Innocent People's Lives
Chapter Six
"Where exactly are we going?"
Jackson glanced over at her. "When did you wake up, sleeping beauty?"
"Just a few minutes ago. Where are we going?"
"To stop Keefe."
She rolled her eyes and shifted in the seat. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Back to your home, Leese. Washington, D.C. Home of Keefe's campaign office."
"You're going to get us both killed if we go there. Don't you think that's the first place he'd look for me?"
"That's why it's perfect. It's an ideal hiding place," he explained, taking one hand off the wheel. "Plus, it puts us closer to the action."
"Right in danger is more like it."
He took a deep breath, clearly on the edge of annoyance. She still remembered how easy it was to piss him off. It had stuck with her all these years.
"Leese, you need to trust me."
"But I don't, Jack. That's the problem. I can't trust you."
"I will explain everything to you in time, I promise. But I need to focus right now." He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "And we need to get you some new clothes. Can't have you running around like that."
Self-consciously, she tried to fix her ruined clothes. It was useless. She would draw too much attention. And she smelt like smoke. Grossly like smoke. She needed new clothes and a hot shower. The order didn't really matter.
"I don't have any money. My purse…"
"It's on me, Leese. And no, I'm not expecting any payment from you. Not of any type, I promise."
"I can pay you back—"
"No. I should've gotten to you sooner. I wasn't expecting him to act today."
She scoffed. "Look, I wasn't expecting to get blown up today either."
Jackson smirked. "At least you're starting to get a sense of humor about the whole thing."
"Trust me, I'm not."
About two hours later, Jackson pulled the car into a strip mall. "Okay, now I'm going to go grab us both some new things. I need you to stay put and out of sight. I know you have trouble following directions…"
"I'm sorry, but I don't want you picking out my clothes."
"You don't have a choice. If you go anywhere looking like that, someone is gonna call the cops. You understand? Besides, I already know all your sizes."
"You — what?"
"Stop acting surprised and offended, Lisa. It's beneath you." He opened the driver's side door. "Stay in the car and stay low."
"Or else?"
"I will leave you here for the next killers."
"Well, aren't you a gentleman?"
He grinned at her and closed the door. "Stay. Put."
She hugged his jacket around her body tighter and tried to relax in the seat. He was getting on her last nerve and it had only been a few hours. Who knew how long they'd be stuck together? So far he'd kept her out of more danger, but it wasn't much. And it couldn't even begin to erase the flight.
It would take a lot to make her forget.
She stayed put, but not because he told her to. Lisa was tired. She honestly just wanted to sleep. She wanted to forget everything and wake up in her own bed.
But that just wasn't in the cards.
He was back at the car with a few bags in just under twenty minutes. He smiled at her through the glass and she felt an overwhelming urge to punch him in the face.
He climbed in the car and held out a bag. "Ok, so got you a few things. Do you want to change now or later?"
"What do you think?" She snatched it from him. "Don't look."
"You're going to change? Right here? In the car? In broad daylight?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
He was quiet for a moment and she took it as a no. Using her teeth, she pulled off the tags for a pair of jeans and started to slide them up her legs.
"Don't look," she warned, even though she knew her skirt would cover most of it. She'd changed in the front seat of her own car before. The hardest part would be buttoning the pants and getting the skirt off.
"So, Leese, are you hungry?"
"No." She tugged the pants over her hips.
"Suit yourself. I'm gonna grab a bite to eat once you get situated."
"Then what?"
"We hit the road. Get a few more hours and another two hundred miles behind us. Then we'll stop for the night."
She unzipped her skirt and slipped it over her feet. She pulled a new shirt from the bag, yanked the tag off, and slid out of Jackson's jacket. She handed the later back over the center console before slipping her arms out of her current shirt.
"You almost done?" he asked.
"Just about."
Lisa bunched up the new t-shirt and pulled it on underneath her blouse. Then she unbuttoned the old shirt and threw it on the floor with her skirt.
"Can I drive now?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes."
"Great."
Late Afternoon
She'd be lying if she called the motel they were staying in anything other than "seedy". She half-expected insects to be crawling everywhere. Then again, she was stuck there with Jackson. He was enough of a creepy crawler to begin with.
"Why here?"
"Why not? No one is going to look for us here. No one would expect it. Besides, I'm too old to sleep in a car and doing so calls attention. That's the last thing we want right now. Under the radar is the best thing."
