Ok...lack of update due to lack of Internet connection and lack of perseverance to get it on a jump drive to transfer it somewhere else. Pummel me with the latter part, but voila! It's here. And no longer shall I ramble, so read and review!

---------------------------------------

Lisa silently glared at him, fists clenched so tightly that they were practically numb as she gnawed on her lower lip to prevent the torrent of profanities that were aching to burst forth. Jackson responded with one of his trademark smirks that only increased Lisa's ire, and with a low chuckle he gestured for her to enter.

"Well come on in Leese. You can tell me all about it once we hit the road."

Jackson's partner, whose name Lisa had yet to know, silently skulked past Jackson without the faintest hint of acknowledgment. With an audible huff, Lisa jutted her foot forwards, meaning to pass Jackson quickly like the man's precedent, but instead felt his hand clamp onto her wrist, pulling her backwards.

"Give me your purse." He commanded.

"What?"

Jackson rolled his eyes. "I need to check your purse and get rid of anything unnecessary or dangerous. Knowing you, there might be a recorder or camera somewhere, and maybe even a weapon... no further explanation needed, Leese. Just hand it over."

Reluctantly, Lisa slowly handed him her bag, only to have it snapped away with his spidery fingers.

"You're welcome." Lisa said tartly, ignoring the snicker of Jackson's nameless partner in the background. Jackson merely walked past her towards the vacant living room, and with the slightest trace of amusement, he carelessly poured out the contents of Lisa's purse into the glass coffee table.

"Careful!" Lisa warning was thoroughly ignored as he fanned out all of her small objects and trinkets across the glass surface, his aura once more strictly business as he fumbled through her wallet, examining credit cards. Satisfied, his hands picked up a square envelope that contained a disk.

"Those are the files," Lisa explained. "I did better than you expect; got the records of everyone who has stayed in the past year, plus whatever upcoming schedules that are in file."

"Why, thank you." His voice was unappreciative as he placed the disk onto the side of the table.

"Oh no, Jackson. Thank you, because I really appreciate what you did for me earlier." Lisa's tone became a few notes lower than usual as she hovered behind him.

Jackson looked up at her, eyes narrowed warily at the inevitable storm that was brewing in her rigid face.

"I mean, it was really thoughtful for you to get me a new wardrobe without telling me. I was so eager to just abandon all of my belongings before we got this show on the road, you know? I just love surprises."

Jackson's upper lip twitched in annoyance. "Let's drop the sarcasm and keep the focus at hand, alright?"

"You're treating me like a hostage, Jackson. I thought you said we were partners."

Jackson smiled, infuriating her even more by adding a condescending coo. "Oh Leese, get a clue. Asides from your brief knowledge of the situation, you don't know what the hell is going on or what needs to be done. Until I'm assured that you're game in this whole fiasco, you need to simply do whatever I say. So for now, we are not partners."

"But you said-!" Her fists instinctively clenched.

"Work your way up Leese, that's the nature of this business. I didn't get where I am by whining."

"Great," Lisa plopped herself on the black leather love seat, her face prickling with the blood still pooling towards her cheeks from fury. "So what am I, your pupil in governmental conspiracy?"

"Something like that," Jackson's voice seemed distracted, and he quickly jerked open a thick yellow envelope, fishing through and exposing the glossy surfaces of a stack of photographs. He looked through the first few before plopping them harshly onto the table, causing them to scatter amidst a few of her cosmetics.

"We can't have these." His voice was curt; an obvious order.

"Yes we can," Lisa instantly protested, leaning forwards, nearly falling off the seat.

Jackson inflicted the full force of his cold glare. "You know if you happen to be careless or drop one of these..."

"You already got rid of all my other stuff, Jackson All I have left is everything in this purse." Feeling hot tears brim the corners of her eyes, she jerked her gaze to focus at the noise of clattering glass behind her- Jackson's partner was making a cocktail in the kitchenette, far more interested in getting a green olive out of a jar than their audible quarrel.

Only looking back after a minute of silence, Lisa found Jackson's face still set in stone, but slowly he gathered and nestled the photographs back into the envelope. Not commenting as he placed them onto the table, he simply gazed at the pallid wall in front of him, his eyes flickering towards Lisa every now and then. An obvious debate was warring inside his head, and the way his eyebrows were furrowing, Lisa took her chance.

"Please," She pressed, hoping to take advantage of his moment of uncertainty. "I'll need them for sanity's sake. If you let me keep them, then maybe I won't complain about leaving my stuff behind."

Jackson's face lit up at the latter part of her words, and his eyes began to bore into hers with obvious calculation.

"Maybe?" His voice was unconvinced; he clearly wanted a compromise.

