Disclaimer: (I do not own anything recognizable to BBC's Sherlock Holmes. All plots, characters and storylines recognizable from the tv show belong to them.)
Here's the next chapter! Thanks so much for taking the time to read it! Feel free to leave reviews!
Caren stared at the sculptures in the cases at the National Antiquities Museum in awe. She had seen them a million times, yet she had never ceased to be amazed at the beauty. She stared at the pots, one of them shining brightly, as it had probably recently been cleaned through the ceremony performed by one of the workers, Soo Lin Yao. Caren had missed the ceremony every time she had come, and this time she had come early, determined to watch it.
"Can I help you ma'am?" a man's voice spoke behind her. Caren turned, coming face to face with a young man, in his late 20's most likely, with curly brown hair, and a plaid vest over a shirt. He looked a little nervous, probably just about being around a woman. His nametag read 'Andy'. Caren smiled, "Oh, I was just waiting for the pot ceremony to begin." She motioned her head toward the case with the small pots.
Andy's face fell as he looked to where she had motioned, "I'm afraid it won't be done today...or ever again. I'm sorry"
"What? Why not?" Caren asked in shock. From what she had gathered, the pots needed to be taken care of every day or they'd crack. They couldn't just stop.
Andy bit his bottom lip, "We've had to cancel it."
"But..." before Caren could question further a voice called out, "Andy. There's a man here to see you."
Both Caren and Andy turned to see none other than Sherlock Holmes and his colleague, John Watson standing there. The two of them looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see them.
"You?" John uttered. Caren smiled, "Me. What are you doing here? Don't you have samples to test?"
"That was yesterday, obviously," Sherlock retorted, "Shouldn't you be learning how to be a nurse?"
"Had the day off."
Sherlock shook his head slightly and focused his attention on Andy, "Andy Galbraith? Sherlock Holmes. We have a few questions to ask you about your friend Soo Lin Yao."
Andy's face paled, "Yeah...yeah of course. How can I help you?"
Sherlock immediately began circling around the room, examining all the artwork, "When was the last time that you saw her?"
"Wait she's missing?" Caren asked shocked. That would explain the reason for the cancellation of the ceremony, but the pots in the case looked like they had recently been cleaned.
Sherlock rolled his eyes, "What are you still doing here?"
"Just a curious outside party," Caren shrugged innocently. John smiled. Annoyed, Sherlock turned his attention back to the antiques, "Last time you saw her?"
"Three days ago...here at the museum. This morning they told me that she'd resigned. Just like that. Left her work unfinished." Andy recalled with a saddened look in his eye. It appeared he had developed a little crush on Soo Lin.
Sherlock turned from the antiques he had been studying, "What was the last thing she did on her final afternoon?"
"Um, well, she probably went and cleaned out her space. I could probably show you," Andy said, looking back at the woman who had led Sherlock and John over. She was speaking with a couple of men. By the looks of it, Caren guessed she was probably the museum director.
"Excellent. Lead the way." Sherlock said motioning the man forward. Andy hesitated then turned and began to lead them to a door reading 'Employees Only'. Caren looked around then quickly followed them. If she wasn't going to be able to see the ceremony she was at least going to see what was going on back there.
"So what is it you need to know about Soo Lin?" Caren asked, catching up to John. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at seeing her, "Oh, well, it's for the case."
"Yes I assumed so." Caren said with a small laugh, "But what does she have to do with bleach and Chinese paint? Oh...wait let me guess. She works on antiques. There was ancient paint in the samples so you were going to ask her about it?"
"Well, that's actually not why were here but they do relate to each other..."John paused, as if starting to connect the dots.
"Feeling a little slow today John?" Sherlock called turning to look at John. He frowned when he saw Caren, "What are you doing?"
"Lending my assistance, obviously," Caren said, emphasizing the last word.
"Oh joy," Sherlock rolled his eyes slightly, "What could you possibly bring to the situation."
"An outside opinion?"
Sherlock turned from Caren and caught up with Andy just as he opened another door that entered into a big space and turned on the light. He didn't have the energy to fight with this woman, and his throat still hurt a little from being strangled by that man in Soo Lin's flat, but that didn't mean she would get the last word. He always got the last word.
