Part 473: Plausable Deniablity

10:24 pm

The survivors were gathered in a large conference room. The majority of them had been interviewed and processed. They wanted all known information about Hanso and the Dharma Group. They collected John, Tony and McKay’s clothes. They detected minor traces of radiation on their clothes. The one-eyed doctor didn’t have the courage to tell them the truth. That a monster from a distant island coated them in it’s own genetic goop so it could teleport them. He told them they were just coated in some Hanso chemical from a lab explosion on the way down.

Sawyer was by the window, gently banging his head on the pain. Shanna would comfort him whenever she could. She knew what his problem was. He wanted outside to go smoke. Since they had been forced into the room nearly 40 minutes ago, the redneck was getting a little stir-crazy. Kate was resting next to Jack in the back as he had his arm in a sling. It reminded him of when he hurt his arm back in the cave in on the Island. She was there for him then and she’s there for him at the moment. Jenny felt a little better, allowing herself to sit with her friends. Raven stayed near her as Kellye and Ana-Lucia watched over her.

Most of the children were asleep. Brendon was resting between his mother and his father. Bridgett was asleep in Alexander’s arms, as her mother Mandy gently stroked her hair. Shelley was awake, sitting next to Mia, while Aaron was also awake; propped next to Charlie. They had gone through a rough set of four hours. It was worse for Shelley since she lost Locke. During their waiting for whatever the CTU had planned for them, she had stopped crying. She was still sad that she lost her grandpa but her excuse to her mother was that she had all cried out. Mia said that was okay because when she lost Brendon back on the Island, it was her same excuse as well.

McKay sat with his wife Taylor, propping up his bandaged leg. Jin sat with Sun, rocking her back and forth. Joscelyn was pacing near Hurley, because she wanted to call her sister Paige and make sure her family was okay. Jilly leaned her head back against the wall, sitting next to Karleigh who was stroking Dutch’s hair as he rested on her shoulder. Hal had his arm around Libby who was in and out of sleep on his shoulder. Arizona stayed with Chance, who was wide awake due to his bandaged leg.

Tristan leaned on his elbows against his knees while sitting next to Eddie and Bonnie. The young man has his arms crossed, gently banging his head against the window pane behind him. The redhead by his side was cold for some reason and the agents were nice enough to provide her with a blanket. She wanted to get to the hospital to check on her mother. As for what the next few weeks would be, she wasn’t sure. She gently reached over and placed her hand on Eddie’s. The young man was lost in thought but he then looked over to her. Bonnie smiled and sniffed slightly. “I love you too.” She smiled, remembering what he told her before he went after Ben and Matt.

The young warrior smiled and then leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. Leaning back, he put his arm around her and helped her to keep warm. Across the room, Tony and Marita had witness the whole exchange. It was a scene that easily brought a smile to their faces. It was nice to see that during this whole chaotic event, that Eddie was still able to keep Bonnie as a girlfriend. If anybody deserved to be happy, it was him.

Finally the door opened up to the big room. A handful of people stood up, almost on instinct. Inman stepped in, followed by Jack Bauer, and a handful of agents. Tony looked to his old friend from the special forces. “What’s the score, Jack?” the doctor asked, “Are we free to go?”

“All the evidence has been secured. There are a handful of matters that needed to be taken care of.” Bauer reached out and one of his agents, gave him a very thick folder, “First off, the bodies of John Locke, Tijarah Ecko, Penelope Widmore, and Flower McKay have been sent Oak Park Funeral Home on Wilshire. These are the documents to claim their bodies. May the next of kin step up, please.”

Mia then stood up and took the document meant for Locke. Natasha walked up and held out her hand, allowing her to receive the document for Ecko. Taylor took the one meant for Flower and Desmond slowly stood up after her. “I’ll take the one for Widmore, brother,” he coughed.

“You’re Desmond Hume, right?” Bauer asked.

“Aye.” He replied.

“Then I’ll give you the document, but you need to sign this first.” The agent said, handing him a light green document.

“What is it?” he said, looking at it.

“It’s a legal binding document of marriage between you and Isabella Pena.”

The Spanish woman then stood up. She quickly approached the table. After glancing at the document, she looked at Desmond with a slight tear in her eye. “Marriage?” she stuttered.

“It’ll help you with the legal implications of being gone out of the country for so long.” Bauer informed her.

“You okay with this, luv?” Desmond smiled.

“Not . . .really romantic.” She giggled, wiping her tear.

