A/N: I'm so sorry about taking so so so long to update. Aside from real life woes, I've also been having to work with other fanfic ideas I've got up in my head and a writer's block. At this rate, I'll be done with this by the end of the year. Ugh...

Chapter Seven: Everyone Lies

"Hello, you reached the Emerson family. We're not home now, so please leave a message and we'll call you back."

Ryan closed his cell phone after hearing his wife's pre-recorded voice on the answering machine. "Dammit, Lisa, why aren't you picking up the phone?" He was beginning to get concerned. Lisa was never this unpredictable, and Jake and Cheryl had to be home around this time of day. They didn't even answer their cell phones.

Dread started to fill him. The unanswered phone calls, for some strange reason, were brining back memories Ryan had absolutely no desire to recall.

At the age of only twenty-seven years, Ryan Emerson was at the height of his career. He was a tall man with an imposing air around his being. His neatly combed light brown hair and professional suit would've made the average person believe him to be a wealthy businessman. However, looks were deceiving. He was a professional killer, a manager of assassinations, a worker from behind the scenes. And today he had an easy job, the type he could do even in his sleep.

He watched the young woman walking in front of him. He stayed close enough to be able to keep following her, but not so much that he would catch any negative attention from her. He eyed her with slight disinterest. Chloe Winter was quite possibly the most boring woman he had seen. She was a workaholic who thrived on the day-to-day dosage of hard work and self-sufficiency. She occasionally went on dates, had a couple serious relationships, but she didn't seem to be interested in anything more than that. Her social life consisted of close friends she would have coffee with, shop with, and play cards with on the weekends. She was definitely pretty though. She had long brown hair, hazel eyes, and a petite but fit body. Maybe if he could just…

'No, I'm a professional. I don't let myself get involved with people like her,' Ryan kept telling himself in his head. Chloe was simply a job and nothing more. Once it was all finished, they would never cross paths again.

That was what Ryan kept trying to tell himself anyway.

Ryan was through with waiting. He dialed the phone number for Joe's house and patiently waited for an answer.

Joe Reisert's voice was at the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Joe, it's me Ryan."

"Oh, hi, Ryan. How have you been? Oh, and do you have any idea why Lisa, Jake and Cheryl aren't answering the phone?"

Ryan's worries became even worse. "No, that's why I called you." If there was one thing Ryan hated, it was not knowing if his family was safe or not. "Do you know anything?"

"No, I don't. But I'm planning to go to the house and check. I've got a spare key. Should I call you if any news comes up?"

Ryan fumbled with his airplane tickets as he walked through the line, replying, "Yeah, of course. I'll be coming back tonight around nine. Will I see you then?"

"Of course. Bye."

"Goodbye, Joe."

Ryan then hung up and walked to the airplane. He was now becoming suspicious. Lisa would never act this way.

Ryan sat in the bar of the swanky Hilton Hotel, all the while, he was carefully monitoring Chloe. She was talking with several other employees in the hotel, preparing for the arrival of a new guest of honor- a campaigning politician running as the state's senator for a second term named Carl Likens.

The senator was the target of the day and Chloe Winter was the means to making sure the senator would be properly disposed of.

From the corner of his eye, Ryan caught her walking towards the bar. Time to earn her trust. "Hello, there. You sure seem stressed. Rough day, huh?"

"Oh yeah, it's been pretty rough. I have a politician coming to give his speech here and I'm just wiped out."

Ryan smiled. Bingo. "I perfectly understand. These things can be stressful. Oh, I'm so rude, I didn't introduce myself. My name's Ryan Emerson."

"And I'm Chloe Winter. I'm the manager of the hotel."

"It's really nice to meet you."

They both took some drinks, conversing normally until Ryan slowly changed the subject. "So you where do you have the speech for that politician?"

Chloe was confused, but answered, "In the Western Ballroom. Why? Are you attending?"

"Not really... In fact, Chloe, you're the key to something that needs to be done urgently. And if you don't agree to this, your family will pay the price."

After picking up Ryan from the airport, Joe began to tell him the troublesome news.

"And when I went in the house, I didn't see anyone. Lisa's car was gone and I also found a phone message saying that Jake's car was still in the school parking lot after two days. The last time anyone saw him was during a soccer practice."

"What about Cheryl?"

"I asked her school. They said she took the bus home, as usual."

A long, foreboding silence took over. Finally Ryan was able to find his voice. "I just have a really bad feeling about this. Do you think Lisa, Jake, and Cheryl were kidnapped or something?"

Joe was surprised at the suggestion. "It could be the case, but I really don't see why anyone would kidnap them, though."

"But if they were, I think I know the one person who would."

"Who?"

Ryan turned to Joe, his eyes showing a mixture of fear, anger and something else Joe couldn't identify. He replied, "Jackson Rippner."

After what Ryan had told her, Chloe looked as though she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. This felt somewhat unsettling for Ryan. 'Why?'

Chloe breathed, "He's a good man, Ryan. You don't have to do this."