"She does this demonstration for the tourists," he paused and looked back at Caren, "And locals I guess...is she...?"
"Ignore her." Sherlock groaned and motioned him to continue. Andy looked confused but continued, "Right. She does a tea ceremony. So she would have packed up her things and just put them in here." Andy pointed to a big line of doors. One of them was still partly open. Andy looked back at the three, then began to turn a handle to open it completely.
Sherlock seemed distracted by something else, and began to walk towards a statue. It had golden spray paint all over it, looking like the ancient Chinese numeral system. When John saw it he exhaled slowly. Caren raised an eyebrow. This was clearly important. She recognized the symbols as a 15 and a 1. She only knew this because she had wandered into a shop called the Lucky Cat once and saw it on a price tag. The old lady there had convinced her to buy a nice tea cup from there, even though she had hardly used it since. She had been interested in the numbering and had looked up the rest of the numbers, intrigued by the way they worked together. She loved history and this ancient language that was rarely used anymore was intriguing to her.
"That's like the other one, " John called to Sherlock. He nodded.
"Thank you very much for your help Andy. We'll be leaving now," Sherlock spun on his heels and headed back out the way they came. Andy gaped at the two, "But you didn't..."
"We saw everything we needed." Sherlock called back.
"Thank you!" John added. Caren looked back and forth between Andy and the two walking away.
"Well...I'm just going to leave too. Thanks," she waved good bye quickly before rushing to catch up to them. The two walked fast, they were almost out of the building by the time she caught up to them.
"Hey! What was that? Why were there Chinese numbers on that statue in there?" Sherlock glanced at her, "You recognize the numbers?"
"Yeah, sure. I saw them once when I was..." Caren started, but Sherlock interrupted her, turning to John, "We have to get to Soo Lin Yao."
"If she's still alive," John replied.
Caren was about to question them on this, but knew they wouldn't give her any clear answers.
"Sherlock!" a voice called out. The three turned to see a young man running towards them. He looked very rough, with dirt smeered across his cheeks and was wearing very worn clothes.
John sighed, "Ugh, look who it is."
"I found something you'll like," the man said the moment he reached them. He glanced suspiciously at Caren.
"Excellent." Sherlock said cheerfully. The man nodded his head towards Caren.
"Ah yes...well it's been a pleasure seeing you again but we have to go now. Good Bye." Sherlock said without even really glancing at Caren. He motion the young man forward and the young man smirked at John and Caren before leading the way.
John glared him then turned to Caren.
"Sorry," he mumbled before rushing to catch up with the two, leaving Caren alone on the front steps.
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(The next day)
Caren sat at her desk, writing down the dates her boss had thrust at her to record before rushing back into the emergency room as a woman screamed. Her contractions were getting closer together. She was so close to getting off work after being there from early morning to late afternoon and the only thing she had been doing for the past hour was listen to the woman's cries, so she was grateful for a little work. A figure stepped up to the desk.
"Hi, give me just a moment to write this down and I'll be right with you," Caren said in her most professional voice without looking up.
"A receptionist. You're a receptionist. With all the skills and abilities you seem to have, how could you be a receptionist?" the voice said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. Caren smiled slightly and looked at Sherlock, "Disappointed?"
"A little. But I suppose it makes sense now. Sad childhood, dark past, you want a job that's simple. Your typically on this floor, which would explain why I've never seen you before. And with a photographic memory it would be easy to remember everything that needed to be recorded. I was right about the photographic memory wasn't I?" He said, sounding far too confident for Caren's liking. Despite this she sighed and nodded her head. "In all my time at this job not one person has figured that out."
"Yes, I tend to surprise people in that way." Sherlock said. The sentence sounded rather cocky but his voice merely stated a fact. He glanced up at the emergency door as the woman cried out again.
"First child?"
"Yup. Requested no medication, but if she keeps screaming like that I'll stick a needle in her myself." Sherlock's lip twitched into a small smile at her comment.