“We’ve been through Hell, Izzy,” the Scotsman embraced her, “Let us settle back into being normal human beings and then I promise I’ll get on one knee for ya, the white church fields, then whole she-bang. I love ye, and I want the whole world to know it.”

“I love you too,.” She said, kissing him.

After the kiss, the Scotsman parted from her and sighed the document. He gave the pen to his Spanish love and she promptly signed it. Bauer then gave him the document to help claim Penelope’s body. He then also gave them a manila envelope. “Here is some local driver’s license and passports.” He told them.

“I was wondering why you took my picture.” Isabella smiled.

“Now, brother, what do you plan to do about my son?” Desmond then asked.

Bauer took the documents and handed them back to the agents. “Mr. Hume, I deeply apologize but we have no official word about where you son is.” The agent sighed, “Our official position is that he’s . . . .MIA.”

“MIA?” the Scotsman raised an eyebrow, “He’s not a bloody POW, brother. He’s a 9 year old boy and he’s needs his parents.”

“The Liberation is in control of any outside stations that would or could have been operated by Dharma.” Inman piped in, “ Therefore, your son is Missing in Action, and you need to ACCEPT it.”

“Accept it?” Isabella scoffed, “how DARE YOU!! This is my son we’re talking about.”

“Not to mention the survivors of Flight 216.” Eddie mentioned.

“Shut your mouth, boy.” The CIA operative hissed.

“Then it’s real.” Jack said, standing up, “There is another Island and there is another of survivors that has crashed there. We need to help them.”

“WE . . .don’t need to do anything,” Inman glared, “Our goal is the locating the whereabouts of the Liberation. And I can assure you, THE ACTUAL Liberation . . is NOT on some Island.”

“Inman, we need to do something-“ Mia tried to say.

“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!!!!” the CIA operative screamed at the top of his lungs.

The group went silent, seeing the agent look like he was about to have a heart attack. He even held onto his chest briefly. The agent looked at them with utter contempt. “Now, get this straight, the lot of you.” He hissed, “You’ve already done enough. You’ve violated enough laws to the point, that any normal human being would spend the rest of their lives in prison for. Indeed, if I had my choice, I’d see all of you in Fort Levingworth.”

“Then why don’t you?” Sayid said, with his arms crossed.

Inman looked at him. Not many people knew of the past between the two of them and actually, the Iraqi preferred to keep it that way. The CIA man ran his hand through his white beard and then pointed at Raven. “Because I don’t know where I’d put . .him.” he sneered.

The Jaeger Unit leaned up, letting his eyes glow blue at the man. Jenny gently slid her arm under Raven’s. The blonde cop understood Inman’s threat. The cyborg had the ability to smash wall as easily as they crushed aluminum cans. There probably would be no type of prison that could hold him. Inman then reached back and grabbed a large bundle of papers from one of the agents. He then flopped them down on the table with a thud. “These are special liability memorandums.” He looked at all of them, “Once you sign them, you are agreeing to speak to no one about Hanso, Dharma or anything else you’ve gone through. Not the press, no one.”

“In exchange for what?” Jack asked.

Inman looked at the wounded doctor. “In exchange that we don’t arrest you and I don’t send every military force I can find after your cyborg friend.” The CIA agent grunted at him.

Jenny scoffed at the man just threatening Raven will assault. The Jaeger Unit leaned down and looked at the floor. He then stood up and approached the conference table, making the others step back. The masked man then took a deep breath and sighed. “You got one of those memo’s for me?” he asked.

Bauer then started to shove the documents aside and found Raven’s. He then slid it over toward him and slid a pen as well. Raven picked up the paper and browsed through it, finding where he needed to sign. Jenny then grunted as she got up and leaned against the table. “What are you doing?” she asked him.

“What I must.” He said, as he started to sign it.

“What about Dharma? What about what they did to you?” the blonde cop said, taking him by the arm, “The world needs to know what these people were capable of doing!”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Jenny.” The cyborg looked at her, “I got you back. I got our friends back. I’ve lost Ecko. I just wanted to be left alone by Dharma. I . . ..I want to go home.”

Jenny closed her eyes and sighed. She understood what he meant. The fight, for the most part, was over. They lost three of their friends but the rest of them came out virtually intact. The only thing left to do was to move on. The blonde cop admitted she would like to go back home and try to forget the Island, and Dharma. She then held out her hand toward Inman. “Give me mine.” She sniffed.

