The Trick Revealed

Chp 9

Sorry it took so long to get this up! Had some family things going on and a bit of a crisis with a friend. I know this one is short too, but I will do my best to get another one up today.

John rushed out of the study slamming the door behind himself. He wiped his hand across his mouth, his fingers scrubbed viciously at the surrounding area. Moriarty had kissed him! God, that wasn't it though, he knew the truth. The kiss wasn't the problem, he'd been kissed by the man before; it was the audience. Sherlock was there, the look on his face was gut wrenching. Why did he bother to keep up the charade? Was he really that keen to making John feel as miserable as possible? The things he said back in the room, the way he looked at him ever since he'd arrived…it was too much. He wanted to believe it was his Sherlock, the one who'd loved him, the one he loved, but he knew that person didn't exist. He made his way down the hall making his best effort not to stumble; his mind was just so fried. He didn't know what to think anymore. All the facts pointed towards Sherlock being the cold and manipulative prick Moriarty claimed he was, yet it seemed every molecule screamed for Sherlock, was dying for Sherlock. He just wanted so desperately to be loved, he'd wanted it for so long, and Sherlock had loved him and more. It had been so fleeting and been taken away to cruelly…it had torn a hole in him he couldn't repair. He was trying to fill it with Moriarty's praises, but he knew in his heart that the man was a psychopath. He wanted to be strong enough not to need it, to not need affection, but he was human. He'd craved it for so long and now that he'd finally had a taste of it, he was being consumed by the need for more. He'd never have enough though; nothing would come close to what Sherlock had given him.

As he approached his room he spotted a small note hidden just beneath the door frame. Someone must have been attempting to slide it into the room in a hurry. He welcomed it as a means to distract himself from the war waging on in his mind and in his heart. He came closer and opened to door so he could bend over and retrieve the slip of paper. At first glance it was absolute gibberish; he furrowed his brow and tried to concentrate.

10/15

11:45

St. Hugh's hospital

Calvin Neilson

#17304-69

He racked his brain for the meaning behind the words. Then, something clicked. St. Hugh's…that was the hospital he'd been admitted to, he had been in some part of it that was underground. Moriarty told him that he'd been taken there by Mycroft's people so they could take samples before they made arrangements for collecting him. With that in mind he figured the top two lines had to indicate a date and a time. Odd…the bottom line held a more confusing number. He stared at it for quite some time. Then, he got an idea. He'd been wandering about the other night, trying to familiarize himself with the house, mostly just to have something to do since he couldn't sleep, and he'd come across a large sitting room of Mycroft's that had multiple boxes with similar number on them. He wasn't sure what all this was about, or who this Calvin man was, but it couldn't hurt to check out the boxes. He left his room shoving the note deep in his pocket.

It didn't take him long to make his way down to the lavish room. There were a few dozen of the boxes and if not for John's need to occupy his mind he'd have just given up right there. He worked his way around the room searching for the box with the corresponding numbers, then he saw it, 17200-69 through 17500-69. When he finally found it the thing was under two other large boxes that caused the doctor to grunt as he moved them. They each produced loud thuds was he chucked them to the ground. It took a bit of effort to get the top to come off but when it did there was a satisfying pop and John quickly moved to examine the contents. There were cases, hundreds of them, each with a number. After about fifteen minutes of sorting through the containers he found the one with his number on it. He quickly opened it and was surprised to find it contained three DVD's. One of which was titled St. Hugh's hospital. The other two were labeled Calvin Neilson and recruitment. Interesting. He took the case and made his way in the room adjacent where he knew there to be a television and a DVD player. Hurriedly he inserted the disk; he wasn't sure how long he had or if he was really even supposed to view the videos. He'd already had one scare that day, Moriarty wasn't supposed to have come until after a couple hours, and he really wasn't the kind of man you wanted sneaking up on you. He glanced around the room a few times just to make sure it was clear then pressed play. From what he could see it was a bland hospital room with a figure sleeping restlessly in the bed. It didn't take long for him to determine that said figure was in fact himself. A strange feeling rose up from his gut, but logically he knew it only made sense that Moriarty had gotten a hold of the security tapes, he'd want to know everything that had occurred to him during the week they were apart. He observed that the date and time were located at the bottom right corner of the screen; the date was right, but not the time. Pressing down on the fast-forward button he soon came to the exact time indicated on his note, 11:45. The him he saw on the video began to move until he stilled suddenly. Then he watched as Sherlock came in and declined John's offer to join him on the bed. John slammed down on the mute button; he couldn't hear this again. Who left him this note? What was the point in making him watch this? The Sherlock on the tape finally left and the him in bed soon started to shake, yes, he remembered this part. He took the disk out and contemplated crushing it, this piece of evidence that anyone could watch and know just how weak he was. Instead he simply put it back into the case, but he didn't leave just yet. This Calvin guy's name was on the note too. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he'd already come this far, it was worth checking out. As the video came onto the screen he instantly recognized the warm up room. The multiple comfortable chairs for people to leave their bodies in as they projected; the large television screens for people to observe their targets as they prepared for their roles, it was clear where he was. The date at the bottom of the screen indicated that this took place a few weeks before John arrived. Which wasn't that odd at all, most of the men had been practicing long before he arrived on the scene. Calvin, it appeared, was entering his meditative state at the moment. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but it wasn't what he saw. Calvin's projection began to materialize and it was most undoubtedly, Sherlock Holmes.

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