Innocent People's Lives

Chapter Eight

Present Day

"How hard is it to kill one civilian?" Keefe hissed at the group of assembled men in his hotel suite. "She's just a woman! She's not even trained!"

His security detail shuffled their feet with most of them not meeting his eyes.

"She was supposed to die in the blast – they both were!"

Silence still filled the room.

"Really, how hard is it to follow simple directions?! You had a simple job to do – kill my wife and Lisa Reisert. Simple. They were in the same place at the same time! But, oh, no, instead you botch the car bomb and where was Lisa? Not even in the car!"

One of his team cleared his throat. "Sir, with all due respect, we've received intel that Miss Reisert isn't acting alone. We have reason to believe that Jackson Rippner is helping her. We're combing through the surveillance footage from the hospital, but it looks like he's been spotted there."

"Rippner was hired to kill her. A job that no one has accomplished so far!" he roared.

"Sir, we're trying to track her movements. There's a team already heading to her townhouse."

"The longer she's alive, the more damage she can do. She needs to be stopped. Now!" Keefe ordered.

His men nodded.

"We did receive a report from the hospital. Sarah Keefe has been pronounced dead. The PR team is preparing for an announcement later on today. It was quick and painless."

He nodded. "Good. At least one thing was done right. I'll prepare a few remarks for the families and the public. Send in Rachel, will you?"

His team nodded and dispersed.

Keefe sighed heavily and sat down at his temporary desk. He would fly back to Washington, D.C. later that night. There would be a funeral to plan and attend. His children would need to be informed and consoled.

There was a knock on the door before a young woman with her blonde hair tied back in a bun entered. He smiled at her sadly. "Rachel…"

"Oh, Charles, I just heard. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Rachel, dear."

"If there's anything I can do for you…" she said softly.

"Right now, just keep me company. I have to prepare a small speech for the press conference later. It's still a shock. I can't believe she's gone. I didn't think her injuries were that severe."

She nodded, coming to sit on the edge of his desk beside him. "Oh, Charlie…"

"And on top of it, Lisa's missing. She was injured in the blast, too, but they can't find her at the hospital. She's vanished."

"That's terrible! What's being done?"

He sighed. "My team is reviewing surveillance footage from the hospital, just in case there was foul play. It's possible that she's disoriented and wandered away on her own. She had a head injury."

Rachel nodded empathetically, coming around behind him to rub his shoulders. "I'm sure they'll find her."

"I hope so. I'd be lost without her. She keeps everything running so smoothly with the campaign and the travel… I don't think I could ever replace her."

"Well, hopefully you won't have to. In the meantime, I'll let the others know and we'll each pick up some of the slack. Keep things running until she's found."

He put a hand on hers. "Thank you, Rachel. Your support in this difficult time means a lot."

"Anytime, Charlie." She kissed his hand. "Now, you rest. I'll go prepare a few words for you, hmm?"

"You're an angel," he said, half-smiling at her as she wound around the desk and toward the door.

"I'll check on you in a bit."

He watched her leave before picking up his disposable phone. "Any sign of the Reisert girl yet?"

"No, boss, we're still looking. Chris is combing through the footage with a fine-tooth comb. There's dozens of cameras and multiple exits. It's a lot of stuff. We'll find her."

"You better or you're all fired."

"So what do you expect to accomplish in D.C.?" Lisa asked as the miles ticked by under their tires. They'd stopped and switched cars after the blown tire ordeal. And then changed cars yet again because Jackson was a paranoid motherfucker.

"I don't know yet. But I do know that neither of us is safe. Given a reason, Keefe will turn on me, too. He's just been waiting for the right moment. The right moment to kill you. And me, too."

"But you work for him."

He nodded. "I worked for him. Not anymore. Though I did agree to hunt you down. He'll have figured out by now that I'm helping you. He'll have someone pull the video from the hospital. We'll be seen together."

"So what does that mean for us?"

Jackson shrugged, still focused on the road. The man refused to use a GPS. He started cursing every time she mentioned the word. It amused her to no end since he clearly drove a luxury car normally to go with his stylish suits. Most cars, even lower end models, came with navigation standard nowadays.

