Chapter 21

Sayid made his way through the jungle towards the hatch. He had seen Jack rush onto the beach the day before and talk to Locke and Hurley, but he didn't know what the problem was. And there had to be a problem. Jack wouldn't speak to Locke unless he had to, their relationship being more than tense since Boone's death. Something was going on, Jack and Locke hadn't been on the beach since, and Sayid needed to know if Lauren was okay.

The two hadn't spoken very much since she started living at the hatch. Sayid came down and inspected the hatch but he couldn't make sense of the concrete barrier that was poured below the living space. Sayid believed that Lauren had made a grave mistake signing up for a life in the hatch. Something about it gave Sayid a bad feeling, and it wasn't just the fear of what would happen if the button wasn't pressed. Isolation aside, whoever truly controlled the hatch, and the mystery of its purpose were both reasons to steer clear of it. Yet, Lauren was determined to take over.

When he finally made it to the hatch, he let himself in and found Hurley sitting in the living room, listening to music on the record player. It had been a long time since Sayid had heard music, even before the crash, he might have heard a song in the taxi to the airport, but he truly couldn't remember whether he had even bothered to listen to it.

"Woah, man! You scared the crap outta me! You're so sneaky," Hurley had a hand on his chest, as though his heart might burst out.

"I am sorry, Hurley. Where's Lauren?"

"Dude. Some crazy shit went down. Lauren was watching the baby for Kate, and I guess Ethan showed up and like knocked Lauren out and stole the baby! Lauren, Kate, Locke and Jack all went looking for him."

Sayid couldn't believe what he was hearing. The baby had been taken again?

He went to the armory that Lauren had showed him, and grabbed a handgun. He packed up the ammo he needed and left the hatch with no hesitation. He found the group's trail quickly enough and began his own journey North.

****Flashback****

His battalion was doing drills in the hazy heat of the Iraq summer. His commander had griped about the 42° C heat, but Sayid didn't see the point in complaining. The heat wasn't unusual but the sun did seem to be beating down on them to a greater degree than normal. Sweat rolled down the side of Sayid's face, but he remained in position. He had joined the Republican Guard just a few weeks prior, and the early stages of his training had been grueling. Lately, though, his commanders were more loose-lipped with the events surrounding their base, and from what Sayid could deduce, there was likely an incoming attack on a nearby town soon. The base was too close, and the leaders were nervous about the impact. The Americans had already hit Baghdad, Tikrit was next in their movements North.

"The American pigs think that we will surrender, but we will never show them weakness," his commanding officer shouted as the soldiers continued their exercises. Sayid moved in unison with his brothers, but his eyes followed the crowd of officers gathering behind his commander. When the speaker noticed the group behind him, he turned and joined them. They spoke in hushed tones, with angry gestures. One officer glanced at Sayid and made eye contact. Sayid quickly averted his gaze and continued to do the drill. The officer left the group and pointed at Sayid, pulling him out of line.

"You have been chosen to complete a mission. I understand you have yet to graduate from training, but your skills are unparalleled amongst your peers. It is an honor to go on this mission."

Sayid nodded, "Of course, sir. What would you have me do?"

His superior handed him a folder. Sayid opened it to see the details of his mission and scanned it quickly. The report stated a man named Khalid Al-Mansour had leaked the coordinates of several high ranking officials in hiding, and he was going to be in Tikrit this evening. The bombings, they knew, were scheduled for sunset, so Sayid was to lead an extraction team to take him from the city before the bomings began. Sayid would be responsible for the first round of interrogation as part of his training.

"Your transport will leave at 16:00 from the North exit."

"Yes, sir."

Sayid saluted his commanding officer and watched him go. Sayid's very first mission before he even finished training and his heart was pounding from adrenaline. It was 15 past 2 o'clock, so Sayid went to the strategic planning office. The soldiers in the office saluted him as he entered and he responded in kind before settling down in front of a map of Tikrit. He pushed a pin into the expected location of his target, and began planning the best route to get to him. He was known to be evasive, according to the file, so a quiet entrance would be preferable. The building he was supposed to be in was a small, old apartment building that had been inspected by the Guard a week prior. The layout was basic, with four exits on the first floor of the building. The assignment stated there would be a team of six including himself, so covering all the exits and having a whole tactical team enter the apartment wasn't an option. Sayid would have to choose his best man to accompany him.