Lisa sighed in defeat. "Fine, I won't mention it again. I'll just use whatever clothes and things you got for me without a word."

Enjoying the sweet breeze of victory, Jackson's face gained back its arrogant animation. "I like that. Alright then, keep the pictures, lose the attitude. For the entire duration of the trip. Personally I don't think that's even possible, what with the expected whining you'll spew, but what's important is this: Follow my orders and keep the sarcasm at bay. You up for that?"

Lisa grimaced as she looked into the nearby future, one with Jackson seated on a giant pedestal, relentless with his usual scathing remarks as she remained furiously but silent on the ground, consumed under his shadow of authority.

"...alright Jackson, but only if you cut down on your own attitude. Might make the trip easier for the both of us."

Jackson shook his head slightly, lips pressed together to suppress an eager smirk. "But Leese, you can't change a man over night. Why ask that when you know I'll just slip up?"

"So I have to be the only one taking all the bullshit?"

"For the pictures' sake, well, yes."

Speechless, Lisa took to pacing about the room, muttering unintelligible things to herself, occasionally glancing at Jackson with murderous eyes, even though his attention was again preoccupied with sorting through her belongings.

"So what's going to happen to my car?" She murmured as he finally started placing her things back into the purse.

Jackson tilted his head towards the kitchenette. "Jasper will be taking care of that."

Lisa, finally able to put a label onto the hazel-eyed beauty, spun to look at him.

"Ah, so he has a name." Her voice was slightly curt.

Jasper regarded her with dark amusement before answering with his unjustly suave voice. "I have several names Ms. Reisert, but for now it's best kept as Jasper. And might I add Ms. Reisert, that you are misinterpreting your luck on this operation. You should be thankful."

Lisa guffawed. "Ah yes, I'm a very lucky woman to be going through all this. Apparently it's no big deal if I get kidnapped and possibly killed, right? I really hit the jackpot on life..."

Entering the living room and leaving his drink abandoned on the counter, he leaned casually against the far left wall, overlooking Jackson briefly before inhaling deeply. Taking his glasses off, he starting wiping them with his shirt's sleeve as he spoke.

"It's quite brave how you are able to talk with such disrespect to Mr. Rippner. If you were to speak that way to me, or to anyone else in our business for that matter, you would not be in any condition to stand. You think you have it rough now Ms. Reisert, but I assure you it could have been far worse. Instead of giving you an informed choice in this operation like Jackson did, someone could have kidnapped you, beaten you until submission, and all in all, kill you once you no longer served a purpose. That was the original plan, one that I was going to initiate, and believe me, there wouldn't have been any compromises over petty things like photographs. Lucky for you, Jackson stepped in, and with all his charisma and reasonings to our superiors, he was able to give you this alternative."

Putting his glasses back on, his eyes narrowed as his gaze flickered on Jackson, who sat motionless, listening.

"It surprises me, Jackson's tolerance towards you Ms. Reisert," Jasper stepped behind her, kneeling down to meet her eye level. "He wasn't known for being so cordial to his targets before."

Lisa, stunned at the sudden knowledge laid before her and frustrated when Jasper used the term 'cordial' so casually, allowed her mind to spew the hysterical babble that was foaming inside her head. "He wasn't very cordial when he hunted me down to kill me in my fathers house. He wasn't cordial at all when he pushed me down a flight of stairs, or when he was about to stab me..."

"Why don't I have a say in this little debate," Jackson interrupted, standing up to face them, hands tucked neatly into his pockets. "I'm doing my job. Last job that included Lisa should have ended with her termination. This job requires that I keep her intact. Everything I do is according to what I am told to do. It's all laid out in a very precise memo."

Jasper seemed far from satisfied with Jackson's calm response. "Here's a question I've been wondering for awhile: You developed this intricate plan to preserve Ms. Reisert because...?"

"Because the plan I have is a hell of a lot better than your original plan Jasper. It's called being inventive."

Jasper chuckled darkly to himself, rising up, releasing Lisa from his close proximity. "Last time you tried to be inventive Jackson, you ended up with a pen in your jugular. I wouldn't be too confident about this project."

Jackson didn't miss a beat. "I beg to differ Jasper, but I guess we will have to wait and see, won't we?"

"I will be surprised if you prove me wrong Rippner. Some of my pals have a bet going on, and I placed my money on your old company... nothing personal Jackson, it's just those dirty bastards are relentless."

"Wow, aren't we popular Leese?" Jackson glanced at the love seat, finding Lisa wordless, eyebrows furrowed, obviously preoccupied with her own thoughts. Sighing, he checked his watch and cursed.

