Chapter Seven: Irene Adler's phone


The next few days were difficult. Sherlock had dashed out of his room that odd Christmas evening and things had been a little unusual. I had a funny feeling that John was hiding something from me. Sherlock spent his days composing moody and depressing music. There was a shadow in the room and it was a shadow that I couldn't penetrate.

He'd told me once that I was like the sun and Irene was the moon. Sherlock fought on the light side, but he was now infatuated with the dark side and I hadn't realized it. I'd lost him to a dead woman. We didn't need to talk about it, there was nothing to be said or done, but I knew it. I may seem like a coward for not approaching him, but what could I say to him?

When I got John alone, I asked him to tell me everything that had transpired between them. Irene had walked out naked to greet him and she'd evidentially baffled Sherlock. While he could read anyone at a glance, he couldn't read Irene Adler. After several flirtations back and forth, Sherlock gave her his coat. According to plan, John left to set off the fire alarm and reveal where Irene hid the phone. And the plan worked, until several armed men showed up and demanded the key to the safe. But Sherlock insisted he didn't know the code until they threatened to put a bullet in John's head.

The code; Irene's measurements. But he also realized that there was a loaded gun in the safe, which killed one man. Afterwards, John went and looked into finding out how the men broke in. he returned to find Sherlock lying on the floor, drugged and Irene had gotten the phone from him. She'd then used a ridding crop on him a few times.

To me, she sounded like a horrid woman, but to Sherlock, she was an intricate example of my sex. I knew now that he had some feelings for her all along and I don't blame him. She was definitely more intelligent than I'd given her credit for. She was like a female Sherlock and how was I to compete with that? How could anyone compete with Irene Adler and win?

Then, December 31st, everything changed for me. I'd just taken a shower and I was practically dressed. I'd forgotten my shirt was hanging on the edge of my ironing board so I'd walked out to get it. I'd slid into it and I'd just done the second button when the world fell down around my ears.

"Sherlock?" Mrs. Hudson shouted and the terror in her voice caused me to forget my remaining buttons and go to my door.

"Mrs. Hudson?" I peered over the rail to see three men dragging Mrs. Hudson into Sherlock's flat! They were armed and had guns!

"Tammy!" She screamed. "Run!"

"Get her!" one of the men shouted at me. I slammed my door and locked it and speed dialed Sherlock. Wherever he was I hoped he picked up his phone immediately. "Open this door!" the man shouted at me. When he didn't receive the response he wanted, he then shot through the door. I screamed as I instinctively threw myself on the ground.

Tammy? Thank God he picked up his phone! Why are you

"Sherlock!" I screamed. "Help me!"

Tammy?! His voice wasn't restrained; he was genuinely concerned about me. What's going on?

"Gunmen at Baker Street!"

The man grabbed my phone from my hand and threw it across the room. I jumped as he then pulled me up from the ground. "Get downstairs! And don't cause anymore trouble!"

I moved quickly, broaching no argument. My heart pounded in my throat and I concentrated on my breathing. I would not have a hyperventilation attack now! I stumbled down the stairs to find Mrs. Hudson in a chair and gunman had a gun pointed to her head.

"Well?"

"She got him on her phone. Probably on his way now." The man shot me a dirty look. "With a bunch of coppers."

The man holding the gun to Mrs. Hudson's head rolled his eyes. "Naw, I don't think he will. He'll show up alone."

The other men kept staring at me and I realized that I had dashed out with only one button done on my blouse. I moved to button it and my captor grabbed my wrist. "Leave it." He snarled. I wrenched my hand free from him and shot him a warning glare. He laughed. "Feisty one ain't she?" he ran his hand through my hair. "No wonder he keeps you around." I jerked away from him to realize that he had a handful of my hair in his fist. I refused to cry out for Mrs. Hudson's sake, she was all ready giving into the stress of the situation.

"You will," I snarled out in a voice that was stronger than how I was feeling. However, my coughs made my voice sound shakier than I wanted it to be. "keep your hands off me."

He laughed. "Or what?"

"He will…kill you. And personally, I will look forward to knowing whatever he does to you."

His eyes darkened and I knew in that moment I'd angered him. "He wouldn't kill me, for looking. Now, where is Adler's phone?"

I stared at him as if he were crazy. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah right." He turned and walked away before spinning on his heel and striking me! I couldn't hold back a cry as I fell to the floor with my head spinning crazily. Then, the man was ontop of me. "Where is it?"

"Oh, please stop!" Mrs. Hudson begged. "Please!"

"What do you want?" I shouted.

"Irene Adler's phone." He demanded. "We know he has it and you're his girlfriend. Now, I'll ask you again, where is it?"

"I don't know!" Fright welled up in me and I screamed. "Get off me now!"

