Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews! Here's the next chapter, which I hope doesn't let you down! Be sure to let me know what you think about it, kay!
Chapter Six: On the Run
Neela led the way down the hall to the elevators and pushed the button with one long manicured finger. Even her fingers were perfect! Lisa stood there, more annoyed now than she was frightened. She had asked Jackson for her heels back and instead, he had given her a pair of Neela's snow boots, because wearing snow boots with a cocktail dress is just so inconspicuous, right? And to top it all off, Neela's feet were bigger than Lisa's so the damn boots were like a size too big for her. Just enough to make them extremely uncomfortable to walk in. The three of them loaded into the elevator in silence and Jackson reached around Lisa to push the button for the underground parking level; his hand just barely brushing against her arm. Her skin was left tingling from the contact, but she kept that reaction in queue.
Jackson had already turned his face into a blank mask…just before he purposely touched Lisa. Call it a guilty pleasure that he simply could not deny himself.
The elevator made a whooshing sound as it descended the hotel levels. Lisa blocked out the sound; blocked out everything as her thoughts raced to figure out just how she was going to get herself out of this mess. Her mind rapidly concocted a plan, but it relied on a whole lot of factors falling into place. Factors that she couldn't really guarantee, but she had no other choices. This was it. It was all that she had.
Neela was standing in the corner of the elevator, her full lips pressed together in a tight line as if holding the words in her mouth, and she was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet trying to contain herself. She resembled more of an impatient child at the moment, rather than a deadly assassin. Then, she rolled her eyes and took a step toward Lisa, apparently unable to suppress herself any longer.
"Okay," she said, "I gotta know."
Lisa looked at her like she had lost her mind, but raised her eyebrows expectantly anyways.
"Is it true that you kicked Rippner's ass with a pen?" Neela asked, a broad grin splitting her perfect lips.
Jackson cleared his throat in warning from his position behind Lisa, but that only served as encouragement for her.
Grinning like a Cheshire cat at Neela, she replied, "Yes."
"Oh, my God! That is awesome!" Neela exclaimed. Her entire body was pretty much quacking in her enthusiasm. "I mean, I gotta admit, I thought it was a rumor. You know, an urban legend. The mighty Jackson Rippner taken down by a five foot four redhead! What about the pump? Is it true about the pump?"
"You mean the one I impaled in his thigh?"
Neela practically leapt out of her skin at that one. She even clapped her hands a couple of times. Then she made the mistake of looking over at Jackson, and the steel that she saw in his eyes cut her laughter off at the neck. If it hadn't, she was close to certain that he would have cut her off at the neck. She cleared her throat and struggled to swallow the lump that had formed there. Joking around was all fine and dandy, but when he got that look in his eyes, it was time to shut the hell up or face the consequences.
Lisa stopped goading him as well; focusing her attention instead on what she was about to have to do. She ran over it in her head one more time and said a silent prayer that it would work for her.
The elevator came to a stop and without realizing it, Lisa stopped breathing. As the doors slid open, she turned quickly and kicked Neela in the shin, then pushed her head into the wall of the elevator car with both hands. Jackson grabbed her from behind, but Lisa threw her head back into his face. Yeah, see how he liked it! It made her head swim a little bit for a minute there too, but that was an acceptable casualty. She followed that with a quick elbow to his stomach. His arms went slack and when he released her, she made a break for it.
Jackson stumbled out of the elevator holding one hand to his abdomen and bracing himself on the wall with his other, trying to catch his breath. She had knocked the freaking wind out of him! He watched Lisa running through the middle of the parking garage. Neela suddenly appeared within his vision, gun pointed purposefully at Lisa's back. Jackson reacted, ignoring the pain in his stomach. He grabbed Neela's wrist and thrust upward just as she fired, the silenced shot crashing into the concrete ceiling above them instead of into Lisa. Lisa disappeared into a row of cars.
Neela glared at Jackson, who matched her furious gaze with his own. "What are you doing?" Neela demanded.
"The only way out of this garage is this elevator or that ramp," he pointed to his right, "Lisa went that way." He pointed straight in front of them. "She's trapped."
He turned, his eyes scanning the room in search of where Lisa had disappeared to. "You stay right her and guard that ramp." He told Neela, "If you see her, don't shoot her. Catch her."