She sighed heavily and laid back on the nearest bed. The only saving grace of the low-rent room was that it did in fact have two separate beds. She probably would have slept outside or in the moldy bathroom if it didn't. There was no way on earth she would voluntarily sleep in the same bed as a killer.
Not that it mattered. She was too wired to really sleep anyways. Her head was still running a mile a minute as she went over and over the past ten years. It was really more like fifteen since she had the misfortune of meeting Charles Keefe. He'd been relatively unknown then. About a year after they met, he became Deputy Director. And that's when things started to go downhill.
Now they had yet to stop going downhill. And now Jackson was back. Her careful, orderly life was going to hell in a handbasket and she couldn't stop it. There was nothing anyone could do. She needed to get her life back and sadly, Jackson was her best bet for that.
Why did she have to trust him of all people? Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it be Mark? Mark was a good guy even though he worked for Keefe. Surely he had no idea what their boss was really capable of. He was an ally, even if Jackson refused to believe it.
Jackson had no soul. What would he know about being good? Nothing. He didn't know anything about people and morals. He spent too much time in the shadows and not nearly enough in the light. He didn't believe in the innate goodness of people. Sure there were plenty of jerks. There always was one.
Or in the case of the hotel, more than one. More than a dozen, truly.
But that part of her life was long over. Jackson had seen to that.
He'd been systematically destroying her life for the better part of ten years. She was never really going to be rid of him until one of them died. She really hoped it was him.
She needed it to be him. Not her. She had too much left to do. She'd fought too hard to live this long. She wasn't going to die first, even if it meant trusting him. Working with him.
He was right, after all. He was her best chance at life.
They just had to figure out how far the corruption went. That wouldn't be easy. She didn't even know where to start.
All she knew was that morning she'd been on her way to a charity event and then watched her life go up in flames along with one of her employers.
Now here she was in hiding with a professional killer. He'd never lied about that. She didn't doubt that even without seeing him in action. She just prayed he was one of the good guys. She needed an ally.
She needed to reach out to Mark. She didn't know how she'd pull that off. Her cell phone was long gone and even if it wasn't, Jackson would've destroyed it. He probably had one locked away somewhere that was untraceable. A burner phone. That's what they were called.
But how was she supposed to get her hands on that? There's no way as freaky and paranoid as he was that he'd allow her to make a phone call.
She would just have to get creative.
"Want to take a shower? Get that grime off?" Jackson offered.
She crossed her arms. She wanted to say no. That bathroom was disgusting. There was nothing clean about it.
But the idea of hot water and getting the fine layer of filth off her skin was oddly appealing. Against her better judgement, she nodded. "Yeah, if you don't mind."
"Just don't use all the hot water." He smirked at her.
She snagged the bag of her extra clothes from their earlier stop and retreated into the bathroom. She closed the thin door and did the hook closure. It wouldn't really stop him or anyone from getting in, but it made her feel a bit better.
Lisa shrugged out of her new shirt before going to turn the water on for the shower. The tap was like ice when it first started out, rust-colored water touching her skin. She shuddered as it struggled to heat up. The pipes rattled so loud that she worried the shower might just collapse on her.
She unbuttoned her jeans and dropped them in a puddle at her feet. Her underwear followed suit as she tentatively stuck a toe into the shower.
Apparently, lukewarm was as hot as this shower got. She sighed and stepped full under the spray. It looked less rusty now that the water had been running, but she was still grossed out by the shower stall. If she had any other choice, she would have waited or gone somewhere else. But this was as good as it got for now. She had to suck it up and deal with it.
She grimaced and lifted her face up to wash the dirt and soot from her skin. She couldn't very well run around looking like a victim.
The water temp dropped and she turned off the faucet. Dripping wet, she jumped out and stepped onto her old clothes as she reached for a yellowed, scratchy towel that smelled it was last washed three years ago.
It was like drying herself with a piece of sandpaper.
Better than nothing. That was her new mantra.
Besides, she was a survivor. This was merely a bump in the road. If she didn't think like that, she might just break down crying.
Stay positive, Lisa. You can do this. You can do this.
After all, it wasn't every day someone tried to blow you up. Surely tomorrow would be a better day.
Author's Notes:
Not much in the sense of moving forward, but had to lay some groundwork. You certainly didn't expect her to trust him right away, did you? Thanks for reading and please review!