8. You've Got Mail

Greg Lestrade was just coming back to his office after going to the street for his mandatory mid-morning coffee and cigarette when he heard the notification sounds from his computer beeping uncontrollably. When that happened, it could only mean two things: there was an actual real, life threatening emergency, or Sherlock Holmes was finding a new way to annoy him…

Staring at the screen with a frown, he clicked on the tab he had previously opened on the browser and rolled his eyes when he saw the hundreds and hundreds of emails that were showing up at his inbox. He opened one of the messages, watching one simple text line: Visit the BoHo Hotel.

Bloody Sherlock fucking Holmes.

The emails kept on piling on his inbox and he grabbed the phone furiously, calling John, who would surely answer faster than Sherlock (who usually didn't respond at all). He groaned and turned of the sound on the computer, finding a bit of relief when the beeping on his computer finally stopped.

"Hello? Greg?"

"Hi John, could you please tell Sherlock that he has to stop playing with my bloody computer? I have actual work to do and those emails are going to crash it sooner or later"

"What emails? Hold on, i'm putting you on speaker"

"Those stupid emails Sherlock is sending every second to my computer!"

"What? Emails? Bingo!" he heard Sherlock's voice on the distance "Lestrade! What do the emails say?"

"What you've been putting in them you bastard! Stop them!"

"I'm not sending them! Now, what do the emails say?"

"Visit the BoHo hotel" he glanced at the screen once more "What on Earth does that mean? Wait, you're not sending these stupid things?"

"I have to call Mycroft, John will tell you the details"

"What the fuck is going on?"

"Well, i don't think Mycroft will like it very much if we tell you every detail, but someone is trying to talk to us, and Sherlock hinted that this person should contact you"

"Me? What do i have to do with this? I don't even…"

"Calm down, Greg, we only need your computer. Wait. What did you say, i can't hear you from here! Oh, okay. Greg, we need you to reply one of the emails with this words exactly: I know. How do i get there?"

Lestrade sighed deeply and readjusted his chair to face the screen and typed the reply into one of the seven hundred emails on his inbox. Mere seconds after pressing send, the relentless wave of incoming emails stopped.

"Oh, the emails stopped. Was it a virus or something? Should i be worried about data or..?"

"No, no, it's fine. Just tell us if there's a reply" John hadn't even stopped talking when a new email showed up on his inbox.

"I have a reply. It's just a bunch of numbers, John. It doesn't say anything"

"Sherlock, she answered!"

"She?" Lestrade went pale and pushed his chair away from the desk, getting up "Please tell me this is not about Brookfield"

"Why? Do you know her? Oh for heaven's…" there was a lot of noise on the line and Greg heard Sherlock's voice again

"What are the numbers Lestrade?"

"Ehmmm….6e656564206c6f63206f6620616d6d6f" he said the numbers and letter one by one, knowing he didn't even need to write them down "Then in another line it's 61 73 61 70, separated by spaces every two numbers"

"It's hexadecimal. Answer the email and write this: i'll consult with my boss, how soon can i go?"

"Am i going to get in trouble for this, Sherlock? Because i'm pretty sure this has something to do with the Brookfield thing and i don't..."

"Oh my god! Could you just type the thing?"

"Yes, yes i'm doing it. Wait….there's a new one"

"Read it Lestrade, we need to do this fast!"

"Oh for bloody hell, it only says: server will be back in the afternoon"

"Good, now, come to Baker Street. We need you here right now"

"I can't just leave whenever i want, Sherlock!"

"Grab a stupid file and say you need to consult something or whatever...i don't know, but be sure to get here as quick as possible, we have a lot to do" with those words, the line went dead.


Mycroft had spent all morning lying to everyone. He was fairly good at it, specially when it helped to his interests, and now he was listening to the angry shouts of the highest members of The Cabinet, all of them enraged and babbling whatever nonsense came to their mouths about Gaia. His Gaia. God, how he wanted to punch them… But of course, he had to stay quiet and nod and agree with everything they were saying.

"Ladies, gentlemen" he got up from his chair momentarily, trying to catch their attention "I understand each and every one of your opinions, but right now, the best shot we have is handing the investigation to the MI6"

"She has valuable information in her hands, we can't just let her walk away with it until the MI6 has a solid case"

"We will wait until we have to. She won't move a finger until the waters have cleared...the least we make her think she's a priority, the faster she will act and the faster we will catch her"

He had received Sherlock's simple message a few minutes earlier, and he had left the room to call him. Apparently, Gaia was contacting them in a series of emails directed to Lestrade's computer. He felt relieved to know she was alive, but the rest of her messages disconcerted him. "Need loc of ammo. ASAP" He felt like a caged animal, ready to jump from his seat and fight, but he had to keep on lying for a while longer, it was imperative that he showed no emotion, and the constant necessity he had to touch and turn Rudy's ring on his finger was certainly not helping his facade. He wanted to rip off his skin and scream...instead, he crossed his leg and studied the faces in the room.

