Chapter 9
After spending over an hour with John combing the flat for Mycroft's bugs and removing all five of them, Sherlock sent a text to Mycroft.
I want to see Victor. SH
Absolutely not. MH
You said to let you know when I had decided what to do. That involves me speaking to him. SH
Dear God, I dread to think! Are you planning to deduce him to death?
Very well, a car will come for you in an hour. MH
"We have an hour, John" Sherlock suddenly looked uncertain. "That is if you want to come with me."
"I wouldn't let you go alone if you wanted to." John couldn't believe how close he felt to his flatmate already. In the space of a few days, he had gone from thinking him utterly, brilliantly insane to not being able to imagine life without him.
Sherlock gave John a small smile – more a quirk of the lips really – before disappearing into his room.
He emerged some time later dressed in his regular black suit and a black shirt. John noticed that he was filling a syringe with a yellow coloured liquid from a small vial. John wondered whether Sherlock intended shooting up before going to see Victor. It didn't make sense after he had fought so hard to get clean. Then again, he was about to face the person who had driven him to drugs in the first place.
"Please John, as if I would!" Sherlock chastised.
"What?"
"It's written all over your face. You think I'm going to shoot up. Firstly, I wouldn't give Mycroft or Victor the satisfaction of pushing me back down that road. Secondly, do you really think that I would do so in front of a strong moralled doctor like you when I could easily do it on my room?"
"I guess not" John admitted. "So, what's in the syringe?"
"Sodium Pentothal."
John's eyebrows shot up. "Truth serum?" He said disbelievingly. "That's not even legal in the UK!"
"I don't think that that will concern Mycroft. But of course, there is no such thing as a true truth serum. All this does is induce a relaxed state in which the subjects inhibitions are lowered making them more inclined to tell the truth. I believe it is in fact similar to being intoxicated with the added benefit of being lucid."
"I know what it does, Sherlock. I was a medical soldier, remember? I have had to administer this stuff to prisoners before interrogation. You do know that he'll be useless if you give him too much? It will act as an anaesthetic."
"I have calculated that factor into the dose. I am an expert chemist, after all John. Let's go down, Mycroft's car will be here shortly.
Mycroft greeted Sherlock in the foyer of Grosvenor House.
"What have you done to him so far?" Sherlock enquired coldly of his brother.
"Mr. Trevor has thus far undergone three hours sensory assault and when I received your message he was four hours into sensory deprivation."
John blanched, but said nothing. He had treated soldiers following this kind of torture and it wasn't pretty. Granted, injuries were usually minor and self-inflicted, but the psychological damage could be immense.
To his credit, Sherlock did not too pleased about this either. "I want you to give him food and drink and then John will assess him medically."
"This has already been done and was the reason behind me delaying an hour before allowing you to come."
"I would still like John's medical opinion before I see him." Sherlock insisted.
"As you wish, brother."
John was gone barely ten minutes. When he returned he gave his assessment to Sherlock in a clinical manner. "Physically he's OK. He's been roughed up a bit, he has some bruising and minor abrasions. He's also a bit dehydrated. Psychologically, he is scared. He has no idea why he is here, though he is aware that this is a government facility. He appears to not to be suffering greatly from the effects of Mycroft's treatment so far. He is restrained at the ankles and wrists to a chair. He shows signs of having struggled against these restraints."
Sherlock glared at Mycroft. "Give him water and untie him." Seeing Mycroft about to object, he continued, "he is in a high security MI6 cell, for God's sake! He's hardly going to escape and he is no physical match for your men. Once this is done, John and I shall go in together."
"And what is your plan?"
"Sodium Pentothal"
Mycroft stared incredulously. "You seriously just want to talk to him?"
"For now, yes."
