Call At Night
May 2, New Scotland Yard, 22:30
Detective Inspector Lestrade was glad for not leaving office at his usual time. Normally by 21:00 he was on his way home, but today, peculiarly he chose to stay overnight and make use of his Domestic Golf Set.
Expensive thing just lied in the upper corner and did nothing but collect dust.
Much to his fortune he didn't departed, as the middle of the night flooded his phone and mailbox. Messages appeared one after another, all from different individuals, but with same cause.
Another bomber-terrorist; riots in the city centre; collision on motorway, he wondered judging by frequency of the calls. With groan of annoyance he threw golf set into forgetting and with regular tempo paced towards roaring devices.
More than dozen of calls were recorded and tiny icon above mail graphic indicated overwhelmingly large number. Stuff must be serious.
After fighting with self consciousness he finally forced himself to open increasing number of messages.
By reading handful of freshly gained sources and hearing some hasty reports Inspector sketched most important facts:
1. Man had been shot.
2. It had happened shortly after 22:10.
3. Outside London City Airport.
4. Victim wore expensive and formal uniform.
5. He didn't have any personal information on him.
6. What he did have was a phone.
7. It had one contact and two messages.
8. All of the messages came from a man named DAVIS.
9. The Victim had a gun on him.
10. The weapon was described as being very enigmatic.
It didn't resemble any firepower mentioned in any atlas or chronicle. One message stated it looked very futuristic and "like out of Science Fiction movie".
11. There was no sign of sniper.
12. Shot came from above.
13. The bullet was also mysterious. It was flat and resembled an arrow. It sliced through the head of the victim.
14. Victim died instantaneously.
Shortly after Inspector received a CCTV video depicting the victim minutes before his death. Again the Inspector jotted down key features:
The victim seems lost and distressed when walking around the port, he consults a stewardess before heading down the other way. Stewardess observes the victim, and as he gets shot outside the airport, she sprints and grabs metal case that the victim was previously inspecting.
And I hoped for break.
None of the facts seemed to add up: mysterious visitor, his stress, sniper, weapons used by both, the stewardess, metal box...
By careless look it seems that the stewardess might be involved in the situation. She was the one to interfere with victim and react to mysterious package left on the windowsill. Yet, there's also that mysterious Davis.
Inspector closed his eyes and breathed few times. He didn't consider the options, as there was only one. Impossible scenario, nothing seems to match. There's only one man in whole wide world that would be right for this sort of thing. And it's no one other than Scotland Yards most annoying, eccentric consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Inspector casually searched for his name in the contacts bar, it proved itself to be easy as it dominated row of Most Active Users.
Quickly clicking it open he started to fill the message window:
Man shot outside the airport. You would like that one.
And when inspector lured to proceed and send the message, many things happened at once that put him off ease: computer screen went blank, electricity in lamps turned bust, phone started ringing.
Darkness had flooded the apartment, and Inspector might've thought it was another short of power, but computer blockage and phone call didn't seem coincidental.
Computer screen flashed live, revealing blank screen with few words: Don't worry. Answer the phone, Greg.
Shiver ran down inspectors body. Spies, conspiracy theories, hackers, murders, filtrated his mind mercilessly, and so with much caution he reached for trembling mobile. Turning it over he realised that the call was coming from blocked user, much like in one of his previous cases funnily Christianised "The Great Game".
He pressed green button. Ringing stopped. Hallo.
"Dear Inspector Lestrade." Said clear, cold, dominant tone. "We know you're not a dumb person, and if you want to continue living, we advise you to follow our instructions."
"What in the hell-" Inspector started before getting cut by the same voice.
"There's a sniper behind your back, in neighbouring building. If you do anything outrageous, he won't hesitate to shoot."
Inspector didn't dare to interfere or even look behind him. He just tried his best to not panic. Judging that man calling had power to block electricity and hack on the computer system just proved the seriousness of situation.
"Right." Man from the phone stated. "I heavily advice you to delete all files considering the case of shot man at airport." Computer screen flashed back to the mailbox, Lestrade deleted messages one by one, the he moved to his desktop and removed CCTV camera footage, emptied the recycling bin.
"Now, cancel the message to Mr. Holmes." Inspector did as he was asked. Message to Sherlock went amiss. Whoever is directing this ploy surely doesn't want anyone involved. Stuff must be serious, very damn serious.
"Listed carefully." Voice spoke again. "We don't want you to speak about this incident with anyone, including your co-workers. The case is... how to describe it... not your division. Please, try to forget that following situation happened, and do not take any precautions regarding man at the airport."
Yes, and that would arise scandal around my name. Inspector Lestrade just cleaned his throat.
"If you won't. We will make sure you won't get out of this alive. Thank you for your consideration, Inspector Detective Greg Lestrade. We hope you'll stick to our precautions, and forget entire situation. Thank you."
The tension of the room seemed to ease, lights went back on and call hung up, but Lestrade was more than shocked.
He folded the head in his hands and tried to steady his breathing. There was something enormous going behind his back, and he wasn't allowed to look, he was forced to ignore, to forget.
I really hope this business would leave my shoulders. He wished blankly.
Epic Drum roll time!
I guess you guys can easily deduce out what is going on and where it is going.
Yes? May I hear your testimonies?