"This meeting has been going in an endless circle for hours, and i'm afraid nothing you can say will make me change my mind. The MI6 will handle the investigation, the data research team will be interrogated and we will go from there. This meeting is adjourned until we have new information. Lady Smallwood, i believe we have an unresolved issue from yesterday, please see me in my office as soon as you can"

He stood up, incapable of standing another minute of nonsense. He soon heard the steps of Lady Smallwood closely behind him.

"Am i a suspect in this as well, Mycroft?"

"Of course not, i just really wish to have something done by the end of the day. Yesterday was absolutely unproductive and i could use a victory today"

"We could all use a victory today" she was walking by his side now, shaking her head "I never saw this coming… she looked decent...reliable. I mean, Collins trusted her"

"Collins trusted nearly everyone…" he felt the bile going up to his mouth as he pronounced that name

"You and i know very well that he didn't. The man would've work all alone if we'd let him"

"Mhhmm… well, she put on an impressive act for years, apparently"

"Do you think she's been doing this all along?"

"I wanted to ask you the same thing…" he opened the door of his office and let her in before he entered the room and closed the door. The silence and relative darkness of the room felt like a balm. "Do you remember any signs, any indications of illegal activity from before she was appointed as head of department?"

"Well no, her search history and online activity in the office never suggested anything improper...I'm sure you can recall we were impressed when we found out she didn't even accessed her social media accounts during office hours"

"Yes, i remember" he paced around the room "Maybe she was using Collins' account for her operations…"

"Mmm, i could ask someone to retrieve those files…"

"That would be appreciated, thank you" he heard her sigh deeply

"Help me understand something here, Mycroft" he sat in the comfort of his leather chair "We are handing the investigation to the MI6, but systems still has her computer and we don't have her phone in our possession even though the preliminary reports handed by her team say explicitly that it was on her suitcase…"

"Well, Elizabeth, we have already started with the long process of decrypting the information on both devices and we simply can not afford to waste more time restarting it. When systems is done with her laptop, i'll hand it personally"

She hummed and raised a brow at him, with that amused look people tend to put on their faces when they think they know and understand more than the person on the other side of the conversation, and Mycroft couldn't help but feeling infuriated at the woman. He simply stared at her, his best poker face on while she tried to get a reaction out of him.

"I think is best that we get to work, Elizabeth"

"Yes, absolutely" she put on her briefcase on his desk and got out some binders and folders "I must say though, i'm truly disappointed… i thought she was perfect Cabinet material, she had so much potential…" he hummed in agreement "I even thought she was the perfect candidate to be Mrs. Holmes…"

Mycroft's eyes widened in surprise as Lady Smallwood faked innocence.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh please, you're telling me you haven't noticed the way she looks at you? Or that i of all people haven't noticed how you look at her?"

Mycroft found himself in a loss of words while she smiled at him, clearly satisfied with the state she had put him in.

"I beg of you Elizabeth, stop talking"

"Mycroft, is not a sin to feel attracted to someone...you are one of the most eligible bachelors in England, can you really blame the poor girl?"

"Please, please, stop talking. You are starting to sound like my mother"

Lady Smallwood laughed

"Well, my point is that it's a shame that she is a criminal mastermind…"

"With that, i agree"

"So, do you want to tell me what the actual plan is? Or do i have to find out on the news or in an emergency call like last time?"

"There truly is no plan, Elizabeth, we have enough on our plates just as it is. Let's let the MI6 do their job and hope for the best"

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"I expect you to do as i ask, for once. Stop pushing the subject, i'll update you as soon as we have some reliable information, in the meantime, let's work, please. I would like to have something going the way it's supposed to be going..."

"Very well then…" she opened the first folder and handed him some document that needed his review, approval and signature "About the issue we were talking about yesterday, the interested parties have reached an agreement, but one of them wants to go to a Consulting office before accepting..."

"And they want to hire a private Consulting firm? Well we can always send them to the ones we prefer"

"Yes. Which one would you suggest? Our usual?"

"Mmmm" he leaned back on his chair, mindlessly looking at the document in his hands "Which other good options are there? You surely remember how awfully it went last time, an unnecessary waste of time..."

"Didn't Jonathan Collins have a Consulting Firm? We could kill two birds with one stone if we approach him..."

"Why would we want to interrogate Collins? Were they close at all?"