Ryan almost wanted to laugh. She thought she could get him to turn away with tears and a few kind words? Fat chance. "Now Chloe, we're both doing our jobs. Yours is to make sure Likens delivers his speech and mine is too make sure he dies within the next six hours. If we don't do what is expected from us, we'll both be pissing off our bosses. And when our bosses are miserable, we'll be paying the price. It's as simple as pie, Chloe."

"But why Likens? He's a good man. I know that for a fact."

"Well, Chloe, some people don't think so and want him out of the picture. Personally, I don't care for him, but I'm only doing my job."

Chloe then wiped her face and viciously spat out, "Then you're no better than the people who want to get rid of him."

Her words had a stinging effect. How was he one to talk? He sent people to their deaths working in the shadows. And for what? Money? Power?

She was right - his hands may have been clean, but he was just as dirty as the killers themselves.

"Well, there may be a way we could prevent this, but it's incredibly dangerous. But if you're that desperate, then I'll help you prevent those deaths."

"So why did you cange your mind?" Chloe asked fervently.

Ryan had no real idea why himself, but he did know enough that somehow, Chloe had a lot to do with this. "That's not important now. But I have a plan."

Chloe was skeptical. At the drop of a hat, he decided to help her? But she also had a plan. She was always the type to stay on top of things. "So what does our Hamlet have in mind?"

"Just leave it all to me."

"Now why would he want to kidnap Jake and Cheryl? I can understand him wanting Lisa, but why the kids?" Joe asked.

Ryan drew in a heavy breath. He knew that Joe wasn't naive, and there was always a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that one day, The Truth would have to come out. "It's very complicated, Joe. I don't even know if I should be the one to tell you the truth or even if you can handle it. But I guess it was bound to come out sooner or later."

Joe was confused. What truth? What was so horrible that it had to be hidden from him? Dread began to fill him. "What do you mean Ryan?"

"Well, first off, Joe, I have to say that I'm very sorry to you. Ever since meeting you and Lisa, I've been lying to you about many things."

"What kinds of things?"

A lump in Ryan's throat developed, his heart was pounding in his ears, and he began to feel sick to his stomach. But he was able to say the first of many truths: "For one thing, I'm not Jake's biological father. He's actually Jackson Rippner's son. He was basically conceived on the red eye flight and the only reason Lisa married me only two months after we met was to hide that she got pregnant out of wedlock with his baby. I tried to talk her out of it, but she didn't care, just so long as she wouldn't have to face you and your ex-wife with that fact." He quickley added, "And in case you're wondering Joe, he didn't rape her. She actually gave herself to him to save you and the Keefe family; Lisa said she thought she could appeal to his humanity, but if you ask me, I don't think she even belives that herself."

Joe's head began spinning. Jake was actually Rippner's son? His own daughter and son-in-law kept that hidden from him for eighteen years? Questions were running through his head so fast, he couldn't completely process them. Finally, he found his voice and asked, "Are there more?"

Ryan answered, "Oh, there's a hell of a lot more things Lisa and I have been lying to you about." And then his tone changed. "And there are some things about me even Lisa doesn't know. Trust me Joe, you'll be in for a wild ride tonight."

This felt like a stupid plan to begin with for Chloe. She still had to make the change, and then just before the bombs were set to explode, she would have to order an evacuation of the room, claiming an anonymous source tipped her off. And then the bombs would explode, meaning that the senator wouldn't get killed and she would save the day.

Not much question came from her concerening what Ryan was going to do if he failed this. He said he didn't care; he had a long history of successful missions, and one failure wouldn't hurt his record too much. Plus the company wasn't one for attracting attention to themselves by killing people who weren't targets unless they were caught in the way. She still didn't like the sound of this, but it sounded better than her own plan of trying to kill Ryan and then call the police for her family and to sweep the hotel.

It was only a few minuets before she had to pull the fire alarm and warn tell everyone to evacuate the room. Ryan had left a long time ago. Most likely, she would never see him again. That was perfectly fine with her, just so long as he wouldn't make any unannounced comebacks.

Every instinct in her activated, and she ran to the fire alarm, pulling it. The alarm souded throughout the hotel, confusing everyone. Chloe scramed, "There's a bomb in the eastern room! The senator's a target, get everyone out of there!"

No one was exactly sure just what to do, but the mentions of a bomb in the room was enough to send everone into a frenzy. Thankfully, the hotel security managed to get the people to exit the hotel in a slightly more orderly fashion. Chloe quickly checked to see if everyone was out and would've sighed in relief if not for the fact that she saw a small child come out of a bathroom all by herself. She looked around confused, wondereing where everyone went. Worse was that the bathroom was right next to the eastern room. Chloe yelled to the little girl, "Get put now! The hotel's going to explode!"

The girl was still confused, having no grasp of how dangerous this situation was. Aggravated, Chloe tried to pick up the girl, who began protesting, screaming and demanding to know where her mother was. "Your mommy's outside; I'll take you to her!" Chloe then changed her tone to a gentler voice. "This is dangerous, and you might get really hurt. Just come along with me, okay?" The little girl still didn't know whether to trust Chloe; her mother always said to never talk to strangers, but she seemed kind enough. Chloe then took the girl into her arms and got ready to make a run for it.

