Author's note: as promised to don't know who, this chapter came a lot sooner than the previous one. I like to compensate people for my mistakes. A big, BIG shout out to Daemonfey for being a great friend, giving tips and beta-reading this. I also want to thank doublell20, emma172, covass, 30obelow and hersheygal for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome and make me happy! Hershey, I'm sorry I haven't e-mailed you back yet, but don't worry, you can count on me!:-)
Warning: if you're a skater, I'm not quite sure you'll enjoy this chapter... And no, it doesn' have jate in it. :-P
Chapter 8:
"Sayid, I'm gonna need your help. And make it fast." Sawyer was in no good mood and that was visible from the way his eyes were narrowed.
The iraqi closed the door of the small room they shared carefully behind him.
"What is wrong?"
"Something happened. Something that wasn't supposed to."
"What happened?"
"The japs. The information given to Tokyo port is that there are 37 of us going there."
"Is that bad?"
"37 counts Kate in. Sun must've forgotten to leave her out. Or they just started counting the damn dishes to place the dinner table!"
"If they are expecting 37 people on the port, they will be suspicious when only 36 appear."
"Exactly." Sawyer agreed, his jaw clenching. "We need an extra hand."
"Where will you find another person in the middle of the ocean?"
"That's what I need your help for."
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"This transmition room is in the corridor. That can work out both for and against us."
It was 2 A.M. and Sawyer and Sayid were in front of the huge panel that worked as the ship's transmition room, placed somewhere in the corridor of the first level hold.
"You worry about that call, I'll worry about checkin' the ways outta here."
"This will take a while..."
"We don't have much time, just do it!"
"I will need to break down some codes, this is not an easy task."
"You're the former MacGyver, ya'll figure it out." Sawyer said, shrugging. According to his experience, most people usually appeared from the left door, so he stood there, his back leaning against the wall. At night, most of the sailors chose to forget about their tasks concerning the transmition room. They preferred to sleep.
Sayid stared at the control panel with a fierce expression on his face. He started to push some buttons and he studied the basic functions the panel apparently had.
"We are lucky this actually has the option to redirect the signal and catch one in the english language."
"Of course it does! It's called globalization." The southern man left the door and approached. "You'd better hurry up, Bell. I need to make a very long phone call."
The iraqi ignored his words and kept studying the control panel and the communication panel.
"I have found the radio, but you would not be able to make a call to the United States through there."
"Then find me something to do that!" Sawyer spat.
"Here!" Sayid suddenly said. "They have a satellite communication system. I just need some time to make it work the way you want it to."
Sawyer chose to swallow the harsh words already forming inside his mouth. Feeling himself growing more and more nervous, he watched as Sayid pushed a lot of buttons and entered a few codes which kept changing the information that appeared on the little black screen.
"What is the phone number you want to call to?"
"What? I'll have to speak in front of ya?"
"Transmition rooms in ships are not exactly used to have private conversations, Sawyer."
"Fine!" he grunted, slowly pronouncing the numbers of that phone number he had memorized years ago.
The sound of a call waiting to be answered was heard in the transmition room, not very loud, but loud enough to make Sayid worried.
"I will close the door on the left, but there is nothing to prevent a person from hearing us if they come from the other side."
The blond didn't care. He was too busy looking at the black screen, the phone number still written there with the sign of an unanswered call. The audio filled with static was making him uneasy.
"Pick it up... Pick it up, damnit!"
"Hello?" said the voice of a woman, in an annoyed tone.
Sawyer immediately placed both his hands on the control panel, some kind of urge and relief in his entire body.
"Jen? Is that you? It's me, baby, it's Sawyer!"
"Sawyer?" A laugh was heard on the other side. "You bastard, I've been worried sick about you!"
"I know, baby, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"Where are you?"
"I'm on a ship headed for Japan."
"What the hell are you doing there?" she asked, sounding surprised.
"It's a long story. The damn plane crashed and we were rescued by these japs after two months. I'm going back now."
There was a long silence, after which Jen spoke, very softly and in a tender way Sayid found unexpected.
"I thought you were dead, Sawyer... I thought I'd never see you again."
"Yeah. I thought that too. But I guess you can't get rid of me that easy!"
It was amazing how her smile was felt through the phone, even with miles separating both of them.