"Will he send people after you?"

"Probably," he said. "But that's because at the moment, he can get away with it. Once we start getting to the media, he won't be a threat anymore. Yes, he still has money and friends in high places, but one by one, they will turn on him and withdraw their support. The public will turn against him as well for what happened to Sarah."

She nodded, leaning back in her seat. "So we just have to wait him out?"

"For the most part. I still need evidence."

"What about the contract to kill me?"

"That helps, except it doesn't say who ordered it. I know who ordered it because he contacted me personally and offered me the contract plus a bonus if I did it in a timely matter."

"When did he call you?"

"The morning of. Right after the bomb went off."

"How did you get to me so fast?"

"Leese," he said, glancing over at her. "You were unconscious for almost three hours. I was already in the area, but by the time I made the arrangements necessary to extract you, and got here, I was running behind."

"Which is how that guy got into my room."

He nodded. "Now you're catching on. Good girl."

She rolled her eyes. He was good at getting on her last nerve. He knew exactly what to say and how to say it in order to piss her off. Part of it was his condescending, chauvinistic manner. He would belittle her and bully her simple using words, no force required. It drove her absolutely insane.

"So the question is, how much longer until someone tries again. If we keep moving, that should throw them off the scent. It's also why you can't call your boyfriend. They'll be tracking his phone just in case you reach out. You can't call anyone important to you. Doing so would only put them in danger. Do you understand?"

"I get it. But I don't know what you intend to accomplish by keeping me trapped in a moving car."

He grinned. "Oh, there's a lot to be accomplished. You know so much more than you think. Otherwise Keefe wouldn't be wasting precious resources and money on killing you. There's a lot that is trapped inside your pretty little head. I'm going to help you remember it."

"Why?"

"Because I don't plan to kill Charles Keefe. I plan to arrest him."

She paused. "Wait… arrest him? What are you, a cop? A crooked one, surely…"

He laughed. "Oh, Leese, you don't know how close you were on the plane. Like you, I am a manager, sure. I supervise a group of agents within the CIA."

"CIA? So you are a spy!"

"Not exactly. I specialize in undercover operations. I was working on such a mission when we first met. My real name isn't Jackson Rippner."

"What is it then?" she asked, still trying to wrap her head around the entire mess. It seemed like a really lame joke. A bad joke. Just like Jackson to try and pull a crappy joke about being CIA. Like she would really believe it.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you. It's classified, Leese. For me to know and you to speculate about. For all intents and purposes, I am Jackson Rippner. But the nature of my work is also why Keefe was able to tell you I died."

"Your company pulled you out, didn't they?"

He nodded. "Of course. I was a valuable operative. In fact, most of the police you met that day? They all worked for me. They were part of my team. Some of them worked directly for Keefe. There wasn't much in the way of real law enforcement. It's why no charges were ever filed. There was no scapegoat because Jackson Rippner doesn't really exist… plus the official record is that I coded in an ambulance and was D.O.A."

Smug, self-assured bastard. She wanted to punch him in the face as hard as she could. But being trapped in a moving vehicle with him, it wouldn't be her smartest move. So she swallowed her anger.

"If you're dead, why did Charles contact you?"

He frowned. "I… I'm not entirely sure."

"What if he knows that you're CIA? What if it was a trap? Did you ever consider that?"

She saw him purse his lips. He was pissed.

"I mean, honestly, Jackson he was the Deputy Director of Homeland Security. Surely he could figure out if you were an operative. All he had to do was ask the right people. What if he knew all along not to trust you? How else would he know to offer you the contract?"

"I assumed it was because of our history."

"Except if your elaborate cover-up really worked, he'd have no idea that you were still breathing. Right?"

A look flickered across his face. It was fleeting, but Lisa knew that look. It was fear. Jackson Rippner was afraid. But why?

Author's Notes:

I was gonna be mean and leave it on Jackson revealing he was CIA, then I decided to be nice and give you a little more.

I had about three different reveals written out and I think this one was the best. Not to say that other elements won't show up later…

Hope you're enjoying all the twists and turns! Please review! Thanks for reading.