"I believe we should cover some ground with her acquaintances while we wait for her computer and such. She was really close to Collins senior, and it's easy to infer that Jonathan must have known about her and her relationship with his father...both Damien and herself were close to the family and helped with the funeral arrangements if you remember…"

"Mmmm, doesn't sound too bad" he crossed his fingers and pretended to ponder on her suggestion "What do you have in mind?"

"You could go and talk to him, negotiate that he stays on our side in this case and casually throw Miss Brookfield into the conversation"

"I think it would be best if you go this time Elizabeth, i have a meeting with the Prime Minister and later on i have to go check on Sherlock… It will be Sherrinford day soon and i'd like to see if he is in a proper mental state for it"

"No, no, no. You have to go, Mycroft. You're better at reading people than i am. If he knows something about her or the operation, you will notice. I'll trade you the meeting with the Prime Minister…"

"You underestimate yourself, i've seen your cunning eye during interrogations…"

"No, stop it. You are going to meet with Collins and i will go to the meeting with the Prime Minister. It will guarantee the best possible outcome for both situations"

Mycroft took his pen and signed the document before handing it to Lady Smallwood.

"Very well. But only because you are the one requesting it. I wouldn't want to give the Prime Minister the impression that our meetings are not of the utmost priority for me…"

"I'll tell her it was my idea, if that helps"

"It does, thank you"

"Now...where were we?"

Mycroft pretended to be as unfazed as he was before, but allowed himself a smile of satisfaction before continuing with the day's agenda. In a world of goldfish, one could order around the little ones and let the bigger ones think they had at least a little bit of control when, of course, they had none of it.

Soon after that exchange, Elizabeth Smallwood left his office, leaving him to his thoughts. He called Anthea into the room and watched as she received her orders and started making calls on the phone.

"Yes, it's The Cabinet, i would like to schedule an appointment with Mr. Collins for today. Yes, as soon as possible" Anthea looked at him and he urged her to go on with the call "Oh, yes i understand, could you get in touch with him and tell him The Cabinet needs his assistance on a forthcoming business? Or maybe give me his cell phone number? Yes, yes of course. I'll wait for your call, thank you, have a nice day"

The game was on.


It was really funny how a few words over a text message could make or break a person's entire day, Jonathan Collins, for example, thought everything was going smoothly up until five minutes ago, when his ringtone filled the room and he saw the simple text from his secretary.

Cabinet asking for business meeting today. Is it arrangeable?

He had stared at the bright screen for a long time, as he heard the relentless tapping of Gaia's fingers on the laptop he had provided. He watched her impassive face on the corner of his eye. She had insisted upon trying to hack into the MI5 to get a clue of where the weapons would be, and as soon as he gave her the computer, she busied herself with tapping and tapping and clicking and tapping. She winced every now and then, surely her broken ribs acting up and made her take some painkillers, the strong kind, to keep her as calm and mellow as possible. Gaia complied, smiling weakly at him and continuing her work.

Should he tell her about the meeting?

"Gaia" he said, his voice more stern that he had intended over the soft tapping of the keyboard "The Cabinet is asking for a meeting"

She stopped as she was struck by lightning and looked up at him in what he could only see as panic.

"Are they going to question you?"

"They asked for a business meeting, preferably today" he watched as she shifted nervously in her seat

"Well, they handed the case to MI6, right? It may actually be just business"

"Who is in charge of that? Contracts, and such?"

"Well, many departments handle it, it depends on what it is about...but i'll go for a sure bet and say it will be someone from Smallwood's office, if the job is high profile enough, she'll go herself"

"Do they do this often? Hire private firms?"

"Yes, all the time. They are probably trying to make sure someone's payment money gets back to them, but i don't know…"

"Mmmm" he stared at his phone screen again and texted his secretary back

5 pm. My office. Find out who's going

"How's the hacking going?"

"So far so good. But the files are being a pain in the ass to find...i have to go through every security level, each investigation file. It's slow, but it's working well...MI5 cyber security is honestly a joke…"

"Didn't know MI5 handled international stuff…"

"Not entirely, they were the ones that found your container, so they are bound to have reports and file numbers on it, that way, i don't have to spend more time than necessary in the MI6 systems" she turned her gaze back into the screen

"I'll go to that meeting, Gaia, probably won't return until later tonight or tomorrow, depending on how things go. I hope i don't have to tell you that there are guards on every door…"

"And why would i want to go out?" she stared at him, annoyed "I have work to do"

He smiled at her and nodded before going out to his car. His phone started ringing.

"Yes? Any update?"