"What if she fights?"
"Then you fight. But no permanent damage is to be done." Jackson said, then he turned to her, "And, Neela, I swear to God if you kill her…" His eyes forebode the limitless variations of tortures that he would come up with a put her through if she dared defy him.
Neela's throat tightened and it was a battle just to swallow while he was looking at her like that. She didn't want to find out what those tortures lurking in his eyes were. Her mind could do without the details. She tucked her gun away and took her post beside the elevator, determined not to pull that weapon again.
Jackson crouched down on bent knees and started his way through the garage. Those intense blue eyes of his darted back and forth, taking in the length of every aisle that he passed, searching for any sign of movement; any shift of a shadow; any shutter against the air; anything that was out of place. The air was so frigid; he could see white puffs coming from his mouth and nose. He held his breath, only taking in a shallow lungful when he absolutely needed it. Most people would have passed out after five minutes of breathing that way. He could go on at it for hours. Just another one of those things that he had trained his body to do, which had come in handy on more than one occasion. That along with the fact that he could bear with the near intolerable cold weather without his coat for more than an hour and a half before feeling the first signs of fatigue. That was supposed to be impossible. Whoever had said that had never met him.
Lisa sat back on her heels beside the tire of the large Lincoln town car. She had both hands cupped over her mouth and nose; trying not to tremble, trying not to breathe, trying not to cry. It was freezing outside, thick snow covering every crevice beyond the shelter of the garage. Here she was, crouched low on the cold pavement in a backless cocktail dress made of thread bare material and bare legs. She was suddenly a little thankful that Jackson had forced her into the snow boots. Oh, the irony. She fought off another shiver, but it wouldn't be too much longer until her entire body would be convulsing from the cold.
Slowly, she sucked in a deep breath and held it before lowering her hands from her face and raising herself from her heels. She cursed herself in her mind for her stupidity of running past the only exits from the place. She had been thinking only about getting away from Jackson and not about an actual exit route. She pushed her self degradation aside for the time being and concentrated on the destination at hand. She needed to get back to the ramp or the elevator; whichever one she could get to without being noticed. Granted, she had heard Jackson tell Neela to stand guard, so that was going to be a problem. She peeked around the front of the car. No one. She scrambled to the shelter of the next car.
Jackson stopped moving and focused on…yes…the sound of shuffling feet. He smirked. She was good. He almost hadn't heard her. Almost. His smile broadened and he crouched down even lower as his predatory instincts took hold. He was hunting. He was hunting for his very favorite target. Another light scuffing of feet and he went gliding through a row of cars; and unlike poor Lisa with all her efforts, his feet made no sound.
Lisa rested her forehead against the icy cold metal of an SUV of some kind. Her breathing was coming in large heaves, so she buried her face in the crook of her arm to hide it. She needed to keep moving, but the cold was taking its effect on her body. Her muscles were beginning to stiffen and her joints had begun to lock up. Her teeth were chattering now, so she had ripped a swath of material from the tear in her dress and shoved it into her mouth; biting down to keep from making too much noise. She just needed another moment, and she would go for the exit. She could pitch herself into Neela and knock her off balance before going for the ramp. It was a half cocked plan, to say the very least, but then again, what else did she have? Besides, her track record with half cocked plans was actually pretty good.
She took a deep breath through her nose and was about to make her move, when a hand shot out from under the SUV and wrapped around her ankle. Lisa shrieked as her feet were ripped out from under her. Landing hard on the rough pavement, she was all of the sudden jerked underneath the vehicle.
She kicked Jackson hard in the thigh with the toe of her boot. He swore and rolled on top of her, pinning her to the ground. She could feel every muscular curve of his body. Every groove she had admired in the hotel room was now a startling and attractive reality. How many times had she dreamt about this? No! She shook those thoughts away, bringing her focus back to the actuality of the situation and not her warped fantasy of what could have been. Lisa squirmed beneath him, working her hand upward, she grasp his chin and thrust his head solidly against the rigid underbelly of the SUV. He glared down at her with no mercy showing in his bright blue eyes and wrapped both hands around her throat. He pressed down with force, cutting off her oxygen. Lisa clawed at his hands. No, she thought, no.
