Unfortunately, Sherlock's longer legs keep give him an advantage in getting ahead of John, plus the few moments of shock that kept the doctor in place. By the time he gets out of the tent and starts heading toward where he thought he saw the detective went, the taller man is already gone.
As he passes the tent, Major Sholto - who was standing outside smoking - looks over at John, and calls out, "Watson. Good. I need to speak to you." He ducks back into the tent after stubbing out his cigarette, waiting for the doctor to join him.
Making a frustrated noise in his throat, John glances at where he thinks Sherlock went, then he sighs and obeys his commander, stepping into the tent and snapping off a salute. "Sir." he says as he glances around briefly then returns his eyes forward.
"First of all, good job with what you've done so far. You're right, Mr. Holmes is very intelligent. I can see why you were hesitant to contact him at first, I've heard that he's not exactly very friendly. Thankfully, we don't need him to be friendly, we just need him to do his job." Sholto says after returning the salute, then he motions. "Please, sit down." He says as he, too, sits down behind his desk.
This sounds a little ominous, but John nods a little, sitting down in one of the chairs. "Thank you, sir. If I may, Sherlock can be a git, but he's a bloody genius. He's like a bulldog when he gets a case, he won't stop until he's solved it." he reassures with a small nod of his head, hopin that his evaluation of the man is correct.
Sholto nods a little, picking up a mug of coffee that he has on his desk, taking a sip out of it. "Good news, we should have more medical personnel here tomorrow morning to help take over for you, so you can get some proper rest." he says, glancing away from the doctor for a few moments, seeming to be beating around the bush about something.
"Thank you, sir. I'm hesitant to give Sherlock free reign on base with people who are already a little tense and have guns." John says with a slight smirk as he looks at his commander, then he says, "If I may, sir, it's obviously there's something that you want to tell me. Get to the point, sir." He says in a firm tone, being a little irritable already out of lack of sleep and getting over the flu as well as Sherlock's kiss ambush from earlier.
"Yes, well, you're right, Watson, there is a problem that I wanted you to know about before it became general knowledge." Sholto says as he leans forward on his desk a little to look at the blue eyes of his subordinate and, he'd like to think, his friend. "The woman we had in custody, your nurse, is dead." he says simply as he watches John carefully. "Obviously we haven't had you examine the body yet, but since there were no obvious wounds, gunshot or otherwise, I'm presuming it's some sort of poisoning. Just a matter of if she did it to herself, or if we have bigger problems." He says darkly as he leans forward a little.
A small frown crosses John's face as he looks at the Major, leaning back in his chair a little. "I would put money on her being poisoned by someone outside, not her doing it herself." He says thoughtfully as he watches Sholto, then he scrubs a hand over his face. "The medical staff coming in, are they coming with the medicine we need? I think it would be best if they did the innoculations." He decides, then adds, "Afterall, you can't know that I'm not a part of all this, especially since the poison was kept in the infirmary."
Smiling slightly, the Major nods silently. "I was going to approach it a little more delicately than that, but thank you for saving me the trouble, Captain." Sholto smiles a little again as he leans back in his chair. "Yes, they will be bringing the medicine, and yes, we will start innoculations as soon as they arrive. I want you to assist Mr. Holmes, smooth down any ruffled feathers people might get."
John nods quietly as he watches Sholto. "Yes, sir. Probably a good idea." His smile ends up coming across as a bit fond, but he can't help himself, with how close he feels to Sherlock, and everything that's happened.
Major Sholto watches John for a few moments, and then nods slowly as he stands. "Get some sleep, Watson." he says simply, taking another drink of his coffee and then putting the mug aside. "I have a feeling you'll need it.
Standing automatically when Sholto does, John nods sharply. "Yes, sir. Thank you." He says with a slightly sheepish tone as he holds back a yawn, saluting the Major before he turns and heads out, and turns toward his own quarters. Sighing, he scrubs his hands over his face again, feeling the full weight of his fatigue. He knows he's still recovering from hsi flu as well, and he really should be taking it easy. But with this going on he doesn't see how he can, really.
Unfortunately in this tired and distracted state, John makes an easy target. Near the edge of the camp, the same path he always takes back to bed, he is suddenly grabbed from behind, a cloth placed over his face, and the last thing that he can recall is a sickly sweet smell. Chloroform, his mind supplies, right before his world goes dark.
"Bring him." The mastermind, the man who keeps himself in shadow, says to the man who had grabbed the Captain. "He will make a good distraction for Mr. Holmes until we finish our mission." He says before he turns to lead the way out of camp. This leaves the other man to deal with carrying John as the wind picks up, aiding the two men by erasing their footsteps, heralding an incoming storm.
Dun-dun-duuunnn. Sorry for the cliffhanger. Mostly. ;) Hope you enjoyed it, I am sure the next chapter is going to be very long because once Sherlock finds out, he is going to flip his lid, most likely. Base, beware! Thanks for reading!
Comments/Reviews welcome!