John looks out over the beautiful dark blue water, wishing he could be enjoying the view. But he's far too stressed, and from the looks of it even Mary is having trouble ignoring their plight in leu of the broad expanse of twinkling night sky and the shimmery inky waters.
He thinks over the last four hours and wonders in vain if he made the right choices. The Italian was ready to help, if they continued their anonymity, with what ever they needed.
They needed cash so Julio took Mary's cards, in a sealed envelope and will have someone else withdraw the money and max out the cards. It IS fraud so the companies will (when and if Mary gets her life back) pay the missing funds essentially giving her the money twice. This person will let Julio know how much the sum is and he will give it them through an associate once they land in Italy.
His best mate has a fishers boat and he isn't overly bothered about them going out to sea in the middle of the night. So they hide away during the day and putter along at night. At a nice leisurely pace they expect the trip to take a couple days.
Lastly what to do about Rob? Julio recommended he be confined in the mill till John succeeds in returning to London and his mission is completed. He's confident in his set up and the seclusion of the spot. Even IF Rob managed to get loose, he'd have to walk for several hours before he found people, several more till he found English speaking people!
John is the most wary of this detail, after all confining someone by chains in a secluded, crumbling, historical monument is skirting the limits of what John can do as a moral man. But again Julio assures him that Rob won't suffer in his little mill prison and that Julio will have one of his house up there with him at all times, to make sure he has everything he should need.
Still John feels a bit worried about that loose end, as well as the owner of the horse. In his mind they represent a lack of severe control that he hasn't allowed since Harry...
"John?" With a start he realises she has crouched down beside him against the wall of the small awning they hide in during the day. Before he can ask her what she's doing Mary continues on, "Are you okay? Sea-sick? Only you've gone a bit of a funny colour."
Grasping at any excuse so he doesn't have to talk about the horrible things he's seen John lies, "Yes, must be coming on slowly..." But the frowning face looking at him isn't believing him. "That John Watson is the worst lie I've ever heard! Why would you after a day and a half suddenly be sea sick?"
Baffled John retorts, "You suggested the very thing!"
"Yes," Mary admits smugly with a bit of anger, "to see if you'd lie to me or not."
With a groan he let's his head fall against the edge of the boat with a muffled thump. Tentatively Mary lays a hand on his elbow, "John, you've been through a lot lately, maybe... maybe you need to talk about some of it before it eats you up."
With narrowed eyes, "I don't need therapy."
Smiling Mary nods, "I don't think so either, but if you don't get this off your chest, you will." Not letting him deny it she continues on, "Look, you've saved my life, what? two, three times? Let me do something for you please. Just tell me about your life on the run, I'm sure there are plenty of stories there and I'm happy to listen to any of them." Her hand gripping surprisingly tightly for a second, "Let me help you John."
Hanging his head a moment he thinks, she's right, and John knows it. The memories are dragging him down with worry that they are affecting his decisions adding it's own brand of pain. So after a few quiet minutes of studying the boards in the side of the craft John raises his eyes to Mary. The clear pain in the muddy blue eyes - almost black in this light - making her stomach clench. "Harry and I took the Eurostar to Paris. She was a funny one... my lesbian sister, didn't notice there was something more between me and Sherlock. As we pulled out of St. Pancras station I was trying not to die inside and she's saying, 'he was just a flatmate'. But I dare say she figured out her brother out eventually."
Nodding encouragingly Mary remains silent so as to not jinxs her luck in getting John to talk.
"We tried to be so clever, Harry thought it would be enough to get on and off the Eurostar a couple times, lay a few false trails out to Cornwall and Wales with tickets, even one to the Netherlands from the Lille station in France. So by the time we got to Paris our fear was ratcheted down a touch." Shaking his head ruefully, "We took a room at a small hotel well away from the normal tourist traps and my sister seemed to believe we were invincible. Now I know she had no concept of how horrible Moriarty truly was, or how far reaching he could be!"
"After three days of hiding out in our hotel room she succeeded in convincing me no one would notice us in the large group of tourists that is always at the Eiffel tower. Stupid mistake, I know, but my sister always could talk me into stupid stuff. We were half way across the lawns to the tower when I saw two different men shadowing us. Needless to say we left, but it didn't matter."
"What followed was the oddest car chase I've ever seen. On one hand thankfully they weren't brandishing guns, but on the other, if they had been maybe the cabbie would have been less inclined to slow down three times and offer to let either of them them take us!"
Chuckling a bit at the memory, "Now my Parisian French isn't great, but I understand a fair amount and in the end I heard, over the radio, that the cabbie ditched our tails, dropping us at our hotel, because he got a fare out to the airport and was needed there ASAP before another driver could scoop it."
"When we got into our room I logged onto the internet, doing as Anthea suggested and hiding my electronic footprints well, laying a false trail all over the globe to check my email address. There was only one message in the inbox, a video file. I didn't think much of it and opened it without realising Harry was still roaming about as her tub hadn't finished filling yet. So she was walking past just as the viewing window opened up."
Looking a bit green as he starts talking about it John carries on determinedly, "At first all I could see was Moriarty's face that looked perversely open and friendly. But the words falling from his lips were anything but, describing my... rape and his clear enjoyment of it. So drawn in by the horrible memories he was invoking I didn't realise Harry was there till she cursed quietly..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Oh fuck Jonny he's wanking! What a sick fuck."
Blinking himself out of the odd stupor the malevolent words were having on him, John notes that Moriarty's left arm is jerking in an all too familiar way. With perfect timing the person filming pulls the view back to reveal more of him. He's relaxed back in one of those huge wingback chairs, his right knee hitched over the armrest, hand working feverishly in the gap of his trousers. Clearly Moriarty has only undone his expensive trousers and shifted them down a bit to gain access to his cock, and pants were clearly an option that morning. John blinks as he realises that Moriarty is dressed the same as the day he was raped. In the exact same suit and he just undid his zip then too and... A fine tremor runs through John as he realises Moriarty is purposely re-creating his rape to traumatise John again.
"Oh my god Jonny, is that shit he's spouting true? Did he... did he do half of what he's saying?" Her hand hesitantly touching his shoulder, never the less John jerks in shock and relived trauma at the light contact. "Oh Jonny, why didn't you tell me? I thought he just beat the hell out of you."
John frowns as he tries to avoid the piercing gaze of the man wanking to the remembrances of John's rape. Thankfully Moriarty seems to have gotten himself all worked up and it isn't long before the wanking, and the vitriol stop with heaving, panted breaths.
With a shudder John reaches to close the window, but the man on the screen suddenly opens his eyes and looks at John. "Now, now, little rabbit, look at the attachment and run. Run! Rabbit! Run!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No notes this time everything was pretty straight forward. BUT if you find something confusing don't hesitate to PM me!
