Kidnapped – Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. I love them.
This story is set after TRF.
Authors note. Sorry for the very long delay. I brought some new software to use to write the story with and found it actually made me super conscious of what I was writing and slowed me down for a while. I apologise. I do know where I am going with this story, so hopefully updates will come a little quicker now. Thanks so much to everyone that has reviewed.
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Leaving John to pay the taxi driver, Sherlock bounded through the public entrance of the New Scotland Yard as though he owned the place. He silenced the desk sergeants queries with a single raised eyebrow, and was immediately buzzed through and admitted to the non public part of the station. John ran though a few seconds later, mumbling an apology to the sergeant and calling for Sherlock to wait for him.
Sherlock's arrival at New Scotland Yard always caused a disturbance. The more junior offices would try to find some pretext to visit whichever floor Sherlock was working on, trying to catch a glimpse of the man that returned from the dead. The more experienced ones would suddenly find somewhere else to be (or anywhere else), than be within range of the observant eye and sharp tongue of Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock ran up the stairs two at a time, and didn't even appear out of breath as he flung open the door to the Incident room that Lestrade ran on the 4th floor.
Sherlock took in the activity within the room with a single look. He immediately saw the salt and pepper grey head of Lestrade, at the end of the room. He was standing in front of a large whiteboard, that already had several 8x10 photos stuck to it - including a couple of photos of Molly. The first image showed Molly smiling awkwardly, her large earrings catching the light - Sherlock recognised the shiny silver bow in her hair from the ill fated Christmas party at 221B. Lestrade had probably taken the picture on his camera phone. There was also a more formal picture of Molly wearing a white lab coat, downloaded from her entry on Barts website. It made her look young and fragile at the same time.
A TV screen in the corner was repeating the same small piece of film footage, a grainy image taken from a distance of a small woman being bundled into a dark van - because the image was in black and white it was hard to see what colour the van was. Several police officers were watching the footage, and yet another was trying to manipulate the images to enhance them on a computer next to the screen.
Sherlock was gratified to see there were at least a dozen police officers working in various aspects of Molly's abduction, and also pleased to find that Donovan and Andersen weren't in the room. Whilst he had no compunction in belittling them in front of everyone, right now he didn't want to waste the time. Time that would be better spent finding Molly.
John arrived at his side and puffing slightly, but waiting quietly, knowing Sherlock was assessing everything.
Lestrade spotted Sherlock and John and waved them over. Moving through the office, Sherlock saw Mycroft in Lestrade's office with Anthea, speaking intently into his mobile. Anthea was tapping away at her blackberry taking notes. Sherlock gave a small nod of greeting in Mycroft's direction, but continued towards where Lestrade stood.
The room was stiflingly warm and didn't appear to have air con. Sherlock removed his scarf and shrugged off his Belstaff coat, as he approached Lestrade. "When did he arrive?" he asked.
"About 5 minutes after John's call," said Lestrade quietly. "I presume you informed him?"
Sherlock nodded curtly. "I believe we will almost certainly require the authority and influence he has," said Sherlock unhappily. "I am however somewhat surprised he appeared in person. And so quickly too."
Lestrade lowered his voice further. "I got the feeling he is concerned about Molly. More than I would have expected."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow and hesitated slightly. "A relationship?"
"Not sure exactly. It's just a feeling - there is something though, something he isn't saying." Lestrade said with feeling.
John looked at his watch. "It is currently just gone one o'clock now. When was Molly taken?"
Lestrade indicated the white board with a sketched out time line. "A few minutes past eight. We have CCTV footage showing the abduction." He waved at the TV. "She has been missing for 5 hours. It appears she caught a train to Oxford, and walked the short distance to the conference center. As she walked up through the car park, a red van - looks to be an ex post office van, pulled up. Molly spoke to the driver, and another man got out the back, grabbed her and dragged her into the back of the vehicle. The van then takes off at speed, out of the range of the camera. We have a couple of witnesses, Doctors that were also arriving for the conference. They describe two young Asian, possibly Middle eastern men."
John stared momentarily at the video. "Ford transit, can't see the number plates. Do you have any other footage?"
"Not from the conference center. The Oxford police are checking out local traffic cameras, especially the roads that head back to the motorway towards Bristol. They haven't sent me any footage yet." Lestrade sighed. "At the moment we haven't got very much. But it's early days, and we are lucky we know about the abduction so early on. I understand that ordinarily Molly would have been at the conference for a couple of days. Lucky you tried to contact her John. Or we wouldn't even know. By the way, how did you know her phone would show she was in Bristol?"
John coughed, "Yes, well least said about that the better." But John glanced in Sherlock's direction.
Lestrade looked over at Sherlock, instantly realising what John wasn't saying. "You didn't!? You were tracking her?"
Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Perhaps instead of focusing on that aspect, can we focus on Molly's current situation."
One of Lestrade's officers approached them carrying a large map. "Sir, I have the information you wanted."
"Good Jenkins. Put it up would you?" said Lestrade.
