Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Jackson Rippner sat alone in a darkened hotel room. He'd come close to dying; he'd even been pronounced dead. But now, he was very much alive. He was in a lot of pain, but he was alive nonetheless. He let his mind wander to the brunette beauty who had caused most of his injuries. Lisa Reisert, that bitch had cost him his job.
His former employers had rescued him on the way to the morgue. They had set him up in this hotel room. Then they told him that he was of no further use to them. His severance pay was a tidy sum of five million dollars, which they left in his bank account. He'd be able to live quite comfortably for years to come. Lisa had been handsomely rewarded for her brave struggle. He thought of her fight in the airplane lavatory. He had nearly kissed her then.
He forced his thoughts to turn away from Lisa. He had more important matters to think about. His sister was one of those matters. Where is she now? Has she seen the news? She probably thought he was dead just like everyone else. He grinned as he thought about her. She was probably in college somewhere. I bet she's pretty, now that she's all grown up. I hope she's happy. He thought to himself.
Riley wrapped his tanned muscular arms around Jessica. She was a graduate student, and her slender 5'6" frame had caused countless guys to walk into lamp posts and various other objects. The two of them were sitting on blankets in the bed of Riley's black ford F-250.
Jessica was leaning back against Riley's chest when he broke the silence. "Did you hear about Jackson Rippner, down in Miami?" She shrugged wishing she didn't have to answer.
"Yeah, I heard about him. Why do you ask?"
"Well, your last name is Rippner, isn't it?"
Shit! Why did he have to remember that? "Yeah, it's Rippner. So what?"
"Well Rippner isn't a common name. I was just wondering if you two were somehow related."
Jessica's shoulders sagged, and she sighed. "Jackson Rippner was my brother. I haven't seen him since I was fifteen."