Chapter 20 - Angie's Methods

Jackson stood leaning against the kitchen's range as he watched Derek fixing a couple of mixed drinks that he could almost guarantee he was going to hate. Jackson had never been much of a drinker to begin with and something that had Orange Curacao and sweet and sour in it was just going to make him want to vomit. Whenever he did deign to partake in such beverages, he almost always poured himself a dram of a nice Islay scotch whiskey, no ice. However, if Angie Mason asked you to try a drink, you tried the damn drink no matter how ill it was most likely going to make you. He watched in growing distress as Derek rimmed the martini glasses with what appeared to be cinnamon and sugar. He looked away from the bartending travesty just in time to see Angie walk into the kitchen. That got his attention.

"You left her alone?" His voice contained a berating tone and he straightened up from his leaning position.

Angie ignored the tenor in his voice completely but answered readily enough. "Yup. Just came in to get us some coffee." She said as she grabbed a couple of mugs from an overhead cabinet and then moved over to pour some already prepared coffee into them. She didn't look at Jackson. "I've wanted to tell you something Jack ever since I heard you were contemplating taking Ms. Reisert on as your personal pet project."

Jackson waited through a long pause as Angie took her time pouring the steaming liquid. He'd had enough of her silence when she started to riffle through the refrigerator to retrieve the cream for her own and maybe Lisa's coffee. Angie had always excelled at irritating him and now was no different. Why the company had chosen her to be the one that made the decision about Lisa, he had no idea but at the moment he really wanted to punch whoever it was in the face.

"Well?" He finally asked, not willing to wait on her any longer when it appeared she wasn't going to follow up on her original statement. "What is it you wanted to tell me?" He didn't attempt to hide the irritation he was feeling from his voice. He watched as Angie placed the full mugs on a tray along with the cream and now sugar from the tabletop. She picked up the tray and scooted out of the kitchen, pushing the door open with her backside.

"That you probably shouldn't have." She said looking right at him before the door closed and cut off their view of one another.

"Fuck." Jackson mumbled under his breath. He turned back to the 'bartender' when he heard the man chuckling softly. "What?" He asked tersely. Derek just kept chuckling however as he poured the liquid from the shaker into the prepared glasses before offering the finished product to the other man in the kitchen

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"Here's some of that coffee I promised you." Angie told Lisa as she walked in the door balancing the tray in one hand. As she brought the tray over to the coffee table, she noticed that her guest never once took her eyes off of her. "Do you take anything with your coffee Lisa?" She asked as she poured a generous amount of cream into her own cup. When Lisa didn't answer after a few moments, Angie spoke again. "I'm going to take it by your silence that you prefer it black." With the sugar on the tray untouched, she held out the offered black coffee and waited. Now growing a little tired of her uncooperativeness, Angie decided to play a little dirty in order to get the mute out of her self created shell. "I'm not going to wait all day Leese."

Lisa's eyes snapped up to hold the gaze of Jackson's coworker and after a few intense moments, she took the coffee. She wanted to punch the woman in the face when she smiled at her. Even though it wasn't the condescending type of smile that she was used to Jackson giving her, it still irritated her that anyone would smile around her. A painful realization hit only moments later and caused her to look away from this new person and down at the coffee she'd taken. It had been a long time since she'd felt like fighting back. Most things rolled off her back these days and she only really became agitated when Jackson purposely pushed her to react. However, from the moment she'd seen Jackson talking to the man that drove them here, she'd been on edge. That in and of itself wasn't what made her feel sick to her stomach at the moment. It was the fact that right now, being alone with this woman and without Jackson made her feel more rebellious, less secure and more frightened than she would if he were still in the room with her. She should feel better with him gone not worse!

Angie took in all of the changes in expression on the face of the woman in front of her. It was really interesting to watch. All it had taken was a key word that Jackson almost always used with her to illicit such a strong reaction. One of two things was going to happen now. Lisa was either going to clam up tighter than a stuck jar lid or she was going to become somewhat distraught. Neither was easy to deal with but Angie had enough experience to not be daunted by the task in front of her. There was one problem, Jackson.

He'd been told before taking on this project that there was a best way of accomplishing the task. He'd been told and he'd summarily dismissed all recommendations. This was of course his prerogative to do but it made Angie's task much more difficult since she wasn't going to be dealing with a lot of the common emotions, anxieties and actions that the tried and true method usually elicited. Lisa was going to be a bit unpredictable at times and that's exactly why Derek had been slow to leave them alone. He knew enough about this case to know that it was going to be more dangerous than usual. Had Jackson's tastes run down a different road and if Angie were now dealing with a man, she probably would have kept Derek around. For the moment though, she felt confident that she could handle most all situations with this less than intimidating woman.

Since Jackson had played things differently, then so was she. Taking a moment to compose her thoughts and polishing her strategy, Angie readied herself for the task at hand.

