Jackson returned within the next few hours to find Lisa and Sarah sitting watching tv. He

eyed them suspiciously.

"What did you do?" he asked cautiously. Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Christ, Jack, talk about paranoid."

Jackson shrugged. "So its about five, what do you say we snag some dinner and take a tour of the hotel?"

Lisa glanced at Sarah. Perfect. Things were falling right into place. "Sure," Lisa sighed.

They quickly freshened up and left the room. Lisa braced herself.

Step One was to gradually begin warming back up to Jack Rippner.

They wandered around and into the hotel restaurant. They ate, talking about various, normal things. Lisa let herself be friendly although the whole time she felt like throwing up.

After dinner, Sarah dragged them to the arcade.

"Sarah, aren't you a bit old for this?" Lisa laughed as Sarah shrugged and ran up to the Pacman machine. Jackson chuckled and handed her two quarters.

"Get the fruit."

"I'm not going to get the fruit."

"Get the fruit, come on!" Jackson urged Lisa.

"I'm not going to get the fucking fruit!" she cried.

"Get the goddamn fruit!" he yelled.

"I'm not going to get the fruit, there's a fucking ghost right there!" she screamed.

Sarah laughed. Lisa glanced at her and smiled. This was going to work.

They walked to the bar next. Jackson ordered a soda for Sarah, and nothing for himself, then a Seabreeze for Lisa.

Lisa grinned. Yes, yes, yes...

The next step of the plan was to pretend to get drunk. In actuality, she would only have one or two which did nothing for her, but by feigning to be inebriated it would cause Jackson to think she was vulnerable and incapable of escape.

Lisa was laughing, her arms draped around Jackson's neck.

"And...then...then I was like, Nooo, and my dad was like-wait," Lisa slurred her words and paused, glancing at Jackson. "Did-what did you say? Did-did you interrupt-DON'T INTERRUPT ME!"

"She's so sauced," Sarah chuckled, playing along. Lisa smiled sleepily up at Jackson and leaned up against his chest in the barroom booth.

"Come on," Jackson lifted her up and out away from the table. "Let's get you to bed."

"No, no," Lisa laughed giddily. "I-I'm not tired-I'm happpy!" She threw her arms around Jackson. Sarah laughed as they walked up to the room. Jackson lay Lisa down on her bed and clicked off the light. He bent down as she feigned an instantaneous sleep and brushed back her hair, gently kissing her cheek.

"Goodnight, my beautiful drunk," he whispered and walked away.

Lisa lay there a bit after. It had worked. She would win yet.

Beep beep. Beep beep.

Lisa's wrist watch went off at exactly three am. Perfect. She gently shook Sarah's shoulder. Sarah's eyes flew open and together they silently crawled out of bed. They soundlessly crept to the door and Lisa eased it open. She threw a parting glance at the still sleeping Jackson and threw him an almost sad air kiss, following Sarah out.

They exited the quiet lobby out the back entrance. Lisa, for once, had outsmarted Jackson. She knew for a fact that his associate was parked out front and wouldn't see them.

They quickly hailed a cab which drove them to the airport. Lisa bought the only tickets that would take them to the states. They would fly into Washington, DC, and from there would catch a connecting flight to Miami. She was glad she'd grabbed her purse before they'd left.

Once they were finally on the plane Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Sarah and hugged her.

"We did it," she whispered triumphantly. "We won."

"Yeah," Sarah agreed. "We did."