"Heard that systems has her laptop. No word on the phone, No other physical evidence brought in" the voice on the other side said, in a low whisper

"Keep in touch"

Jonathan adjusted the rearview mirror and softened his frown as soon as he saw his reflection. He had to be really careful with his next moves, and that bloody text had just complicated things for him. This morning, he had been sure beyond doubt that Gaia had been working alone, but the convenient timing for that meeting request had creeped up on his brain as a reason to be extra cautious. But he was going to be charming and polite and interested on everything they had to say, he would fake surprise and concern if they mentioned Brookfield and would offer his help to whoever showed up. His precious money depended on it.

The car engine purred, and he hurried back to London.


"Sherlock, i have actual work to do, i don't have time to stare at some screen looking for God knows what" said Greg Lestrade as he sat in the uncomfortable chair in front of Sherlock's filled desk

"Well, keep staring and you'll know"

"I'm gonna get fired, and it's gonna be your fault!" he pointed at him with anger

"Mycroft will fix that"

"Yeah, yeah, so i heard…" he looked back at the screen and kept on watching the boring people at the cabinet walk among the hallways and entering rooms just to exit minutes later "Why are you on the Brookfield case anyways?"

"Mmm...it's a fun and interesting case"

"You said the exact opposite to the press this morning"

"That was a decoy, Lestrade, keep up!"

"You said you would explain what i am doing here and why my computer was getting weird numeric emails, and you have done nothing but boss me around to look at files and make me stare at security footage looking for something that, according to you, should be obvious!"

"Greg, this case is a delicate subject. and we are not sure we should be telling you everything right now. Just...help us out some more and we'll explain everything, i swear" John's words were reassuring, but he felt bored out of his mind.

"That guy has gone to the bathroom twice in less than an hour" he pointed out

"Freeze the frame and send the timestamp to My…" Sherlock's phone rang before he could finish "Yes?"

Both Greg and John looked at him in complete silence

"Well, hurry, we have a few people you have to look at" he hung up "Mycroft's coming over, they are done with her laptop"

"Good, that will help a lot i guess" John inquired

"He doesn't sound pleased"

"When has Mycroft ever sound pleased?"

"Mmmm...fair point…"

"Again? Jesus, that guy needs a Pepto Bismol or something, it's the third time going into the same bathroom"

Sherlock saw the skinny man reach his pocket before entering the loo and he smiled.

"I think we have our guy"

Mycroft was there within the next 10 minutes, with a deep frown on his face, eyes narrow and gaze cold. Lestrade saw him walk towards the client chair and sit down with ceremony, dominating the entire room within seconds.

"I know who we're after"

Sherlock looked stunned and Mycroft gave him a manila folder.

" How did you find out?"

"Phone records on her building. I assume the concierge has been tipping him for months now"

"Ehmmm...Mycroft, hello" both Holmes looked at him and he immediately felt like a little bug on a windshield

"Detective Inspector Lestrade, good afternoon, thank you for your assistance, i assure you that you will not have any trouble for being absent from your workplace, and please be assured that your help will be thoroughly compensated when all this is done" he gave him a polite and hypocritical smile, the one you give people when you want them to go away

"Thank you, but i would really like to know what is going on here before i keep on going"

"Yes, of course. You are assisting Sherlock and John in the search of Gaia Brookfield, unofficially of course. I'm afraid further details will have to wait, Detective Inspector" his voice was cold and he felt compelled to agree with whatever it was he was saying. "Now, i would like you to go back to your office and keep an eye on your email, call Sherlock as soon as you get another message, please"

Greg nodded and grabbed his coat as the brothers stayed silent, clearly waiting for him to make his exit. He walked towards the door and couldn't help but linger out of their sight, some steps down the stair, to try and hear what they were saying.

"How much do you think he knows?"

"He knows you were on her apartment, it's safe to assume that he knows i've been there in the past as well"

"That complicates things…"

"It certainly does" there was silence and he heard someone's phone ringing "Yes, i see, send him a file and do inform that he will be meeting with me. Yes. I'll send for the car when it's time"

"Will you go bargain, then?"

"None of that, no, it's merely work related. But being face to face with him may prove useful for deductive purposes…"

"Yes, one would expect so, brother dear. What was that thing people say about staring into the abyss?"

"That it stares back…"

Greg sighed and went down the rest of the stairs quietly. Being around both Holmes brothers at the same time always proved to be brain damaging for him and, for once, he rather stare into his computer than into the brothers and their undecipherable chatter.

At that moment, in an office facing Richmond Terrace, the email notifications on Lestrade's computer came back to life.


Transition chapters are sometimes a necessary evil ;) We will finally get to see some Holmes vs Collins, let me know how you think things will work in the meeting.

Also, the BoHo hotel in Prague is a real location, and it will be a big part of the story in a future chapter that's already on the works.

As always, thank you for your continued support on this story, i love hearing your opinions.

Read you soon!

S.