She barely got out of the way when the bombs went off. She felt unbearable heat scorching her back and the little girl started screaming and crying as rubble fell on them. Chloe clung to the child protectively, vowing to make sure she would live.

Outside, chaos erupted. A woman was screaming that she couldn't find her young daughter anywhere and feared that she was still in the hotel bathroom when the bombs went off. Ryan saw the explosion and began fearing the worst when Chloe hadn't come out. He screamed at the guards to let him through; he had to get her out of there, even though he wasn't sure just why. The guards were tough and Ryan had no choice but to watch as the rescue crews entered the hotel. He tried to catch a peek of a stretcher holding Chloe, hoping for any sign of hope that she was still alive.

His hopes were confirmed when he saw a rescue worker carrying a little girl no more than six years old, and an unconcious, injured Chloe out of the burning building. He tried to run towards her, asking the rescue workers if she was still alive. Thankfully, Chloe and the little girl would pull though, but were both injured badly in the fire. The girl had suffered a broken wrist, a cut on her head from the falling rubble, and had breathed in a considerable amount of carbon monoxide, but she would heal in due time. Chloe was who they were really worried about. Chloe's back was covered in second-degree burns and she had a number of injuries caused by the rubble. However, the rescue workers were confident that, with proper medical care, Chloe would be as good as new.

Even then, Ryan couldn't believe himself. He had put so many innocent people, including small children, in danger and they could've died. And it was then he realized why he wanted to help Chloe - she reminded him of what it was like to feel. He could never fully forgive himself for what he had done after so many years of being in the assassination business, even after Chloe looked at him and said, "I forgive you," without ever speaking. He couldn't bear taking anymore innocent lives when one person was the target.

A few weeks later, Ryan would send a letter announcing his resignation from the company. Even though his bosses were reluctant to give up one of their best, most successful employees, they let Ryan go after seeing how adament he was. Besides, they already had a new recruit who showed a lot potential. Ryan had taught this kid many things himself, and he had no doubt in his mind this new recruit would carry out his missions with no remorse. He was a peculiar young man; he rarely spoke, showed almost no emotion, and was exceptionally bright for his age. He was also rather brutally honest, even for a person about to lead a life of crime. Even his name was strange, like a cruel, practical joke from God.

His name was Jackson Rippner.

Joe's mind felt numb after hearing Ryan's explanation of things. He just couldn't believe this - Lisa had lied to him for nearly twenty years, and he was her father. And Ryan's past was even more mind-boggling. He felt duped to an infinite degree after hearing Ryan's story. But he still had questions.

"But what about Cheryl? She's definitely your daughter, so if you and Lisa didn't love each other in that way, why is she here?"

Ryan answered, "I have to be honest, I'm not really sure. It was around the time when Rippner was put up for parole to possibly be released early for his good behavior, about seven years ago. It's only a hunch of mine, but I think Lisa had a feeling he would come back for her and Jake, so she..." Ryan cleared his throat and continued, "Got me to... You know. Well anyway, I guess she succeeded because she got pregnant with Cheryl, and Rippner probably found out about it, and he left us alone for a little while longer. But I wasn't stupid; I knew one day, he would try reaching out to Jake, I just didn't know when."

"Then why didn't Lisa try to be truthful in the first place and save all of us the trouble?" Joe asked. He just couldn't wrap his head around the notion of Lisa doing this for so long.

"It's simple - she just couldn't face herself with that fact. I see her look at Jake, and yes, she really does love him, but I also see that she resents him at times. The fact that he looks so much like Rippner is a reminder of the flight and giving herself up to him, and she doesn't like that Jake does that to her. Lying to him, you and the rest of the family, and telling all of you that I was his father was mostly for her to make herself feel better. I know how selfish that sounds, but it's the only way I can describe it."

Joe slumped against his chair. He should've known, should've caught on to this. He knew that ever since the rape, Lisa had a hard time trusting people again, and an experience like the red eye flight definitely had to put a hamper in her recovery. He should've seen just how suspicious it was for Lisa to marry Ryan, even though she barely knew him after two months, and should've taken into account of how Jake looked nothing like Ryan. He couldn't believe how stupid he was. He whispered, "How are we ever going to find them?"

Ryan smiled and answered, "Leave that to me."

A/N: By far, this was the most difficult chapter I've written. And for good reason too. In all these fics where Lisa's married to some other guy who's not Jackson, that husband's always revealed to be a jerk (no offense to anyone), and from day one, I wanted to make Ryan a more symapthetic character and I really tried giving him a personality. Personally, I believe no one can be all pure and good nor all bad and evil (with some exceptions). I just like my characters in a grey area. Hopefully, I've accomplished this.

Man, Lisa's going to have her work cut out for her, seeing as both Jackson and Ryan were the ones telling the truth to her dad and kids. Heh.

And now you all can beat me with pointy sticks for the long time it took to update. Just don't hurt me too much. I also edited a few bits.