Bad Things Happen

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

Chapter Fourteen

"Get up, Lisa," Jackson's harsh voice woke Lisa the following morning. "It's almost time to go."

"Go? Go where?" questioned Lisa, her sleepy mind forgetful.

"To my employer's place of business. You're bait, remember?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," scowled Lisa. "Can I at least shower and change clothes though?"

Jackson roughly shoved her bag into her hands, yanked her up from the rumbled bed, and propelled her to the bathroom. "You've got…" he looked down at his watch before continuing," Fifteen minutes before I drag you out, finished or not."

Lisa slammed the door in his face and viciously locked it in reply. She hated him. He was so insensitive at times. If he was not so cocky and such a know-it-all about the strange happenings, she would have either killed him already or run away. But he was the only reason she was still alive right now.

Acquiescing to his request, Lisa showered and changed into new clothes in her allotted fifteen minutes. Before he could break down the door, she emerged from the bathroom with a smirk, feeling refreshed.

"How's that for a quickie?" she asked, her tone sarcastic.

"It wasn't bad. Now get in the car," Jackson ordered, not batting an eyelash as he jerked his head slightly in the direction of the door.

"Not until you tell me what the plan is," demanded Lisa, refusing to move an inch.

"Get in the fucking car!" he hissed, grabbing her arm in a vise-like grip and dragging her out to the silver car.

"No! Jackson, let go!" she cried, trying in vain to jerk her arm free. "You're hurting me!"

"Sit down and shut up," he ordered after opening the car door. He shoved Lisa into the car and shut the door behind her.

"Let me go! Jackson, you bastard!" she screamed, pounding on the door, trapped inside.

Jackson slipped into the car casually and Lisa pounced on him, searching for his keys. He snatched her wrists and sneered, "Leese, if you really wanted to…"

Lisa bit his right wrist, causing him to yelp from the sudden pain. He released her and she climbed over him to escape the car, his keys in her hand. The door slammed behind her, leaving him inside the car.

"Lisa! Get your ass back here!" he yelled after her.

She was already halfway across the parking lot, sprinting. She slammed into a hit man that grabbed her and shoved her into a white work van. Jackson heard her scream and sunk lower into the seat of the car. If they saw him, then Lisa would be killed in a heartbeat. Luckily, he had slipped a tracker on her when he had grabbed her.

Jackson pulled the spare set of car keys from the glove compartment and smiled, despite the acute pain in his wrist. Predictable Lisa… It had been entirely too easy to trick her. And fun. Now, now he would finish the game and go get his Lisa back. She would hate him now, but did not care. All that mattered was saving her and anything else was collateral damage.

Plus, he could not afford to be weak in front of her. Weakness was not allowed. He had almost blown it by confessing his love for her. But love made you do strange things, which was why he had sent Lisa blindly into danger.

Jackson tracked Lisa's transmitter to an office building; one that he had never been to before. Careful observation told him that it was a real office building, not just a front. He slipped on a suit jacket over his tee shirt and combed his dark hair with his fingers, changing its usual style slightly. Into his eyes went colored contacts to mask the icy blue by turning them deep brown.

He slipped a loaded gun into one of his jacket pockets for Lisa to use and a knife in another for him. He exited the BMW and slipped an earpiece in his ear that allowed him to hear the audio on the transmitter that doubled as a listening device. He slid the handheld transmitter into yet another pocket and his duffle bag swung along in his hand.

Jackson strode confidently into the building, with a pleasant smile plastered upon his face. He kept walking through the lobby and straight to the elevator. There was no need to speak to the secretary; that was why he was tracking Lisa.

"Where is Jackson Rippner?" a cold, sinister voice came through the earpiece.

Lisa's quivering voice came next, saying, "I don't know. I don't know!"

It pained him to hear her upset, but he had to keep his focus; keep his logic. What was about to happen would decided both their fates. It was only a matter of time before either one of them, or both of them, or neither of them left this building alive.

"Tell me where he is."

"If I knew, I'd already have killed the bastard. He tried to kill me!"

"Good job, Lisa, confuse them more and more as well as yourself," Jackson whispered to himself, shaking his head side-to-side.

According to his tracker, he was on the same floor as Lisa. He exited the elevator and purposefully continued down the hallway, prepared to take out anyone in his way. A desk and a secretary blocked him from making it to the first set of doors separating him from Lisa. His heart began to be faster at the thought of her and his closeness.

"Excuse me," the secretary said politely, yet firmly.

"Oh, I'm looking for a young woman, about my age," Jackson began, describing Lisa. "She's got short curly auburn hair and striking green eyes and was probably using profane language. Have you seen her?"

"Does she have a name?"

Jackson smiled and withdrew the gun from his pocket, cocked it and placed against the woman's head. "Tell me where Lisa Reisert is, before I blow your brains out," he said calmly, too calm for the situation.

"Who?"

"Lisa Reisert. Tell me where she is."

"There's no here by that name."

"Too bad," Jackson smirked and pulled the trigger, killing the secretary. He placed the gun back in his pocket and shook his head and tsked, "What a waste of a bullet."

Jackson walked around the desk and opened the heavy wooden door and slipped inside, traveling deeper into the office that he knew was operated by his former employers. He knelt down and placed a tiny bomb on the floor and set it before rushing forward. He moved out of the blast radius just before it exploded. The explosion reverberated inside his ear, ending the dialogue between Lisa and her captor for a moment.

Rapid-fire Russian filled the earpiece and Jackson knew that his employer, the man behind the order of the Keefe assassination, was the one interrogating Lisa. This was his target.

Screaming women and worried men passed him in the hallway, evacuating the office. He continued onwards, grateful that no one was giving him a second glance. He consulted the transmitter again, relieved to see that Lisa was twenty feet away. Now fifteen… ten… five… Just behind that door. A door was all that separated Jackson from Lisa and his employer and possibly a few thugs.

Three separate voices spoke Russian on the earpiece before he heard gasping and choking sounds from Lisa.

"Where is Jackson Rippner? I know he's here, now where is he? Why is he here?" questioned the leader, Jackson's former employer.

"I don't know!" gasped Lisa, slowly suffocating as Jackson's blood boiled. "I don't know! Except…"

"What is it, Ms. Reisert? What is it?"

"He said… he said he loved me…" Lisa gasped and then gave a strangled cry as she shoved against a wall he assumed from the crashing that he heard.

"Pick her up and let's go find this son of a bitch," ordered his employer and Jackson flattened himself against the wall.

The door swung upon and Jackson pounced, the knife in his hand, and slashed the throat of the first thug to cross his path. The thug fell to the floor and Jackson turned to meet the next, knocking a gun away and slashing another throat. Slicing throats was a hasty way to conclude his business.

"Give me the girl!" ordered his employer from behind him, he spun around and came face-to-face with a shocked Lisa; a gun held to her head.

Jackson's heart stopped. This was it. The test was here. The test of how far he was willing to go to save Lisa Reisert, the willful victim.

Author's Notes:

That was a pretty long chapter! Only one left! Enjoy!