Episode recap - "The Economist"

Official recap from the Lost website:

At the helicopter clearing, Sayid crosses to Naomi's body and closes her eyes. Before he covers her with a blanket, he notices a silver bracelet on Naomi's wrist that reads, "N, I'll always be with you. R.G." Sayid makes a deal with Miles and Lapidus: he will bring Charlotte back safely from where Locke is holding her if Lapidus will fly him to their boat. They agree. Sayid confers with Jack, Kate and Juliet. He shows them the picture of Desmond and Penny that Naomi brought with her. He thinks Desmond might be able to shed some light on the freighter people's agenda. Juliet heads back to the beach for Desmond. Jack wants to go with Sayid to get Charlotte, but Sayid says no. Jack isn't the right man for the mission. Instead, Sayid takes Miles. Jack doesn't trust Locke and asks Kate to go with them just in case. He knows Sawyer will stop Locke from harming Kate.

WHOOSH to a golf course in the Seychelles with Sayid. An Italian man waits to play through and asks Sayid what he does. Sayid tells him he is one of the Oceanic Six, and suddenly the man gets nervous. It obviously means something to him but what? Then Sayid calls him by his name. How does Sayid know? The man realizes their meeting was no accident. Then BANG! Sayid pulls out a gun and shoots him. Sayid is a cold-blooded killer in the future and without one ounce of regret. He throws the gun down and walks off.

Cut to Berlin, where Sayid finds a seat in a crowded café and consults a map, looking every bit the lost tourist. A woman named Elsa takes pity and offers to help. Sayid tells Elsa he's in the city for business. He's a corporate recruiter. Elsa works as an executive aide to a wealthy economist. She has a pager, and any time it beeps she goes to her boss' side instantly. He only comes into Berlin once or twice a year, so she has a lot of free time. Elsa thinks she knows Sayid from somewhere. Attracted and charmed by her, Sayid offers to tell her if she'll go to dinner with him. Elsa agrees. Sayid leaves, and outside the café he speaks to someone on a cell phone. He says he made contact, and throws the phone away. So it's wasn't a cute chance meeting Elsa could be Sayid's next target.

WHOOSH back to Locke's group. They arrive at the clearing where Locke thinks the cabin is located, but it's not there. He's stumped. Sawyer asks why the cabin is so important anyway. Ben uses the situation to undermine Locke's leadership and says Locke was looking for someone to tell him what to do next. Locke isn't angry but vulnerable. Frustrated. Then Sawyer and Hurley question bringing Charlotte along, and Locke lays down the law. Charlotte's their hostage because she's going to be valuable to them. He's making the decisions now, and Locke asks if they have a problem with that. Stunned by this, no one says anything. They continue on to the barracks.

Sayid, Kate and Miles reach the barracks, but it's empty. Then they hear banging coming from one of the houses. They search inside and find Hurley bound and gagged in a closet. He says they left him, that Locke has "gone off the reservation." Locke's holding Charlotte hostage, he said Walt told him to kill Naomi, and he thinks the freighter people are there to kill them. He turns to Miles and asks, "Are you?" Miles ignores the question. Hurley says he overheard them say they were going to Ben's house before they left.

At the chopper, Faraday calls Regina and has her launch a rocket. He wants to do a scientific experiment. Regina locks on his signal, fires the payload and counts down as it approaches. But Faraday is surprised it's nowhere to be seen. Later, as they wait for Sayid to return, they hear the loud whistling of the rocket finally arriving. Once it slams into the ground, Faraday quickly opens it. He compares a clock in the rocket with his watch. Not happy with what he sees, he double-checks it against a clock on his instruments. It reads 14:45, but the clock from the rocket reads 15:16. It's a 31 minute difference. Faraday says that isn't good.

At the barracks, Sayid, Kate and Miles enter Ben's house and split up to search it. Sayid finds a hidden room behind a bookcase. Inside he finds clothes, suits, a drawer full of cash in different types of foreign currency, and stacks of passports from multiple countries. Sayid flips open one passport. It's Ben's photo but with the name Dean Moriarty. Meanwhile, as Kate searches Ben's bedroom, Sawyer quietly walks in. He holds a finger up to his lips, but Kate shouts out a warning to Sayid. But before Sayid can react, Locke is there with a gun pointed at him. The whole thing had been one big set up. Sayid turns to Hurley, who simply says, "Sorry, dude."

