A/n: Thanks everyone for the great feedback and all the lovely reviews. I'm glad people are enjoying this.

Chapter 7

"Somehow I knew you would bring that gun. Well this was short. I put all my hopes in you and you always turn out this way." Moriarty rolled his eyes. Sherlock glanced around the abandoned freezer as he answered.

"Yea, I supposed I do." They were in a room the size of a classroom with steel walls and low ceilings. Dangerous to shoot unless I'm certain I'm going to hit him.

"I expected you to try and sneak in or something. Please? Can't you just play along for once? Stop brooding all the time. Don't you want to know my new venture Sherlock?" Moriarty continued to circle John like a shark. He kept looking down then back up at sherlock.

"I do not brood." He ignored the question even though it was burning in his mind. A new venture? What kind of madness have you been financing now?

"You can have him back if you play," he taunted again as he looked down at John. Sherlock kept his eyes on Moriarty. It was safer that way.

"I could have him back if I just shoot you." Leave John out of it.

"Not that again. There is no fun in the game if you just walk in here. After I went to all that trouble to make sure you had so many options of ways in. You just decided to walk in. You won't just walk out though," Moriarty sneered at him. He was on edge which made Sherlock nervous. Moriarty was hard to read when he was stable let alone when Sherlock knocked him off balance.

"I saw your ways in but I wanted to use a different one." Sherlock told him while trying to distract him. How long did they have before the guards were back?

"Which one was that?"

"The front door," Moriarty actually laughed at that.

"So what's the plan? What was A?" Moriarty mocked him and tried to bait Sherlock into the dance they played so well.

"I'm not playing your game," Sherlock sneered. I'm not putting John in even more danger than I already have.

"I'm disappointed Sherlock. Aren't you bored too?" Moriarty tutted. Sherlock smiled. The trick wasn't going to work this time. Sherlock knew it wasn't this crazed man's expectations that he needed to worry about. Not this time. He glanced behind his enemy to look at John who was lying on the floor wide eyed. His eyes were focused on Moriarty's back. There was blood on the floor.

Broken nose? Possible. Scalp injury? More probable. Probably from a boot. Abuse. So probably broken ribs? Bruises forming already. Johns head kept rolling to the side... Exhaustion or losing consciousness...poison? All possible but cant tell from this distance. Anxiety began to grow in his chest but Sherlock pushed it back down.

"Not recently."

"Not since you realized that I was coming back." Sherlock frowned. It was partly true. Discovering all of Moriarty's hideouts had taken up significant amounts of time which kept him from being bored. He didn't contribute that to the Consulting Criminal though. He had always been trying to protect John and himself from kidnapping again. "You could have saved us all this trouble. Does John know what you've been up to? Does he know why he is in so much danger? I know and you know but does he?"

"Leave him out of it." Sherlock demanded. Shut up! Shut up! Of course he doesn't know!

"I had your demise all planned out and you ruined it..." He sounded so glum while he stood beside John bloodied and broken.

"Well...not quite." Sherlock smiled.

"What?... WHAT?" Moriarty shouted as Sherlock chuckled.

"You had it all planned out at the last warehouse. Here not so much or you would have kept a guard with you. You panicked. You didn't know what my next move was when I didn't rush into save John immediately. You moved him again and needed more guards than you have to cover all the entrances and the property perimeter Then my little text, which meant nothing by the way, sent them rushing all over the building and the property so that I could just walk in." Sherlock explained. He smiled, but Moriarty's grin vanished. His eyes were hard.

"Oh so your going to kill me? I'd still be surprised. There will be more though. It's not just me you have to worry about."

"Like who?"

"Oh that would be telling." Moriarty smiled again. Sherlock cocked his head at the statement wondering for the first time if this crazed man was the head of an organization or just the face. Stupid stupid you should have thought of this. More danger. This isn't the end.

At that moment Sherlock heard doors being broken in and shouts of a police crew. Moriarty pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it down at John. He looked up at Sherlock smiling. Sherlock saw the muscles in his hand start to tighten and Sherlock's finger closed instinctively aroud the trigger and a shots rang out. Sherlock saw Moriarty fall and heard Lestrade's voice shouting instructions from outside the freezer.

"Sherlock! Sherlock! Sherlock where are you?" He turned and ran to the door and started shouting back.

"Lestrade! In here. In the freezer."

He turned back to John who he had expected to try and get off the floor. John was still lying on the floor and he wasn't moving or shouting at Sherlock like he normally would in this situation. Sherlock rushed over to his friend and rolled him over. John was unconscious and breathed a sigh of relief, but when Sherlock rolled him on his back he saw a small pool of blood was pooling under John's side. PANIC

"LESTRADE!"

A/n: Input always appreciated. (Sorry for two cliff hangers in a row)