Fire and Ice

Chapter 9

Variables

Simple plans work the best. Connor remembers the words of his instructor at Quantico. The more variables you add to them, the more chance that they'll be a fuck up.

A sliver of cold rain runs down his back. Perched on a tree, Connor has a commanding view of both entrances to the cave. Sawyer watches one entrance concealed in some bushes, and Locke is nowhere to be seen, the master that he is. Kate is pretending to sleep, ten yards away from the bottles. Reluctantly Hurley is in there too, too late to return for the regular water supply run, hey his snoring adding to the illusion.

Lana is safely back at the beach, unusually the antagonism between her and Claire has been forgotten. She's still blaming herself for Jess's death. Strange as it seems, I miss her. Connor muses. He wipes the water from his face. Well if they are trying to contaminate the water, we have plenty of alternatives. He watches Sawyer start to give him the thumbs up, then point and crouch down.

Connor follows Sawyer's line of sight. Movement, two hundred metres away, a figure is moving through the jungle.

Shit!

The figure is moving very slowly very deliberate. From the shadows of trees to other trees. There are two barely audible whistles. Locke has seen the figure too.

The figure stops. It appears to be looking around. Okay you're being cautious, you didn't hear that.

The figure appears to be calculating their next move. The rain is starting to get worse. Just go into the caves however you are. The figure doesn't move.

Okay plan B. One hundred yards away, Sawyer and Connor exchange glances, Locke will follow suit. Keeping one eye on the figure, Connor slowly starts to climb down. What the!

The pistol he'd placed beside him on the branch, is slick from the rain, in horror, Connor watches it fall the fifteen feet, straight into a puddle of rain-water.

The splash might as well have been a bomb going off. Connor groans.

The figure, stands up with a start, and looks in the direction of Connor, then turns round. Connor sees Sawyer run straight at the figure. Connor forgets about the pistol, and runs at the figure too. The figure sees them both, and starts to run into the jungle, with Connor and Sawyer following.

Kate is waiting inside the caves, the temptation to use a pillow on Hurley is rapidly becoming an attractive option. Somebody else in the camp, used to snore as well. She pulls a blanket tighter to her, as she watches the flickering flames of a fire. The day dreaming is broken by the clap of distant thunder.

Did this individual try out for the Olympic sprint team?

Connor is one hundred metres behind the figure, who is sprinting from tree to tree, jumping across ditches in the jungle floor. Connor, hears Sawyer panting behind him. This can't go on much…

The figure slips, and falls.

Did I just doze off?

Kate checks her watch, concerned that she did. Hurley is still snoring. It is still raining outside. She relaxes. If Hurley is still snoring, then who is that shadow?

She watches for a few moments, motionless. The shadow stops. The pistol is now clenched in her hands.

The figure writhes on the ground, clawing at the mud in a vain effort to get up. Connor leaps at it, knocking the struggling figure down. The figure roars in agony, as again it tries to escape. Connor twists one of its arms around it back. There is more screams of agony. Sharper and higher pitched. A stunned Sawyer, watches in amazement, as Connor pins the figure to the ground. Its legs are kicking up a fury. Connor panting, pulls out his hand-cuffs, and in an action done dozens of times before, slaps them on. A grin of satisfaction spreads across his face. He looks up at Sawyer. "Thanks for the help." He says in between breaths. Connor looks down at the figure, who is now staring up at him. It's a teenage girl!

"Isn't that a switch!"

The sound of three pistol shots being fired echo through the night.

"Dude what the…"

The figure turns round with a start, as Hurley wakes up. The figure is powerfully built, and massive. From across the fire, Kate raises the pistol. There is the unmistakable sound of something being unsheathed, a knife, it shines in the dying light. The figure steps towards Hurley, who is paralysed by fear. Kate aims, and squeezes the trigger.

"What the hell!"

Connor stares at the scene panting. Dark red crimson matter is sprayed across the cave wall, the figure leans against it. Red bubbles trickle from its mouth. Hurley's eyes are wide in terror, so are Kate's. Thunder echoes across the night. Connor looks at them both, then at the figure.

"You both look like you've seen a ghost."

"We have." Is all that Kate can manage in a quiet reply.

Connor crouches down in front of the figure. "I haven't seen him before!"

"Ethan." Is all that Hurley can manage.

The figure or Ethan is still breathing, only just. He has a few moments at the most. He stares at Connor. "What has started will be finished!"

A thin smile appears across his face. "Is that so?" Connor replies.

"Yes." Ethan coughs.

"Death will come swiftly from the black water!" He closes his eyes for the last time, and dies.

"Well missy, aren't you the little wildcat?" Sawyer kicks the girl in her backside into the mud. She has brown hair and blue eyes. She stares at Sawyer, who has the pistol tucked away. "You're going to do some talking!"

"What if I don't want to talk?" She calmly replies in accented English.

"I know somebody, who can make people talk." The girl stares at her hand-cuffs. "Now don't you be getting any ideas."

"I have only one." The girl, in a blink of an eye, snaps the chain of her handcuffs in half. Sawyer steps back and watches her get slowly in front of him, rubbing her wrists. Her eyes narrow!

"Ah-ha!" Connor removes a small metal case from one of Ethan's pockets. It is like a cigarette case, only slightly bigger, and thicker. He slowly flips it open. Inside it, is a sealed test tube, cushioned by cotton wool. He slowly picks it up, and holds it in the light. "Sb4223161584. Whatever that means?"

"Dude what happened to you?" Hurley says from behind him.

Sawyer stumbles into the, his face battered, bruised, and bloody. He collapses onto the floor.

"I don't know." Jack looks at the test tube in the light of the cave. Connor is cleaning himself up with a wet towel. "Check Desmond's records for whatever it is, a dead man who was alive was going to slip it into somebody's water bottle last night!"

"That was Ethan." Locke folds his arms. "We've got a corpse who should already be dead, and a teenage girl who steam-rolled Harry Potter's ass!"

"Why don't you just go and advertise that fact." Sawyer snarls from across the cave. Sun looks at him bemused. Connor ignores him, sharing a brief smile with Locke, and Jack.

Ana-Lucia walks in, Eko trailing in behind her. "Perimeter's secure!"

"We put a guard on here every night now, armed." Jack says.

"I don't think they'll try it again, but who knows!"

Connor grunts. "They just might surprise us."

"How's Sawyer?" Connor sits down beside Kate, by the beach. Kate smiles. "Bruised!"

"Ego, pride, or ass?"

Kate grins. "Would you believe all three!"

"Nope." Connor grins leans back on the towel, and closes his eyes.

"I'm sorry I shot him." Kate softly says.

"He had a knife, you saw him move towards Hurley, you acted. Besides, he was also going to spike the water with something!" Connor sighs. "He was dead already, so killing him again isn't a crime."

"Yeah, right."

Connor pats Kate on the back.

Ten metres away in the tree line in the jungle, somebody watches them. Lana stealthily observes Kate, before walking away.

To be continued…