Blissfield, Michigan

River Diner

Friday, 10am

"Seems like a strange place for this meeting," Annie threw her coat on as Sawyer pulled their car into the parking lot.

They were fifty miles from Ann Arbor, in a little town she was sure the D.I. leaders had picked for its inconspicuousness. Then again, for all she knew they could own the place: The diner, or maybe the whole town. She suddenly wished she'd paid more attention when she was a kid, had a better sense of what might be left of this group her mother had founded with her dad. But, she thought, that's why they were here supposedly.

"It's fine. Many an alliance has formed in a diner," Sawyer was out of the car fast, walked around the front and waited for her. "The staff's too busy to listen to you or care and the other customers have their own dramas to worry about."

He was practically glowing with a twisted little fire she hadn't seen in him once since they met. It made her question her own doubts about him. Was he actually playing both sides? If so, did he just love conning so much that it could be a turn-on for him even when he knew half the room was clued in?

If you'd asked her yesterday to describe her new comrade, she might have said he was intriguing, creative, volatile and, okay, well, hot. Standing there now, taking a deep breath, she added 'kind of scary' to the list.

"If you only remember one thing," Sawyer said, started walking slowly across the lot toward the diner, "It's don't give out too much at once. Short answers or answers that aren't answers. If they ask something you don't want to deal with all, look to me or steer them back to talking about their mission. The more you get the other guy to think about his glorious mission, the more you'll get out of him and the less time he has to think about what your deal might really be."

"Got it," She drew herself up and he could see her put on something like a game face.

"You're gonna do fine, Annie," Sawyer adjusted the computer bag on his left shoulder, slid his right arm around her. "Let's go play these Next Gen hippies."

Saline, Michigan

Town Line Barber Shop
Friday, five hours earlier

"You broke the rules," Sawyer practically yelled it, very worked up for the conversation he was about to have with Dori Goodspeed. The 13 mile drive was just long enough to think, fume, get furious about it all over again.

Dori, son of Olivia, nephew of Horace, had been born in Ann Arbor six months after the women and children had been sent from the island in '77. He was the first D.I. member Sawyer had tracked down and so was the first to learn there had been a power-shift on the island, one that might just make it vulnerable to attack. That information combined with Sawyer's ongoing stream of intel from the island and from the Lamp Post had cost the D.I. eight million dollars so far. The other eight Sawyer would get as soon as they won, as soon as they took it all back.

Glaring at him now Sawyer saw none of the decent Horace or scholarly Olivia in him, just a chilly, brilliant but humorless zealot with a receding dirty blonde hairline and hard thin line of a mouth that reminded him of Radzinsky more than anyone else. Sawyer almost hated himself for dealing with these people. But they owed him.

"Why in the hell did you attack us in that driveway?" He charged right up to where Dori was pulling the shop curtains closed, turning on just one of the lights, got right in his face. "You tell me you didn't kill that little girl for nothing, you tell me Claire's alive or you're not leaving here walking."

Sawyer was a half a head taller than him and clearly twice as strong, but Dori wasn't cowed, just pointed him to the closest of the barbershop chairs.

"What kind of people do you think we are?" Dori asked. "We don't kill anyone unless we have to. You and our friends tried to help her but you failed." His voice was patient but too calm, slow, cold. Somehow it only made Sawyer angrier. "We couldn't let her go running wild. Who knows what she would have told about what she's seen? So we took her in for treatment."

"Treatment?" Sawyer sat, but looked like he might get right back up and deck Dori if he didn't like what he heard next.

"Drug therapy, power of suggestion, a light, induced coma. There's more, but let's leave it at that. We darted her with the same thing we used on you. Unfortunately our shooter aimed poorly, that's why it looked worse than it was. Trust me, we're doing everything we can for her and we'll deliver her back to your people soon. I promise."

A burden over Claire's disappearance that he didn't even realize he was still carrying fell from Sawyer's shoulders and he sat back, some of his anger draining away with it. They would have done what they'd done whether he was working with them or not.

"We haven't been able to talk with you face to face since you cooked up that trip to Phoenix," Dori walked over to a coffee pot, gestured to ask if he wanted some, Sawyer shook his head no. "We were just trying to bring you in with her, to catch up."

"And for that you knocked me on my ass for days? Heard of a goddam cell phone?"

The next week or two have to be planned carefully. You're a difficult man to get ahold of without your friends right at your elbow. That must be driving you crazy, being something of a loner and all."

"Enough about me," Sawyer glared at him. "I didn't sign up to be a D.I. lap dog. I told you I'd get you every bit of intel you need, and that's just what I've been doing. Now you tell me again that you're sticking with our agreement."

"Of course. Whatever happens, Reyes, Kate, Walter Lloyd- we take them without harm to them no matter how many of our people they take out first. The rest, as long as they make wise decisions they're safe too. Hopefully they're smart enough to surrender."

