in her brown eyes as she realized that he was not going to give up until he caught her.

"I'm so sorry, Jackson…" she cried as she backed the car into him, and then pulled away.

His blue eyes shot wide in pain and she watched him crumple to the dusty ground in her review mirror. She sobbed loudly now, crying for Jackson and her children.

A loud ringing caught her attention as she drove away, heading back towards the main part of Miami. It was a cell phone, ringing in her pocket.

Lisa frowned and bit her lip. Should she answer it?

She quickly whipped some of her tears away and pulled the phone from the pocket of the jacket. It was Jackson's jacket, which he had given her when they arrived at the safe house. That meant that it was Jackson's cell phone that was going off.

"Hello?" her trembling, unsure voice answered the phone.

"Mrs. Rippner, what a pleasant surprise," came a smooth voice on the line. The voice was familiar, yet Lisa could not place a name nor a face to it. "I was expecting Jackson to answer, not you."

"I'm sorry, but Jackson's a little busy at the moment," snapped Lisa, sensing that it was a man from the company. "Can I take a message?"

"Stop playing games with me, Mrs. Rippner. I saw your little stunt with the car. I must say that was a pretty cold-hearted move—running your husband over? Tsk, tsk…"

"Who are and what the hell do you want?" demanded Lisa, distraught. If Jackson had not been acting strangely, she never would have hit him. She tried not to hit him too hard—just hard enough to stop him.

"How about we start with what you want? Hmm?"

That was strange. Usually they made demands. What was going on? Why did Lisa have a terrible feeling about this phone call?

"I want you to leave us alone for starters. I want my family back and I want us left alone. For the last five years, we've done nothing. Why start attacking us now?"

"Mrs. Rippner, I guess Jackson never told you…"

"Told me what?" snapped Lisa, knuckles turning white as her grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Jackson never told me what?"

"Your husband is mentally unstable. We need to bring him in. Help us catch him, Mrs. Rippner, help us stop him."

Lisa let out a harsh laugh. "Your idea of stopping people is by killing them…"

"And how many times have you come close to it? How many times have you almost put a bullet in him yourself?"

"I love Jackson."

Which was the truth. Lisa was madly, deeply in love with Jackson and she never wanted to hurt him. She understood that sometimes hurting him was necessary and he understood as well. That did not mean that she wanted him dead or that she would help for that matter.

"But what about 'Jack'? Let's talk about 'Jack', Mrs. Rippner," the smooth voice goaded her.

"Why do you care? Why do you care about Jackson? Why do you want my help?" Lisa questioned, shaken by his questions. A hit man would not go to all this trouble. If the company knew where she was, then why was she still alive?

"Mrs. Rippner, I just saw Jackson's psychological profile. Your husband is a very dangerous man. There is no way that we can just take him out. We need your help to catch him."

"What is wrong with my husband! What did you people do to Jackson!" screamed Lisa into the phone. The company had to have done something to him. Jackson was not an evil person; he was kind, caring, and loving.

"Jackson is deranged. We never did anything to him. It was most likely due to a trauma inflected by his half-brother…"

"Roberts," Lisa cut him off. The gravity of the situation was starting to sink in. She remembered when Roberts brainwashed Jackson and convinced him to attack her.

"Yes, Roberts conned him into murdering his parents. He went insane shortly afterwards and it says in my papers that Roberts was mentally unstable as well. Do you understand what I'm saying, Mrs. Rippner?"

"You're saying that Jackson's insane. That he's inhuman. That he's just like Roberts," Lisa replied, voice shaking. This could not be happening. Jackson was the sanest person she knew. He was in no way similar to the monster that was his half-brother.

"We know about your encounters with Roberts. We understand that you are inclined to not believe this information."

"After everything that you've done to me and to my family, I'm not going to willingly believe you… I won't believe you."

"Mrs. Rippner, did you wonder why Jackson dragged you away when we came for your children? Did you wonder why you were found so easily? Did you question anything about Jackson and his behavior lately?"

"I have a question for you: Why did you take my children?"

"Originally, we planned just to kill Jackson when we found out that he was plotting to pretty much expose us. So we gave him a warning because of our agreement. He ignored the warning and the plan was set in motion. The plan changed to include all four of you in the killing, not just Jackson, to prevent any revenge."

"You were going to kill my children? They're innocent five-year-olds!" Lisa raged into the cell phone. She was starting to like this man less and less.

"I understand this, but the plan was foiled when your husband snuck all of you out and blew the house up. He waited and risked all of your lives. Then when we were able to follow you, I knew something was wrong. You see, Mrs. Rippner, Jackson never does anything without a reason."

"So Jackson wanted us to be caught? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes. The situation is out of our control. There is no way that we could just kill him. Even if we managed to get a shot at him, he'd find a way to escape and survive. We need to capture him and examine him—learn the extent of his mental illness. We need your help to lay a trap for him. Or 'Jack'…"

"Let me see if I got this straight: you kidnap my children, threaten my life, and now you want me to be bait for my husband so that you can use him as a glorified lab rat? Are you out of your fucking mind!"

This was crazy. This was insane. This had to be a dream. This could only be a dream or more accurately a nightmare.

"Mrs. Rippner, you are the only one who can help us stop Jackson. Help us and we free your children."

"And if I refuse?"

"I sorry to say this, but we'll just have to send you the bodies of little Jackson—his first name is Jackson, right?—and Henrietta."

Lisa gasped. No, they would not do that—would they? Would the company really kill two innocent children?

Of course they would! These were the same people that were having Jackson plot the assassination of an entire family! Just like they were planning now… It was the same plan as the Keefe assassination only different. The company was going to take out all the Rippners. They failed the first time and now they were trying to convince her to give up Jackson and trap all four of them. The company would never let her children go and she knew it. Henrietta and JR would probably die no matter what. Unless she somehow managed to sneak in and rescue them…

"What's it going to be, Mrs. Rippner? Your husband or your children? Who is more important to you? Or you could pull a Jackson and just save yourself. The ball's in your court…"

Could she really choose between them? Could anyone make that choice? When you truly love someone—can you ever decide their fate? Choosing one over the other meant certain death for the unchosen one. Could she live with herself if she chose?

"Um…" Lisa began, unsure. What was she thinking?

Memories of the past filled her mind. The first time she met Jackson, when he saved her from Roberts, their wedding, when she thought that he was dead, leaving him to escape Jack, the birth of the twins, seeing Jackson playing with them, the love between their close-knit family, and the happy times they all had together. They had once been a happy, loving family. Lisa wanted that back. She wanted all of her family back. She would not sacrifice any of her family.

Lisa lied through her teeth. "I'll help you find Jackson… just please let my children go." She had no intention of leading them to him. She did want to know about all these mental issues the company seemed to think he had. Luckily, Jackson had been a manager and she had picked up a few things when it came to manipulating people. She would find out what she needed to know, play along a little, save her children, and then disappear with her family.

"We'll arrange it. Good-bye, Mrs. Rippner," said the man, seemingly satisfied with her answer before he hung up with a click.

Lisa broke down again, crying. All she wanted was for them to be a normal, happy family. Why did it have to be so damn hard? Why couldn't everyone just leave them alone? Why did Jackson have to be mentally ill? Why was it always her family being threatened?

If only she could make it all go away…

Author's Notes:

That was a very long phone conversation with very little besides dialogue but it seemed to work best that way. Hope everyone enjoyed this and I wonder how many little clues you picked up as to what is going on. There are plenty of hints as to what's happening—or so I think. Next chapter soon.