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New Otherton: Kearny and his gang have captured Alex and force her to turn off the security fence. That sends an automated panic signal to Ben's house: "Code 14J." Ben says that means "They're here." Ben and Locke barricade the house. Hugo's got Baby Aaron there; Sawyer runs out in search of Claire, who's in her own house.

Shooting begins from the jungle, and several unnamed castaways are killed as Sawyer shouts for Claire and dodges bullets. Then a shoulder-launched missile is fired from the jungle. Claire's house explodes, but Sawyer finds Claire in the rubble. She is knocked out, but OK once she comes to. He carries her back to Ben's house.

Ben tells Locke that they need to find Jacob, who will tell them what to do next. He adds that Hugo knows how to find Jacob's cabin, so he must go with Ben and Locke. The doorbell rings and Miles is admitted. He is carrying a walkie and says he has been sent from Kearny, who wants to talk to Ben.

Ben identifies Kearny as a mercenary and a Widmore employee. Kearny tells Ben to look out the window and see him holding a gun to Alex's head. He claims no one else will be hurt if Ben surrenders, but Ben says no, everyone else will be killed.

Kearny tells him to get outside now, or he will kill Alex. Ben has a fairly ridiculous counter-proposal, which is for the mercenaries to leave "and forget you ever heard of this Island." Alex pleads with Ben to save her, and Kearny says Ben has 10 seconds to save his daughter.

Ben bluffs: "She's not my daughter. I adopted her, I took her from a crazy woman and raised her. She means nothing to me, she's a pawn. Go ahead and kill her --"

And Kearny does just that. Ben stares in disbelief that his ploy has failed utterly. "He changed the rules," Ben mutters, obviously in shock.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ben runs into his secret closet, opens a secret stone door and runs inside. A moment later he emerges and tells everyone to follow his instructions. They then hear a roar, a rumble that shakes the house.

They run outside and see Smokey the monster, sweeping out of the jungle like a freight train. Smokey's everywhere in the trees, swooping among the mercenaries, apparently killing one of them right in front of the Lostaways. Even Miles, the ghostbuster, is pretty darn freaked out by this.

Ben tells them all to run for the trees on the other side of New Otherton. He stops to weep over Alex, as the jungle quiets down; the mercenaries are nowhere to be seen. He joins the rest, and Locke asks him about Smokey. Ben says Jacob will explain everything.

Sawyer, Miles, and Claire and Baby Aaron head back to the beach to rejoin Jack's group. But Locke insists that Hugo stay with him and Ben, despite Sawyer's violent objections. "You harm one hair on his curly head, and I'll kill ya," Sawyer tells Locke. His group then leaves, and Locke, Ben and Hugo set off for Jacob's cabin.

Flash forward: Ben awakens in the Sahara Desert, all alone and wearing a fur-hooded Dharma parka. Two Arabs arrive on horseback and hold guns on him. But Ben turns into Bruce Willis, whips out a weapon, whacks them both and rides off on one of the horses.

In Tozeur, Tunisia, a dust-covered Ben walks up to a hotel desk and checks in as Dean Moriarty. He confirms with the clerk (who looks at him strangely) that the date is indeed Oct. 24, 2005 -- 13 months after the crash of Oceanic 815. He then glimpses Sayid on TV (an Al Jazeera-type network) amid a frenzied group of media people. Sayid is saying he just wants to be left alone to bury his wife.

Next: Ben's on a rooftop in Tikrit, Iraq, taking furtive pictures of the funeral procession as Sayid helps to carry Nadia's coffin along the street. He also photographs a bald man who is observing the procession from a street corner. Sayid glances up and sees Ben, then catches him downstairs and demands to know why he is here in Tikrit.

"I'm here to find the man who murdered your wife," Ben says. He says the bald man is a Widmore employee who was seen in Los Angeles, speeding away from the hit-and-run accident that killed Nadia. Ben also tells Sayid that he left the Island by sailing Desmond's boat, the Elizabeth, to Fiji and chartering a plane from there.

Next day, Ben spies on the Widmore guy in a cafe, then follows him through the market. But the guy catches Ben following him and puts a gun in his face. "I'm Benjamin Linus," Ben says, "and I want you to take a message to Mr. Widmore from me." Then Sayid appears and kills the Widmore guy.

"Walk away," Ben says to Sayid, telling him that otherwise the anger will take over his life. Sayid says he has no life, that "they took it from me" when Nadia was killed. "Ben," Sayid asks, "who's next?"

"I'll be in touch," Ben says. He walks away, smirking to himself.

Next: Ben's in London, entering a swanky high-rise late at night and using a passkey to access the penthouse. He enters the darkened bedroom and says,"Wake up, Charles."

Charles Widmore awakens and turns on the bedside light, not seeming especially surprised to see Ben there. "I wondered when you would show up," he says. He looks unshaven and is keeping a bottle of Scotch by his bedside because, he says, he has nightmares. His accent also seems to have changed from British to Aussie. Hmmm.

Ben says he can't kill Widmore: "We both know I can't." He tells Widmore, "I'm here because you murdered my daughter."

Widmore counters that Ben was responsible for Alex's death. "I know who you are, boy, what you are," he says. "Everything you have, you took from me. So why are you here?"

Ben says: "I'm here to tell you that I'm going to kill your daughter. Penelope, is it? Once she's dead, you'll understand how I feel. And you'll wish you'd never changed the rules."

"You'll never find her. And the Island is mine," Widmore says.

Ben: "But you'll never find it. Sleep tight, Charles."