"One more thing," Sawyer stopped him. "When we did this deal, I had no idea Kate would have to go back there. You know she can't leave until the baby's born, and I want your word she'll have your personal protection."

"Of course, and the best medical care. It's only fair. You can even stay there with her if you want. Although after she learns what you've done, something tells me she'll never want to see you again."

"Enough about me, " Sawyer said again, and this time the 'or else' in his voice wasn't so subtle.

"Good idea you came up with, coming here for a disguise. Just the time we need to talk. Think your friends will buy it?"

"It was practically Miles' idea." Sawyer said, heard a hint of disgust with himself in his own voice he hadn't expected.

"Good. Help will be here in fifteen minutes. We pay him well but he's not D.I., so let's get our plans hashed out before he walks in. We've been looking for The Searcher since you told us they left for Hawaii, but I think they dodged us. Tell me what you've heard. We can't afford to miss them on the way back."

Blissfield, Michigan

River Diner

Friday, 10:30am

Annie went into their meeting starting to doubt her misgivings but that ended fast.

She sat on one side of a booth, Dori Goodspeed to her left. Across from them were Sawyer and two other D.I. – a woman of about 28 who he'd introduced as Elian Lewis, and a man no more than three years older who they simply called Kyker. Annie had noticed the barest trace of a reaction from Sawyer, a quick turning of his head toward the red-headed Elian when she was introduced and from her voice, Annie guessed some Brit he'd met on the island had a sister or daughter no one had known about. Kyker, they learned, was the son of the D.I.'s chief videographer.

Her heart sank little by little through the next hour. She told her story about wanting back into the group, and though they poked and prodded a little they could have been much more demanding. They barely questioned the story about how the two of them had met during her time in Guam after college and it only confirmed to her they already knew who it was they were dealing with. It was almost insulting, until she realized they had no idea she had a clue. She had to admit, with blinders on it might have all felt more right.

Then Elian said something that told her a lot about the new D.I.

"Our parents were utopians," She said, "We want to build an empire. You say you want to go back to the island to learn how it heals people. Will you be good with your research being put to practical use, profitable use, even if you can't control it?"

Now it was Annie's turn to wonder if Sawyer caught the subtext. Because even though it felt to Annie like she might be a pawn or even a hostage very soon – it seemed maybe these three, Elian at least, saw some real use for her. They might actually be hoping that once the lying was over, the DeGroots' daughter might decide she wanted back in the D.I.

"Of course," Annie said, "I'll sign over to you the use of what I learn. As long as I profit, too." And she knew it was the right answer, though it was so very much a lie.

Ann Arbor

11:15am

At the rental house, Miles sat at the computer emailing with Hurley while he and Evan listened to the output of Annie's cell phone app and every word of their meeting. Evan was on the sofa behind Miles, and the more he heard, the more he felt he had to do something. Telling Miles all wasn't it, not yet. He picked up his own cell phone and texted Ben at the Lamp Post.

"You need to send Miles and me back to L.A., to Kate's…" he keyed in, waited. Got a simple '?" back from Ben, followed by five words: "We're a little busy here…"

"Annie says something's wrong…" Evan wrote. "… with Sawyer." He didn't text that after what they'd heard he tended to agree. He knew he was too low on the totem poll for that to matter to Ben.

"If there's anything going on with him, the clues aren't here," Evan wrote instead. "They're at Kate's."

There was a long pause with no question marks, no reply at all.

"You just have to decide," Evan wrote. "Do you trust Annie?"

"Got it, safe trip, talk soon," The sound of Miles talking filtered through to Evan, he was absorbed enough that he'd missed that Sawyer had called. "They're headed for the airport. They're in! They're heading straight to sea with them."

"That's great," Evan smiled, tried to look as enthused as he could, flipped his laptop shut. "They did great."

Miles' phone rang again and he just said, "Yeah," expecting Sawyer. "Ben, hi, did you hear? They did it…."

Evan slammed out one more message.

"Send a private plane. We're taking Joop with us."

The response came back quickly this time and it read, "Oh for heaven's sake…" Evan smiled, his thumbs keying in a reply. "It's the least we can do for her. She's taking a huge chance for us."

"Wow. Okay. We'll be there soon." Miles slipped his phone in his pocket, headed for the stairs. "Ben says we have to get back to L.A. They've found something out about Claire. He'll tell us more when we get to Kate's. Oh," he stopped halfway up. "And he's sending a private plane to the county airport. We're bringing him," he pointed to Joop, and the look on his face showed he clearly thought the whole world was going a little crazy and there was the proof.

Evan sat back, gave a great sigh of relief and looked at Joop who was tugging his shirtsleeve with one hand, tapping the laptop with the other.

"Sorry, no Animal Planet right now, buddy," Evan said. "But there's good news. No more jail. You're going to love the island."