Chapter Two
It'd been twenty minutes since the events in the airplane lavatory and ten since she had made the call and found out that not only was it Keefe that was going to be taken out, but his entire family as well. "A big brash message," was what Jackson had told her, and Lisa knew that it was in regards to the things that Keefe had been saying on television. Someone saw him as a threat, not necessarily Jackson himself, but certainly the people that he was working for, and they wanted to silence that threat while warning others in the process.
Oh god, what have I done? She couldn't stop those thoughts. Thinking of herself as a horrible person, she couldn't believe what she was being a party to. She needed to stop it somehow. If she had to sacrifice herself in the process, well then she'd cross that bridge when she got there.
Reaching down to scratch and itch on her thigh she felt the outline of the pen she had stolen from that sleeping teen. In fact, she could still hear him searching for it, blaming his friend for stealing it. She could almost laugh at that, for it was certainly not his friend that had taken object. Lisa felt along the writing utensil until she came to the capped end. Fingering it, she came to a plan, it was risky she knew, but she also wasn't sure she had the stomach to pull off such a bold move. But, desperate times call for desperate measures and all that. Or, in this case, justifiable homicide. Now the only thing she had to come up with was how to go about it, how to get him to lower his guards for a minute or two.
Then, glancing down at her chest she thought of it. Oh how she didn't want to have to dredge up old memories and pain for it, but she had no choice. The look in his eyes when he saw, there was something there other than the cold indifference of before. Something that seemed to prompt his following actions. She reached up with her left hand, making sure that the pen was still firmly in her right, and felt her still tingling lips. Looking at him out of the corner of her eye she noticed that he was watching her, a smirk, presumably, upon his lips. Those gorgeous lips. Those lips that caused all sorts of tingling not only on her lips but in places that she thought that were no longer capable of feeling, well…tingly. Not after that.
Besides, she'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she liked his kiss. She kept kicking herself for it. She had no right to feel that way, not with what he was forcing upon her. But, he hadn't forced himself on her. Oh no, she volunteered all on her own, getting caught up in the moment is what she told herself.
She took a deep breath and bent forwards, left hand on her forehead in exaggerated pain. It wasn't hard to pretend to feel off after first being head butted and then being thrown around a bathroom stall the size of a closet. For effect she let out a pained moan, knowing that would get his attention. Lisa heard him turn in his seat, clothing rubbing against the cushion. "What is it this time?"
She glared at his knee, "You bashed my head into the bathroom wall, remember?" Waiting on baited breath for his response, she hoped it would be something reminiscent of concern.
"Suck it up," was his curt response.
Staying in her bent position she kept rubbing her hand over her forehead trying in vain to get some kind of response that would work to her advantage.
"Sit up." And she did, her head turned to look out the window, watching the approaching descent. She could see the tarmac below her, she knew she had to get the ball rolling. If she hesitated any longer she would lose all opportunity.
"It happened in a parking lot," she started off quietly, though she knew he heard. He heard everything. After waiting a few more seconds she continued, "in the middle of the day." If he had questions about where this was going he knew now. You can do this, you have to do this, she told herself. "He held a knife to my neck the whole time." She chanced a glance towards her capture. She had him, she knew it. There was something else in his blue eyes, something that didn't resemble ice bergs. He was concerned, but it wasn't about her head. It was directly related to what she was saying. Why does he care? He's no different, not really. He's just not demanding sex. And in the back of her mind she knew, she just knew, that he wouldn't do that to her. She almost regretted what she had to do next. "And after, I kept telling myself the same thing, over and over again."
A few seconds of silence stretched between them as Jackson looked her in the eyes, she silently prayed that none of her thoughts were showing, knowing that she was more or less an open book. "That it was beyond your control," Jackson interceded, trying to figure out her thoughts.
The ding of the seat belt sign and she slowly and as quietly as possible slipped her from around her waist.
It was time.
"No." He looked puzzled, but quickly put back the mask of indifference. "That it wouldn't happen again."
She struck. Using every ounce of strength she had, she wheeled her right hand around, point of the pen towards Jackson, and slammed it as hard as she could in to his neck.
Taking a second to glance towards his face, careful not to look down at the pen, she saw the look of complete shock and surprise on his face, and something akin to puzzlement. Almost seeming to ask how she could do that to him. Slowly he came back to himself and rage like she had never seen before filled his face, and she was off; jumping over him in a desperate attempt to get out and into the aisle.
She heard him get up behind her, and suddenly she was on the floor. Looking back towards him she saw that he was sprawled on the floor as well, hand over the pen. She kicked his hand off and got up, running towards the front of the plane. Pushing people of out the way as she went, muttering hurried apologizes as she passed. She was suddenly at the front of the plane, a flight attendant in front of her.
"You can't go yet," she was saying, but Lisa wasn't paying attention she was too busy glancing back into the cabin trying to see Jackson.
"T-there's a man back there. He n-needs help," she stuttered and kicked herself for it. Where'd that pen wielding bravery go?
But it didn't take long for the flight attendant to rush towards the back of the plane and the second she did the doors were opened and she was running into the corridor towards the interior of the airport. Behind her she heard someone yell, "Don't let her get away, she stabbed a man back there."