By the time Sayid had formed a solid plan, it was nearly time to leave. Sayid went to the armory and geared up alongside his team. The five soldiers had graduated a month ago, and Sayid was sure they were not pleased to follow a trainee into hostile territory, but they all knew the decision wasn't theirs to make. Amir was the only one Sayid was familiar with, as he had led one of his training exercises, and had complemented Sayid on his speed. They were all large men, dedicated to the cause, and Sayid didn't doubt any of their abilities. They were his brothers and he had to trust them, whether he knew them or not. When they were ready, Sayid briefed them on his plan. Nobody argued or dissented to his strategy, and Sayid felt a sense of accomplishment for a brief moment. Now he just had to put the plan into action.

The team departed the base and made their way into the nearby city. The streets were desolate as the bombings in Baghdad had put the citizens of Iraq into hiding. The once prosperous street market stood empty outside their truck. The windows on most buildings were boarded up, but Sayid could see eyes peeking between the slats. Several streets away from the apartment building, the truck parked and the men got out. Now was the time Sayid had to choose who would enter with him.

"Amir, you're with me. Hassan and Tariq you will cover the two front entrances and Suad and Rashad you will take the two back entrances. Nobody should be in the building aside from Khalid and his team, so anyone who tries to leave, shoot them."

With that, the team took off silently down the street towards the apartment. The outside team took their posts when they arrived, and Sayid and Amir entered through the back entrance. Darkness engulfed the two men once they stood in the hallway, and they stood there briefly, listening for any sign of their prey. There were four apartments on the first floor, but Sayid didn't expect them to be there. They searched them anyway, finding nothing. When the two ascended the stairs, Sayid heard footsteps on the floor above them. Check the second floor or go straight to the third? Sayid wrestled with indecision only briefly, then quickly and quietly took the last few stairs to the third floor entrance, Amir following closely.

The hallway was almost pitch black, but for a small window at the end of the hallway. The darkness put Sayid on edge, his visibility compromised. He raised his gun and listened again. Down the hall, he thought he heard the clattering of dishes, and he slowly slid along the wall of the thin hallway towards the sound. The two men stopped outside the door.

"Khalid! You never close the lid on the trash. Do you want us to have bugs on top of everything else?" A woman's voice was muffled behind the door, but she sounded older.

"Mama, we're only here a few days. If bugs show up, we'll leave," A boy's voice stated stubbornly.

Sayid burst through the door, with his rifle aimed at the individuals in the apartment. Amir was right behind him, and he immediately shot the woman standing there.

"Mama!" The boy wailed as he fell to his knees beside the bleeding woman.

Sayid got closer, the barrel of his gun just inches from the boy's head.

"Khalid?" Sayid said as he took in the boy. Khalid looked up at Sayid, his eyes red with hatred with tears threatening to fall. The file had not contained a picture of the boy, just a description. Black hair, brown eyes, no facial hair, and a scar running along the length of his jaw. As Sayid confirmed all the features were there, he couldn't help but realize just how young he was. Of course he was clean shaven, he wasn't old enough to grow any facial hair! His cheeks were still plump with youth, with the only sign of his years being the scar on his face. How could this child have obtained the information he leaked? Why? Sayid figured he would find out shortly and he rammed the butt of his gun against the boy's head.

****Flashback Ends****

Sayid walked for a full day without any real sign of his people. Their tracks headed due North for a ways before splitting up into different paths going East, but those weren't as easy to track, so Sayid continued North, knowing that that must have been their original route. When night fell, he made camp alone in the solace of a banyan tree. He struggled to rest, his thoughts swirling with anxiety over the kidnapping and Lauren's safety.

When he did wake up from his short, restless slumber, he continued on his path North. Sometime after daybreak, as Sayid was walking through tall grass, he heard a jingle. It was a cowbell.. Ducking behind the grass, he crouched and walked towards the sound. The horn of a bull was poking out from the grass in front of Sayid and he maneuvered around it, seeing a light brown bull with shaggy hair around its face. Sayid was more concerned with the building that was just beyond the grassy area. A large satellite was on the roof of the old, blue house and a horse was tied up near the entrance. Sayid scanned the area for people, but only saw a figure pass by a window. Sayid ran to the house and hid under a window, listening. Inside, there were no voices, but someone was whistling. He peered over the window sill, and saw the back of a tall man, walking towards a back room. He waited until the man made it to his destination, and did a loop around the building. There was only one horse and a few cows milling about the area, but Sayid focused on any points of entry to the house. Finding none besides the windows and the front door, Sayid was satisfied with his reconnaissance. One man he could take.

