A/N: Hope you all like this chapter. If you could, please check out my new Lost fic, Entwined Together. I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Kate could feel her anger and frustration mounting after Tom or Mr. Friendly, or whatever had closed the door after realizing he had made a mistake of some kind. She had been there for probably two days at least, and already she felt as if she were going crazy.

All she knew that she needed to get the hell out of there. And she had a plan. The next time she was paid a visit by anyone, no matter who it was, she would put her rusty skills to the test. She hadn't been on the run for three years for nothing. Wasn't this the reason why she taught herself how to use a gun?

It all seemed so easy. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. She had gotten herself out of a lot of tight situations before, and why should this time be any different? These people were no different than any of the others back in the real world. They were just more elaborate.

The turn of the lock caught her attention, and she immediately stood up and walked over to the door. She tried to keep herself from just opening the door on her own, but knew that that wasn't the right way. She needed to get the other person to open the door and come right into the trap that Kate had set.

To Kate's surprise, it wasn't Tom, Greg, or even another of the men she had seen that night when she had been their hostage back in the jungle, used as leverage to get Jack to hand over the guns.

No, it was the teenage girl that she only vaguely remembered. She hid her surprise, however. She couldn't be caught off guard. She needed to be the one in control. She pressed the gun to the girl's cheek, trying not to feel too guilty at what she was doing.

"I need you to show me the way out," Kate whispered in her ear urgently, walking forward, dragging the girl with her as she did.

"I-I can't…"

"Yes, you can. And you will!" Kate snapped, impatience getting in the way of her good judgment.

"No, I can't! There are people guarding the doors! You can't just walk out because they'll find you!" the girl tried to reason carefully, though the fear was still detectable in her voice.

"Then you'll need to create a distraction. Just long enough for me to get out. You helped Claire escape from Ethan, I know you did! You can help me out too, can't you?"

Kate felt the girl's head move up and down in a nod, and sighed in relief. "You can put the gun down. It's unnecessary," she pointed out, and Kate did as she said and lowered the gun.

Alex led her down the hall, pushing Kate into the shadows of the walls if she heard anyone coming. Luckily they only passed one person, and he looked to be so absorbed in his own thoughts that Kate had a feeling that if she hadn't hidden he still wouldn't have noticed her presence.

"Okay, stay here until I tell you. They should go in the opposite direction, but stay hidden anyway. Once you're out, keep walking straight until you hit the circle of trees, maybe a quarter of a mile from here. From there you should be able to find your way back," Alex explained, and Kate nodded her understanding, taking in every word.

"I must warn you though," Alex spoke up suddenly, "if they notice you're missing, and you aren't back at your camp yet, they will find you, and they will bring you back here," she warned, a hint of fear in her voice.

Kate got the message. "I'll run fast: she assured the girl.

Alex seemed satisfied with her answer, and then turned the corner. "Tom told me to tell you that Henry needed you in the lab. Said it was pretty important. I'll keep watch over the door," Kate heard Alex say coolly.

"They couldn't just ask you and some other person?" a man with a surprisingly high-pitched voice questioned.

"Henry asked for you two," Alex replied. Kate heard the men groan in annoyance, but they got up and turned to the left. Kate watched as they walked slowly down the hall, in no hurry to get there, something that she was grateful for.

"Okay Kate. Go. And hurry!" Alex pleaded. Kate turned to look at the open door, and couldn't help but smile as she took one step at a time out of the Others' headquarters.

Jack and Sawyer walked along the beach in the direction of the rope that had once led to Rousseau's shelter. They had no idea if that was the way Sayid had gone, but if he was nowhere to be found, then they had a feeling he must've gone looking for the one person the Others didn't know was around, or had at least forgotten about.

Their patience was growing thin, though. They didn't have all the time in the world, as most of the other survivors had gotten into the heads. They wouldn't keep Kate forever; that much they were certain of. Time was of the essence, and if they didn't find Sayid soon, then they would be forced to come up with something on their own, since the others had pretty much made it plain that they didn't think she was still alive, so why waste their efforts?

"Jack! Jack! Sayid's back!" It was Charlie. He was running to catch up with Jack and Sawyer.

They turned their attention to Charlie, who was panting and pointing in the direction that the three of them had just come from.

Jack made eye contact with Sawyer, who nodded, and they hurried back to the camp, passing Charlie as they went, who was still catching his breath.