The thoughts going through her head all involved her getting out of that airport and to her father. She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, Jackson's, and tried to call home, only to realize that she had no signal.
"Damnit!" she hissed.
Knowing she was running out of time, and luck, for certainly the small army of security guards would stop her well before she got out. Then again she'd much rather be in there hands than Jackson's, though the thought of Jackson's hands, and lips, had her shuddering. He'd be a skilled lover, she knew. What the hell is wrong with you? Skilled lover? Have you gone insane? She berated herself as she shucked her outer sweater and tossing it into a nearby garbage.
After ten minutes of trying to avoid various security officials, easy to spot in their yellow jackets, and Jackson (How'd he get out of there so fast? He had a damned pen in his neck.) She finally made it out of the airport and into a stolen SUV, on her way to warning her father and the Keefe's.
He was in the house and had knocked her father out, and aside from being unconscious her dad seemed to be okay otherwise.
"I didn't want to kill him yet," the voice came from behind her, but it wasn't Jackson's normally smooth voice. The voice that issued out of his mouth was garbled and raspy, and it seemed he needed to press on his throat to be able to speak at all. Slowly she got to her feet, "I want him to be around long enough for you to see me kill him."
Standing tall she looked him square in the eye, burrowing her fear deep. She knew that if she wanted to get out of this with not only her life, but her father's as well, she could not let him know that he scared the absolute shit out of her. Murder was in his eyes, all previous thoughts and passions were gone. In place was the face of death. Was this what his victims saw before he cut their lives short?
Shaking her head of her morose thoughts she focused in on Jackson, looking for any sign of vulnerability aside from the scarf covered puncture wound, but all she saw was cold, merciless kill.
She was in deep shit and she knew it. She bolted out of the room, knowing that he would follow, but needing to be on the move. It felt too much like being a target, standing still like that. Besides, she knew her house, Jackson didn't.
What followed was the most hair raising time of Lisa's life, even more so than the plane ride. It seemed that no one could get ahead for much of a time. First, Jackson had a knife, something that worked keenly to his advantage. But then Lisa had used one her pumps for a weapon, slamming into his thigh. And now, now Jackson had her at the top of the stairs, backed against the wall and hand, once again, around her neck, his favorite resting place. This time she knew he was going to kill her; she'd pissed him off too much for him not to.
He leaned closer, wheezing into her face. "What Leese, no more tricks?" He bared his teeth as he spoke, forcing the words out.
Swallowing convulsively she scanned the area, looking for something, anything that would be of help to her.
"Tsk, tsk. Seems you've been backed into a corner. Literally," he let out some sort of morbid laughter, the sound distorted and strange. This was no longer the man who had kissed her in the bathroom. Gone was the man who caused certain parts of her anatomy to come alive. The only thing he evoked in her now was fear.
Jackson leaned closer still, the hand around her neck tightening as he did so. It wasn't enough to choke her, yet, but it was enough to let her know that he could crush her windpipe in a second. Flashbacks of their time in that bathroom came to the forefront of her mind and she found it difficult to differentiate the two. Maybe her brain was getting less air then she thought.
And when he brought his lips to hers a second time all sense of logic fled.
This kiss however was starkly different from that of before. In place of the passion was possession. A deep, feral thing. It was savage kiss, his tongue plundering her mouth, taking possession of every inch. His teeth gnashed against her own. She reared her head back in an attempt to get away, but it was no use. There was no getting away, he wouldn't let her.
He wouldn't stop. Unrelenting. And he seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure in her helplessness. Slowly she inched to the side, desperate to get away. Gone were the memories of the time in the bathroom and in its place were the memories of that long ago day in the parking lot. It was happening all over again. No matter what, she needed to get away.
Jackson followed all her movements, mouth firmly attached to hers. Right hand freely roaming her body. She started to struggle now, hands pushing at his chest, head trying to twist away, feet moving to the side faster and faster. In the back of her mind she knew the edge of the stairs was coming up soon, but she did care. She needed him off her.
And suddenly she was falling, every part of her body hitting either the wall or the hard, wooden stairs. Her arms and legs taking the brunt of the impact. Finally, after what felt like forever, she stopped. Everything ached, she couldn't move. She knew she was still alive because of the immense pain that she was in. Being dead wouldn't hurt nearly as much. Vaguely she heard Jackson limping down the stairs. Slowly, lethargically she lifted herself up on shaking arms, and as she was about to push herself to her knees she was grabbed from behind, a hand cruelly twisting in her hair.
Then, out of know where a gunshot sounded, and she fell forward once again.
There you go. Personally, I think this chapter sucked. But hey, that's just my opinion. I know that the only opinions that matters are yours, the readers (and reviewers). But it needed to be written because I needed something that was inbetween my last chapter and the stuff coming up, a filler chapter really. I'm sorry that I skipped over the whole airport chase thing, it just didn't need to be in there. I couldn't work with it at all and I didn't want to waste space. I tried really hard to not make it just a bland reiteration of what happened in the movie (which it still turned out to be, but hey, I'm not perfect). So you know what to do...Review, review, review. I know it's bad, but I still want to know what goes on in your head after you read this. So pleeeeeease review. Thankies. :o)