Night is falling as I make my way to my apartment in Los Angeles. I told Sayid half an hour, giving myself fifteen minutes of leverage. I don't know where he's been for two and a half years. I'm not meeting him unarmed.
I run up the stairs, too impatient for the elevator. I reach under the bed and grab my glock and its extra magazine, ready to meet Sayid.
It's a fifteen minute walk from my apartment to Santa Rosa. I make it in ten and the sun starts to fall. I look around the facility and Sayid is nowhere to be seen. I sit on a bench, just of the facility's grounds. I notice a car parked at the curb and a dark figure walk up to it. There's an exchange of words then…pop.
I stay completely still, my hand holding the gun inside my purse. Why would Sayid send me here? As the figure approaches me, I notice that it is Sayid.
"What the hell?" I whisper to him. "You just killed that man."
"I'm aware," he says sternly. "Come on, we have to get Hurley."
"No. Not until I get some kind of explanation."
"We don't have time for this."
"I've got all night," I say, leaning back on the bench and crossing my legs, careful to keep my hand in my purse, holding my own gun.
Sayid takes a deep breath. "What do you want to know?"
"Let's start with why you killed that man."
"Because I have reasons to believe he had intentions of hurting Hurley."
I nod my head. At least we're getting somewhere. "Where have you been? I haven't seen or heard from you in over two years."
"I've been working for Benjamin Linus."
At these words, I'm on my feet, my gun pointed at Sayid's face. "You better not be telling the truth," I say. "I've spent the better part of three years tracking him down. Making nice with Charles Widmore."
Now Sayid's gun is on my head, a snarl pursing in his lips. "You've been working with Charles Widmore?"
"Yes, to find Ben and kill him."
"Have you forgotten what Charles Widmore did to us? Who sent the boat of mercenaries to kill us? Who planted a fake crash at the bottom of the ocean? He's the reason we've had to lie all these years!"
"You don't think I realize that? I've only been working with Widmore because Sun and I believe he's our best chance to Ben. If we can get to Ben, we can kill him and get on with our lives."
"I agree that Benjamin is a bad person. And if he were standing here, my gun would be pointed at his head and not yours. Why do you need to kill Ben? Why does Sun?"
"Who do you think she blames for Jin's death?"
Sayid looks taken aback. "I always thought she blamed Jack."
"Nope, she blames Ben. And so do I. Every death that happened on that Island after you and I found Henry Gale hanging from a net in a tree. Libby, Ana Lucia, Charlie…All of that was Ben. And a man who has that much blood on his hands needs to die."
Sayid takes a deep breath. "I'm going to lower my gun now. I would like you to do the same."
I nod and lower my gun as he lowers his. "Take Hurley," I say. "If you think you can keep him safe, keep him away from Ben, then be my guest. But there's something you need to know."
"And what is that?"
"He's crazy. He's in that ward for a reason. I visited him not too long ago. He told me he's been having frequent conversations with dead people. Including Boone and Shannon." Sayid's face flickers when I mention his old flame, the sister of my old flame. "He won't take his meds. He's crazy, Sayid. So you need to be careful when you keep him safe."
Sayid nods, then starts to head into the building. I put my gun back in my purse and pull my sweater tight around me and start walking back to my apartment.
In the morning I make a pot of strong coffee. Being held at gunpoint by your former best friend is bound to give you a restless night's sleep. I turn on the television for background noise as I pour the coffee, eyeing my bottle of scotch across the room. Nope. Not today.
"The victim was found shot in his car on the grounds of the Santa Rosa hospital, a private mental health care facility outside Los Angeles," the television news anchor says, my head jerking up instantly at the words Santa Rosa. "Police have now identified their suspect in the shooting as a patient at the hospital who escaped earlier this evening as Hugo Reyes." I walk into my living room and see a picture of Hurley, holding a gun on a balcony of some sort in a bathrobe. "Now if that name sounds familiar to you, that's because Reyes was a member of the infamous Oceanic Seven. As to why he may have murdered a visitor to the facility where Reyes lived for two years that remains a complete mystery."
