Bad Things Happen
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!
Chapter Eleven
Jackson slept through the night without any further interruptions except for his worried mind. He could not stop thinking about what tomorrow might bring for him and Lisa and how in the hell he was going to deal with his employers. They would not want him back—the first attempt on his life had shown him that much.
Time was of the essence and when he awoke, he showered and changed his bandages carefully and quietly, not wanting to disturb Lisa. He packed a small black duffle bag with some clothes and stuck his knife through a belt loop on his jeans. Even though he was only in his house, he did not want to risk walking around unarmed. It was only a matter of time before they were found again and he had to be ready to defend them and to escape.
After breakfast, he would sit down with Lisa and tell her about his employers and then he would plan their next move. Lisa had a right to know what they had gotten themselves into.
Jackson moved about the kitchen, preparing breakfast for himself and Lisa. He knew that she would not be able to sleep much longer and the smell of food wafting upstairs would be enough to rouse her from even the deepest slumber. He went to work scrambling up eggs, which he knew was her favorite, and frying bacon and sausage. He also popped some toast into the stainless steel toaster as he finished cooking.
He arranged the plates with the food and was placing the slices of toast on the plats when Lisa came stumbling into the kitchen, rubbing her green eyes and yawning. Her curly hair was a mess and Jackson briefly wondered if she had by any chance stuck her finger in a light socket recently. He snickered at the thought and caught her attention.
"What?" Lisa asked.
"Nothing. Good morning sleepy-head," he smiled, trying his best not to smirk when she froze at the sight of scrambled eggs on her plate.
"Oh, how thoughtful," she remarked sarcastically as she stabbed a fork into the scrambled eggs after she sat down on one of the barstools at the island. "Thinking of me again?"
"Always."
He could have sworn that Lisa had rolled her eyes before shoving a forkful of eggs into her mouth. He snorted and shook his head slightly before digging into his breakfast as well.
They ate in complete silence—the only sounds in the average kitchen coming from the scrapping of forks along plates and them chewing. Not a word was said until a shrill alarm cut through the crisp air.
"Jackson? What the hell's happening?" questioned Lisa, startled by the alarm.
"Get down!" he hissed, before grabbing her arm and yanking her down from her stool. "We have to hide."
"Why?"
"Someone's broken in—most likely to kill us. Now stay here."
Jackson crawled away slowly due to his injured leg, into the main part of the kitchen where he grabbed a large carving knife. He gripped the knife tightly and crawled back to Lisa with it. He pressed the blade into her hands before drawing his own. She hesitantly took the weapon.
"Follow me," he hissed and pulled her arm. Lisa wordlessly trailed after him through the house, her heart racing.
Jackson went to turn a corner, but quickly jumped back at the same time a shot rang out and embedded itself into the wall. Lisa gasped and Jackson roughly clamped a hand over her mouth. "Quiet, Leese," Jackson ordered.
Footsteps sounded and a man drew closer. Jackson's blue eyes peeked around the corner. When the assassin's back was turned towards him, Jack viciously slit his throat, spraying blood across the room.
"One down," he sang softly and dragged Lisa past the body and up the stairs. She stumbled as she tried to keep up with him. For an injured man, not but one day free of a hospital, he sure was able to get around and set a grueling pace.
He froze in the hallway upstairs and stabbed another killer in the back. Then he turned to her and said, "Lisa, I need you to go and pack a bag. Okay? Pack it and meet me at the car. Hurry."
Lisa nodded and scrambled off to her room, while Jackson entered his, grabbing his bag and heading to his weapons safe. He gathered a few knives, a .45 and plenty of spare bullets, along with some other equipment that they might need. Everything went into the bag.
"Get off me!" he heard her scream and Jackson strode towards her room, his knife at the ready in his right hand.
Lisa was struggling with a burly man who had pinned her to the bed. She kicked out and clawed at him, causing Jackson to wince in memory of the scratches that she had left on him from the previous night. Her nails were sharp, but he was impressed at her ability to fight back.
Her top slipped and Jackson caught sight of her scar. That, combined with the look of utter fear in her wide eyes drove him insane. What was he doing standing around? This was his Lisa. No one was to touch her.
In a surprising show of strength, Jackson yanked the man off Lisa and stabbed him in the thigh first, before ramming the knife into his stomach.
"Rippner!" roared the assassin.
"No one touches her, got that? Do you understand?" snarled Jackson, pissed and beyond logic.
"You're not man enough for her, Rippner. She deserves a real man, not a wimpy managerial failure such as yourself."
"Don't use big words that you don't understand, Miguel," warned Jackson, his knife poised for another strike. The burly man was not even bothering to fight the toothpick thin, injured manager before him.
"I understand my words, perfectly."
"Good, because you'll understand the consequences."
With a sadistic grin, Jackson cut a hole in the man's throat, similar to one he carried and listened to Miguel's gasping final breaths. "Next time, it'll be much worse," he whispered to himself, promising that he would act faster and with more anger the next time someone touched her.
An explosion ripped through the room, throwing Jackson backward into a wall. Through a thick cloud of acrid smoke, he could see Lisa's still body on the floor. Every instinct in him was telling him to run and get out while he still could. But he could not leave her. Not when he was unsure as to the nature of his feelings towards her.
Despite his earlier statement, he was not going to leave her behind. As the smoke cleared, he crawled to her and pulled her across the floor, snatching her bag and his before picking her limp body up and carrying her away.
He was not going to leave her to the mercy of the other assassins. She was much too important to him, despite his protests otherwise.
Author's Notes:
Hopefully this chapter wasn't too far-fetched with the explosion. It was a tiny bomb—more like a smoke bomb than a bomb bomb. Next chapter coming soon! Enjoy!