10 days ago

Sawyer waited in line impatiently when his cell phone rang. His scowl of frustration was quickly replaced by a smile.

"Hey, darlin'" he drawled into his phone. "What's up?"

"I was expecting you home 20 minutes ago," Kate said amiably on the other end of the line. "The dinner's gonna spoil."

"A married man can still buy beer can't he?"

"I know you're only drinking cos I can't."

"Them's the breaks freckles, I've got OJ for you."

"How generous of you."

"That's the kinda guy I am, what can I say?"

"See you later. I love you James."

"Yeah, I know, you too."

Sawyer closed the cell phone and slipped it into his pocket. Now at the front of the line he handed his money to the Asian man behind the counter.

"Take a tip from me," the clerk said, smiling. "Get some candy for your wife. It will keep her happy, you know what I mean."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Apu," Sawyer said without a smile.

When he left the store, Sawyer noticed that there was a man standing next to his car. The stranger struck Sawyer as familiar but he couldn't immediately place him.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'll come to that shortly Mr Ford, first I need you to get in the car with me."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because this is not a conversation that should be public, Mr Ford or is that Mr Sawyer. We need to go for a drive."

Minutes later, Sawyer asked the passenger in his SUV "Where are we going?"

"First I will answer the first question you asked." The passenger pointed at the junction ahead. "Its right here. My name is Richard Alpert. I was born and raised on a island that you are familiar with. The island on which you met your wife and the island on which you spent approximately ninety days. Now I need to ask you to do something for me and my people."

"Well golly, all you had to do was ask. Do you want me to sign Jacobs birthday card?" Sawyer sneered. "Come on, Ricky, give me one good reason I shouldn't stop this car and kick your ass right now?"

"Straight ahead here, James. He said you'd need a more, let's say tangible, reason to cooperate. OK, the police in Sydney are looking for an American man who killed an innocent shrimp truck owner in cold blood. I have information that I'm sure would interest them."

"Nice try, Bubs, but the Aussie police don't want to track me down. One Yank killing another don't interest them. They see me as a waste of resources."

"You may be right, you may be wrong but I do know that the FBI are presently looking for a woman by the name of Kate Austen who killed her father among other felonies. I am happy for them to keep looking in vain. All I ask is that you meet me in the same place I met you today at the same time tomorrow. Now, I believe your marital home is on the left just up here."

Sawyer pulled up outside his home in silence staring out at the road ahead. Alpert opened the passenger side door and walked down the road without once looking back.