Ben gathers the Oceanic survivors together through some trickery, and has a memorable first encounter with Walt after his release.

As Sayid was more trusted than Ben, Ben had Sayid send messages to the Oceanic Six plus Walt over the next few days. They were going to meet on Saturday, June 7. Kate was the lone holdout, not being able to bear leaving Aaron behind. Ben had a couple more ideas in mind. He forged an official looking letter from the California State's Attorney's Office.

"Dear Ms. Austen,

Due to matters recently brought to our attention we require you and the child with whom you are living, to report to the County Hospital on Monday, June 9, 2008 for DNA testing. A normally reliable source is questioning who the child's biological parents really are."

There was another force at work though. The ghost of Ana-Lucia informed Jacob that Kate was not convinced, and on June 4 Jacob sent another spirit, this one to appear in Aaron's dream.

"Hello, Aaron."

In his semi-conscious state Aaron did not understand what was going on.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Boone. Do not be scared. I passed on so that you could come into the world."

"What does that mean? I took your place?"

"That is correct in a way. But what I have come here to tell you is that your mother must leave you for a few days, so that our friends, people who know you, and are sick now, will get better. You can stay with your grandmother; she will take care of you. If your mother does not go, our friends will get sicker, like this."

The image of Boone started to deteriorate from a handsome young man into the one suffering numerous injuries from his fatal fall, but he vanished before it got too scary for the young child. The next morning, Aaron informed Kate,

"It's okay if you go away for a few days. I'll be fine with Grandma."

Kate was shocked. "Darling, why do you say that?"

"A nice man told me so. Bob ... no Boone."

"Boone! How ... you mean you saw in a dream?"

"I guess so. Are you mad, Mommy?"

Kate was disconcerted, but was realizing, "If I don't go, they'll take Aaron from me. I have to believe in Ben to set things right. I don't want to, but I have no choice."

Now speaking, Kate replied, "No dear, I'm not mad. I don't want to leave you, but I have to help a lot of other people, and this is the only way. Mommy loves you." Kate hugged and kissed Aaron, and made the arrangements for Aaron to stay at Margo's house.

On Saturday, June 6, the plan was set in motion. Kate had left Aaron at Margo's house, and then let Jack drive her to the building in which Hurley was located. Sun had flown across the Pacific under the guise of an ordinary business trip, and took a taxi driven by Ben himself to the common destination. Getting Walt there was more problematical. Walt made up a story to his grandmother, saying that as he and his classmates had just finished finals, they would be celebrating all weekend. Noreen thought that it would be good for Walt to spend more time with children his age, and welcomed the idea.

However, Walt met with Sayid a few blocks from the Dawson residence, drove him to a small airport across the Hudson in New Jersey, and then flew a private plane across the country. Ben had seen to it that all the flight plans were approved. Before going, Walt had written a note to his grandmother Noreen and left it under his pillow, where she would find it Sunday or Monday when doing the wash.

Dear Grandma,

I'm sorry it had to be this way, but it is the only way to set things right. You deserve to know the truth. The plane Dad and I were on crashed onto an island in the South Pacific, and there were more than fifty survivors originally. The story about the Oceanic Six is a lie, but it was done to protect those people who are still on the island. I have now found out that I must return there, with the adults of the Oceanic Six, in order to save those still there. I won't be able to live with myself otherwise.

Dad did everything he could to get us off that island. He built a raft, and I was a jerk and burned it because I wanted to stay. He built a second, and we left on that, but I was kidnapped by a group of people who had been living on the island. They locked me in a room and did lots of tests on me, and to be honest, it was physical and psychological torture. Dad went crazy, and made a deal to get me released, but had to betray some of our friends to do that, and killed two people in the process. I was very mad at him when I found out, but I have grown since then and understand better the terrible psychological pressure he was under. He was told that I would be killed if he didn't cooperate. He was a good man at heart, and couldn't deal with the all the horrible things that had happened and that no one should be subjected to.