"So, I'm guessing you're not here to support Margaret with her labor, so what are you doing here?" Sherlock nodded, then pulled a piece of paper out of his coat pocket, "Yesterday you said you recognized the Chinese numerals on the statue. Do you recognize any of these?" He placed a picture on her desk. The picture was of a brick wall, with the Chinese numeral symbols covering it in golden spray paint.
"So now you want my outside opinion?" Caren teased. Sherlock rolled his eyes, "I'm merely trying to solve this case as quickly as possible."
"Uh huh," Caren smirked then glanced at the picture.
"Do you recognize them?"
"A little. They all represent numbers, obviously, and they're all in pairs, but I don't understand what it means. It looks like some type of code. Where did you find this?"
"Near the train tracks. It's a coded message, meant for someone coming into London, but what does it mean?" Sherlock explained. Caren shrugged, "I don't know. But I can decipher the numbers for you if you'd like."
Sherlock checked the time then nodded, "Decipher away."
"Well, I didn't mean right now but..."
"I need it now if convenient."
"I have a lot of work to do..." Caren lied. She was rather intrigued by all of this and it would only take a few of minutes to write it all down, but she didn't want to seem like she was willingly getting off task. "But I suppose I could whip it up for you."
Sherlock nodded and sat down in one of the waiting chairs, flipping out his phone and sending a quick text. Caren studied the picture again and began to write out the numbers. 112, 103, 75, 36...
Another scream from the woman.
Caren worked quickly, finishing it in a matter of minutes. She waved the paper up when she was finished and Sherlock immediately jumped up, snatching the paper.
"I don't know what all the numbers mean, but there they are. How are you going to figure it out?"
Sherlock looked at the numbers, "We can't crack this without Soo Lin Yao. We need to find her."
"We?" Caren asked.
Sherlock looked up, "Yes, me and John..." he paused and turned, as if just realizing that John wasn't with him.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me when you've figured it out?" Caren hinted. She really wanted to know how this whole thing turned out. Sherlock shrugged, "Probably not. But, you didn't really have any work to do and it would seem your shift is over about now."
"How'd you know?" Caren asked, trying not to sound too impressed.
"When I came in your body was shifted towards the clock and your foot was tapping. You were antsy about something and I doubt it was about Margaret's delivery. Your purse is close at hand, ready to grab so you can leave at any moment. Need I continue?"
Caren shook her head and glanced at the clock. Her shift was finally over. She stood to gather her things then looked up, and saw Sherlock heading out the door without so much as a thank you or goodbye.
"Are you going back to the museum?" she called out. Sherlock paused, "Why would you say that?"
"Because that's the last place anyone saw Soo Lin Yao."
Sherlock shrugged, "Perhaps."
"Well then if you won't tell me how it turns out I will just have to go to the museum myself and figure it out."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow, "Good day Ms. Owens." He turned and headed out the door.
"Catch you later," Caren called out before quickly cleaning up her things and rushing out, headed straight for the National Antiquities Museum.
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John was surprised to see Caren Owens at the museum, but even more surprised to see that Sherlock wasn't. He merely nodded in her direction when they saw her and headed straight for Andy, questioning him again on Soo Lin Yao. Andy was hesitant, but continued to claim he had no idea where Soo Lin was.
"Two men who traveled back from China were murdered, and their killer left them messages in Hangzhu numerals." Sherlock explained roughly.
"Soo Lin Yao is in danger," John jumped in, "Now that cipher, it was just the same pattern as the others. He means to kill her as well."
Andy ran his hands through his hair, "Look, I've tried everywhere. Friends, collegaues. I don't know where she's gone, I mean she could be a thousand miles away."
He was telling the truth, that much Caren knew. She had always had a knack for knowing if someone was lying or not, and Andy wasn't. She glanced at Sherlock, who was staring at the display case where the teapots were resting. Curious as to why he was staring, she looked at them too. Everything seemed normal. Two teapots shown brightly, with the rest underneath them...Caren looked again. Two teapots. She thought back to the other day when she was looking around. There had definitely only been one shining tea pot. Now there were two. And the arrangement was slightly different. They had recently been touched.
John noticed the two of them staring, "What are you looking at?"
Sherlock immediately jumped into action, "Tell me more about those tea pots."