John helped Jenkins put the map onto a spare piece of wall. Sherlock could see immediate there was a clear pattern to the dots. It showed the route that Molly's mobile had taken. The dots clearly connected Oxford to Bristol. Jenkins had also enlarged a large portion of the Bristol area, and the locating pings from Molly's phone had been plotted on the map. "You can see that the cell towers picked up Ms Hoopers phone all along the motorway. Indeed the phone only seemed to stay stationary for a short period in the Downend area of Bristol, before the signal was lost."
"I know that area a bit," said John. "I looked at a couple of medical jobs there. There are at least three big hospitals in that area. Frenchay, Blackberry and The Priory."
Lestrade rubbed his neck thoughtfully. "Then why grab Molly in Oxford. It's a long way to go."
"You are assuming the kidnappers started in Bristol, went to Oxford and then returned to Bristol," said Sherlock. "I think it more likely that they started in Oxford and went to Bristol."
Lestrade and John stared at him. "What?" said John finally.
"Your statement that it's a long way to go is correct. There are many hospitals in the local area in Bristol. Therefore there is something more - something about the actual location. If the assumption is that they needed a doctor, not specifically Molly, then the crime becomes one of convenience, or opportunity. They were already in Oxford, and needed a doctor quickly. It was a large conference and probably well advertised. They knew there would be doctors there. You said there were witnesses. Those Doctors weren't selected because there was two of them. Molly was alone, an easy target. She is also relatively small, and they wouldn't have expected her to put up a fight. They picked Molly at random. If they needed a Doctor in Oxford, then the incident that required a doctor is likely to have occurred in Oxford. Does the Oxford police have a record of any incidents or altercations late last night, or early this morning?"
"Jenkins, call Oxford Police and find out if there were any incidents last night that might have been especially violent," said Lestrade.
Jenkins hurried off to make some phone calls.
The door to Lestrade's office opened suddenly and Mycroft joined them at the white board, whilst Anthea headed towards the printer.
Mycroft smiled at John and Sherlock, but it only seemed to reach his mouth and not his eyes. "Nice to see you John. Sherlock."
"You have news. Don't keep us waiting!" Snapped Sherlock.
Mycroft sighed. "The occasional please and thank you wouldn't hurt."
"Don't keep us waiting, please," said Sherlock sarcastically.
Anthea returned carrying several sheets of paper from the printer. "Very well," said Mycroft. He extracted the first sheet from the bundle and passed it over. "I believe that Ms Hooper was abducted by this man, Kasuf Taha. He's a man of extremist views, and has been on our watch list for the last 18 months. No specific affiliations, or ties to other extremist groups." Lestrade added it to the whiteboard. "Kasuf's father, Ibrahim Taha," Mycroft passed another picture, "seems to have founded his own little religious cult. Nothing mainstream, very few followers, possibly around 20 or so outside of the main family unit. The main tenets seem to be that man is mighty, women are lowly and subject to man's dominance. Our last known address for Kasuf was in Oxford, keeping watch over his brother, Kamil, who is studying at Oxford. It just so happens that Ibrahim and the rest of his family live in Bristol."
Sherlock's mind whirled, the connections were there, but there were still too many variables. "You said family, Mycroft. What family?"
"Kasuf is the eldest of Ibrahim's three children at 30 years old. Then there is Kamil at 23 and Lydia 17."
Lestrade looked at the photo's. He compared the photo of Kusuf against the grainy image of the kidnapper. "I would say the likeness was good enough match to the driver. But why did you focus on him?"
"I received intelligence this morning that Kasuf and Kamil had left Oxford unexpectedly. My source didn't know where they had gone." Mycroft gazed calmly at Lestrade. "By coincidence there happened to be a gas leak in a the property next to Kasuf's. Concerned for the safety of the neighbours, a police office forced entry to check on the occupants. During the course of a search for the residents, several blood stained towels and sheets were found."
"A gas leak?" queried Lestrade.
Mycroft shrugged helplessly. "A somewhat serendipitous occurrence under the circumstances."
Lestrade just shook his head.
"So your conclusion was that Kamil was injured somehow, and rather than seek medical help at a hospital, Kasuf kidnapped Molly?" said John.
Lestrade indicated the other papers Mycroft held. "You obviously have more information there. What else do you have?"
"Ibrahim's address in Bristol, Kasuf's in Oxford, plus several further address of other cult members and places they have both visited in Oxford and Bristol. In addition I took the liberty of cross checking these against the DVLA database. Here is a list of vehicles they have owned, including currently one red ex post office van, registration number is highlighted."
"Jenkins!" roared Lestrade, and Jenkins hurried over. "Put this number plate into the camera search, and see if it was picked up at all this morning." Lestrade strode into his office, and picked up the phone. "I'm calling Bristol police. Let's get some officers to watch those addresses."
Sherlock picked up his coat, "I'm going to Bristol. Text me on route if you find anything." He turned and smiled disarmingly at Mycroft. "Brother dear, could I possibly borrow your car?"
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