A/N: Sorry that is has been so long since I've updated! These past few months have been incredibly busy, leaving me little time to write. Now my schedule is somewhat less hectic, so I will be updating much more regularly! I hope some of you are still interested in reading, as I am definitely still interested in continuing this story.

To answer a couple of questions: Kaylie is 15 and, yes, Lisa will be in this story, and very soon. She is mentioned in this chapter and will likely enter in the next one.

--

When her door was unlocked the next morning, Kaylie took a little longer than usual before emerging for breakfast. Her eyes were still slightly red-rimmed and she looked exhausted, but neither she nor Jackson said a word about the night before. If Ben and Leroy had heard anything, they, too, kept their silence. Kaylie, for her part, was grateful: she doubted if she would ever figure out how she felt about what was going on. Jackson disappeared shortly after breakfast and reemerged soon after with a duffel bag in tow. He was nicely dressed and Kaylie noticed for the first time how handsome he was. She wondered if seduction was ever a part of his duties as manager. She was tempted to ask the purpose of this trip, but her overly stuffy nose and tired eyes were a harsh reminder of what had happened the last time she had asked that question. Not that he would tell me anyway, she thought dryly, as she got up to say goodbye. Jackson conferred briefly with Ben and Leroy, just quietly enough that Kaylie couldn't hear without obvious effort, before turning to address the younger girl.

"Well, I'm off," he grinned. "Don't get cute while I'm gone." He winked and then disappeared out the door, pulling it shut behind him. Kaylie turned to face the others, trying to ignore the slight increase in anxiety at the thought of Jackson's absence.

Ben smiled. "So… what do you want to do?"

--

"Uno!" Ben exclaimed, dropping his second to last card on the table.

Kaylie chewed on her lip and added a card of her own, feeling slightly relieved when Ben reached for the draw pile. Of their six preceding games of UNO, Ben had won five. A few minutes later, Kaylie secured her second victory. Ben shuffled the cards and extended them in her direction.

"Again?"

"I think I'm good," Kaylie replied with a laugh.

"Sorry that I don't have any other games." Ben shrugged apologetically. "Not really the first thing we think to bring on a job."

"I suppose not." Kaylie tried not to think about the current "job", to which Leroy's departure earlier that day was undoubtedly connected. "How long have you been in Miami?" she asked. "Jackson said this was only temporary?"

"Two months, give or take." Ben slid a rubber band around the deck of cards and dropped them back on the table. "We shouldn't be here too much longer."

What will happen to me then?

Ben seemed to read her thoughts. "Jackson said he'd let you go when this business was over. If everything goes according to plan, it should be wrapped up pretty soon." He smiled reassuringly. "Whatever you might say about him, Jackson is a man of his word."

--

Kaylie lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the digital clock, reminding her of the late hour with its large, bright numbers. She wondered where Jackson was. He's supposed to be back tomorrow. She wondered if the Keefe's were still alive. She couldn't get the name out of her head. Charles Keefe. "Have you heard of Charles Keefe?" Why does that sound so familiar? He's a politician. His views are controversial. They're killing his family! Kaylie swallowed hard. How can Jackson do this? I hate him, hate him! She wiped away a tear. But I want him to come back. It feels safer when he's around. Kaylie covered her face with her hands. What am I supposed to feel? Do I hate him? Am I afraid of him? Am I worried about him? Do I really need him to get out of this alive? Jackson's voice echoed in her head. "Have you heard of Charles Keefe?" Kaylie sat bolt upright in bed. She knew who Charles Keefe was. He had worked with her father.

--

"Kaylie! Kaylie, wake up!" Crap, Kaylie thought. I'm late for school. Then the knowledge of where she was kicked in and her eyes shot open to find Ben shaking her.

"What's going on?" She sat up and rubbed her eyes, wondering vaguely what time it was.

"Trouble." Satisfied that she was awake, Ben began pacing the room. "Plan went all wrong. Damn girl got in the way. And Jackson said he had everything under control."

"Wait, what?" Kaylie was out of bed now, and hurried across the room to grab Ben by the arm. "Slow down. What's going on?"

"The plan," he repeated, emphasizing the word. "It…"

"The plan about the Keefes?" Kaylie asked, her heart skipping a beat at the thought that they might still be alive.