To their surprise, Sayid wasn't alone. In his wake was none other than Danielle Rousseau, the French woman, who had her gun hanging from her shoulder as she always did, looking at the other survivors in suspicion.

"Sayid! We need to talk," Jack called, and the four met up away from the others, who were doing their best to stall, walking slowly so that they could listen to their conversation.

"Yes, we do. I think I have a plan as to how to get Kate back. But we need your help," Sayid admitted.

"That's what we need to talk to you about. Mr. Eko and I went back into the jungle to try to find Kate. We were confronted by the Others, who made it quite clear that if we went back to find her, they would kill her. We need to approach this cautiously. They cannot find out that we're trying to find her again," Jack explained.

Sayid nodded, not looking shocked by this news. "Let me tell you about my plan, then we'll see where we get from there," Sayid suggested.

Everybody agreed, and they walked back to the hatch in silence.

"Alex said you needed to see us, sir," the first guard said as the two walked into the lab where Henry Gale was sitting in front of a scared Tom, who they knew was getting a telling-off for his slip of the mouth a couple minutes ago.

"For what?" Henry snapped angrily. He was not in the mood for this. Why didn't anything go according to plan?

"She only said you needed to see us," he said stupidly.

Henry Gale jumped out of his seat, fuming. "She's gone, isn't she? You let her get away!" he snarled.

The guards, realizing their mistake, could only nod in shame.

"I'm going to tell you what you're going to do. You're going to go out with Tom, and you're going to bring her back. And then you're going to make sure that she cannot get away again," he explained in a calmer voice, but it was much more dangerous.

He then turned his attention to Greg, who had just entered the lab, obviously wanting to figure out what was going on.

"You, Greg, are going to find Alex and bring her to me. We need to have a little chat," he hissed.

Greg nodded at once, and left just as suddenly as he had came. Henry then turned his attention back on the three men, who were considerably bigger than he was. "Well what are you still doing here? Get out there and bring her back to me!"

With that Tom shot out of his chair as if he had just sat on a hot poker, and followed the two guards out, knowing what needed to be done, and that they couldn't come back until they had succeeded.

Kate didn't slow down for anything. Her legs had started to feel like lead, but she kept pushing her muscles harder and harder. The words that Alex had last said to her kept ringing in her ears over and over, and knew that she couldn't have been any more serious.

She had finally entered a part of the land that looked more familiar to her, and knew that she was close now. Only about five minutes, and she would be safe. Five more minutes, and Jack would be there, waiting for her, and she would say she was sorry for running, sorry for not telling him.

Tom couldn't believe how fast they had gotten. They hadn't practiced in so long that of all things, he would have thought that they had gotten slower. But it seemed to be just the opposite.

The three men hadn't broken a sweat yet, and already Tom could tell that they were catching up. She was so close that he could practically taste it.

She found the spot where she had found Sawyer following her, and a burst of hope flooded into her heart. Only a few more seconds and she wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.

She was in view now. He could sense her slowing down a bit, as if she was starting to believe that she was safe now just because she was close enough to her friends that if one of them happened to go exploring, the first thing he would see would be Kate. Tom could only smile as the two guards were just seconds behind her, getting ready to intercept her.

Kate was beginning to see part of the hatch door. If she opened her mouth to scream out her arrival, probably half of the survivors would hear her, and she almost did exactly that.

If it wasn't for the two pairs of hands that had forcibly pushed her to the ground. One clamped his hands across her mouth so that she couldn't scream out for help, and the other one and taken her own hands behind her back, and she could feel them being tied together with some rope.

Finally she was pulled to her feet and she found standing in front of her was one of the guards Alex had distracted, and Tom.

"Hello again, Kate," he sneered.

A tear escaped her eye as she was led by the other guard back to where she had just fled from, and the only thing that she could process clearly was that she was never going to see Jack again.

A/N: Please don't kill me! I know that was really mean of me to do, but this story is far from over. It's barely scratching the surface. This is actually where things are starting to be put into play, and you're going to find out just why the Others need Kate so badly in the next couple of chapters. Watch out for the next one!

Thanks to Paddington, jimmy-barnes-13, Orlando-crazy, Peppy87, fallingacrossthesky, Numbers, and DarknessBlossoms for reviewing! Keep them coming!