"The pots were her obsession." Andy said.
"They needed her work every day. If they dry out then the clay can start to crumble," Caren finished. Andy nodded, "Apparently you have to just keep making tea in them.
"Yesterday only one of those pots was shining. Now there are two." Sherlock said, inspecting them.
"So that means..." John started, but faded off.
"She didn't leave the country. She's here." Caren finished. Sherlock nodded, "We need to stake out here tonight and wait for her to emerge."
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Sherlock mentioned to Caren that she didn't have to stay, not saying quite that kindly, but giving her the gist, but she refused to leave, using the excuse that she had come this far and wasn't going to be shooed away. Sherlock hadn't fought her on that which was strange to John, but he didn't say anything about it. He didn't mind Caren, and it was nice to have someone else who rolled their eyes when Sherlock was being too cocky.
Soo Lin appeared at midnight. She creeped out of the venting system and grabbed the pots, just as Sherlock had guessed. The three waited till she started the process before sneaking up on her. Sherlock went first, making his way right beside her, "Fancy a biscuit with that..."
Soo Lin gasped and dropped the pot. Sherlock barely caught it in time. He looked up at her, "Centuries old. Don't break that." He slowly stood from his crouch from catching the pot and handed it to her. She still looked absolutely shocked. At this point John flicked on the light switch, brightening up the place. Sherlock smiled, "Hello."
Caren and John made their way out and everyone sat down to discuss the code. Soo Lin sighed, "You saw the cipher? Then you know he is coming for me."
"You've been clever to avoid him so far." Sherlock said. Soo Lin dropped her gaze to the floor, "I had to finish. To finish this work. It's only a matter of time...I know he will find me."
"Who is he? Have you met him before?" Caren's voice quietly echoed through the room as she spoke. Soo Lin nodded, face scrunched up as if she were trying to remember a distant and painful memory, "When I was a little girl, with him back in China. I recognize his...signature."
"The cipher," Sherlock clarified. Soo Lin nodded, "Only he would do this. Zhi Zhu."
"Zhi Zhu?" John asked.
"The spider," Sherlock answered. Soo Lin lifted up her foot and began to untie her shoe. John glanced at Caren with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged and continued to watched Soo Lin closely. She pulled off her shoe to reveal a bare foot, with a black tattoo on the heel, shaped like a flower inside a circle.
"You know this mark?" Soo Lin's voice shook slightly as she spoke.
"Yes," Sherlock replied solemnly, "it's the mark on a tong."
"Hm?" John turned to Sherlock for an explanation, but Caren spoke before he could, "An ancient crime syndicate based in China." Sherlock nodded. Soo Lin looked down at the ground again in shame, "Every foot solider bears this mark. Everyone who holds for them."
"Holds?" John asked. Soo Lin didn't answer, just looked up at him. His face lit with understanding, "You mean you were a smuggler?" Soo Lin sadly looked down and replaced her shoe. The three watched patiently.
"I was 15. My parents were dead. I had no livelihood, no way of surviving day to day, except to work for the bosses."
"Who are they?" Sherlock pried.
"They are called 'The Black Lotus'." Soo Lin revealed. Sherlock looked at her sadly, as if this personally affected him. Soo Lin continued, "By the time I was 16...I was taking thousands of pounds worth of drugs across the border into Hong Kong," she paused, remembering her past sorrowfully, "but I managed to leave that life behind me. I came to England. They gave me a job here," she smiled sadly, "Everything was good. A new life."
"But he came looking for you," Caren said sadly. Soo Lin turned her gaze to her, "Yes," she gulped, holding back tears, "I had hoped after five years, maybe they would have forgotten me, but they never really let you leave. A small community like ours...they are never very far away." She wiped away tears from her face, "He came to my flat. He asked me to help him to track down something that was stolen."
"And you have no idea what it was?" John asked. Soo Lin shook her head, "I refused to help."
"So you knew him well, when you were living back in China?" John questioned. Soo Lin swallowed hard and nodded, "Oh yes. He's my brother."
