Coldest Degree

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

Chapter Seven

Three Years Earlier…

Jackson had kept a vigil beside Lisa as she drifted in and out of consciousness for two days. The abuse that she had suffered had exhausted her body and now she was finally able to rest and recover. He had been surprised at first that she would sleep around him given their past, but it helped them both.

He watched her sleep from across the room. He had decided to drag in a couch after the first night. Jackson didn't feel like spooking her too badly when she awoke and if she saw him lying beside her, Lisa would freak. He was trying to avoid that. He wanted to win her trust back.

If she would let him.

The first step would be reconciling with her father.

Jackson picked up his cell phone and dialed a number that he knew by heart—Joe Reisert's phone. He knew that he'd pick up.

"Lisa? Leese?" Joe's frantic voice answered after two rings.

"No, but she's safe. I promise."

"Who…who are you?"

"All you need to know is that she's safe. They can't hurt her now. She's alive." He was purposely being vague. The last thing he needed was cops up his ass.

"Who are you? Where is my daughter?"

"She's with me. I'll have her call you when she's feeling better. She's lucky that I got there before he finished the job."

"Who are you?"

"Jackson," he whispered and hung up the phone.

"We have another body, H," Eric Delko announced. "And it's a bad one."

"Male or female?" Horatio Caine inquired, eyebrows raised.

"Female. Another redhead. She's about the same age as Lisa Rippner and the last one."

"ID?"

"Jane Doe," he said sadly, shaking his head. "He's escalating."

"How so?"

"Take a look."

Eric handed Horatio a stack of crime scene photos. Horatio had been too busy following up on the evidence from the last two murders around the lab that he had not gone to the scene of the last CSI call. He had sent Eric instead.

The new body looked like a dump as well—remote location, body on the stomach, no cars in sight. Instead of a swamp, this one was lying in an alley. The woman had half-formed bruises covering her skin as well as knife wounds. Her clothes were also in disarray suggestive of a sexual assault.

The second woman also had short red hair like Lisa Rippner and the previous Jane Doe. Her hands were still restrained behind her back with rope and another rope was knotted around her neck. The cause of death had clearly been strangulation, while the previous woman had bled to death.

The 'J' was also present on her right forearm.

There was no doubt that it was the same killer.

"Did you find a car nearby?"

"Yes. Calleigh's already started to process it," Eric said.

"Good. Go help her. We need to figure out if Lisa Rippner is still alive and if she was a witness again."

A smile spread across his face as he stared at his third victim. She would be the perfect kill. The others had only been practice. She was the prize.

She had been the first one that he caught. He had held off on killing her until her perfected his formula for murder. He wanted her to suffer. She was to be an example of what happened when good little girls messed with the wrong people.

He had waited over three years to be allowed the pleasure of finishing her off. Now that the order had finally come, he wanted everything to be perfect. He would only have once chance at killing her. That was where the others had come in. They were all had the same build, were around the same height, and had similar hair. They were test runs.

Lisa Rippner was the finale. She was to become his masterpiece.

But first, he still had one more test left. He had nearly killed her, but now it was the time for the final piece.

He grabbed a handful of the matted, hated red hair and thrust the barrel of a gun to her temple. His new victim was limp; no longer caring, no longer fighting. The first one had been spirited but the last two had been worthless. Hopefully his finale would be worth waiting for.

He smiled at his prize as he pulled the trigger.

Her body was still missing.

Jackson Rippner wandered aimlessly around the small hotel room. Dark circles under his saddened blue eyes betrayed the sleepless nights that he had endured. He had yet to shave this week and his longish hair was a tangled mess. He was falling apart.

Why her? Why did they have to take her after all this time? Why?

There was no doubt in his mind that her disappearance was connected to the Keefe job. That was the only commonality in their lives beside their relationship, which alone was not enough cause to order her capture.

She's dead by now. She's been gone over a week. I'll be lucky to find her body now, or even pieces of it…

He shivered at the thought of her body mutilated because of him.

How dare he hurt her? I know he did it—he's the only one who could get the authorization to come after me. His grudge is deep enough to do it.

Jackson swallowed hard. It was all he could do to try to control his emotions. Fury, rage, sadness; they all drove him insane. The pleasure of a kill, the warmth of her smile, the emptiness he felt without her…

He picked up the KA-Bar from the table top. The blade glinted in the dim lighting of the room as he twirled it. Without a second thought, he thrust it into the sheath on his hip. He then pried a worn photograph from the inside pocket of his jacket. He stared at the lively woman in the photograph—his Lisa—her green eyes sparkling as she stared at him. He gave the photograph a soft kiss and then placed back in the pocket over his heart.

"I'm doing this for you, Leese. You will be avenged, I swear. Even if I get killed in the process, he will die. He'll die for hurting you…" he promised and then pulled the door shut behind him as he stepped in the dark night.

Author's Notes:

Once again, a lot of switching, but it's beginning to pick up. The next chapter will be mostly CSI stuff as they piece the cases together. Thanks for reading/reviewing!