Disclaimer: I own no part of Red Eye, and am in no way earning any profit off this story. It is fan fiction, and is written for enjoyment, not monetary gain.

Dawn finally came, and it was with bleary eyes that Jackson watched the sun come up. Though in his insubstantial state he didn't seem to require sleep, his eyes still hurt as the light filtered through the curtains and into the room.

Lisa didn't seem to notice, however, and continued to doze. He ventured a glance down to his right, where she lay.

She looked so young, almost like a teenager or a child. It half-frightened him, and he looked away quickly, getting up to stand by the window and draw back the curtains.

The sky was clear by this time, and the sunlight flooded the room and nearly made him pull back. Wincing slightly, he blinked and went around the house, trying to find other evidence of strangers in the house. Eventually he returned to the body which still lay at the foot of the stairs, neck bent so far back the skin had ripped slightly. He had bled apparently, but in the dark of last night they hadn't noticed this.

Dragging the corpse out into the front hallway so it wouldn't be the first thing Lisa saw when she came downstairs, Jackson wondered again why he'd been able to touch the man, and push him down the stairs. The laws governing his state of being seemed to be in flux. He could walk on the ground, but he could also walk through walls. He could be flung across the room by a reclining chair, but he couldn't defuse a bomb. He could be captured on film, but not in mirrors, or reflective surfaces, and he couldn't be seen or heard by anyone but Lisa…

He shook his head. The boundary lines of being a ghost – or whatever he was – didn't seem very well drawn.

Then he noticed something sticking out of the man's pocket. Funny. Had he noticed that last night? But it was newsprint. He probably wouldn't have thought anything of it in the dark…

He lifted it to his eyes.

G8 Summit to take place next week.

Lisa woke to a warm, hollow dip in her bed.

"Jack?" she said aloud, feeling a space where he used to be. For a moment, she was confused; concerned that he was gone for good. Then he appeared in the doorway.

"Good morning." he said, shrugging slightly and sitting back down on the bed. "Found this in his pocket this morning." he didn't need to clarify the him. "Thought you might want to take a look. Ring any bells for you?"

"This was in last night's newspaper that I was reading." she tilted her head, focusing on the print, holding it up to the light. Then she stopped dead.

"Lisa?"

"There's something written here, on the back." she said, turning it around and holding it up to the light again. "I could only see it when the light was shining through it…"

"Well, what does it say?" Jackson demanded, feeling anxious.

"Gimme a minute. I'm still half-asleep." she groused, peering at the scribbled scrawl. As she read, her expression changed from sleepy confusion to wide-awake alarm.

"What does it say?" Jackson hissed.

"It says…I think it says…2331 completed. Proceed with code 6420." she said quietly. Looking up, she frowned slightly. "Does that…make any sense to you?"

"No." he shook his head. "But I'm assuming you weren't meant to read it. Not if they were willing to kill you to get it."

"But I always…wait a minute."

"Huh?"

"I was going to say, we get the newspaper delivered. But I bought this one on the stand because I wanted to read it on the bus." she got out of bed and Jackson followed her down the stairs. "I must've bought…a marked newspaper."

Picking up the paper, she examined the front page in better detail. "Look at the fringe on the right-hand side."

"What about it?"

"Jack…it's smooth." she ran her finger along the side. "What kind of newsprint is cut fine like this?"

"Point taken. So you bought the newspaper that they were supposed to get. Whoever 'they' are."

"But the newsstand didn't even protest, so they didn't know. And it was at the top of the rack." she frowned, shaking her head. "Wouldn't they want it to stay hidden? And how were they able to track me down if I bought it by accident?"

"Are you suggesting this was done on purpose?" Jackson gave her a bizarre look as she headed into the kitchen, paper still in hand as she loaded the coffeemaker.

"I can't think of any other reason…" she said, sighing and putting it down, heading towards the front door.

"Ahh…I stashed the body there. We should probably do something with it." Jackson said, walking by her side as she looked into the hall.

"Ugh." she wrinkled her nose, carefully moving around it to pick up the paper from the stoop, coming inside and sitting down at the table. "Should we call the police?"

"They'll want to know why we didn't call last night." he pointed out.

"Shit." she made a face. "Well? How do we get rid of it?"

He gave her a dubious look. "I don't know if you know a lot about dead bodies, but unless you take care of it quickly, it's going to rot. And then it's going to smell."

She shivered slightly. "I never touched it. It shouldn't have my prints on it. You can put it in a plastic bag and we'll…I don't know. Bury it."

He nearly choked on a snicker. "Lisa Reisart buries a body. How…dark."

"Oh, shut up." she gave him a half-hearted shove as she turned her attention to the paper.

When she saw the front page she spurted her coffee and jerked like a live wire. "Shit!"

"What now?" Jackson demanded.

"Look at this!" she held the paper up so he could see it. "Keefe has been killed!" she was nearly in tears.

Jackson gave her a dry look. "Oh, and I'll bet the assassin didn't get a pen stabbed in his – "

She was up on her feet and had him against the wall; her chest heaving, cheeks stained with tears, eyes blazing with fury. "Shut up, Jack! He was a good man! I can't believe you're so – "

"So what? Insensitive? Lisa, last time his life was on the line you saved him by getting me killed. Don't think I'm going to forget that any time soon." his eyes were cold and narrowed slightly. Clearly not frightened nor impressed with her fury.

She let him go and went back to the table, sitting down shakily and breezed through the rest of the article, biting her lip and trying not to break down completely.

Jackson took a large garbage bag from under the sink and went to wrap up the body.

To be continued…