"Or what?" he laughed as his other comrades started taunting him, egging him on. "You'll kill me?"

I spit in his eye and he hit me again. I tried kneeing him and succeeding in doing so. I almost dislodged him, but he grabbed ahold of my throat. "I suggest, you start talking now."

"I don't know!" He grabbed at the one button holding my shirt together and pulled it free exposing me to his gaze. I screamed out as he buried his face in my chest. "Stop it! I don't know! He doesn't have it!"

"Hey." One of the men said. "He's coming, knock it off."

"Fine." He sneered over me. "It would have been a pleasure." I lay on the ground, coughing, trembling and crying. "Get up." The man snapped at me. Try as I might, I couldn't find the strength to get up on the couch.

I watched the closed door, waiting for it to open. I heard Sherlock open the door, and then I heard his footprints hesitate. I knew he was deducing the way up here, planning his plan of attack. I hoped John was with him and he happened to have his gun on hand. Then, the footsteps grew closer and then finally the door opened. There he was, Sherlock walked in, hands in his pockets, calm as you please.

"Oh, Sherlock." Mrs. Hudson whimpered.

"Don't snivel Mrs. Hudson." Sherlock stated calmly. "It'll do nothing to impede the flight of a bullet."

"Sorry." She said. "But Tammy-

Sherlock glanced over at me and I saw his eyes flame angrily as he took my state of undress. "She been coughing like that long?" He asked calmly. "Or aren't any of you aware that she has asthma?"

"No, but she's got a few other things of interest."

The man sneered as Sherlock helped me up onto the couch. His eyes scanned my body and he gently touched my throat. He turned around to eye the men, as he put his hands in his pockets, spreading his coat out like a curtain for me. "Button up Tammy." My hands shake as I button up my shirt. "All right, what's this all about?"

"I believe you have something that we want Mr. Holmes."

"Then why don't you ask for it?" he stepped forward, discreetly checking Mrs. Hudson for injuries.

"I've been asking this one, she doesn't seem to know anything." He glanced at me. "The other one doesn't know anything either. It's not smart to keep your girlfriend misinformed about anything. She could wake up with a bullet in her head because she got the wrong person mad. But you know what I'm asking for, don't you Mr. Holmes?"

"I believe I do." Sherlock said as he straightened and backed away. "First get rid of your boys."

"Why?"

"I dislike being outnumbered it makes for too much stupid in the room."

The man exhaled. "You two, go down to the car."

"Then get into the car and drive away." Sherlock said, taking control of the situation. "Don't try to trick me. You know who I am. It doesn't work." The man subtly nodded and the two other men walked away. Sherlock waited patiently for their footsteps to become silent. "Next, you're to stop pointing that gun at me."

"Why, so you can point a gun at me?"

Sherlock began spreading his arms out. "I'm unarmed."

"Mind if I check?"

"Oh I insist." The man comes around from behind Mrs. Hudson, walks over to Sherlock and pats him down while Sherlock stands there in boredom with his arms out to the side. Walking around behind him, he begins patting for any hidden weapon at his back. Sherlock suddenly bends his right arm towards himself, whipping out a sanitizer spray can, twists around and sprays the contents directly into the man's eyes! The man lets out a shout as Sherlock violently headbutts him in the face. The man falls back over the coffee table, unconscious, as Sherlock flips the can into the air triumphantly. "Moron." He goes straight to Mrs. Hudson and knelt beside her. "You're all right now."

She nodded. "Yes. But…Tammy, they-

"I'm fine." Sherlock turned towards me; those eyes of his making me tremble all over. But this time, cold has completely washed over me and I pulled my shirt closer to my body. I looked at the ground and moved towards the exit. "I'm going upstairs."

"Tammy," he called behind me. "wait a minute."

"I need to take a shower." He grabbed ahold of my arm and I shouted at him. "Don't touch me!"

Sherlock blinked and took a step back. "Alright," he said gently. "I won't touch you. Are you all right?"

I stared at him. "A man shot at me, he then hit me. He then started threatening to rape and strangle me and you're asking if I'm all right? Of course I'm not all right! I want to be left alone!"

"Tammy wait," he says. "there's something else you don't want to know, but you need to know." He inhales and blurts out. "Irene Adler is still alive. She faked her death."

I stare at him in horror. Moment later, I turn and ran up the stairs to my flat. Once there, I went straight to the bedroom and got a whole new set of clothes. I felt dirty and cheap. I could smell that man on me; I could feel his hands and his eyes on me. I went straight to the bathroom, stripped and got into the shower. I turned the hot water on and grabbed my least favorite bath wash scent so I wouldn't have this memory attached to my favorite soap. I scrubbed at my skin as my tears mingled with the hot water pouring down on me. I'd feel better tomorrow; I just needed a good cry.