Greg Lestrade looked at Mr. Mycroft Holmes with great interest. Mycroft had separated all the paperwork into three piles then just sat down. Mycroft was all stillness.
"Mr. Holmes, Robert Varley has agreed to a meeting. Where do I send him?"
"Mycroft."
"Pardon?"
"Please, call me Mycroft. No need for formalities."
"As long as you call me Greg. Agreed? "
"Agreed."
"Mycroft, where do you need Robert Varley?"
"I need him here. Sherlock can come back."
"Ok. Let me message him."
Greg typed a quick text and hit send. Mycroft went back to quietly taking in the information before him.
"Mycroft, what can I do to help? I mean shouldn't you be doing twenty different things right now."
"Fifty. Greg."
Lestrade was used to Sherlock. Mycroft was a totally different animal.
"I don't like being useless, Mycroft. We have three different kidnappings. A huge storm and" Greg passed his hand over the table "whatever this is. Staring us in the face. Let me help. The Holmes brothers are not superheroes."
Mycroft smiled briefly.
"Please don't tell Sherlock that. You will never hear the end of it."
Greg chuckled. "True."
"Greg fill me in on anything that happened while I was asleep."
Greg's text alert sounded.
"Mycroft, it is Varley. He said that he can spare some time in about 2 hours."
"Thank him. He is a very busy man tonight."
"I will."
Mycroft looked over the table trying to put it all together. He had property value reports for scattered locations from London to the North Sea. They all had the values set at zero.
"Mycroft, is their anything that connects the locations together?"
"They are all public properties. So not the same owners."
"Shall we map them?"
"No need. All the properties fall in a cone that starts in London. Then the cone goes wider till it goes out to the North Sea."
"So no help there. Ok."
Mycroft mentally sorted through court cases.
"Court cases. Some of them link but not all."
Mycroft liked to talk out loud when solving problems. Normally, no one was present to answer.
"Can the Thames be the link?"
Mycroft looked at Greg.
"Let me think. It might be."
Flood plains? Yes. But again not all.
"Mycroft?"
"Yes, Greg."
"Something happened to Sherlock that I have never seen before. Not even when he was shooting up."
Mycroft could hear the undertone of concern.
"What happened?"
Lestrade described Sherlock's frozen state before he woke Mycroft and John. Mycroft sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Greg, this is serious."
"What happened?"
"No. The fact that Magnussen knew about it. Sherlock's childhood medical records I sealed myself. I don't like the fact that Magnussen would even do something like this. He is a business man. He is smarter than to do something like this."
"He isn't working alone. Magnussen has someone influencing him."
"Greg he is a master blackmailer. No I don't think anyone is influencing him. The thought is intriguing. That means he has a partner."
"All the science references, how much does Magnussen know about such things?"
"Basic knowledge. Nothing more."
"Mycroft where are Magnussen's holdings in relation to these other properties?"
"Magnussen has interests in most of the major companies in England. Greg let me make a few calls."
"Fantomas I am going to loose a lot of property if the bomb goes off."
"Do you want my help or not? Magnussen terror does not come cheap. Your gains will be so much more. There are methods to the ways I operate."
"Honor among thieves?"
"Honor has nothing to do with it. We are mutually using each other. It is for our greater good."
Magnussen nodded.
"Please tell me more little secrets Magnussen it amuses me."
Magnussen liked being able to amuse Fantomas. He certainly didn't want to make him an enemy.
Molly was running tests and Sherlock was glued to a microscope. John could only watch and wait.
John knew that Magnussen had something on Mary. Mary was only about ten when the rest of her family was killed. Then Magnussen became her guardian. The file that Mycroft had filled in some of the gaps. But not enough.
Mary was very strong. She was not easily rattled. Magnussen was a soft spot for her. John and Mary sat down and had a discussion about him a month after the honeymoon. Mary slowly unraveled in front of John's eyes. Not unlike Sherlock did the night he saw the hound. John stopped Mary talking when he saw tears of fear spring into her eyes. Mary tried to pass it off as hormones and wanted to keep going. John was having none of it. An hour later John whispered promises of safety for her and revenge on Magnussen to his sleeping wife.
Sherlock stood in front of John. He could see his best friend deep in thought. Sherlock did his best not to startle him.
"John. We have some results."
Sherlock's baritone cut through John's musings. John looked up and smiled at the storm colored eyes.
For such a hard ass Sherlock has meltingly beautiful eyes. Even Mary agrees you can get lost in them.
"What have you found?"
Molly started with the concrete.
"It is a late seventies or early eighties mixture of concrete. Sherlock narrowing it down to Blackheath can be correct. There was a lot of construction in that area during that time. So if Magnussen has them all hidden I would start there."
"Thanks Molly. Sherlock what have you got?"
"Copper Azide and Lead Azide which is somehow linked to the brass cup. I'm still working on that. We couldn't get much from the test tubes with demarcation lines. They were almost thoroughly cleaned."
"Almost?"
"Molly found broken chains of some chemical."
"I am testing them. See what I can find."
"Sherlock, can I interest you in a lovely stroll through the waterworks of Blackheath?"
Sherlock smiled.
"Only for you John."
Molly rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh.
"No one is going anywhere, yet."
They all turned towards the voice. Mycroft had just quietly snuck into the lab. Both him and his umbrella were wet.
"What is the matter? Why didn't you just text?" Sherlock asked.
Mycroft sighed.
"The Game, as you call it, just became very complex and deadly."
"Mycroft, just spit it out." John demanded.
"Magnussen is working with a partner. Brother dear, what do you know about Fantomas?"
Fear ripped through Molly and John as they watched Sherlock go pale and sit down.
"Time to make a new game plan." Mycroft announced.