Sawyer and Kate argue in the bedroom. She wants to know why he's with Locke. Sawyer throws it back at her and wants to know why she's with Jack. Kate says she believes Jack will get them off the island. Sawyer surprises her and says he's not looking to leave. There's nothing back in the real world for him. Kate finds it hard to believe and asks what's here that's so much better? Sawyer asks why she wants to go back. She was in custody and on her way to jail before the crash, and if she returns that isn't going to change. The only thing waiting for her back home is handcuffs. He points out they have it good there. But Kate asks how long can they play house? Sawyer says stay and let's find out, but Kate doesn't look too convinced.

Sayid is held the rec room along with Ben. Locke comes in, and Sayid asks what he's done with Miles and Kate. Locke says they're fine. Sayid tells him to give him Charlotte. Locke asks why? Sayid agrees that these people are liars and certainly not there to rescue them. But if he returns with Charlotte safely, they'll take him to their ship. It's their best chance of finding out who they are and what they really want. Locke says he can't give him Charlotte for nothing. Sayid says he never expected Locke to give her to him for nothing.

WHOOSH to Berlin where Sayid and Elsa lounge in bed. Elsa presses him to open up. He never talks about himself, or the job he supposedly has. She understands he doesn't want to talk about his past, but what about the now? That's what you do when you're in love Elsa stops. Sayid looks at her in love? Elsa admits it's true, and Sayid kisses her. He tells her no more secrets and asks what does she want to know. Suddenly, beep beep. It's Elsa's pager. Her boss is in Berlin. She says she has to go. Sayid asks where. Elsa tells him the hotel name, and suddenly Sayid is conflicted. He makes a decision and tells her to leave Berlin. She can't be there. People will ask questions about what happened to her employer.

As Sayid gets dressed, Elsa pieces it together. It was all about her boss. It wasn't an accidental meeting at the café but something planned and Sayid is going to kill him. She wants to know why. Sayid admits his name is on a list given to him by his employer. Elsa wants to know who it is, but Sayid won't tell her. He only says her boss is not an economist and BANG! Elsa shoots Sayid! He collapses on the bed and realizes she double-crossed him.

Elsa makes a phone call and speaks in German to someone. Sayid breaks a mirror as a diversion, grabs his own gun and BAM! BAM! He shoots Elsa in the chest. He crawls over to her body and gently caresses her face. Then he notices a bracelet on her wrist, just like Naomi wore back on the island. He realizes that Elsa, just like Naomi, had a life with people who loved her, who will mourn her, and he is overcome with emotion.

WHOOSH back to the chopper. Juliet has returned with Desmond, and he demands to know why Naomi had a picture of him. Lapidus says Naomi was senior management. She kept to herself. Frustrated, Desmond doesn't believe they've never seen or heard of Penelope Widmore. Lapidus and Faraday react to her name. Desmond says he'll get the truth from someone. When the chopper takes off, he's going on it.

Sayid returns with Charlotte... but not with Miles. Or Kate. Jack notices immediately. Sayid tells him she decided to stay, and the implications of that hit Jack. Lapidus asks about Miles, and Sawyer says he traded him for Charlotte. Faraday and Charlotte elect to stay on the island to do their experiments. Faraday warns Lapidus, no matter what, to follow the same bearing they used coming in. They load Naomi's body into the chopper, and Lapidus, Sayid and Desmond leave the island and fly out over the water.

WHOOSH to a veterinary hospital where Sayid enters an exam room. Another man there starts to take care of Sayid's wound. Sayid tells him Elsa is dead and that she was trying to get info about him. The camera pans around to reveal Benjamin Linus, off the island and alive. Ben extracts the bullet from Sayid's shoulder. He notices Sayid's tears. Ben says that these people don't deserve their sympathies, and he reminds Sayid what happened the last time he thought with his heart instead of his gun. Sayid says Ben used that to recruit him. Ben asks if he wants to protect his friends or not? Ben has another name from the list for Sayid, but Sayid warns him that the people on his list will know they're after them now. Ben holds Sayid's look and says, "Good."