A/N: I am very sorry about the slow updates. I promise that I will keep updating, but I can't promise a steady schedule. Life has just been extremely overwhelming and my anxiety has been pretty bad for the past few months. However, things are getting better and I'm going to try and keep things going a little bit faster. I will also be editing the tense of the writing, so apologies for any confusion.
Chapter Nine
Kaley stumbled a bit as Aleksander gripped her upper arm and roughly dragged her along the street. She was fairly certain that he wasn't here to help her at this point and she was silently berating herself for ever trusting him in the first place. He hadn't been a convincing liar, but she had idiotically decided that perhaps he was just a little bit nervous about the whole situation. Now she was being dragged along by some stranger to an unknown location and it was all because she had been an idiot. An absolute idiot.
"I guess you have figured out I am not going to police," Alexsander said as he stopped at the end of the alleyway. "I work for your mother."
Kaley grunted and tried to pull herself away from him, her arm twisting at an odd angle as Aleksander roughly pulled her back again. He then gripped both wrists tightly in his hands and glared at her, as if trying to scare into staying put. It doesn't seem to work as she continued twisting and pulling, attempting to get away from him again. Finally, he slapped her across the face and she flinched, not from pain but from the shock of such a sudden physical attack.
"She claims you are very smart, so maybe you have figured this out. But, in case you have not, I will tell you myself."
She paused for a moment, seemingly debating whether or not she should attempt to get away from him again. Finally, she decided that she likely wouldn't be able to escape and so gave a quick nod of her head, gesturing for the man to continue.
"I don't like that lady one bit, I wish to make that clear. She is crazy, but the pay is good, so I do what she asks. I got the call several weeks ago and she told me she'd gotten out of prison so she could go find her kid." Aleksander paused for a moment, eyes flickering a bit as he thought back to the phone call. "She asked me to help kidnap you and bring you here. I thought that was all, but today she suddenly called me to say that you had been let go. She wanted to make this a big game, so I'm supposed to make sure you don't go to the police while she tries to find you again."
"She's using me as a game? I thought I was supposed to be bait." Kaley exclaims in disbelief, her eyes widening a bit as she once again tried to pull her arms away. "What is she going to do once she gets me back?"
"She said she was tired of waiting and I assume that whatever she does won't be great. But either way, you can't go to the police or I will hurt you."
Kaley's ears perked at the empty threat and she almost grinned to herself in amusement. She continued pulling her arms, using all her weight to try and release herself from his grip. If hurting her was all he could use to threaten her, then this surely couldn't be all that bad.
"I'm going to let you go now, so you best be a good little runner because Katarina really wants this to be entertaining."
Scotland Yard, London
"How are you so sure that she's in Norway?" John hurried to catch up with Sherlock as the man walked quickly out of the station.
"It's where she's from. I assume she has more connections there than elsewhere."
"I think maybe we should let Lestrade handle this. They can contact people in Norway and try to find her themselves."
Sherlock scoffed as he exited the station and then stepped out on the street, lifting one hand to hail a taxi cab. "And allow these idiots to take full control of the case?"
"Sherlock, what are you doing?"
"I called my dear brother as soon as I deciphered where Kaley was being kept. He has arranged transportation for me to Norway." Sherlock walked to the curb as a car came to a stop and he let himself inside, quickly giving the driver directions.
"What? You can't be serious, Sherlock," John exclaimed as he entered the cab after Sherlock. "Why must you insist to do everything yourself?"
Sherlock gave no response as he leaned back, hands steepling underneath his chin. He pursed his lips in thought and his eyes closed quickly, likely now lost deep in thought. John gave up in his attempt to stop Sherlock and so he instead pulled his phone from his pocket, dialing up a familiar number.
"Who is this? And why are you calling?"
"It's John Watson. I need to speak with Mycroft."
"He isn't taking any calls at th-"
"It's about Sherlock."
There was a long pause on the other end before a familiar voice finally popped up on the other end, holding a fairly annoyed tone as he said, "What was so urgent that you deemed it necessary to call me?"
"Are you seriously going to allow him to go to Norway?"
"I have no reason not to. It's no trouble for me to arrange a flight and I don't recall wanting to find a kidnapped child ever being a bad thing."
"Yes, but-"
The call disconnected and John groaned in annoyance as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He turned his head and saw Sherlock still deep in thought, his eyes shut tight and his face pinched in concentration. He shook his head and then turned to look out the window, an annoyed frown appearing on his face. This was absolute madness and there was no way this would end well.
People really should start listening to him more, or else they would just end up in more situations exactly like this one with Sherlock running off to a foreign country instead of allowing the police to investigate for themselves. Sure, it was expected of Sherlock to do something like this, but that didn't mean that John liked it. Because he didn't like it, not at all.