I grab my phone out of my purse, struggling to look back at my calls. There's the number Sayid called me from. I press the send button and it rings twice. "The number you have dialed has been disconnected…."
"Damn it," I mutter, hanging up and throwing the phone on the couch. But as soon as it reaches the cushion, it starts to ring.
I pick up the phone, answering it. "Hello?"
"Tia, its Sun. I'm sorry about yesterday. I missed my flight. I hope you weren't waiting long."
I let out a breath. "No, Sun. Thank you for calling. Do you need me to pick you up at LAX?"
"No, I grabbed a taxi to the Marriot downtown."
"Oh, great." I pause before asking my next question. "Did you talk to him?"
Sun takes a minute to respond. "We shouldn't talk about this over the phone. Can you meet me at my hotel? I'd come to your apartment, but I don't know my way around the city."
"Absolutely. I can be there in forty-five minutes."
I knock on the door of the hotel room and Sun opens it. "Tia," she greets with a smile, and I fall into her arms in a warm embrace.
She leads me into the room. "Where's Ji Yeon?" I ask, sitting on the couch. "I haven't seen her in so long. If she's anything like Eliza, I bet she's grown."
Sun pulls out a camera from her purse and turns it on, finding a picture and handing it to me. An almost three Asian girl smiles up into the camera. "She's at home with her grandmother. She is getting big. And she's so smart."
"And beautiful," I complement, handing the camera. I take a breath and get down to business. "So, I assume you met Widmore."
"He had me detained at airport security in London," she says and my jaw drops in shock.
"What did you say to him?"
"Only what we rehearsed. That we have common interests. Then I handed him my card and your card and walked away."
"So why did he detain you?"
"Because he thought I was being disrespectful. But I told him about Ben and what we wanted to get done."
"What did he say?"
"He gave me Ben's information. He's been tracking him like us, only his resources are more vast. He has more experience with this kind of thing then we do." She reached into her purse and pulls out a folder. "He's planning a meeting at a boat pier tomorrow night."
"A meeting with who?" I ask, taking the folder. But as soon as I look at its contents, I know the answer.
"With Jack." I flip through the contents of the folder. There's Jack with a shaggy beard, walking out of a funeral parlor with Ben. Carrying a casket with Ben, driving away with Ben. And pictures dated yesterday, of Ben and a clean shaven and in a suit, with Ben outside of Jack's apartment building.
"So what's the plan?" I ask Sun, ready for action.
"We need to keep Sayid, Kate, and Hurley away from Ben," she says.
I let out a huff. "Well, we don't need to worry about Sayid and Hurley," I say.
"Why not?"
I explain the events of last night and Sun's eyes grow wider with each word. "He pointed his gun at you?"
"Yeah, but I had mine on him first. I'm fine, don't worry about it. The important thing is that he'll keep Hurley away from Ben at all costs."
"So that just leaves Kate."
"Yeah, Kate and I are kind of in a rough patch. We've been in a rough patch for about two years now."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I can take care of Kate if you'd like."
"That would probably be best," I agree. After a few moments of silence, I change the subject. "Did you hear about Bentham?"
"Who?" Sun asks, looking confused.
"Jeremy Bentham? Did he not come to see you?"
"I don't know a Jeremy Bentham."
"Oh, yes you do. It's Locke."
"Locke is here?" she asks, slightly panicked.
"Not any more. He died three days ago. Suicide."
She looks sad for a moment, then continues. "Why was he here? How did he leave the Island?"
"How did Ben leave the Island?" I counter. "I don't know how, but I know why. He wanted us to come back."
"To the Island?" I nod my head. "Why didn't he come to see me?"
"I don't know, Sun. But we can't worry about that now. We need to stick to our plan."
She nods her head diligently. "Alright. I'll keep Kate away from Ben. What are you going to do?"
"I can't think of anything better to do than to follow Ben. Figure out what he and Jack are up to."
"Sounds like a plan. You can follow him to the pier?"
"Where we'll kill him. Together."