It turns out that my mother was rather evil. Dad had sent me pictures for my birthday since I was two, but she hid them from me. She actually threw them away, but my wonderful nanny saved them. I know this may sound bad but I'm glad Mom died, because if she hadn't, I never would have gotten to know Dad. We actually were getting along well the last couple weeks before my kidnapping, and I know he would have been a good father if that hadn't happened.

A friend of mine, whose real name is John Locke, found me in the park a couple weeks ago and explained why I must return now. I have complete faith in him, and he saved my life on the island when I got mad at Dad and ran away with Vincent, and was almost killed by a polar bear. It turns out some crazy animal experiments had been performed on the island a long time ago. He just passed away, and his name was given as Jeremy Bentham.

Please keep this letter a secret until I return. A lot of lives, not just the ones on the island, are at stake. Terrible things will happen all around the world, perhaps even the end of mankind in a few years' time, if we can't do this. Please trust me on this.

Love,

Walt

Sayid and Walt were the last to arrive at Hurley's location. However, in order to get Walt to come along willingly, Sayid had neglected to tell Walt that Ben would be present. When Walt saw Ben, he grimaced. A flood of pent-up anger built up within Walt. Ben immediately got down to business and started to speak,

"I'm glad you could all make it today. Now we have to …"

Walt had surreptitiously drawn closer to Ben, and without warning, delivered a punch to the left side of Ben's jaw with an astonishing force for one Walt's size. Ben staggered back, and prepared to defend himself, but Sayid and Jack grabbed Walt's arms before the attack could continue.

"What are you doing here!?" shouted Walt. "You ruined my life! You wrecked my Dad's life, turned him into a monster, and those two people he killed trying to rescue me. You deserve to rot for all eternity!"

Ben rubbed his aching jaw, and from his reaction Jack thought he'd better look at it.

"Why, it's dislocated. We should take you to a hospital to have that set."

"There's no time, Jack," replied Ben. "Just pop it back into place the best you can."

"All right, if you insist." Jack held Ben's head, and gave a shot to Ben's jaw, causing Ben to groan in agony. Walt got a small measure of satisfaction in that.

Sayid spoke up: "Walt, I'm afraid we didn't tell you that we need Ben for this. We weren't sure how you'd react, or if you'd come at all. But you already jeopardized the mission."

"Enough," interrupted Ben. "Walter, I …" this was very difficult for Ben, who hated admitting mistakes. "I have to apologize to you. Had I known three and a half years ago what I know now, I would have handled things differently. Please keep in mind that everything I did I believed I was doing in the best interest of the Island. And keeping the Island safe benefits the whole human race."

Walt was not in a forgiving mood.

"Just let's get on with this."

"Very well," replied Ben, "we do not have time to waste. If you would all follow me."

Ben led the group down a corridor, unlocked a door, and entered a rather cool room. He pushed a button, and out from the wall emerged a coffin on a slab, with a large globe on top. Cutting off the questions, Ben announced, "the person in there is exactly who you think is in there. Now all of us much touch the coffin simultaneously." Ben led by example.

Kate, Sun, and Hurley had been quiet, and generally miserable. Jack and Sayid helped them to the coffin. Walt was the last to approach, reluctantly agreeing to this while thinking, "I'm doing this for you, Mr. Locke."

As Walt touched the coffin, the globe started to tremble, then spin. It had two degrees of freedom of movement, allowing for any possible orientation. In about a minute it had settled, with a marker at the bottom, closest to the coffin, indicating a point.

"Forty-two degrees, twenty-three minutes east longitude, eight degrees, sixteen minutes south latitude – ladies and gentlemen, our Island is in the Indian Ocean, well off the east coast of Tanzania, north of the Comoros and west of the Seychelles."

"Forty-two … nooo!" Hurley freaked at hearing several of the Numbers, and bolted out the door. Sayid and Jack had to catch up with him, but their service in the refrigerated room was complete. The group reassembled in the outer room in which they had first met.

Ben spoke once more. "We leave immediately. The plane Sayid brought Walt here on has been refueled, but more importantly, it has been fitted with some rather recent and top-secret stealth technology. Sayid is fully capable of piloting it. We have plenty of food, and a system that will keep the coffin sufficiently cool in the cargo hold."