"Well, yes," Ben replied. "Lisa…"

"Lisa?" Kaylie was thoroughly confused. "Who's Lisa?"

Ben looked slightly taken aback. "I thought Jackson told you."

"He told me about the Keefes," Kaylie said. "I don't know anything about…" A voice in her head interrupted her, recalling the conversation she had overheard between Ben and Leroy the day before. They had mentioned a Lisa, but Kaylie had no idea who they were talking about.

"Lisa! The girl that Jackson kidnapped!" Ben was off again, clearly in a state of panic. "She got in the way… and Leroy's dead… and Jackson's hurt…

"Ben!" Kaylie's shout interrupted his rambling and he turned to look at her, startled. "What are you talking about? Who did Jackson kidnap? And what about her killing Leroy? And is Jackson ok? And the Keefes?"

Ben took a deep breath. "Ok," he said finally. "I think we better start from the beginning."

--

"So you're telling me," Kaylie said, wrapping her hands around a cup of tea. "That Jackson kidnapped the manager of the hotel, on an airplane, and forced her to help him in setting up Keefe's assassination."

Ben nodded. "But something went wrong," he replied. "Or, rather, everything did. She got in the way somehow, I don't know exactly how, and now Leroy is dead."

Though she could not bring herself to wish death on anyone, Kaylie found that that piece of news did not make her particularly sad.

"What about Jackson?" she asked, surprised at her concern for him.

"Injured, I think." Ben sighed. "And we failed. Someone warned the Keefes. It was probably that damned Lisa."

Kaylie tried not to let Ben see her relief at hearing that the Keefes were alive. He was having a bad enough morning without feeling like she was against him. She wondered briefly where Jackson was. He was probably pissed.

"How do you know all this?" she asked suddenly.

"From our employers."

"You mean, the people who hired you to assassinate Keefe?"

"No, no," Ben shook his head. "Those are our clients. We work for an organization that specializes in ... carrying out operations of this nature. This is a lot bigger than just Jackson, Leroy and I."

"Your employers find things out awfully fast," Kaylie pointed out.

"They're extremely well-connected," Ben sighed. "Which is particularly valuable in situations such as this."

Kaylie rested her elbows on the table. "What are we going to do now?"

"Well," Ben began. "Our employers are going to take responsibility for making sure that Jackson gets out of the hospital –"

"Wait," Kaylie interrupted. "He's in the hospital?"

"Where did you think he was?"

"I dunno, on his way back here?"

Ben raised his eyebrows. "He was pretty seriously injured, Kaylie, otherwise he wouldn't have lost. My boss tells me he was taken to Miami General. So they'll get him out –"

"Get him out? Won't they discharge him?"

"Yeah, straight into prison. I'm sure Lisa will identify him… after all, he did kidnap her."

"He's going to prison?" It had never occurred to Kaylie that Jackson would be caught and, frankly, it terrified her.

"Of course not." Ben looked appalled at the thought. "He's a professional and so are all the people we work for. Don't think there haven't been close calls like this before."

Kaylie swallowed hard and tried her best to believe him.

"Now I have been charged," Ben continued. "With the task of determining what exactly Lisa Reisert knows and what she is planning on doing with it."

Kaylie gave him a quizzical look.

"Jackson told Lisa about the plot against Keefe – that was part of the plan. I need to find out if he told her anything else, about our employers, our clients..."

"Would he do that?"

"No," Ben replied adamantly. "But so many things went wrong that our employers want to take every precaution. I need to find out if she knows anything else and what she may have told the police."

Kaylie's head was spinning. "How?"

"That's the tricky part. I'm going to have to follow her, listen in on her conversations. But I can't very well leave you here alone while I do it."

"I can come with you," Kaylie offered.

"Jackson would kill me!" Ben exclaimed. "I'm supposed to protect you and keep you in this apartment. I can't take you with me, risking that you might attract attention or slip away somehow."

"I won't." Ben stared at her. "You told me yesterday that Jackson is a man of his word. He promised me safety and freedom if I didn't cause trouble and waited for this job of yours to blow over. I'm choosing to trust you. I won't take off, Ben. I promise you that."

Ben studied her for several seconds. "Okay." He smiled and pushed himself up from the table. "Let's do this, then."

Kaylie got to her feet and set her empty mug in the sink. What have I gotten myself into?