"And what can I do for you, Sawyer?" she asked. "I haven't gotten dumb enough to think you'd be calling without needing something."
"That's my girl!" the southern man exclaimed, happily. "Listen, I need you to be in Tokyo in exactly one week. December 15th."
"What?!"
"You go to my appartment, the fourth drawer in my room's closet. There's the data of a bank account I have in Tennessee. There's 30.000 dollars there, I want you to keep that money."
"Sawyer..."
"Listen to me! I have this list of people I'm gonna give ya, take note of everyone of them. You're gonna investigate them and then you're gonna falsify the documents of the one you think it's more suitable."
"What's happening, Sawyer? You have to tell me."
"Those people are all dead, they died on the crash, but the police doesn't know who is dead or alive."
"This is gonna take a long time, you know that?"
"You have a week and then ya gotta be in Tokyo port."
"What exactly is a suitable person, Corleone?"
Sawyer smiled. He had forgotten where his nickname addiction had come from.
"No family, no health insurance. A person no one would know she was dead or alive. Or care."
"And you need me to be in Japan in a week because of these documents? Seriously, Sawyer, I have better things to do."
"None of them'd give ya more pleasure..." the southern man teased. He felt her grinning on the other side.
"I'll give you that point..." she declared, cerimoniously. "Okay, I'll do it."
"I know ya would!"
"Yeah, yeah, now on with the business. Where's that list?"
"Got paper and pen near ya?"
"You know me."
Sawyer took a piece of paper from his pocket and unwrapped it. Sighing, he started dictating the names that weren't scraped, one by one, spelling the words that were harder to understand.
"Vivian Jane Maguire. That's the last one. Got all of them?"
"Every letter, sir!" she exclaimed, jokingly. "Now, baby, why is it that you gave me only female names? Do I sense the smell of conspiracy in this little plot of yours?"
"Choose wisely, Jen, 'coz you're gonna be the owner of those false documents."
"I should've known..."
"And you'd better be in that port really early, 'coz you're gonna be climbing to this whale without anyone seeing you."
"Have I mentioned how intensely I hate you, Sawyer?"
"Not today."
"You're despicable."
"Thanks, doll."
"Let me recap: go to your appartment and get myself 30.000 bucks."
"For all the expenses. Can't say I'm not generous."
"Yeah. Tones of generosity. Investigate this list of like, 50 women?"
"42 to be exact."
"And then pick one of them to impersonate."
"Your brains are astonishing."
"All of this in 6days because I'll be flying to Tokyo on the 6th day."
"Got it all right, I'm proud of you."
"Do you think I'm some kind of miracle worker?"
The blond was silent for a while, as if he was thinking what was the better answer.
"You've made a few miracles before..."
"But this is the con equivalent of raising Lazarus from the dead." Jen pointed out, calmly.
"You could say that... But it is possible."
"Nothing's impossible if I don't want it to be."
"Can I trust you with this?"
"You owe me big time. Big time!"
"I know. Never failed ya before, did I?"
"Well... That one time when you were drunk..."
"Jen!"
"Just kidding."
"And before I forget... Forge another passport, if you'd be so kind. One with a female name, whoever she is. Don't need to be a lady from the plane."
"Oh, an easy task for a change!" Jen joked, wearily. "Will you call me again before the 15th?"
"Yes. One more time. To tell you how to enter the ship without being noticed."
"When?"
"Give me three days. Any questions?"
"Just one, sugar." Sawyer sensed a malevolent atmosphere in her voice. He knew her too well. "Who is she?"
"You'll find out by yourself."
"Thought so. Anything else?"
"That's all."
"Okay then. Bye, Sawyer. Glad to know you're alive."
"Nice to hear from you too, Jen. See you in a week." He gestured for Sayid to come and switch the panel off, but he had a second thought. "And thank you. I really appreciate it."
"Yeah" she said on the other side, a mix of frailty and irreverence in her voice. "Love ya too."
Jen hung up and the sound of a call interrupted emerged in the corridor. Sayid got closer and quickly returned the panels to their former state in order to remain Sawyer's little visit unknown to the japanese.
"Who was that woman?" he questioned, when they were returning to their room.
"My sister."
Sayid opened his eyes widely.
"Is it me? Or did it just sound like you used to screw your sister?"
Sawyer laughed.
"And this from a man who would sell his sister in trade for camels..."
"I do not have sisters."