"... and if we don't hurry up we might as well let those dirty bastards pay us a visit... Purse is all yours Leese, just give Jasper the key to your car."

Lisa, snapping out of her brief moment of catalepsy, merely nodded and gently handed Jasper her keys.

"My car is going to be fine, right?" She asked cautiously, hoping her words didn't tug at Jasper's nerves. His little speech had obviously left an impression, one of fear and apprehension.

"Yes, I'll keep it safe for the meantime. That's the last thing you need to worry about though, Ms. Reisert."

"Yeah..." She replied softly, grabbing her purse and stood awkwardly against the wall, watching Jackson scramble across the living room, turning the lights off.

"Wait here Leese... need to wrap up a few things on my computer in the back," Jackson snapped the disk from the table and briskly walked across the room towards the narrow hallway perpendicular to the kitchenette. "Keep an eye on her Jasper."

"Gladly," Jasper turned swiftly to face Lisa, and had resumed back to his detached, empty stare, causing his hazel orbs to lose their allure. Despite this, Lisa, unable to contain the curiosity that was tugging at her, treaded the land mine.

"You mean that you were suppose to..?" She trailed off suggestively.

"Yes."

"But he came in and..."

"Developed something appealing enough for our bosses to fund. I'm not sure what goes on in his head, and it confounds us all, really. But apparently he has some plans for you, because all I know is that once this project is over, we reap in a great revenue. You are apparently the key to a large sum of money, if all goes right."

"How?"

"Don't ask me. I haven't a clue myself."

"So it's all strictly business related?" Lisa said, feeling unusually dejected at the thought; undoubtfully the value of life was undermined by the power of money. Ah, but what was she to expect with these people?

"Yes, he's all about business. What else would it be about?" His own voice had turned suggestive, and feeling awkward, Lisa looked down at her shoes, allowing the disappointment to sink in.

"Done. Ready to hit the road Leese?" Jackson's face was alert as he returned, all amusement swiped clean from his face despite his cheery tone as he reappeared into the living room with a pair of car keys in his hand.

"You know it." Lisa responded, a little relieved as Jasper released her from his bold glare and walked towards the entrance, opening the door and peering out cautiously before nodding his head towards Jackson.

Lisa's feet moved mechanically as she trudged behind Jackson, guilt and regret bubbling from within, the future's outlook nothing but a dreary blur. What was she to expect? Could she, and would she, come out of this alive? She was in this path of no return though, and as she examined Jackson's profile as he kept turning his head to watch his surroundings, she wondered if he would protect her. Even if it was typed in a memo or stated on a strict briefing, would he keep his end of the deal? Or, her worst fear, was this all a trick?

Before she knew it, Lisa found herself in a parking garage located at what she assumed to be the center of the whole complex. Despite the lack of people around, the parking lot boasted an array of cars, most of them luxury sedans and shiny, well-kept sport cars. Jackson and Jasper were silent, eyes intent on anything that happened to move within their perimeters, every now and then glancing behind to make sure Lisa was still following.

They finally stopped in front of a black Chrysler sedan, and Jackson, sniffing distastefully, motioned Lisa towards the back seats.

"Why can't I sit up front?" Lisa asked, a bit offended.

"Because that's where I keep all of my equipment. Just get in, it's not like you have to sit in a child's booster seat."

Disgruntled but weary of dueling, she simply leaped into the sedan and closed the door behind her.

"You have the number of the safe house, I presume?" Jackson asked Jasper as he opened the trunk of the sedan, tossing in a suitcase and a white box stuffed with papers.

"Yes. All is set. Good luck on your mission Jackson, but here's a little advice after observing your childish quarrels: You don't fight fire with fire with a woman Jackson, not if you want to get your point across."

Jackson exhaled sharply. "Yes, thanks for that little bit of philosophical advice. Any other ballads you want to recite to me? Maybe a sonnet?"

"I'm serious Jackson, you can't let this get out of line with your bickering. Don't take my career down with yours just because you've gone soft."

Jackson flinched at the words, thoroughly insulted."I haven't gone soft Jasper. I just know this target well, therefore I don't have to resort to your methods of submission. Going soft means letting the emotions get the better of you, and if that was the case, then little Ms. Reisert wouldn't be in mint condition, would she?"

Jasper ignored his question. "If this gets out of hand I'd rather you terminate her."

"Oh, I will."

"Alright then. Good luck and don't fuck it up."

------------------------------------------

Alright then... a bit lengthier than the other chapters, but I just love writing the conversations between these people. Sorry for the lack of updates; I'll try better next time. College is a bit more than I expected, tehehe...

...REVIEW IF YOU THINK JACKSON IS THE SHIIIIZ!