As quietly as he could, Sayid nudged the front door open. He stopped when it was past the catch and waited for any response. Hearing none, he opened the door a bit more and squeezed inside. Still crouched and armed with his handgun, Sayid didn't dare stand and walk towards the back room. He walked on his toes, all the while scanning his surroundings. The man continued to whistle, and Sayid inched towards the backroom. Several feet away from the open door, Sayid glanced into the room where the man sat. There was a wall of monitors, with only two actively on. The man's back was facing Sayid, as he whistled and sipped from a mug. Sayid crept forward as silently as he could, he crossed the threshold of the room with his heart pounding out of his chest. If this room was what he thought it was, they were closer to rescue than ever before.

Rising from his crouched position, Sayid immediately raised his arms to slam the butt of his gun onto the back of the man's head, but the man was alert and quick and as fast as Sayid was, the man glanced his reflection in a monitor and dodged the blow enough to spin around and tackle Sayid to the ground. Sayid dropped his gun, but launched his knee into the gut of his opponent. He was phased only for a moment, but Sayid gracefully maneuvered away and dodged a punch and sent an elbow into the man's face. Sayid measured his opponent as he circled him, the man had one eye and was wearing an eye patch. He was tall and middle aged, but in no way feeble or weak. Sayid punched the man again but the brunt of the impact was blocked, so Sayid tried to make the one eyed man lose his balance with a kick. Sayid just needed to dance to the left where the gun was under the desk, but before he could get the moves right, the man moved offensively and Sayid had to dodge a hard blow to the eye that swiped past his cheekbone. Finally, Sayid was over the game they were playing, and took a risk and dove for the gun. He grabbed it with his outstretched fingers as the man descended upon him, and just as the man began to strangle Sayid with one hand, and hold Sayid's outstretched arm away from the gun, Sayid's hand wrapped around the grip, and he swiftly aimed and shot the man in the shoulder. The stun of the impact got the man off of him, but wouldn't be fatal. Sayid pushed him even further away, before standing and aiming the gun at the man's head.

"Who are you?"

The man was silent, so Sayid finally knocked him out as he had originally intended.

****Passage of Time****

After hours of trying to access some sort of communication with the outside world, Sayid's frustration was getting higher. He knew exactly how to do what it was he needed to do, but the god forsaken Dharma Initiative had put every safety and security measure in place and without the access codes, there was no way to communicate. The one eyed man remained silent, and Sayid knew he had only a few options before him.

Getting the access codes from the man would require Sayid to tap into a part of himself he despised. His previous role in the Republican Guard was not who he wanted to be any longer, but the skills he developed were… effective. But on the other hand, Sayid had not forgotten Lauren and the baby. He had a mission, and maybe this man could shed some light on that as well.

The man in the eye patch sat tied to a chair in the living area near the kitchen. Sayid paced in front of him.

"What is your name?" Sayid asked.

"Mikhail," the man suddenly answered. He had not spoken a word, but now… Sayid considered Mikhail. He had a faint Russian accent to match his name.

"Who are you?"

"I am the last living member of the DHARMA Initiative."

****Flashback****

Sayid and his team had returned to the base outside of Baghdad with their prisoner. The boy put up little fight in his removal, and held his head high despite the tears that poured down his face. He was led through the side gates that led straight into a prison compound on the far West side of the base. Here was where most prisoners of war were kept. Sayid handed Khalid off to be processed and went to check in with his commander.

He waited outside the office until he was called in. As he entered, another officer was leaving. It was Omar, a Muqaddam Sayid had trained with many times. They nodded at one another before Sayid entered the office. His captain gestured to sit down, and Sayid did so after saluting him first.

"You did well," he stated simply.

"Thank you, sir."

"The interrogations begin tonight at 0300. No time for him to rest. I understand this will be your first interrogation, so Omar will be conducting it and you will watch."