"Yeah, I used to screw her."
"When I thought you could not be any more vicious..."
"She's not my real sister." Sawyer decided to explain. "She's just the hot daughter of a foster family they sent me to. Kids have hormones."
"I see."
"Got myself expelled of that house because of her. Nice family. But I guess it's not nice to have your daughter fallen for a disfunctional teenager."
"I guess not."
"She never fell for me. We were just... there. Call of the wild is dangerous when you're a kid." The blond smiled. "Taught me almost everything I know, that lady. And, well, she's okay. We kept in touch."
Sawyer sat on the bed of the hotel room, his head covered by his hands. He was worried and nervous, both feelings growing inside him with such intensity that he had to travel back years to remember the last time he had felt that way.
He had had merely one hour to be with Jen before they had to leave the ship. Sun was part of the plan, she had to be. She was the only weapon Sawyer could use with the japanese. The korean woman had paid a few sailors to help getting Jen inside the ship and had paid another one to be with Kate until her friend arrived. She didn't exactly pay, because after two months on a deserted island, nobody had much money to display. She simply said her name and her father's name and the promise of cash to do a little dirty job was believed.
Jen had entered the fishing boat in a very unusual way. She had paid a little man to take her near Hope Found by boat. The man she had paid was an old man with an equally old boat, who didn't understand a word of english but was more than happy to follow her finger's direction when she showed him the color of the money. Once she was behind the ship on the side of the ocean, two of the sailors had gone down in one of the lifeboats, took her from the old man's boat, and went back up. It had been very quickly and no one had noticed it. Everyone was too busy on the other side of the ship, waving at whoever was on the port to welcome them.
Even without missteps, an hour to tell Jen about hatches, Others and polar bears was too little. She had spent half the time not believing him instead of memorizing his instructions. He was scared the agents at the U.S. Embassy would ask questions she was unable to answer. It was pure bad luck that she had to be called the first day when Sawyer was only scheduled for the second. But Jen was Jen. Jen was one of the smartest women he had ever met and she wouldn't let him down.
Hearing the door open, Sawyer instantly lift up his head, in time to see Jen close the door behind her and lean against it.
"How did it go, Miss Ann Quinn?" With an appealing name like that, no one would ever expect a 34 year-old woman to be single, work at a burger restaurant in Ohio, have no family and no records of ever being in a hospital or health centre.
"Well enough" she said, with an intriguing smile. "You know how I deal with males."
"That lucky?"
"Indeed." She approached, sensually, and placed her hands on his shoulders. "And now for the other part of my payment?"
After a two month period in an island, with no other woman intimacy besides Kate's kiss when he was tied down to a tree, Sawyer was more than willing to give Jen what she needed. What he needed.
She ripped out his clothes with the passion he remembered her having and they both engaged in a game of power and desire. Sawyer chose to forget the first image that crossed his mind when he closed his eyes. He had to forget Kate. They were on the real world now. And it was definitely over.
The southern man didn't get tired for a long time. Neither did Jen. They were both hungry for something they didn't recall longing. Sawyer didn't know what she was feeling, but he was pretty sure Jen was giving him the woman warmth he had missed so much. The raw explosion of sensual emotions. The only thing he could wish for at that moment.
When it was already dark outside, Jen moaned softly against his ear as his hand left the centre of her body and then she crawled to the other side of the bed, her body not touching his. Jen had never been the cuddling type. She winked and then turned to the other side.
Sawyer looked at the ceiling, appreciating the quiet silence that had fallen between the two. Having a sensation he knew had to be false that everything would be alright from that moment on.
"Kate Austen" he heard her whisper, when his mind was so far away he wasn't sure it was real or if it was just a dream. "The woman you're trying to set free."
A/N: nickname time!
"You're the former MacGyver, ya'll figure it out." - You know, MacGyver from that show, the guy who could make a bomb out of a gun and a stick. A magician just like Sayid!xD
"You'd better hurry up, Bell." - Alexander Bell, the man who invented the telephone.
"What exactly is a suitable person, Corleone?" - Corleone is the surname of the Mafia family in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Meaning she is doing a job for the big boss Sawyer and wants to know the rules of the task.
P.S.- If you'de be so kind and leave a review... x) This chapter entered in a dangerous area, I believe. This may ruin it all or make it even more spicy. Hope it's the second!