4.
John sprinted through the hotel trying to figure out how he always ended up in these situations. Verochka was right on his heels. He had planned on putting Mrs. Hudson in charge of Verochka only to discover she wasn't home. Since he refused to leave an eleven year old who was in shock alone in an unfamiliar place he decided to bring her with them and leave her outside the hotel in a safe place since he believed it would take twenty minutes at the most. However after thirty minutes of being left alone Verochka had gone looking for him and ended up, not only, joining him on his investigation of the Ambrosia hotel, but also in being chased by the killers.
He turned a corner and ran into one of the rooms Verochka following. He ran over to the window only to find that they had ended up on the fifth floor.
"Well thats out of the question."
He grabbed his cell phone and sent out a group message to Sherlock and Lesterade.
In Ambrosia Hotel! Killers are here! Need backup now! -JW
He pocketed the cell phone and grabbed his gun. He motioned to Verochka to follow him. They slipped out into hallway and were immediately met by the second killer. He stood there looking sad and helpless. He had his gun raised to John but lowered it and motioned to the door marked 'STAIRS' that was a few feet in front of him. John nodded gratefully and burst through it. They made it to the front lobby only to hear the sound of a gun going off. John felt his back burn and collapsed quickly taken over by the darkness.
...
Sherlock shook Verochka with all his might, causing the orange shock blanket to fall off her shoulders.
"Damn it! Tell me where they took him!"
Verochka was crying now and Lesterade grabbed Sherlock's collar and yanked him away.
"God's sake man she's in shock. Even if she does know she's not going to be able to tell you! Im amazed she's even still sane after what's happened to her!"
Sherlock calmed down a little but was still fuming.
"We have all our agents checking every nook and cranny of this building. They've found plenty of evidence but no trace of the victims from the past five murders.
Sherlock sighed and nodded. "That was expected," he looked at Verochka angrily, "should I take her back to the flat?"
Lesterade nodded, "be gentle with her. She'll give you the information you need eventually."
Sherlock looked at him and said, "we don't have time for eventually. We need it now."