Inman then handed hers. One by one, the rest of them slowly got up and moved to the conference table. The agents passed out the memorandums and the survivors began to sign them. After they were done, they gave them back and then the agents began to escort them out of the building; informing them that their vehicles were secured and were outside, waiting for them. The group began to whittle down to the closest circle of friends. Tony signed his document, then allowed Marita to sign it. He then gave it to his friend from the CTU. “Is there nothing you can do, Jack?” he asked.

“You know how this works, Tony.” He sighed with regret, “ I can only follow the orders I am given. I want to help these people, I really do. But until I get authorization, they are on their own.”

“It’s okay, Jack. I believe you,” the doctor said, shaking his hand, “It’s Inman I don’t believe.”

“I honestly could give a damn what you think of me, Mr. Largo.” The CIA operative moaned.

“How the hell do you sleep at night?” Mia hissed at him.

“Easy. I lay down and close my eyes.” He glared back at her.

“I’m not signing this.” Desmond winced.

“Sign it or you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison.” Inman warned.

“Desmond, I want to get out of here.” Isabella begged.

“Izzy, if I sign this document, then I say anything about what Dharma was all about,” the Scotsman then looked at the agent, “And when I sign this, this means my son OFFICIALLY doesn’t exist. I’m not doing it.”

Eddie then stepped in and picked up the document. “Desmond, sign it.” He whispered.

“Little man, I will do no such bloody thing.”

“These people can’t help us,.” The young man whispered, “Please . . . sign it.”

“Think of Isabella.” Jack said, leaning in, “You can’t help Sebastian if you are in prison.”

The Scotsman looked at his doctor friend, then at his wife. Isabella was upset that her husband was right but she was also upset at staying in the CTU building any longer. The bushy haired man took a deep breath and then with a trembling hand, signed the document. The moment he was done, Inman practically snatched it away from him and then filed it with the rest. “Thank you for your cooperation, ladies and gentlemen,” he coughed, “I REALLY hope . . .I never see any of you again.”

“You’re really going to do it.” McKay grunted, “You’re really going to leave these people to die on that distant Island?”

“The moment the Liberation got involved, these people’s fate was already decided.” Inman stepped up to the door, getting ready to leave but then he stopped, “Let us hope that they are in God’s hands. . . . .or someone else’s.”

McKay blinked. “What?” he asked, confused.

“Oh, please, Mr. McKay . . .you’ve of all people should know, sometimes you make your own luck.”

McKay stared blankly into space as the man finally walked out of the room. Bauer motioned for the rest of the group to follow him out into the parking lot. The group stayed with each other as they walked down the hallway toward the exit. Isabella wept silently and Desmond held onto her. He felt like someone had kicked him in the gut.

The outside air was cold from the breeze. The moment they got outside, Sawyer quickly popped a cigarette into his mouth. After he lit it, Isabella came up to him. The redneck stared down at her with her tear soaked cheeks. Within two seconds, he understood what she wanted. He calmly took the cigarette out of his mouth and gave it too her. She gently began to smoke with trembling hands. “Welcome back to the new world, sister,” he said, lighting up a second one.

“Hey, guys!” Seth jogged over to them, “We’ve decided to all head over to Hurley’s to recover.”

“Why his place?” John asked.

“It’s the biggest.” The singer shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah, and he would have no problem with his extra spare beds,” Tony sighed, “And not to mention, knowing Hurley he’ll have plenty of food.”

“I’m so glad you’d thinking of food, brother,” Desmond grunted as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“He didn’t mean anything by it, Desmond.” Marita stepped in.

“I’m sorry, sister.” The Scotsman sighed, “I’m just a little upset why I agreed to write my son’s life off.”

“Desmond, don’t give up hope,” Jack looked at him, “We’ll find a way to get Sebastian back.”

“How, Jack?” he asked, grabbing him by the arm, “How the bloody Hell am I going to get my son back? He’s alone on an Island in the middle of the damn ocean. He could be starving, he could be scared or for all I know he might be dead! So, tell me how we’ll get my son back from this spooky Island, which by the way, NO BODY KNOWS WHERE IT IS!!!!”

Jack just stared at the Scotsman who was looking like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Isabella gently walked over and stood next to him. Tony held onto Marita. They didn’t have any words to offer him for comfort. Luckily someone did, however. “I do.” Eddie said behind them.

The group of adults turned around at their younger companion. He was already sitting in Turk, looking at them. He then reached down, between the seats of the front and pulled something out. The friends looked it and it was a lamented red parchment. Eddie held it up to them and couldn’t help but smirk.

“I know the way.” He grinned.