"Calm down, Leese." Jackson said, enjoying the feel of her body moving against his own; so small and firm and tight. She bucked her hips against him, trying to throw him off of her he assumed, but all it did was tug at the threads of his control. He didn't know how long he could remain calm if she kept doing that. He spoke again. "I said, calm down."
His voice rolled across her skin, low and calm; caressing; almost soothing. His eyes had regained some of their warmth and part of her, some dark, twisted, secret part, wanted desperately to trust him. To yield herself to him and let that warm rugged voice envelops her and lull her into a trance.
"I'm not going to kill you." He said, "I'm going to strangle you until you pass out, which should be happening in about another minute or so."
Black lace crept around the edges of her vision. She coughed and wretched and struggled for air. Her lungs felt as though they were on fire. Her body was all too aware of the cold concrete beneath her and the wonderful weight of Jackson's body pressing down on her. Twisted though, but there it was. Nothing new, really. Her legs flailed on either side of Jackson's trim hips where he had worked his way in between them. When she thought about it, the situation was almost symbolic. Enough so to give even Freud a hard-on. The man who had raped her soul in the same position and similar location as the man who had raped her body. Her eyelids began to flutter and it became hard for her to focus. Again. Happening again. Never again. It would never happen again! It would never happen again!
Jackson's cell phone went off and he glanced down away from her. Lisa took advantage of the distraction. She balled up her fist and punched him with all of her might, but not in the face. No. She punched him as hard as she could in the neck, hopefully managing to hit him in the esophagus.
Jackson clutched at his throat and collapsed, sputtering on top of her. Lisa shoved him to the side and flipped over onto her belly, gasping and choking as sweet oxygen flooded back into her lungs. She used her hands, her fingers, her fingernails scratching against the pavement to drag herself out from underneath the SUV. Jackson grabbed her ankle in attempt to stop her, but Lisa slipped her foot out of the confines of the slightly too large boot.
She stumbled unsteadily on her feet trying to get to the exit. Neela had apparently taken from her scream that Jackson had caught her and had let down her guard. She had actually turned her back to the room. Lisa smirked. Jackson was gonna be pissed at her! Lisa ran up and just as Neela was about to turn around at the sound of her feet, Lisa caught her by the back of the hair and slammed her head against the wall again. Stick with what worked. Neela slid down to the ground and flipped over onto her knees. As soon as she did, Lisa kicked her in the face with the foot that was still clad in the heavy snow boot. She turned and hit the button for the elevator, but the sound of scraping feet and a car alarm let her know that Jackson was moving again. She didn't have time to wait for the damn elevator, so she took off up the parking ramp.
Jackson got to the elevator just in time to see Lisa disappear around the corner at the top of the ramp. Neela sat up with a groan and rubbed her hand over her head. Jackson couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. That a girl, Leese, he thought. Neela pushed herself to her feet.
"What the hell…" she said.
"And she didn't even use a pen." Jackson said, not even attempting to keep the smug tone out of his voice.
"Lisa did this?" she asked.
Jackson opened his mouth to answer, or maybe to reprimand her for letting Lisa get the drop on her. By reprimand, of course, he meant whispered threats of severe bodily harm. Either way, he wasn't quite sure what was going to come out of his mouth, and he was never going to find out because as soon as his lips parted, there was a light ding announcing the arrival of the elevator. The doors slid open and Jackson just smiled.
Scattered thoughts were buzzing through Lisa's head as she ran up the road to the hotel. She had to get to someone. Daniel! She had to get to Daniel. She could try to talk to one of the hotel employees, but they would probably think that she was just some crazy who had wandered in and call security on her. That's what she would have done in the same situation. No. Daniel would believe her; Daniel would help her! Daniel could call the FBI or the CIA or the freaking Marines! It would probably take all of that manpower to isolate and defeat Jackson.
