Horrible thick throbbing pain was the first thing to fill Lisa Reisert's consciousness. She could feel every beat of her heart in the back of her head. Every gush of blood brought a new wave of pain. She squeezed her eyes tighter.

A thick groan escaped her lips as Lisa began to sit up. She slowly opened her eyes. The woman began to blink away the brightness. Where was she? It was so bright. Her mind was too foggy and the pain was too intense for her to remember. They just kept coming, those waves of pumping pain.

Suddenly the ground beneath her jerked and Lisa's head slammed against a soft wall. Slowly things began to come into focus She looked around. She was lying under a blanket. The blanket from her bed, actually. Windows were in front of her and on both sides.)

"A car," she muttered. She was in a car and lying in the back seat. Lisa squinted her eyes at the back of the driver's head. It was a man. He had very short hair, sort of like a buzz cut but not as military looking. It was just short. He had thin but square shoulders.

Another wave of pain washed over her. Lisa closed her eyes for a moment, just breathing through it. She opened them again. Her eyes wandered up to the rearview mirror. She could see his smooth forehead. The man tilted his head up and glanced in the mirror. The reflection showed enough to bring her back. She saw those blue eyes. When she had first seen this man, those eyes had nearly entranced her. They were bright and clear like the waters of a calm tropical ocean. Of course there was nothing enchanting or calming about them now because Lisa remembered what happened.

She remembered opening the door and seeing him. She remembered how she had been prepared but he had been stronger, wrenching her wrist and causing her to drop the can. Then she remembered falling. She remembered her hair fluttering around her face, edging around the borders of her sight. The falling made ever thing feel surreal. She knew it was a dream, that it couldn't be real. She remembered watching Jackson Rippner enter her home and her life.

The pain dragged her back to the present. She could regret opening the door later. Right now she had to focus. Still, it was so hard with this pain. She closed her eyes. If she slept, then maybe she wouldn't feel this pain.

"No!" her mind screamed, "Don't be stupid. Get out of here or he's going to kill you!"

Lisa bolted up. She threw her hands out to cast off the blanket. As she did, Lisa revealed something she had figured out the second she moved her arms. The woman stared, horrified, at the metal cuffs binding her wrists. She began to twist her wrists and squirm as if it could help.

"Those are for your own protection," a level voice said from the front. Jackson kept his eyes on the road.

"Protection!" she spat. Lisa was a little surprised by herself but she hoped it didn't show.

"Yes, it's for your own protection," he said, "I walk in your door and you fall over. You already have your Sea Breeze today?" he inquired. "If you had landed even a little differently you could have severed your spine."

Lisa's eyes widened a bit. The pain was pretty close to her neck.

"You should act a little more grateful, Leese. I did patch you up. If it weren't for your little spill, we could have been on the road five minutes after I got there. Instead I had to clean up your blood and dress the wound. That's a lot more then you can say for me."

Lisa said nothing for a moment and just let this all sink in. Jackson broke out of jail and into her house. He treated her injury, and then kidnapped her. There was a burning question that had to be answered.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded; her voice shook only a little. Lisa really wanted to ask, "Why did you kidnap me?" but the "why" would have to wait.

Jackson kept driving and said nothing. Lisa glared at the back of his head. She twisted her wrists back and forth, but to no avail. She wondered vaguely if these were his cuffs from jail. Had he escaped while wearing them?

"Let me go!" she demanded sternly. Her voice shook but not much. He glanced back at her and for a moment their eyes locked. He quickly returned to watching the road. Suddenly the car jerked as he turned. It jerked again then stopped. Jackson had parked.

Lisa's breath felt weak as she watched him climb out of the driver's side door. She could see his shadow pass over him as he circled the car. Jackson pulled the backseat door open and pulled Lisa into a sitting position. He began to unlock the handcuffs.

"Right now I'm going to state the obvious, but for you I think it's necessary. I have escaped from prison and I am a wanted man. I had to shave my head to change my appearance, but that will only go so far. We are about to go into a motel. If you scream for help, run, or even hint that something is wrong I'm going to kill whoever is around. I won't be nearly as nice as I was the first time. So remember I have nothing to lose by slitting the throat of the person you try to contact. Understand?" He twisted the key in the lock and the cuffs slid off.

"Yes." She said quietly. Lisa began to rub her wrists. They were covered with bulging angry red marks. Jackson pulled Lisa to her feet. She became aware of the fact that she was still dressed in last night's PJs. She felt a pang of embarrassment for whoever would see her in this over sized tee shirt and loose shorts. Her bare feet burned on the black parking lot as they walked toward the front office of the small dingy motel.

She felt a warm hand slide across her back and onto her shoulder. Lisa lifted her gaze to glare at Jackson. He kept facing forward as he tightened his grip. They walked together in silence. Jackson paused and gave Lisa stern look before he pushed the door open.

She turned her head to look at him. Jackson still was an attractive man capable of fooling people simply by flashing a smile. His blue eyes sparkled with a light that seemed to come from a laugh not yet audible. His shaved head was smooth and this look worked for him too. She noted that he had removed the bandage from his throat. Only a small line of stitches hinted that something had happened.

A loud chuckle escaped his lips as he roughly shook her shoulder. The show had begun. It was time to play for him. It was time to pretend to be something he wasn't and it was her time too.

The man behind the desk was a little elderly. He was probably about her father's age. The man, whose nametag read, "Tommy" should have retired years ago. But the man with a boy's name seemed so full of life. His eyes lit up at the sight of travelers as he jumped from his seat behind the desk.

"Well how do ya'll do today? Oooh Missy, what happened to your head?" he greeted them warmly. Lisa smiled at him nodding her head a little. She looked over to Jackson. There was no doubt in her mind that this homicidal bastard would take this man's life. Jackson turned to smile to the old man.

