Hey, to everyone that has read this story so far, thank you so much for the kind and insightful comments, they've meant so much to me! In this chapter we see Jackson leaving Atlanta with his BMW and his surveillance equipment, as well as his arrival in Miami and his first glance at Lisa.

Chapter 3: Meeting Miss Reisert

Jackson had always liked Atlanta. The bars, the nightlife, and the live jazz performances that he and a surprising number of colleagues from the office had a collective affinity for were just a few reasons that the Company has once maintained a regional office there. It was such a pity that they had closed that branch in the wake of the 1996 Olympics bombings all those years ago. Granted if the Company had had anything to do with that occurrence, then there would not have been a need to relocate the regional branch to Charleston.

Jackson snorted as he paced around his small apartment, packing up a few toiletries. It was so pathetic that someone as insane as Eric Rudolph could pull off such a crime in an industrialized center. The Company frowned on people such as that, independent criminals and terrorists. "Loose cannons" Viv liked to call them. Careless, bigoted zealots and mental patients who let their personal beliefs dictate the carnage and effects of every bombing and murder. Those who worked at the Company did not make those kind of errors. The Company was smooth, collected, always calm. And consequently they did not make mistakes. Those people, the Jackson Rippners of the world, were deadly, effective and most importantly, ruthlessly efficient. Government overthrows and assassinations were flashy, high-profile affairs…but never messy. Every mission Jackson had ever served on required weeks of detailed surveillance and planning, each time paying off.

Jackson was very much looking forward to doing the same thing with Lisa Reisert.

Heading down to the parking garage with his suitcase and a travel bag of carefully pressed suits, Jackson tried to imagine what Lisa might be like. He very rarely had to interact personally with targets, but it was an interesting game that he liked to play with himself, fashioning a mental itinerary of what the target's personality was like, how they talked, what model car they drove, how they took their coffee. For those few targets that he did interact with it was those vital details that allowed him to unnerve, seduce, put at ease or otherwise interact with a target. Sticking the key into the ignition, Jackson's BMW roared to life. Pulling out of the parking garage of the apartment complex, Jackson took a sharp left, away from the apartments and towards the interstate. It was hard to gather an idea from mere pictures of course, and the mission dossier of Lisa Reisert as supplied by Viv had contained no more relevant data than other introductory files from previous jobs. If looks were telling though, Lisa Reisert was certainly going to be very easy on the eyes. That in turn meant that she was very likely social, the kind of girl who flitted through bars and the discothèques on the weekends. And consequently Jackson would get to keep closer tabs on this lovely young woman, which he certainly didn't think was going to be a problem. God knew a girl like her was a welcome target compared to the usual ones Jackson monitored: pompous assholes in custom-tailored suits who spent hours in smoke-filled boardrooms or impossibly luxurious penthouses. Occasionally Jackson would get lucky, perhaps a mission might involve a B-List celebrity or annoying socialite who "unfortunately" died from raw shellfish or a random skiing accident. Jackson smirked in spite of himself. At least he got to be creative on those missions. But a target like Lisa, now that took the cake; a beautiful girl with no business meetings to jet off to or fashion galas in Europe. A normal girl, with a normal life, that Jackson would get to interact with. Just the very thought of getting up close to that delectable little body on a personal level sent Jackson's thoughts right to the gutter…and his BMW into the next lane

BBEEEEPPP! Jackson very nearly broadsided a black Ford Escape, before the horn of the endangered vehicle jerked him from a very pleasurable reverie. Dammit, Jackson swore to himself. He was already thinking way too much about this girl and he hadn't even seen her in person yet. He did not expect there would be much need for socialization. In eight weeks he would simply be another guest among a many at the Lux Atlantic, casually flirting with the lovely young manager. Perhaps he take her out for dinner, or maybe lattes at Starbucks, and when he had her trust…he would spring the call on her.

How hard could it be? Some standard recon, and a little harmless flirting, a single, fateful phone call and the Keefe family would vanish in a not-so-metaphorical puff of smoke.

The silver BMW was going ten miles over the speed limit by the time it passed the state border.

"Lisa! Help!"

Lisa sighed. Not that she didn't like her job, but enough was enough. First one of the bathroom showers on the twelfth floor had overflowed, which had made for one very irritated and very wet couple from Des Moines who had told her in no uncertain terms that they had intended to get wet at the beach, not in their hotel room. Second another clumsy guest had collided with her in the lobby which now meant that the skirt of Lisa's Lux Atlantic white cocktail dress now was the color and scent of Orange Fanta. And to top it all off the new girl, Cynthia, had accidentally erased half the reservations belonging to a Anglican missionary group from Vermont…and ironically enough it wasn't divine patience that was spouting from the group leader's mouth.

"Leese?" Cynthia's soft, if panicky voice pulled Lisa back to reality. Lisa plastered on her best (if plastic) smile and looked at the church leader. "Mrs. Jamison, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We just switched over to a new computer system last week and we've been having a few bugs. If you can wait just a second Cynthia and I can correct this and I promise you'll be very happy". Now that was a blatant lie. The computer system was absolutely fine. But how could she not feel bad for Cynthia. It wasn't her fault that she had just started work at the Lux Atlantic in the peak of the season.

"Fix it? Now that would be a real miracle" muttered Mrs. Jamison dryly, the irritation in her voice barely under control.

"Well we don't perform miracles here ma'am, we just do the best we can" said Lisa with a fake laugh. God, after this it would be about 10:00 and she could call it a night. She could go home and curl up in her bed and forget all about irate customers. "We're going to move your reservations from the seventh to the eight floor and your group can still all be on the same level. And to make it up to you we'll wave the billing for the first night" stated Lisa in as polite a voice as she could muster

"Thank God" muttered Mrs. Jamison, collecting the room cards from an apologetic-looking Cynthia and strolling away towards the lobby to meet her party.

Cynthia watched the woman stroll away before turning to Lisa with a recalcitrant look on her face. "I'm so sorry Lisa. Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything right." Lisa gave her a gentle smile. You aren't doing anything wrong Cynthia. It just takes some time to get used to all the different passwords and functions on the system. I know it took me twice as long when I started. You're doing fine, really."

"Thanks Lisa. Maybe if all the customers weren't such assho-"

"Cynthia!"

Cynthia grinned. "I'll rephrase that. Maybe if all the customers weren't so special-needs oriented working here would be a lot less nerve-wracking."

"Better." Lisa glanced at the clock behind the reception desk. 9:55. What the hell. Leaving five minutes early was worth it just to get away from her job for the night. Granted, she felt a little bad that Cynthia would be covering the rest of the shift all by herself, but at least most of the night crowd had come and gone. "Listen Cynthia, I'm going to head out for the night. Are you sure you'll be okay?" God, her father's worrying was rubbing off on her too!

"Yeah. What about you?"

Lisa considered the question carefully. I'll be great. I just really want to go home throw my dress in the laundry and see if I won't smell like liquid sugar by tomorrow morning. And I'm feeling a long hot bath right now. Or…" Lisa gave her friend an impish smile. "Maybe I'll just have strong Seabreeze for a nightcap instead."

Lisa's champagne-colored Lexus rolled into the driveway of her small condominium around 10:30, As she locked her car and headed into her house she did not notice the presence of the silver BMW parked down the street. In the shadows two cerulean blue eyes observed her disappearing form with intense interest.

"It's good to finally meet you, Lisa."

Hope you guys liked this chapter! In the next chapter we get to see Jackson's first full day of observing Lisa. How am I doing so far? Be brutally honest!