Lisa ran as fast as she could considering that she could no longer feel ninety percent of her body. However, she took comfort in the fact that she only had to make it to the lobby. She stumbled over the sidewalk, convinced that her bare foot was going to have a bad case of frostbite before the night was through. She felt herself smiling when the sliding doors of the hotel lobby came into her view. Her eyes darted back and forth in search of the bellhop. No one. Where the hell was the bell boy? She went lurching through the doors and looked to the front desk. Again, no one. Not even a ghost. What kind of hotel just went suddenly dead? At the Lux, things were always bustling; something was always happening. At three in the flipping morning, she was usually still getting messages from whiney guests! What was wrong with these people? Didn't they believe in service? Fighting off the blows to her small shred of hope, she staggered toward the doors to the banquet hall that the dinner was being held. She pushed in through the doors and suppressed the urge to scream, or cry out, or throw something. The dinner was over. There was no one left.
Where was Daniel? Maybe he had gone back up to their room looking for her. She made for the elevators. She hit the button, then stripped herself of the remaining boot. Running in one shoe was just too awkward and too much work. She needed speed and now that she was back inside, it was unnecessary.
The elevator opened with the preceding ding and leaning back against the back wall of the elevator with the damned smirk was Jackson. Lisa screamed through clenched teeth at him and threw the boot at his head. Not waiting to see if it hit him or not, she spun on the ball of her foot and went running for the stairwell. She hit the door without looking back and took the steps two at a time. She heard the door open and Jackson's footsteps coming after her. She dug down deep inside of herself and pumped her legs even harder and faster than they were already going.
She went up four more floors before going through the door for the fifth level, catching it by the handle and easing it closed, making as little noise as possible. Then, she raced for the elevator, again punching the button. Her stomach had begun to cramp up and her thighs were throbbing and burning. Stairmaster my ass! Lisa kept casting nervous glances at the stairwell door. She was terrified that at any minute now, Jackson would come bursting through that damn door and catch her. The elevator doors finally slid open.
"No!" Lisa screamed as Jackson reached out and pulled her thrashing body into the elevator with him. He pinned her back against the panel with his body and held his finger on the 'open doors' button. Lisa pushed at his chest with her arms and flung her body from side to side trying to get away from him. Jackson tangled his free hand into her hair and jerked her to the side, trying to hold her still. A moment later, Neela came prancing into the elevator. Lisa glared at her. It had been her footsteps she had heard, not Jackson's. Once the elevator doors closed, Jackson released Lisa and she recoiled into the opposite side of the elevator. Jackson shoved both of his hands back through his hair and blew out a breath.
"Quite the chase, Leese." He said.
Neela walked over to Lisa and raised her hand as if to backhand her. Lisa closed her eyes and braced herself for the blow, but it never came. When she reopened her eyes, she saw that Jackson had Neela by the forearm. He yanked her away from Lisa and shoved her to the far side of the elevator. Neela's model perfect face was flushed red. Lisa halfway expected steam to come flooding out of her ears at any second, like one of those cartoon characters.
"She kicked me in the face!" Neela bellowed.
"I really don't care." Jackson said, shaking his head the slightest little bit to either side. His smile was smug and condescending; a shark in an Italian cut suit. He ran his hands over the jacket of that expensive suit and tugged at the belt around the waist of his slacks before he turned to face Lisa. Though when he spoke, he addressed Neela. "The money called."
"What did he want?" Neela asked.
"I don't know." Jackson said, stepping forward, closing what little distance between himself and Lisa that there was. He stroked his hand down her cheek, his touch as faint as butterfly wings, and then whispered as a lover might do. "Lisa went for the jugular before I could find out." He then grabbed her, his large hand more or less covering the lower part of her face and he gave her jaw a painful squeeze. Tears stung at the back of Lisa's eyes and she let out an involuntary yelp of pain. He released her. It was a subtle threat. A little something just to remind her of exactly how ruthless he could be if pushed.
Lisa cowered back into the corner, her hand caressing her bruised jaw line. She couldn't meet Jackson's cold gaze and the thought brought a smirk to his handsome mouth. He turned his back to her and stood with his hands perched up on his narrow hips. He was the one in control; he was the one holding all of the cards; he was the one with all the power. Lisa would learn.
Lisa was not particularly ready to lean that lesson, though.
Her gaze rose from the floor to come to rest burning holes into his back. But, even then, she had to fight off the images of the well toned plains of muscles that she knew lay beneath his clothes. She lowered her hand from her face and inhaled through her nostrils, readying herself for speech.
"You know," she started, "Daniel will find me."
She heard Jackson sigh and his head dropped forward as maybe a father might do when dealing with a disobedient child.