"Yes, sir."

"You have a bright future with us, I believe. That is all."

Sayid rose, saluted, and exited the office. It was well past midnight, too close to the time of the interrogation to get any rest. It was both a well documented rumor and common sense not to eat before your first interrogation, though Sayid doubted he would retch given the things he had seen. Either way, food didn't sound appealing.

Instead, Sayid went to the Intelligence wing of the base to prepare for the interrogation. He knew the best way to get someone to reveal their knowledge, is to act like you already know it. Sayid needed to know what Khalid was planning to say, so that he could get to the truth Khalid was hiding.

When 0300 arrived, Sayid and Omar were already entering the cell block where Khalid was being held. They wasted no time placing a bag over his head, and dragging him out of his cell. Once settled into the interrogation room, Omar removed the bag from Khalid's head. The boy's face had dried blood from beatings taken by his guards. His eyes were red and puffy, but darkness and hatred oozed from his gaze. As so many prisoners did, Khalid spit at Omar's face. Omar calmly wiped his face, and backhanded the boy as hard as he could. A cut appeared across the boy's cheek, parallel to the scar on his jaw.

Omar began asking questions, and when they were not answered satisfactorily, he used one of the many tools on his table to get the right answer. First, Omar used the pliers to tear the boy's fingernails out. When Khalid finally breathed a guilty name, he moved onto the taser. For an hour and a half, Omar tortured the boy and Sayid stood dutifully learning the skills before him.

Blood dripping down his face and his hands, the boy was returned to his cell, a hollow shell of the confident teenager he had been earlier in the evening. Sayid returned to his bunk around dawn, but when he tried to close his eyes, Khalid's seething, black eyes were all he could see.

****Flashback Ends****

Sayid listened to Mikhail's lies for a little while, but everything he said reeked of preparation and performance. According to him, the Dharma Initiative had recruited him in the early 90s, just before they were wiped out by the Island's native inhabitants. They allowed him to survive, but only if he did not cross the line.

"And the satellite? The monitors?"

"I can receive a signal, but the Dharma Initiative had a failsafe system for outside communication. It was closely and securely monitored, so if anyone was to do so, it required full approval from the on-Island leader of the Dharma Initiative, meaning, he had to enter his access code, along with my own code. Unfortunately that code died with him years ago."

"There must be a way around it."

"The Dharma Initiative's leader was a mathematician, with the help of the head of research, they crafted this station to be inaccessible."

Sayid thought for a moment, trying to get himself on track. He had to find Lauren and the others, but he also felt compelled to explore this station to find answers. He didn't believe Mikhail's story for a moment. The "Hostiles" as Mikhail called them, wouldn't leave a station like this untouched with its capabilities AND leave the man running it alive.

"What do you know about these Hostiles?"

"Very little. After the Purge, four men appeared in the yard. They offered a truce. They said to imagine a line that extended all the way across the valley. As long as I did not cross it, I would be left alone. Then they took two cows and I never saw them again."

"And you have been here for 10 years?"

"And I have stayed true to the truce, I do not ask for trouble. Unlike you."

Sayid smiled at that and bent over to be eye level with Mikhail.

"You may not ask for trouble, but your stories beg for truth. How many of you are there?

"I told you I am the last-"

Sayid had heard enough. With a vicious blow to the face, Mikhail was rendered unconscious once more. Sayid considered his decision, he could've gotten more information, but the man seemed determined to lie, and Sayid didn't have time for more nonsense. Sayid ensured the knots tying the man to the chair were still firmly intact and threw a pillow case from the couch over his head. Whilst walking around the living room, Sayid felt a change in the floor under the rug. Pushing the rug back, he found a trapdoor. With a moment's hesitation at the thought of leaving his prisoner unguarded, Sayid descended to the basement. He turned on his flashlight and examined the rows of bookcases filled with binders that stood in front of him. He scanned for one that had the electrical layout of the Dharma Initiative's stations, and found it fairly quickly. He began to leave the basement, believing that to be all he needed, when his flashlight passed over a binder on the very top shelf labeled: "Access Codes: 1977." Sayid retrieved it and quickly went back upstairs. Mikhail was exactly where he had left him, but unbeknownst to Sayid, a second horse was now tied up outside.