"I'm quite well but I'll be even better once we get a room. And this one over here could use a good night's sleep. Lisa fell out of the car earlier today." Again he laughed only this time it wasn't so booming. The old man laughed, too, revealing a tooth missing. Lisa sighed. They weren't in Miami anymore. There was no way to tell if there were even in Florida.

Or maybe there was. She smiled and without looking at Jackson said, "We're passing through here but we were wondering if there were any sites to be seen in the area?" If they were near a big city where there would be something to see, then she would at least get an idea as to where they were and maybe even where they were headed. Lisa felt like she could scream. The pain in her head was still pounding like a jackhammer.

"Well now," Tommy said running his hand through his thinning hair, "I can't say I can think of much that'd be of any interest to you young people."

"That's alright." Jackson cut in. He asked, "Could we get a room?" His voice was harder but those blue eyes sparkled in such a friendly manner that Lisa could almost fall for it all over again.

The old man turned and typed something intoa computer. He smiled up at them and said, "Room 214." He took a few shaky steps over to the wall of keys and handed one to Jackson. The copper glinted just for the few seconds before it dropped through the air from the old man's wrinkly vein-covered hand to Jackson's hand. Once more Jackson smiled and with a nod he said, "Thanks."

Keeping his grip on her, Jackson spun Lisa around and led her out the room. Once they had passed the line of vision from the window Jackson dropped his arm. Hesmoothed out his sleeves as if touching her arm had dirtied him in some way.

"Pretty good, Leese. Maybe you finally do get the gravity of the situation. Now up the stairs," he commanded and gave her a little push. Lisa glared, but obeyed. The concrete steps leading to the second floor pricked and stung her feet.

She turned back to glance at him. If she pushed him down the stairs, then maybe her problems would be over, at least for a little while. She'd done it once before, but back then it had been on a carpeted staircase. This was concrete and metal. He would surely break his neck. She had no choice. It was her only escape.

She stopped and held her head. The pain was still so intense but she had to do what she had to do right now. Lisa spun around and extended her arms toward him. Jackson's eyes widened and he quickly dodged. Lisa felt her body falling through the air. She had missed and was now falling down the steps. Before she could even scream, Lisa felt a tug at her wrist. The falling stopped abruptly as Jackson pulled her to her feet. His face had hardened to stone. He held her wrist tightly, his short nails biting into her skin. He dragged her the rest of the way up the stairs and down the hall until they reached a door that read "214". He jammed the key in the lock and twisted it. Jackson shoved her forward.

Lisa could almost feel a déjà vu moment. This time she stuck her arms out and caught herself. Jackson slammed the door, bolted and locked it. He turned to glare at her. His nostrils flared as he puffed in rage.

"If you keep being cute like that, then people are going to get hurt. Namely you. Here's a tip: if you're a clumsy girl, don't try running down the stairs and pushing someone. Because it's probably you who's going to die. I was even going to let that little stunt you pulled earlier slide! Why are you being so selfish? Do you want others to die?"

Lisa sat still. She didn't speak or lift her head. There was really no escape. She swallowed a lump in her throat. She looked over. She had landed next to a queen size bed. It was the only bed in the room. Her eyes snapped up to Rippner, "I'm not sleeping with you." Jackson made a snorting noise.

"Don't flatter yourself, Leese. We had to get a single to appear to be a happy couple." He walked over and grabbed her elbow, yanking her back to her feet. Jackson led her to a door on the other side of the room. He pushed it open, and then he pushed her inside.

It was a bathroom. It was very small and cramped. There was a sink with a spotty mirror above it, a toilet, which appeared to have once been white, and a shower tub combo. Jackson pointed to the tub and said, "Get in."

Lisa stared at him without moving. He rolled his eyes and said, "Still having those emotion based dilemmas? Well, its okay Leese." She felt him touching her hand and for a moment, a pang of fear surged through her. Suddenly she felt something cold clamp around her wrist. She looked down to see those shiny cuffs. Jackson reached over and attached the other cuff to the handicap rail in the tub. Lisa dropped down on to the side of the tub.

Jackson walked out of the small room. From where she sat, Lisa could see him grab a pillow and the blanket from the bed. He took long strides as he crossed the dirty room to toss her the bedding.

"Night Leese," he said, placing his finger above the light switch, "Oh, and remember if you try to do anything stupid even from in here, people will die." With that, he flicked the switch and covered her in darkness. Jackson shut the door, cutting in half a very vile curse word she used to describe him.

Once the bathroom door clicked, Jackson sighed heavily. He dug his nails into his scalp in frustration. "I don't know how long I can tolerate you,"he whispered "But we both know it's a lot longer then they will be able to. You're going to be dead ten minutes after they meet you." Jackson shook his head. He walked over to the bed and sat down facing the heavy closed curtains.

As if on cue, his cell rang. Jackson flipped it open.

"Hello?" he asked. The voice asked some questions and like a good employee, he answered honestly and briefly, "Yes I've got her. No, we're only about halfway there. Another day and we should make it. She's locked in a bathroom. I need to obtain some clothing so that she's not so conspicuous." He listened a moment then replied, "Yeah. No. Okay. Fine. Bye." Jackson flipped the phone closed.

He began to rub his finger over the stitches on his neck. It had become a habit of late, almost a tic. Jackson glanced back at the bathroom door and said, "I don't understand why they want you." He frowned. "You are useless. You are a stupid woman who needs to read self-help books to get through the day. You can't handle this line of work." Even as he said it, something in his mind disagreed.

END OF CHAPTER

Once again I'd like to thank my great Beta. She fixed my mechanical errors, caught a bit of OOCness in Jackson, and pointed out that I posted the last chapter twice. Thanks so much! Also people please review!