Realization dawned on everyone's face and the room fell silent. Soo Lin wiped more tears away, "Two orphans. We had no choice. We could work for the Black Lotus, or starve on the streets like beggars. My brother has become their puppet, in the power of the one they call Shan, Black Lotus general. I turned my brother away. He said I had betrayed him. The next day I came to work, and the cipher was waiting."
More silence. Finally Sherlock stood slowly and pulled the picture of the symbols and several other pictures out of his pocket and placed it before Soo Lin, "Can you decipher these?"
Soo Lin studied the pictures, "These are numbers here," she pointed to one of the pictures.
"Yes I know," Sherlock said patiently.
"Here, the line across the man's eyes, it's a Chinese number one," she pointed out.
"And this one is 15, but what's the code?" Sherlock asked quietly but a little forcefully. Soo Lin looked up at him, "All the smugglers know it. It's based upon a book..." She turned as if to grab something but suddenly the lights shut down. Everyone froze in the darkness. Sherlock immediately stood up straight. Caren looked around the room in shock. She could sense the tensity and possible danger and wondered if she had made a mistake in coming along.
"He's here," Soo Lin whispered, "Zhi Zhu. He has found me." She squeezed her eyes closed in fear. Sherlock suddenly took off running towards the door.
"No, no Sherlock wait!" John called out after him then turned and grabbed Soo Lin's arm, "Come here. Get in," he turned to Caren, "Get in!" he motioned them over to the vent. Caren rushed over and was bending in when there was a gun shot.
"Sherlock," she whispered to John. He shook his head, "No get in. Get in."
"We have to go after him," Caren said yanking her arm out of his grip and rushing over to the door. She grabbed an object off the table that looked like a brick of sort on the way out. John gaped for a moment then turned to Soo Lin, "Bolt the door after me." He followed Caren out into the museum.
More gun shots sounded as they ran out, echoing from all over. Caren hid behind a pillar and John rushed next to her.
"What do you think you're going to do?" John hissed grabbing her arm and trying to lead her back to the room with Soo Lin. Another gun shot and the sound of grunting and scuttling. Caren turned to John, "Give him another target."
She pushed John away from her and leapt out, "HEY!"
A man in black appeared on the upper level and immediately fixed his gun at Caren. She leapt behind an artifact case, the bullets barely missing her.
"Hey!" Sherlock's voice called out from around the corner. Zhi Zhu turned attention to him, shot a couple more shots at Caren's hiding spot then ran after Sherlock. Caren immediately emerged from her hiding spot and ran after them. John's shook his head in disbelief. What did she think she was doing? He ran after her, pulling his own gun out.
Caren rushed from hiding spot to hiding spot, following the sound of the gun shots, and gripping the strange brick thing in her hand. Taking a deep breath and wondering what kind of adrenaline was causing her to do this, rushed to the stairs and bolted up them. She hid behind another pillar and waited for the sound of gun shots.
Suddenly, a little ways ahead, Zhi Zhu appeared. Reacting quickly, Caren chucked the brick at him, which he was clearly surprised about but easily dodged. He lifted his gun up, but a hand yanked Caren out of the way, and practically dragged her down the hall.
Sherlock rounded a corner and shoved Caren against the wall, peeking around the to see where Zhi Zhu was.
"Are you mad?" he hissed, pulling his head back.
"Probably." Caren panted. Another gun shot shattered a case near them.
"Careful! Some of those skulls are over 200,000 years old! Have a bit of respect!" Caren shouted causing Sherlock gave her a puzzled look. The gun shots stopped and they waited in silence for a moment.
"Thank you." She called out.
Sherlock held his finger to his lips, face splattered with concern. He peeked his head around the corner again, "He's gone," he whispered.
They stood in silence for a moment, then started back down the stairs, where they met up with John. Suddenly there was a gun shot.
"Oh no." John groaned before taking off running back to the room where Soo Lin had been left. John got to the room first, then Sherlock, then Caren. She skidded to a stop when she saw Soo Lin's dead body sprawled across the table, with a paper black lotus in her hand.
"No." Caren whispered, stepping towards the dead body. John held out an arm, stopping her from approaching. She shook her head and dropped down to her knees, guilt flooding through her. If she hadn't run off maybe they could have done something to protect Soo Lin. "No."
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