"Here's what we're going to do Lisa." She started and maintained absolute readiness just in case something unplanned for happened. "I'm going to give you a little speech. If at any point you want some clarification about anything I'm about to say, feel free to jump in. Ok?" After a few moments and no response from Lisa, she continued. "I know almost everything there is to know about you. I know what kind of kid you were and what kind of grades you got in school. I know what teachers liked you as you grew up and I have a real good estimation as to why. I know who your first boyfriend was and why you broke up with him. I know who your family is, who is important to you and who is not. I know all that stuff and I know even more." She paused for a few seconds to see if she'd get any response out of her yet. When she didn't, she continued. "I know it all. I know where you got that scar Lisa."

Angie stopped when she saw Lisa's expression change to even more pained and watched as her hand shot up to conceal the mark that her square neck blouse did not keep outside eyes from. However, the red head chose not say anything quite yet, so Angie continued on once more.

"I know when you became a mark for the company with the Keefe job and I knew the moment Jackson took more than just a working interest in you. I've been intimately involved with everything that Jackson and you did from that moment on. I know about your clever attempts to stop it all on the plane. I know what you did and exactly how Jackson handled it. I've seen just about everything you've done, said and even eaten from the moment he brought you into his home." That finally got a good reaction out of her. She she'd expected, Jackson had not informed Lisa of the cameras inside the house.

"You've seen it?" Lisa couldn't help but ask, too shocked to remain quiet.

"I'm afraid so. All of these houses have the capability for 24 hour surveillance conducted in all rooms. This house isn't set up for that at the moment but it was part of conditions Jack had to abide by in his house. You see, it's all a part of the process. It's why you're here with me now. I'm aware that Jackson has mentioned it to you once but I'll give you a little reminder that I'm sure you probably don't need. He's not the one that decides what ultimately happens to you Lisa…I am."

With that, Lisa immediately stood up and spilled some of her coffee onto her shirt and the floor. "No, I don't want to do this."

Angie followed suit and stood as well but maintained her calm unlike her guest. "I wasn't lying when I told you nothing bad was going to happen. You're just fine. Now please calm down."

"I'm tired of being calm! I'm tired of people like you and all of this!" She shouted as she gestured generally around herself, spilling more coffee in the process.

"I know you are and trust me, I know how you must be feeling at the moment. But I need you to calm down." Angie wasn't actually concerned with how calm Lisa was at the moment. She knew she'd be calm momentarily.

"You have no idea how I feel. None of you do! You can't possibly!" She was getting more hysterical by the moment.

Angie watched her carefully but wasn't concerned about her reaction in the least. In fact, she'd been counting on it and she'd been counting on the turning of the doorknob in response to the shouting. It was why, while still keeping a close watch on Lisa, she had made her way back over to the door. She didn't need to see the face of the man coming through the door because she knew it wasn't Derek. With practiced ease, she punched Jackson square in the neck and grabbed his not nearly short enough hair in almost the same motion, pulling him into the room and crashing him into a desk that sat behind the sofa on which she'd been sitting. Without having to look, she knew Derek would be following in shortly after her but not to assist in the Jackson situation but to keep an eye on Lisa who had predictably stopped screaming and now just watched in unconcealed awe.

Jackson didn't have time to even get up or even roll off of his stomach before a knee harshly dug into the back of his neck. Before he could voice his outraged protest to whatever the hell was going on, a quiet and completely calm feminine voice spoke only a few inches from his ear.

"What part of our communications said anything about your getting involved in this part of the process Jack?" She emphasized the name she knew he hated that she'd been using all evening. With that she smoothly stood up and moved away from the prone and very pissed off man on the ground. "Get up." She ordered before Jackson had a chance to respond.

Lisa watched the whole scene in complete amazement and rapture. Seeing Jackson go down like that had been one of the best parts of her life to date. Angie, the rather small and deceptively pleasant looking woman, had done it so easily with what looked like no effort at all. She couldn't see Jackson from her vantage at the moment as he'd fallen behind the couch but her mind supplied the image readily enough. Angie's voice brought back Lisa out of her reverie.

"See Lisa, I told you nothing bad was going to happen." Angie smiled at her as she said it. "But I'm afraid that's all we have time for today as I now need to have a little chat with Jack." As she said this, the man in question was standing up and rubbing his aching throat. "Derek, please escort our guest to her room and make sure that she has everything she needs." She watched as Derek had no problem taking a hold of Lisa's upper arm and gently guiding her out of the room. "Oh, one more thing," she continued when Lisa turned to look at her, "you'll find no locked doors in this house but please stay in your room until morning." She smiled again as she said it. "I'd really appreciate it."

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AN: The reviews have been wonderful and you are all being too nice to someone that kept you waiting for so long. Thanks for the little ego boosts and happy reading!