"And when he finds me," Lisa continued, "he'll find you."
"You just don't listen, do you, Leese?" he said, turning once again to face her, secretly pleased with her. She would never lose her fight, her fire. She would always be stubborn and hard headed…and he loved it! Neela watched their exchange from the far corner of the elevator, her eyes wide and interested. "Daniel will not find you."
"He will. Wanna know why?" Lisa goaded. This was probably the stupidest thing she had ever done, but she couldn't seem to stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. She never had been good at shutting up.
"Please." Jackson said, spreading his arms wide. He stood there, looking thoroughly entertained, his bright blue eyes alive and teetering on the tinges of amusement.
"Because he's smarter than you." Okay, so she was bluffing. What else could she do? She needed him to think that her hand was stronger than it was.
The amusement in Jackson's eyes grew as they widened and the beginnings of his damned smug smile appeared at the corners of his lips. Neela made a kind of 'oh no' sound from her corner of the cart. She was standing very still as a small creature watching two predators in a fight might have done; afraid that if she moved at all it would draw attention to herself.
"You think so, do you?" Jackson chuckled. Pure defiance was burning so bright behind those green eyes of hers, he could feel the heat.
"Please," Lisa spat, "He's ten times the man you are."
Apparently, that was taking it a step too far. She watched in terror as Jackson's eyes narrowed and took on a dangerous glint. There was no more amusement. Just…malice. She wanted those words back. Wanted to reach out, grab them, and stuff them back into her mouth. She had bluffed herself into a corner. Hell, she didn't even mean it! She knew it wasn't true! In the next instant, Jackson grabbed her by the throat and slammed her hard against the wall. Then, he did it again just for sport.
"So," he chimed, his voice cheerful and higher an octave as it got when he got really pissed off, "you think you're white knight will save you, huh?"
Lisa's fingers groped at his steel-like grip and she was taken back into the tiny airplane bathroom. The memory brought on a rush of fear and excitement all at the same time. The way he had overpowered her so easily, the fierceness of his gaze, the intensity of the attraction that had lay so obviously and ignored between them. Even now his skin radiated with the same heat that she had felt with him so many years ago. Without her consent, her body was reacting to his closeness. She found herself wondering if he felt it, too. God, she was sick. Her bare feet skidded and floundered across the floor as her knees buckled beneath her. "Always with the choking…get a new act." She rasped, trying to regain a foothold on the dignity that her own mind had just stolen from her. She did this by antagonizing him further. There was that problem with shutting up again.
Bad idea.
The comment earned her another bash against the wall.
"See Leese," Jackson continued, as if uninterrupted, his grasp on her throat tightening even more if that was possible, "You've got it in your pretty little head that this soft, lovable, humanitarian, fiancé of yours is going to come riding out of the shadows, slay the big bad assassin and sweep you off to fairyland…but that just isn't going to happen. Would you like me to tell you why?"
Lisa pulled on his wrist. There was that lace again; creeping, crawling, threatening to drown out her world and leave her in nothing but a large black void that she couldn't escape. Maybe she should just give in to it. It would be so much easier than always fighting. She couldn't support herself; couldn't get her feet under her. He was the only thing that was holding her up.
"Would you like me to tell you why?" he repeated in a growl, giving her a slight shake, then relinquishing his grip enough that a bit of air flowed to her lungs.
Lisa drank that small bit in and the black lace receded back into the depths of her mind. She was certain that her face was still flushed tints of red and purple, but she would have to try and be strong anyway. After all, it was the fight that made life exciting. She blinked back her tears and forced herself to meet his eyes. It was an unspoken challenge to him, and it made him sneer.
"I'll tell you why," he said. Then, he let go of her throat and quickly moved his hand beneath her arm to her back to hold her up, his hand now cradling the back of her neck. He held her body against his; a lover's embrace. She clung to the sleeve of his jacket and rested her head against his shoulder. She didn't have a choice. She couldn't even stand up on her own. She breathed in. The delicious scent of his aftershave was too comforting. Then, Jackson breathed his next sentence against the outer shell of her ear, his lips grazing her as he spoke, "Because, Leese, your precious Daniel is the one who hired me."
Author's Note: That's it for this chapter. Don't forget to let me know what you think!